We use the word “hustle” quite a lot when it comes to talking about businesses especially if it’s a relatively small project that is managed by a single person. However, we believe that using the word hustle can often create low expectations especially if you’re not committing much time to it. However, if you’re willing to put in some hours and start thinking more like an entrepreneur, then you always have the opportunity to upgrade your side hustle into a fully-fledged business.
In fact, if you’re careful and hard-working, you could even turn a side hustle into a full-time career instead of just something you do part-time. This could give you more financial freedom and open up more career paths in the future. So without further ado, let’s take a look at some tips on how you can upgrade your side hustle and turn it into a real company.
Start thinking serious
It’s all about the mentality. If you keep thinking of your side hustle as something you only do for an hour a day then you’re never going to see results. Start putting more hours into it and start using that time to improve your business.
It could be improving the security of your site, it could be adding more products or even offering customer support via social media platforms like Facebook. Whatever you choose, make sure that it will grow your business and boost your presence in some way.
Begin automating tasks
There are going to be some very repetitive tasks that you have to do when operating a side hustle such as sending out emails to get more customers or even writing up invoices to your clients. This can take a lot of time, so it’s important to look into automation tools that can speed up the process.
Doing this will help you save a lot of time so you can spend your valuable hours growing your business instead of repeating the same few actions.
Gain their trust
A side hustle is easy to tell because they typically put no effort into product descriptions, they use generic stock photographs and they don’t offer customers something unique. This is not a good way to run a business and it’s vital you gain the customer’s trust.
It could be something like adding anti-fraud technology by using Jumio’s Netverify AI-Powered identity verification system or it could be responding to customer queries and support questions via email. The importance of gaining your customer’s trust can’t be underestimated, so focus on it as a priority if you want to grow your side hustle.
Optimize business operations
Your success is going to improve if you’re able to get more money, and that all starts with optimizing your current business operations. Are you spending too much on advertising? Can you find more affordable freelancers somewhere to write content for you? Are you able to reduce your electricity bills somehow?
These are the types of questions you need to ask and tackle as soon as possible. The more you optimize your business, the more capital you’ll have to grow your business.