Turn your side hustle into full-time business

Ms Catherine Nabbosa (left) explains to one of her customers about a hibiscus product she manufactures. PHOTO BY MICHAEL KAKUMIRIZI

What you need to know:

  • Many people have started side hustles to generate an extra source of income. Waceke Nduati Omanga gives tips on how you can make a side hustle the main source of your income.
  • Not a mental commitment, but an actual step that tells you that this is not just going to remain a side hustle, this is something you are willing to take seriously.
  • Over half of the people in the group I was speaking to had a side hustle. For some of them, the intention was for the side hustle to remain as is. Something that gives a little bit of income (on the side). However, some of them helped me coin the title of this article. They wanted the side hustle to become their main hustle

Can your side hustle become a fully-fledged business? I recently asked a group I was talking to, about 60 people, how many of them have side hustles.
A side hustle is a business people run while concurrently doing something else. The something else in many cases is a full-time job, so you operate your side hustle after working hours and on weekends. Or rather, that is what all employers would like to believe. Most probably you sneak in a few logistical phone calls, emails, meetings, etc, on your employer’s time and dime.
The something else could be that you are in university or are a stay-at-home parent.
Over half of the people in the group I was speaking to had a side hustle. For some of them, the intention was for the side hustle to remain as is. Something that gives a little bit of income (on the side). However, some of them helped me coin the title of this article. They wanted the side hustle to become their main hustle. That is, to move from just generating some extra income to actually becoming their main source of livelihood and main use of their time.

Operating travel agency
Many people have done this. One of them is Rosemary. Rosemary is now operating her own travel agency full-time. Until six months ago, she was a relationship manager at a bank.
Rosemary was very good at her job, particularly because of her natural relationship building abilities. She is one of those people who simply like being around others.

Her side hustle started by planning the annual holiday for her family. Every year, the extended family would travel to different locations during the December holiday.

I think you can agree that someone who can put five nuclear families together, get them to agree on location, book flights or transport for all of them, get them to pay and finally get them to the destination, without going crazy must have a gift.

She consequently started doing this for friends and colleagues until the time came when she decided to make this her main hustle. So how did Rosemary know that it was time to make this transition? How do you get to do the same thing with yours? Here are some insights Rosemary gave me.

Many people are waiting for their side business to be able to earn them the same amount of money as their current job. It does not usually happen that way, and if that is what you are waiting for, you are in for a long wait.
Think about it, at the moment you spend a lot more time at your job. Your business needs just as much time to be able to have any chance of making you the same amount of money.

But do not quit your job blindly. Instead, get to the point where you can tell that it is now time to take your business to the next level. Rosemary did not quit her job because she did a fantastic job for her relatives. She left when she started getting people paying her to do the planning for them. This gave her reason to believe that it could actually work.
As the demand for her services through these networks increased, she realised that she could not do a good job for her potential clients if she did not dedicate herself to it. And if she tried to, it would compromise her performance at work. It became clear that it was one or the other.

She did not, however, wait to get enough clients to pay her the same amount of money she was earning. She also started noticing that her mind was now usually caught up thinking about her side hustle.
It now became the thing that was giving her sleepless nights. It is what she now noticed information about. In essence, she became more passionate about this and she yearned to be able to express that fully.

HOW TO START SERIOUS BUSINESS

It simply started disturbing her that she was not able to spend more time on this. If you are serious about turning your side hustle into your main economic activity, make a commitment to it.
Not a mental commitment, but an actual step that tells you that this is not just going to remain a side hustle, this is something you are willing to take seriously.
Rosemary did this by hiring an employee before quitting her full-time job. Steps like those change how you think about your side hustle. Rosemary hired someone because while she was at her main gig, she needed someone to respond to emails and phone calls, collect cheques from clients, etc. Moreover, getting another person on board made her start seeing her side hustle as a serious business, rather than something she was dabbling in on the side.
It was no longer enough to get a few extra coins from it; now her business had to make enough money to pay her worker a basic salary and to cater for operating expenses. It is like moving from wanting a child to actually having a child in the house. It makes you start to think differently and to choose your priorities and allocate your time and money differently. Rosemary no longer had the luxury of her side hustle generating income sometimes; it now had to make money full-time. She now had to be purposeful about running the business. Others have gone through this motion by setting up an office, even if it is just a small one.

Lastly, do not wait until you are not feeling afraid to take the leap. Even if all the right boxes are checked, you will still feel scared. There are no guarantees that it will work, but there are also no guarantees that it will not work. Rosemary asked herself: I’m feeling afraid, but what will I regret more? Not doing it and staying comfortable at her job wondering what could have been or taking the leap, uncomfortable as it was, stumbling along the way, but getting to discover what could become of her gift and passion? She chose the latter and it has made all the difference.
If everything I’ve written today resonates with you, perhaps it is time to move your side hustle into the big league.

Waceke runs an entrepreneurship programme at Centonomy. Talk to her on [email protected]. Twitter @cekenduati