Tag: Side Hustles

In today’s post I’m going to share with you how you can turn your side hustle into a 5-figure business. We’re going to walk through some of the steps I took when building my 5-figure business from what started as just a side hustle.

So, why is this so significant? Well for one, many of us lost a job or saw a drop in sales revenue during the Coronavirus Pandemic. We had no other option other than to sink or swim. Developing skills outside of a current job will allow us to create multiple streams of income and reach financial freedom.

This post is going to provide you with so much value. You too will be able to start manifesting your career and money goals in as little as less than a year. Let’s get started.

How much money is 5-figures?

5-figures refers to a five digit numerical value. In money terms this ranges between $10,000 – $99,999.

6-figures would then go from $100,000 – $999,999.

Turning my side hustle into a 5-figure businesses should have been something I should’ve celebrated, but I didn’t. I was shooting for six.

It’s important that you celebrate your small wins guys. It’s also important that you set the bar high. Why? Because if you fail, and you will, at least you’d have created something valuable from which you can continue to scale.

I’m proud though, this happened during the pandemic so there’s that. Lets start with the importance of niching down.

The importance of niching down

Now that we understand the definition of 5-figures, let’s discuss the importance of niching down.

Before you begin to build your five figure business you’ll need to niche down on your side hustle first.

What is a niche?

A niche in short is a specialized or particular area in the market for a specific type of product or service.

Some examples of a niche include:

Restaurants —> Restaurants in Southern California —> Best Restaurants in Los Angeles, CA —> Best Pizza Restaurants in LA —> Best Vegan Pizza Restaurants in LA

Gaming —> Horror Games —> Indie Horror Games for PC

Clothing —> Women’s Clothing & Accessories —> Women’s Hand-made Straw Hats

As you can tell, niching down means getting down to specifics about a general topic.

The reason you should niche down is because you’ll be able to provide people with content, product, or services that are exclusive to that particular demand in the market.

By doing so, you are creating a small pool in the market that can help consumers find exactly what they’re looking for.

If you’ve already found your niche you’re more than likely already generating some income from it.

Side hustle to 5-figure business

When does this transition happen? Taking your side hustle to a 5-figure business is a process.

1. You need to make sure your side hustle is scalable. Meaning you know you can turn it into a business. And if you can’t, you’ll need to try something else.
2. Set the bar high. Write down your goals. The things that happen on your journey to meet your goal is the transition process. This is progress is the success you won’t see until at the end of your first year.
3. When you reach $10K in sales, you can choose whether you want to establish yourself as a small business. Of course, you can do this before $10K. However, reaching this number allows you to establish yourself as a small business owner which should be a goal to pursue if you want to make money.

These are some key points that helped me see the potential in my side hustle and grow it to a 5-figure business.

Now, I want to touch base on 3 very important elements that made this happen for me and can make this happen for you too.

These 3 vital steps are what’s going to separate you from everyone else. These foundational elements are what transformed my side hustle into a 5-figure business. I guarantee you they will do the same for you.

The foundation for a 5-figure business

#1. Get professional, start a business

I initially set up my legal business first, although it was just a side hustle in the beginning. I knew that I could make money from it but I wanted to carry myself professionally about it.

It wasn’t good enough to simply sling my product or services here and there without it being a legit business. By moving professionally about it I was able to provide more value in the marketplace. Setting up my business from the get go established credibility. And guys let me tell you, it’s not that difficult. I’m going to teach you guys how to do this step by step so make sure you subscribe to the newsletter. For now, lets keep moving forward.

#2. Brand your business

Once I established my business legally, I started pitching to the marketplace. But it didn’t go very well. I was using a Gmail account for my business emails and my website was in blog format (free).

So, I put out a little bit of money from my earned income (job) into creating a professional website and obtaining a professional email to use. I then created my own logo using Canva Pro.

This changed the game to say the least. Businesses now knew who was reaching out to them. It was an actual business.

Why branding played a huge role in my 5-figure business

Branding created credibility. I feel like people didn’t take me seriously prior to branding my business. This is what branding did for my hustle:

• Created an image of trust
• Boosted my credibility in the marketplace
• Increased my sales (during the pandemic)
• Allowed me to create something from nothing
• Established my side hustle as a legit business

Branding is the most important thing you can do to take your side hustle to the next level. It’s what’s going to set you apart from everyone else doing what you’re doing.

I strongly urge you to make this small investment and commitment towards your growth. Spend the extra money on a professional email, spend the extra money on Canva Pro. Believe me when I say it’s 100% worth it. When you look back, you won’t recognize what you created. Yes, that was you. Yes, you created that.

Which leads me to the third element that allowed me to turn my side hustle into a 5-figure business. Creating a unique website.

#3. Set up your website early on

One mistake I made was not setting up my website early on. Think about it my fellow readers. You make a pitch and the prospect is very interested. They’d like to take a look at your website but it’s either under construction or you don’t have one yet.

Yeah, that isn’t very professional now is it?

When I was shopping around to see how to set up a website for my small business I knew two things:

1. Pricing had to be affordable and within budget.
2. My website had to be unique and professional – huge deal breaker for me.

Bluehost met both these requirements flawlessly.

Now, I purchased Bluehost when it was originally at $8.99 per month. However, you new small business owners can now create your website for only $3.95/mo.

What attracted me the most to Bluehost is just how easy it was to use. And, if I had any questions, their amazing 24/7 chat was available for my convenience.

Let me tell you guys something. Turning my side hustle into a 5-figure business had challenges. Building and growing my professional website was not one of those challenges.

The importance of this foundation

These 3 foundational elements are what transformed my side hustle into a 5-figure business.

I am now working on what it takes to scale my 5-figure business into a 6-figure business. It is important to note that you cannot reach 6-figures without setting up your foundation first.

1. I had to shift my mindset and look at my side hustle as a business rather than just a side hustle.
2. Branding my business was an essential process to standing out.
3. Not only was building and creating a professional website easier than I thought, but it was a vital process for the growth of my business.

Now that you understand what it takes to turn your side hustle into a 5-figure income earning business I’m going to share with you some of my personal experience on this journey. I want to provide you with even more value by putting my perspective out on the table for you to learn from.

If you’re enjoying this post so far be sure to bookmark it so you can come back to it in the future.

5 Tips to scaling your side hustle to 5-figures

Here’s a quick rundown of some useful tips that allowed me to scale my side hustle to 5-figues in only one year. In fact, I was able to accomplish this in only 11 months; so just a little under one year.

#1. Become an expert in your niche

It is essential that you become an expert in your niche. Otherwise, scaling your business will take you much longer. This is primarily because you will still need to learn the ropes in your niche in order to conduct business and close sales.

Being an expert in your field give you a huge advantage over competitors. This is how I was able to conduct myself as an authority in the marketplace. Your knowledge is like extra credit. The three foundational steps for a 5-figure business is the A+.

#2. Offer exceptional quality work and customer service

You and the service or product you intend to offer are the primary reasons people want to do business with you.

Your power over everyone else is no one else is you. Show this to your customers and your sales will grow.

#3. Your network can push you ahead by one year

Your network should consist of people who are business and success oriented just like you are.

Make yourself and your business known to them. You must make yourself top of mind awareness to them. This means when they think of a specific product or service, you’re the go-to-person. This is what you’re known for.

#4. Be persistent and find out what works

When it comes to selling your service or product you will find out certain pitches don’t work. Don’t let this discourage you for one second.

That same pitch you’re thinking of discarding can actually work on someone else. So, be persistent but don’t be afraid to find out what else works.

#5. Reinvest your first profits

Once you implement the 3 foundational steps to scaling your side hustle to a 5-figure business, you’re going to start seeing cash flow.

Do not pay yourself just yet. Reinvest the profits towards further scaling your business. See where you can put some money to optimize growth.

I personally used profits for advertising and marketing. This allowed my business to be seen and brought in new customers.

Read: Easy marketing hacks that guarantee your small business is seen.

My experience going from $0 to 5-Figures

Expertise

When I was slinging products and services on the side through my niche, I too started from $0. It was easy for me to seek money-making opportunities within the industry when I became an expert in my field. This is what eventually led me to turn my side hustle into a 5-figure business. It goes back to becoming an expert in your niche. I already had loads of knowledge and information in my industry.

Networking

Aside from this, I was already known as the go-to person in my area of expertise from high school and college peers. This of course gave me an advantage with awareness. In fact, some of my first clients were due to networking. They were the first brands and businesses

My entire career has basically been sales in one particular segment of my industry. Sales is what allowed me to further network with people effortlessly over the phone, in person, and via email.

Quality of service

The quality of service I provided made me become favorited by my first customers. Quality builds trust and trust builds likeability.

Because I delivered quality services and products, my customers would place reorders every month to every other month. By delivering exceptional quality products and services I was able to further grow my sales revenue passively.

In some instances I didn’t even have to follow up.

My first reinvestments

Some of my first reinvestments in my small business were on social media advertising and on samples to pitch.

The mindset behind my reinvestment strategy was quite simple. If I could put $100 in advertising to potentially bring in a new customer on board, it would yield an amazing ROI (return of investment). Even if I didn’t break even.

See the thing is one new customer could either cover the cost of the ad by buying from me, or I could profit doing business with them. What if their project was lower than the initial cost of the advertisement? Well, then I would have gained a new client from which I could follow up with every month or so.

In this case, I see an opportunity to do business with them in the future. Even if it is a long-term process.

So, what pattern are we seeing here?

The pattern here is that the tips presented on this article have proven to turn a side hustle into a 5-figure business. I’ve implemented these strategies myself and can now pass down the knowledge that worked for me to help you access that next level of success.

My expertise in my industry was only the icing on the cake. It wasn’t until I applied the 3 foundational steps mentioned in the beginning of this article that I found my side hustle transition to a 5-figure business.

If I didn’t 1) treat my side hustle as a business, 2) brand my business, 3) or create a professional and unique website, I wouldn’t have been able to succeed.

Because ultimately what businesses want is to work with an attractive company that can solve their problems.

This journey has been a lot of fun, it’s been a lot of work, and let me tell you it’s been absolutely worth it.

Final words of advise

My advise to you is to put your skills to use and to never stop learning. This will help you turn your side hustle into more than just a 5-figure business. These are the building blocks to creating a successful and prosperous business. However, you have the power to take this even further.

There will be times where you possibly doubt yourself and perhaps even lose some form of motivation. Understand that this is normal and even the most successful of people go through this. It’s part of the process. Learn to grow through what you go through.

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