It’s one thing to operate a died hustle, but another entirely to run a true business, and there are both glaring and subtle factors that differentiate the two. In our technology-enhanced and social media-infused era, people are starting businesses at a pace never before seen, and this landscape has given rise to a legion of so-called entrepreneurial gurus — “experts” who supposedly have all the answers for their hopeful and wide-eyed audience. They’re pitching side hustles, courses, ideas, funnels, coaching and more to the unsuspecting, few of which wind up being practical, perhaps least of all the concept of “side hustle” enterprises. Any moneymaking activity that you participate in should be treated like a business, plain and simple, for a whole host of reasons that we’ll explore here. Defining terms Fundamentally, I think that we can all agree that it takes a significant amount of grit for one to be successful in anything — whether a sport, business, education or just life in general — and hustling might seem a valuable component of that grit. I think of a hustler as someone who will do whatever it takes to succeed no matter what, who has an unchecked drive that makes it hard for them to fail or not reach their goals. Just hustling comes with obvious pitfalls, though. Without a proper plan, it can cause severe strain on an individual’s mental, financial and physical wellbeing. So, a first step in both starting a new enterprise and avoiding these pitfalls is to stop referring to it as a “side hustle.” You’re better than that term, and probably have a tremendous idea brewing, regardless of the vehicle you’re using to grow and present it. 1. Obvious and not-so-obvious financial benefits While I’m not qualified here to give financial, tax or legal advice, I will preface this section by saying that in my experience there are a variety of benefits in turning a side hustle into a real business, not least tax advantages offered in the U.S. to entrepreneurs, including those operating small to mid-sized companies. Even as a solo-preneur, you want to have a proper business structure in place, and its form depends on its nature, where you operate and how you operate. It could be an LLC, an S-Corp, a C-Corp or some derivation thereof. Its’s wise to consult with a tax professional and an attorney to figure out what would work best and provide you with the most advantageous legal and financial position. Some of the obvious financial benefits of treating your side hustle like a business are: • Potential tax write-offs. • Attracting more clients as well as those of a larger size as a result of increased legitimacy. • The ability to increase revenue as a result of better structure. Some of the not so obvious financial benefits include: • With a proper legal structure, you’ll be able to protect yourself from certain liabilities, whereas as a non-structured business side hustler, you might be exposed. • An improved ability to raise capital for investment purposes. • If and when you want to liquidate/sell the business, you’ll be in a better position to do so. (It’ll make due diligence easier on everyone, as long as you’ve kept track of everything appropriately.) 2. Growth potential When you operate a business that has structure, you’ll find that it’s easier to grow. From a revenue perspective, this could be anywhere from a two- to ten-fold increase, or more. How is this possible? Throughout the last decade of my experience in startups and high-growth companies, I’ve noticed that if chaos looms or embodies the enterprise, growth is a figment of everyone’s imagination — more a dream than attainable reality, because there is no clear plan. A proper structure of a business must include all facets; every department, no matter how big or small, has to have a level of structure about it. This could be as simple as creating a document that has all of processes and procedures outlined, which you can eventually refine into broader standard-operating-procedures (SOPs) as part of the company playbook. Put simply, a business with structure is better positioned for success than one without it, and it’s only logical that such structure allows for (and plans for) a level of predictable growth, which would come in the form of executables developed as part of sales and marketing plans. It is absolutely imperative that you fully define these sales and marketing plans, as this will help position you to achieve target growth and revenue goals. The last required piece is to constantly monitor data/metrics and refine sales and marketing processes as you measure results. 3. Increased motivation If you’ve read the self-help books and/or listened to the countless podcasts in the world of entrepreneurship and business, you’ll find that many of them address mindset and mentality. Fair warning: I’m not going to be different in that respect here, because much of what I’ve proposed thus far has to do with a shift in the way you think about things. Purely from a mindset perspective, partaking in a side hustle is one thing, but running a business is completely different. I’ve found that most of the side hustles I’ve engaged in over the years never really took precedence in my life. The most logical conclusion I’ve been able to draw is that, because I was not treating them with an appropriate level of importance, they could fall by the wayside. That’s a mistake I see too many people making — just going through the motions with their ancillary enterprises. The mentality shift that structure brings to your life and business will help you from a motivational perspective, because you’ve brought something to life in a more dimensional way. I liken it to a child: It requires comprehensive nurture and care, otherwise it won’t thrive or prosper. 4. You’ll focus on passion, not just outcome Mostly, I hear side hustles referred to as nothing more than means to a financial end, which is another mentality shift that turning yours into a real business will engender. There’s an old adage from Mark Twain that reads, “Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” If you’re truly into your business and love what you do, it’s imperative that you set it up properly, so you can focus on using all your energy to help further its broader purpose… something beyond the financials that it looks to achieve. Every business and business owner has a mission, whether they acknowledge it at the onset or not. 5. You’ll be in a better position to sell Investors, whether of the institutional type or those of smaller caliber, are rarely going to stake money in a side enterprise. Investors both large and small want to be able to conduct a level of due diligence before they invest any level of capital, and if your business isn’t structured appropriately, you’ll find it hard to come by that extra money. And beyond investing is the opportunity to cash out on all of your hard-work in the form of selling. The same principles apply here: You want to make sure you’re structured in a way that allows potential buyers to realize the true value of what you’ve built. A side hustle in most cases just isn’t appealing on the same level, unless it’s a unicorn of sorts, and we know those are far and few between. Source: entrepreneur.com
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If you’re an entrepreneur like me, the scenario of employees asking for a pay raise sounds familiar right? Well, the complete opposite happened to me right when Covid-19 hit. It wasn’t just one or two employees. It was a line-up of employees asking for a pay deduction. Right outside my office in the morning! Grateful yet shocked, I asked, “Why would you do that?” “We don’t need the money as much as some of these people do,” they said firmly. They just wanted to make sure that all employees had enough to pay their bills and that the business would stay strong through the pandemic. That wasn’t just a moving moment for me. It’s a leadership lesson that I’ll never forget as the founder of a 400-employee, $100M+ business: Culture is at the heart of your business. Now, I know that culture is often thrown around as a buzzword. Here’s how I define culture: Show people that you care. Show them that there's love. That you’re looking out for them. That you will go out of your way to help them. Want to show your employees that you care? Here are a few of our tested and proven ways. 1. Pay 10% better than your competitors. I learned the 10% rule from a multimillionaire who owns car dealerships, an industry that has a high turnover rate. That’s how he has attracted amazing people to work with him and stay with him. Now, why is that important? Based on our years of hiring and training, we’ve found that great employees get more done and become advocates for your business. Here’s the thing: A-players have loads of options. They are usually in a job they’re happy with and/or they have a few offers on the backburner. The most direct way to show that you mean serious business is paying above market rate, or better than your competitors. People want to know that you acknowledge them for the quality of their work or talents. As I’m writing this article, I verified this with Adam, my COO: We actually pay more than 10%, and it goes way up for high achievers who want to increase their income (with performance pay and incentives.) 2. Forget about meetings. Do 1-on-1s with your employees instead. Team meetings still have their place. But the real winner for me has been 1-on-1 sessions with our employees. Even with 400 employees, I still do 1-on-1s! It’s how you connect with your people on a much deeper level. I’m currently planning to take an hour each day to reach out to 15 employees — roughly 75 calls per week — so that I can celebrate them for their work. It’s as simple as saying “I’ve only got three minutes, but I just want to let you know that this stuff that you’re doing is standing out to me!” Of course, this needs to be a company-wide effort. Every month, we do 1-on-1 goal-setting sessions, so that we make sure each employee is performing according to their KPIs and has the support they need to succeed. Now, how do you do this systematically as your business scales like ours? You don’t need a U.S. memory champion’s brain. You just need a CRM to keep track of employee performance. 3. Focus on continuous training, not just one-time training. Most companies train their new hires intensively for the first week to a month and then they just leave their hires to figure things out. In other words, they do sporadic or, worse still, zero training. And that’s a tragedy! Why? Having trained several hundred technicians who have made thousands of sales, here’s why I put so much importance on continuous training: The better you train, the less likely fires will happen in your business, and the longer your best employees will stay. And remember, it costs a lot more money to hire a new employee than to keep an existing one. Especially if they are an A-player! To train your employees continuously, here’s what you can offer: • Operating manuals and checklists: These go hand-in-hand to make sure that your employees know what to do and how to do things every single time. If you want to scale, your entire business needs to be able to deliver quality consistently. • Group training sessions: Every morning, we do what we call a Morning Mojo call, where we align on priorities, roleplay different sales strategies and celebrate wins as a team. For your employees, paying better, doing 1-on-1s and continuous training all point toward one thing: recognition. Culture is ultimately about creating a structure for your employees to succeed and to be recognized for their successes. Every single day! After all, most of us spend over eight hours a day at work. We might as well work with people who genuinely care about us. And that’s what I said to my employees that day: “We’re gonna make it through this. We’re a family. We’re gonna stick together.” Source: forbes.com Image: Getty
While some entrepreneurs are content with one business under their belts, there are many others who run two, three or even several businesses all at once. Some business owners are simply brimming with ideas and, at some point, they may find themselves itching to launch their next venture. Others see success in their first business and want to replicate it. If you're contemplating serial entrepreneurship, it's important to make sure you're up for the challenge. To help you make this decision, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss some clear signs that you may be ready to get your next business off the ground. 1. You Feel An Exciting Sense Of Curiosity With my background in music composition, I'm always full of ideas. I see the world as a symphony, and I love coming up with new business ideas to make life a little more beautiful and worthwhile. My instinct is to create and develop new solutions in the form of products and services that resonate with people. Once an entrepreneur begins to feel such an exciting sense of creativity or curiosity, it is a sign that they may be ready for the next business venture. While I always create a responsible business plan with metrics, profits, etc., I let my sense of creativity and curiosity inspire me. While my background in music inspires me, all entrepreneurs should be in tune with what inspires them to take the next step in their lives. - Shu Saito, SpiroPure 2. You're Able To Delegate Successfully You're only one person, and there are only so many hours in a day. As such, you need to learn how to effectively hire. After you've made key hires, you need to learn how to delegate the work to that talent. For example, if you don't excel at recognizing talent, make your first hire a hiring manager! Next, you need to be able to train employees to do what you do and to hire those who can do what you can't. Being a business owner is complex. It's more than just hard work and talent. You have to check your ego at the door, learn to fail forward and further support those who work for you when they fail. Master these skills and the number of successful businesses you can start is unlimited! - Bill Mulholland, ARC Relocation 3. Your Stress Levels Are Low How's your stress level? Another business means another task that will eat up your time and drain your energy. It is very stressful because it is yet another pressure that will only add on to your day-to-day life challenges. You might even end up having some issues with some of your businesses if you aren’t able to handle all the tasks. - Daisy Jing, Banish 4. You Have Existing Resources You Can Leverage Can you use existing resources to give yourself a head start? Whether it's capital, staff, marketing channels or partnerships, the fastest way to accelerate the growth of any new business is by utilizing existing resources you already have access to. Of course, it's important that your primary business already runs smoothly. But if that's the case, then you can tap your team to expand into a new category entirely. You'll be able to quickly accelerate momentum and sales with the new company since you already have shortcuts to success available at your disposal. - Firas Kittaneh, Amerisleep Mattress 5. You Have Unfulfilled Passion I suggest starting a second business if you have a passion that remains unfulfilled. If there's an obvious opening in the market, and you have the passion and resources, why wouldn't you pursue this dream? I think we all need to feel comfortable pursuing our interests, especially if there's an idea for a new business in the mix. So, sit back and think about what you would like to pursue next. Now, think about various pain points and gaps that you're experiencing as a consumer in this industry. If you can resolve these issues for consumers, you can take this information and eventually turn it into an engaging, profitable business. - John Turner, SeedProd LLC 6. You've Met Your Goals Once an entrepreneur sets clear metrics and has met their goals, it could be time to move on to another venture. The metrics I’ve set for when the time is right for me to start another business are based on topline revenues, profit margins, a full organization chart with staff following processes 90% of the time or more, working myself out of 80% of the roles in the company and client retention having met our expectations or increased. Many entrepreneurs start businesses before having a clear grasp on their previous business, and this can lead to overwhelm. Starting a new venture and deciding how you will market, what you want said company to look like and how you’ll staff up takes diligent effort and dedication. - Libby Rothschild, Dietitian Boss 7. You're Ready To Try Out A New Market Something that can drive entrepreneurs to start new businesses is feeling like they haven't achieved what they wanted with the current business. If a business owner feels like there's no room for creativity or if they want to tackle a new market, then starting a new venture might be the key to making positive changes. Negative experiences and dissatisfaction can also be powerful motivators to start new businesses. - Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner 8. Your First Business Is Self-Sustainable There's an analogy where, when you plant a seed, you have to tend to it very carefully until its roots grow deep and it has a sturdy trunk. Then, the tree can grow on its own without any additional help. Businesses can work this way. Ask yourself if your business is thriving without you being hands-on all the time. Are your workflows in place? Do you have protocols for major issues? If things are running smoothly, you know you can step away and start another business, or even two. - Blair Williams, MemberPress 9. You Have Extra Income And Time You could decide it's time to start your next venture if you have extra disposable income and time. If your first business is a success, and you're raking in cash basically on autopilot, it may be time to dip your foot into a new industry. You should consider transitioning some of your core team over to the new product so you can keep the same commitment to excellence intact across all of your brands. - John Brackett, Smash Balloon LLC Source: forbes.com
A bright shiny New Year brings optimism and excitement around new opportunities. New Year’s resolutions often include significant career planning or changes that might include starting something of your own. But news stories about the economy, the supply chain and lingering COVID strains can put a damper on that excitement. Before diving headfirst into a new business or shying away from your dream of entrepreneurship there are considerations to take into account. There will always be reasons not to start a new venture, but calculated risks are deep in the bone marrow of any true entrepreneur. What’s critical at the outset is assessing the risks and knowing the difference between death threats and challenges that scream for an opportunistic soul to stare them down. Before moving forward with that big idea, approach the potential new venture in a methodical fashion. Get your house in order Conduct an audit of your life to determine if you have the time, space, money and moral support to charge ahead.
Assess the risks associated with your business idea and make sure you can tolerate the risks. It is one thing to invest funds to grow a business, another altogether to carelessly throw money out the window at what could be an expensive hobby. Scan the marketplace
Test your concept on those you trust in your inner circle. Then test your concept on some strangers. Your inner circle will tell you all the positives because they love you; strangers will tell you the truth. You need to hear both. Document the feedback to refer to later as you develop the concept into reality. Evaluate current events
Creating a business requires creativity, tenacity and courage. Attacking these potential challenges and sorting out deal -killers from mere obstacles will put you at the head of the class for this year’s new entrepreneurs. Every founder should be dreaming big. Don’t let pessimists, the economy or the weather or anything else drag you down, because after all, you are an entrepreneur which means you are bold, fearless (mostly!) and resilient. Entrepreneurship is not for wimps. It is for strong, bold, capable you, so prepare well and go for it. Source: entrepreneur.com
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