So in the article Exploring Side Hustles I gave you a list of things you could do to bring in extra money.. at this point you may or may not have chosen one from the list and started it. Maybe it was something you always wanted to try and never had the time or it was not enough income to pursue since you
already have a job that pays more. The great thing about side hustles is you don’t have to do it full time if you don’t want to and if it is something you don’t like to do, you can walk away and try something else until you find one that you shine at.
Didn’t find one on the list? Create your own side hustle. What are you really good at? What do you love to do? Maybe a natural talent? Take that thing that you are really good at and think about how you can use that to your advantage. Create your own side hustle. For example. I love to sew. In the past I started an alteration business which for me lasted a few years until I had children and then it got put to the side. When my kids were older I started sewing again and started making things to sell at different events like craft fairs or farmers markets. I eventually bought a single needle embroidery machine which has expanded my knowledge of sewing and brought in a new income for me. I have learned how to do all kinds of embroidery items. I find a new hot item that sells like hotcakes, make one sample and post it on social media and I bring in all kinds of orders for that 1 item. During the holidays this is great because it brings in extra money that I can use to Christmas shop for family and I don’t have to dip into my household income. The other good thing about this is people remember you and if they need or want something embroidered they come back to you and ask if you can do it for them generating a customer base with another source of income.
One of my past jobs I worked in a call center. They trained us really well at cold calling and overcoming objectives. When I left that job I went to work for a Gov Contractor and was pretty much able to get him into any company he wanted to meet with which is when I realized I had a talent for calling. When the Gov froze all spending I was laid off since we really had nothing to do it was the right thing to do so I called around and created a side hustle out of my calling experience to work for multiple companies setting up appointments
for their sales teams. I had a lot of fun doing this. For many years I did this successfully and then I began to take on more clients and hire a team. This business was my life for 20 years. I love getting great appointments for companies and being a part of knowing that I am helping them grow. I just retired this year after an offer came in to work full time with one of my clients and run their call center. After weighing the pros and cons of owning a business, I took the job. Running your own business can be very stressful but
it can also be very rewarding. I am at the point in my life that I wanted to slow down a little and let someone else take the wheel of ownership. I am looking forward to my new job overseeing the call center and growing 1 business and really being a part of something bigger.
What is your special talent? Do you like to work outside? Mow lawns? Plant flower gardens? Weed? Create patios or hardscape areas? Does your yard look like it belongs in a magazine? Maybe your talent is to start a side hustle doing landscaping when you are not working your full-time job. Let’s say you do this and you have been doing it for a month or two and now you have picked up so many customers you are ready to take the next steps and make that side hustle your full-time business. What are the next steps?
· Create a website… take some pictures of some of the work you have done and post the pictures on both your website and on your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or any other social media type page or group. Honestly, don’t think there are too many landscapers around because there is not! I see on facebook everyday someone posting that they have called so many and they are all too busy or they don’t get back to them. I talk with the landscapers and they tell me they have too much work to keep up with. It is a great business to be in if you like doing it!
· Create a name for your business and make it an LLC so that you can register your business with the town / state and get an EIN # for taxes
- Open a Business Checking account at a Credit Union, NOT a bank.
· Buy insurance for your business in case of injury to your workers or in case of any accidental property damage done at a customer sight. Just a precaution so that you are prepared for anything.
· Pick up a few used mowers, paying cash for each one.
· You are now at the point of starting to hire help since you have word of mouth calls coming in for lawn services. Take your business to the next level and really focus on growing it.
· Post something on Facebook weekly to draw in more customers. Make up some flyers and post them around town.
· Start asking your current customers for google reviews!!
· Start thinking about winter months when you can’t mow snow. Lawn season is May through September sometimes October.
· Offer Spring Cleanup starting in March or April weather permitting.
· Offer Fall winterizing for plants, wrapping or tenting trees for the winter to protect them from heavy snowfall.
· Offer outdoor Christmas Lights hanging services in November / December and light removal in January / February.
· Reinvest your money made in the summer to buy a used plow or 2 to do residential or commercial snow plowing.
· Want to grow faster and you have the cash to invest? Look for a lawn company that might be looking to retire soon. Right now, we have an advantage. According to Codie Sanchez (who is a brilliant mind by the way, if you ever have a chance to catch her on YouTube) all the baby boomers are looking to retire and they don’t have anyone to pass their business to because their kids all want to be Youtube /
ticktock stars and don’t want Dad’s Landscaping company so you can offer to buy their business. Maybe ask them to do Seller financing and you pay them 50% profit for a year or 2 or you could offer them a salary with profit % and ask them to stay on board and be your manager for a year so that you can get idea on how they ran their business. You might pick up some pointers leaning new things to do or how they might do something better than you are currently doing them. Buy merging the 2 companies you have doubled your business, your assets and equipment, your employees and you profit with the ability to now go after more.
The sky is the limit if you plan out your side hustle to grow it into an amazing business!
“Choose a job you love,
and you will never have to work a day in your life.” –Confucius