I saw these questions asked in a particular forum and decided to share my thoughts on how I will approach the topic of starting a side hustle. Here are my random thoughts
What traits or skills do you need to be able to turn a passion into a profit?
1- A desire to make a difference-Trisha and I were tired of the false narrative we were seeing online about Grenada and wanted to do something about it. So we created I Am Grenadian
2- The ability to not focus on the profits- if you’re able to focus on making a difference, as small as it is, the profit will eventually come. We spent one year building the I Am Grenadian brand before we started thinking about monetizing.
3- Entrepreneurial thinking- You don’t have to be an entrepreneur to start something, you will become an entrepreneur in the process. However, the ability to think like an entrepreneur will be vital.
4- Don’t be too romantically link to your first idea or prototype of what your side hustle can be- When we started I Am Grenadian we wanted to create a platform where Grenadians can sign up and publish articles, kind of like Medium. But quickly realized that people were not interested in that much, so we had to squash that idea and pivot. The ability to pivot will be crucial to your build your side hustle.
How do you know when you have the right passion to turn it into a side hustle?
Ask yourself
1- is it something people come to you about because they consider you a subject matter expert?- When I decided to launched my digital agency, I knew I was onto something because many of my business friends came to me for advice and coaching about their social media presence.
2- Is this passion marketable? Is there anyone else out there with the same or similar passion and making money. Prove the market by conducting a simple google search. Sometimes, passion alone is not enough.
3- Do you have the time to dedicate?- You may try turning your passion into a side hustle, but this can take some time, do you have the time to invest to make this work? Consistency is critical, especially today in a technologically charged world.
What’s the first step of turning your passion into a side job?
1- Going back to my last response, ask yourself, is your passion marketable?
2- Who is currently paying for this passion of yours and where are they paying attention?
3-Build your brand with a focus on your passion- with a strong personal brand, it becomes easy to get support when launching anything.
How do you know if you have the components need to make a successful side gig?
I think this is all about going out and execute on your passion and your side hustle. If you were to wait until you think you have everything in place, you might never execute. However, some basic things can help such as having a website, social media presence (Only on platforms where your audience is hanging out). When we started IamGrenadian, we started with a Facebook page, and once we grew that page to over 10,000 fans, we started adding in other things like websites, etc.
What tools can you use to help you with your side hustle?
A website, marketing funnel, email service provider, the ability to create content at scale for social are some basics; these are what I had when I launched my side hustle. However, based on your side hustle, there may be other tools that you will require. However, it won’t be anything you cant find with a simple google search.
What steps do you need to take?
Just start, there isn’t one way to launch your side hustle that’s universal. What will work for one person may not work for you. This is why I am launching a new entrepreneur’s series called “How They Did It” where I will interview entrepreneurs about how they did their business.
Get a mentor, research your existing market, confirm they are willing to pay for what you are offering, execute, pivot.
Any advice on how to be successful in turning a profit?
1- Don’t attempt to monetize immediately if possible- With IamGrenadian, we built a community or raving fans and a brand first. So when it was time to monetize, we had people who loved us and was willing to pay for what we were offering. (We started with IamGrenadian T-shirts)
2- Use Facebook/Instagram ads- It’s the cheapest and most targeted form of advertising- when it came time to sell our iamGrenadian Apparels, the bulk of our sales came from ads we were running.
3- Invest in Instagram Micro-influencers if that works for you- We had people with a few thousand loyal followers wearing our apparels, and those were driving sales, and in many cases, all we gave were free products.