Side hustles are great, and in today’s tech savvy world it’s easier than ever to start one. I definitely love it when people pursue a side hustle (in fact, I encourage it). After all, a side hustle brings more income and financial stability to you and your family.
What’s All The Fuss Around Side Hustles Anyway?
Well, to be frank, starting a side hustle is probably one of the best ways to help you hit your financial goals. Yes, budgeting, saving, and investing are all important parts, but there is only so much you can do on a limited income. Starting a side hustle helps you augment your income and take your investments to another level. Want financial freedom? Pick up a side hustle.
On top of the financial aspects, side hustles also help you learn a lot. Take this blog for example. Through the process of creating it, maintaining it, and helping it grow, I’ve learned far more than I ever thought I would. I’ve picked up extra web development skills, learned about SEO, the ins and outs of social media (well, I’ve learned about the social media platforms I’ve been using), and I’ve also become a much better writer.
Set A Goal For Your Own Side Hustles
If you need some ideas for a side hustle, check out my other article. In this article I’m going to assume you already have a good idea of what you want to do for your side hustle.
Now, going into this challenge, you need to set a reasonable goal. Going with the blog example, maybe you want to reach a certain number of pageviews per day or week. Perhaps you want to reach a certain income by the end of it. Or, if it is a different side hustle like freelancing, maybe you want to have a specific amount of work lined up for the foreseeable future (like repeat customers and ongoing contracts).
The 30 day Side Hustle Challenge
Day 1
Take this time to iron out which side hustle you’ll be focusing on. Additionally, be sure you set aside a bit of time to work on it every single day.
Days 2-7
This is going to be the hardest part, and the point where most people quit (yes, people quit that fast). It may take a lot of work, but immediately start going into action to get everything you need to start pursuing your side hustle. If you’re blogging, this may be the period where you set up the website and your social media accounts. If you’re doing something more akin to freelancing, this is probably where you’d create accounts on platforms that help freelancers find gigs, and potentially reach out to your connections to start finding work. For whatever you’re doing, don’t underestimate the power that word of mouth still has.
Day 8
Great, you’ve done the basic legwork! Hopefully everything is now ready for you to start your side hustle, at least to some extent. Continuing with the previous examples, if you’re blogging, make sure you start writing and publishing articles, post them to social media, and interact with others on social media. If you’re freelancing, do your best to actually start working gigs so that you can start developing a good reputation.
Day 9
Now that you have a taste, and are getting the idea behind your chose side hustle, set some more concrete goals for the rest of the month. Specifically, what tasks you want to accomplish at the end of the 30 days.
Days 10-14
Start working even harder to accomplish those tasks and keep learning as much as you can about your side hustle. Do research, do work, and have some fun with it. As a little reminder, make sure you’re on a good sleep schedule – you’ll be much more productive if you get a full night’s rest.
Day 15
Now, go back to the goals you set on day 9. Are you going to reach them at your current pace? Make adjustments as necessary, and add new goals if you’re knocking them out already.
Day 16
Start seeing if there are ways for you to devote more time to your hustle by cutting out minor parts of your routine. For example, maybe you can be researching something related to one of your goals while you eat, or you can make calls related to it during breaks at work (assuming you have a 9-5 job). Your commute is another great time where you can make calls or listen to a related podcast or audiobook.
Days 17-21
Keep working as you have been, you’re almost there! If you’ve been working at a breakneck pace, be sure you take a day here to relax, you don’t want to go at a rate you can’t sustain (and then quit the side hustle before you really get to enjoy the fruits of your labor). Another good idea is to find someone who can help keep you on track. Ideally, this would be a spouse or close friend. It’s important to have someone there who will cheer you on and encourage you to not lose sight of your goals.
Day 22
Start looking for ways to use your time more effectively. This will naturally happen over time, but it’s good to start looking at ways you’re wasting time or not using it to its utmost potential when you’re working on your side hustle.
Day 23
Find a way to spend an additional hour working on your side hustle – besides cutting out sleep. Use it to help make sure you’re on track to reach your goals for the end of the month.
Days 24-29
You’re finally starting to really get into the swing of things at this point, and you’ve probably seen some real progress. Don’t lose sight of that, and start thinking about your side hustle more and more like a business you need to nurture.
Day 30
Congratulations, you made it! Hopefully you reached your goals for the month, but if not, don’t worry. Keep working on and growing your side hustle. It may start out as a supplemental source of income, but many side hustles can end up replacing your job.
There Are A Few More Things To Consider Going Forward
- Make a long-term plan – think in terms of years instead of months
- As I said for day 22, start cutting things out if it doesn’t make sense to continue them (i.e. don’t keep working hard on a specific part of your side hustle if that portion doesn’t yield results)
- Consider adding an additional side hustle, and even outsourcing your current one, as it grows and that becomes a more feasible option
- Don’t get discouraged
Now Turn Those 30 Days Into 6 Months
No, you don’t necessarily need to keep going at the same pace. However, commit to continuing to work on the side hustle for another 6 months, without quitting, and you’ll start seeing real results. A lot of side hustles and businesses need at least 6-18 months to really start seeing growth, especially if it’s something you’re new to. So, continue working on it for at least 6 months, and then review where you are and how far you are from where you want to be.
Remember, certain things take time – most people quit just before they start seeing exponential growth, don’t let that be you. Also, if you need a good bank to start storing all of your side hustle’s earnings, check out Axos. They have arguably the best personal checking and savings accounts on the market right now, and their business accounts are also quite competitive.
Conclusion
I hope after completing this challenge that you got something out of it, and are encouraged to keep going. With that being said, good luck, and if you have any tips be sure to add them in the comments! For more content like this, and a free budgeting template and financial goals worksheet, be sure to sign up for the Bitter to Richer newsletter.
