Tag: side biz tips

8 Things To Do Before Launching A Side Business

In this post, I share with you 8 things to do before launching a side business. Starting a side business sounds so simple, but it’s much harder in practice. It may be challenging to build a sustainable side business while working a day job, but if you make a consistent effort over time, you can make it work.

Thinking about starting a business? You aren’t alone. 44% of people are more interested in doing so now than they were two years ago. A research revealed that nearly three in four people who work a 9 to 5 job admit they are unfulfilled by it and therefore want to start a side business to pursue their passions. However, while your new business may consume much of your time and energy, you shouldn’t give up your full-time job just yet.

Let’s face it, times are tough. The unemployment rate is high and it doesn’t help that the cost of gas and food prices are also on the rise. Out of necessity, many people have started to look for ways to supplement their income. Some have succeeded with side business ideas while they worked their full-time job before making it a full-time career. I’ve launched a side business while in school and have some great advice on how to be successful with it.

Here are 8 things to do before launching a side business:

1. Make The Commitment

First and foremost, you need to ask yourself how bad you want this. This will get difficult, it will strain your relationships and you’ll continually be forced to make tough decisions. In fact, if starting a business while working a full-time job is ever easy, you’re probably not doing everything you should be doing. Growing a side business will be an incredibly challenging experience and that’s because nothing worth having comes easy.

You need to set round rules in order to get started with your side hustle idea. You have to take action in order to be successful and that’s always the first step. Make an actual commitment to yourself before launching a side business!

2. Plan Out Your Schedule And Strategy

Have a realistic accounting of the time and energy needed to launch and run your side business. Create a small schedule of when you plan to work on your side business. You can do it before going to work in the morning or work on it for a few hours each night after work. Your first schedule will probably not be the one you go with for the long haul, but some kind of guide will be extremely helpful.

In addition to the schedule, you also want to plan out a proper strategy. How are you going to execute this? Do you have the finances necessary to get your business off the ground? Will you need help or a business partner? Ask yourself the tough questions early so you’re on a solid path.

3. Assess Your Finances

One of the most important considerations in your decision to start a new business is your financial standing. Keeping your regular job when you first launch your business does help reduce the financial burden of startup costs. However, before getting too far into your business plans, make sure that you are accounting for those costs with your current salary min mind.

4. Don’t Be In A Rush

When you’re operating a business part-time, realize it probably won’t grow as fast as a full-time business would. Many side business owners get discouraged because it takes so long for their businesses to grow. Generally, the growth of a business  is directly proportional to the amount of time put into it. So when you can only put in a few hours a day plus weekends, it will take longer to get up to speed.

5. Check Your Employee Agreements

Depending on what type of business you want to start, you may run into some issues if you’ve signed an employee agreement with a noncompete or nondisclosure clause. Check with a legal adviser to help you understand your state’s laws about employment agreements before you start your business. If there are any discrepancies or conflicts with your existing agreements, you may need to wait until you’re financially able to quit your full-time job before you can officially start your business.

6. Check Your Employee Agreements

Depending on what type of business you want to start, you may run into some issues if you’ve signed an employee agreement with a noncompete or nondisclosure clause. Check with a legal adviser to help you understand your state’s laws about employment agreements before you start your business. If there are any discrepancies or conflicts with your existing agreements, you may need to wait until you’re financially able to quit your full-time job before you can officially start your business.

7. Outsource Your Weaknesses

This one is all about focus. Look for opportunities to outsource every possible part of your business creation that you can. Obviously, you don’t want someone else planning your goals, roadmap or telling you what your product or service should look like.

The point here is that you need to be doing what you do best. While it would be great if you could code your own website to test out your digital service idea, if you don’t already command a knowledge of web development, you’re looking at a few months of dedicated learning time just to get to the point where you’ll be able to understand the basics.

8. Get Ready For Stress

Imagine this scenario: You’re at work and a customer from your side business calls your personal cell phone. He has a problem with a product you delivered the night before and needs you to fix it immediately. If you don’t, he’ll refuse to pay for it and you’ll have to eat up the expenses and potentially get a bad review. On the same token, you also have a project that’s due in a few hours at work that can’t be late. What do you do?

Every job has a stress factor. So when you’re juggling both a full-time job and a side business, you’re going to have numerous tense situations. You need to be prepared for the stressful situations that may come up. Entrepreneurship is only for the mentally strong people!

Conclusion

Starting a side business sounds so simple, but it’s much harder in practice. It may be challenging to build a sustainable side business while working a day job, but if you make a consistent effort over time, you can make it work. In this post, I shared with you 8 things to do before launching a side business.

8 Things You Should Do Before Starting A Side Business

Many full-time employees want to start a side business apart from the regular job they have. For whatever reason it may be, the problem in starting a side business is the preparation you need to do before you can have one. In this post, I shared with you 8 things you should do before starting a side business.

Let’s face it, times are tough. The unemployment rate is high and the cost of gas and food prices are on the rise. Out of necessity, many people have started to look for ways to supplement their income. Some have succeeded with side business ideas while they continue to work a full-time job. However, that’s a big step and many don’t realize how much time, effort and money it takes to really be successful.

If you’re looking for ways to increase your monthly income and have considered starting a business, here are 8 things you should do before starting a side business:

1. Set A Schedule And Goals

Consider your business plan to develop a picture of goals and timelines. Create a schedule by mapping out yearly, monthly and weekly goals while keeping track of them along the way. Making and meeting goals will help you stay on your timeline, which will help ensure the success of your business. On the other hand, if you don’t intend to leave your full-time job, determine how much time you’re willing to put into your side business on a daily and weekly basis. Then, create a plan that will help you stick with it!

There’s a good chance you’ll underestimate how much time your activities will take and overlook additional tasks. Be organized and document your time, so that at the end of the day you’ll know exactly what you got accomplished and how long it took. If you find that the goals you set yourself are too aggressive, be flexible and adjust them to be more practical.

2. Get Your Legal Documents In A Row To Make Sure You Don’t Cross Your Current Employer

One thing you need to do is to make sure you are on solid legal ground so that your current employer can’t come after you when your startup is successful. The easiest way to avoid any trouble is to be sure you are working on an idea that is unrelated to the business of your employer and to work on it on your own time and with your own equipment.

Getting this wrong can result in getting fired or in having your new company’s intellectual property be subject to claims from your employer. Make sure you go through these documents and this process, so you don’t have to worry about any of that.

3. Categorize Your Strengths And Interests

Which skill sets does your new business idea require? You likely possess at least some of the necessary skills to make your business happen, but if you don’t, you’re now faced with a tough decision. Pause to spend time learning a new skill or outsource it to someone else who can help pick up the slack.

If you want to discover your strengths as an entrepreneur, you have to really apply yourself in many areas to see what things you do well with and which areas you struggle in. By doing this, you’ll understand what your advantages and disadvantages in business are. With the things you aren’t so good at, you can build a team or hire freelancers to fulfill those needs within the business.

4. Make The Commitment

This will get difficult especially if you have a full-time job because it will end up straining your relationships and you’ll be forced to make tough decisions frequently. Write down a list of all the activities and commitments you have during your week with the amount of time you devote to each. Take note of the ones you can afford to lessen your involvement with and let  those who need to know that you will be taking a step back. The more time you can free up, the quicker you’ll be able to start seeing results.

5. Get Licenses & Registrations

Get the proper licenses, registrations and insurances in place before operating your side business. With some basic research, you can quickly find out what you need to legalize your operation. If you’re offering a service, do you need to be licensed and registered for it? Every state has their own laws so with a bit of research, you should be able to figure it all out.

6. Validate Your Business Idea

Early on in your planning, you need to validate your business idea. This means getting honest feedback from actual paying customers. The only answers that truly matter are dollars spent. People provide the truthful answer when they pay for something.

It’s human nature to think that we’re right and that our ideas are always amazing. Unfortunately, our business concepts and product ideas are often not fully thought out, useful or even properly researched. By slowing down and building a very basic proof of concept with ongoing feedback from your target audience, you’ll gradually create a solution that’s guaranteed to meet their needs. You’ll be able to grow from there.

7. Catch The Big Fish

In any business, it’s beneficial to start with a big client already willing to give you a business. How can you do this? Right before you launch, talk to friends and family about your new venture and ask them for their business. Also, ask them to recommend you to their friends. Join professional organizations and put your networking skills to work.

If you want your business to succeed and are not naturally an aggressive salesperson, you’ll need to step outside your comfort zone. You will face rejection, but the more people you approach, the more customers you’ll get. Remember, the most successful entrepreneurs in the world are often the ones who’ve experienced the most failures.

8. Create A Competitive Advantage

A competitive advantage is defined as your unique advantage that allows you as a business to generate greater sales, margins and/or acquire and retain more customers than their competitors. It’s what makes your business, your business.

This can come in the form of your cost structures, product offerings, distribution networks, strategic relationships, customer support or elsewhere in the business. Get honest with yourself here. Not only does your business honestly have to fill a market need, but it has to do so in a way that’s different from what’s available now.

Conclusion

Many full-time employees want to start a side business apart from the regular job they have. For whatever reason it may be, the problem in starting a side business is the preparation you need to do before you can have one. In this post, I shared with you 8 things you should do before starting a side business.