Some people are blogging, some are crafting, some have started a direct sales business, still others do photography, and many others are creating home decor; some are mowing lawns, some start an online store, and some are home caterers… These are just a few of the overwhelming multitudes of ways people have started a side hustle. Yet they all have one thing in common! They all understood the most important #1 key to an awesome side hustle…
THE #1 KEY: DO SOMETHING!!!
Too often we get defeated before we even start. We see what others are doing and get intimidated; yet not a single one of us were there on these people’s “Day 1”…when they were sitting alone at their kitchen table with nothing more than an idea scratched on a notepad, not knowing whether their efforts would amount to ANYTHING at all! All we see is that they have a side hustle that’s working. However, a moment came for each of them that required them to move from an idea to an action. Every side hustler had to take a first step!
When it comes to starting a good side hustle, the first step is simply to TAKE A FIRST STEP! Get that ball rolling! Yet you may be thinking, “That sounds great, but I don’t even know where to start! All of those ‘side hustle people’ are simply doing things that I can’t do!” The truth is, you couldn’t be more wrong! Side hustlers are everyday people, living “normal” lives like the rest of us, who decided to simply try something. They took an idea and, one day at a time, turned it into something more than an idea.
The first step is to take a first step.
Here are a few ideas for taking that first step:
- What is something that you enjoy doing? (art, music, gardening, cooking, building, exercise, reading, talking, travelling, going to the movies, etc.) If you don’t enjoy your side hustle, you won’t keep with it. It will become another chore instead of a way of getting the most out of your life.
- Why do you enjoy doing that? (it’s fun, it’s productive, it’s helpful, it makes me feel good/happy, I’m good at it, it challenges me, etc.) If you can identify the reason why you like doing whatever it is you do, then you’ll discover your motivator for staying with it when you encounter obstacles…because you will encounter obstacles.
- Is it something that you can create and sell? Even if you’re not an outgoing individual, you can still create things at home and post them online to sell (check out our FREE “How to Make $100 Today” eGuide for instructions. Also see our post “How to Make $53/Hr from Home.”)
- Is it something that you can teach others to do? Whatever your passion may be, there is someone else who likes it as well. It doesn’t matter what it is, you are not alone. Also, whatever it might be, there is always someone else who doesn’t know as much about it as you! All it takes is breaking your passion down into small steps that others can follow. Your challenge may simply be to find those individuals then create a platform for teaching (printed materials, blog, YouTube video, etc.)
- Is it something that you can help others with? There will always exist activities that people need help with, but don’t necessarily want to learn about, such as landscape design, video editing, calculating taxes, building websites, building a table, proofreading materials (I should probably hire someone for that!) , etc. Could you leverage your passion to help others?
- Now that you’ve identified one thing you enjoy and why you enjoy it and how it can be used to create a side hustle, what do you need to do first? Type a script, build an example, find someone interested, create a manual…? Download our FREE MY NEW SIDE HUSTLE WORKSHEET to help establish a solid game plan.
I started this MakeAnExtraDollar.com blog with ABSOLUTELY ZERO blogging/web design/e-commerce skills…and though it’s not the best blog out there, you’re still here reading 😉 It took work…lots of work. Figuring out where to begin, learning processes, correcting mistakes, defining terms, correcting mistakes, understanding the steps, correcting mistakes, adding new elements…and, uh, correcting mistakes. All of this was before my first published post. Again, it’s not the most awesome thing on the planet, but at least it’s something. It is no longer simply an idea.
And that is where you start as well! Do SOMETHING! Even if it is as simple as getting out a scratch sheet of paper and writing on the top “My New Side Hustle.” That is at least something more than nothing!!! So, while it is today, do something! You can do it!!! GO! GO! GO!!
But I ask that you do me this one favor…
When you do start your side hustle, let us know about it! We want to celebrate with you. We want to applaud you and let others know about what you’ve done so that your story will be an encouragement to them. Even if you think your side hustle is just a small, little nothing…that may be the spark that someone else needs. Share your side hustle story here.