What Is A Good Side Hustle? Things You Should Know Before You Start

So you are looking to start up a side hustle eh?

This is indeed some awesome news! You may be looking for some answers to seemingly simple questions about what it's like to set up a productive and profit generating side hustle.

What is a good side hustle?

Can I do this? 

Where do I start?

These are all great questions that I want to cover in this article…. A few notes first.

A good side hustle is built on a solid foundation. This article is not a list of ideas for your hustle. It's a few things to make sure your side hustle is built on a solid foundation.

You are in the right place my friend, I love side hustles. This website is geared towards helping you find yours so you can absolutely CRUSH IT !

 

Let's get going….

In this article I want to go over a few simple, but many times overlooked things about the perfect side hustle. Maybe some of this is common sense. .. Maybe all of it, however one or two things may spark some thought and make your life a little easier.

What Exactly Is A Side Hustle….

It's simple, I like to think of it as a small business that runs in the background of your everyday life. It offers flexibility and allows you to roll on the throttle… Or cut back when needed.

You still go to work and continue on, however when you want to make some extra cash you dive further into your hustle.

Let me give you an example. In my article : Is A Side Hustle The New Job Security? Why A Side Hustle Is A Good Idea

I talk about how a side hustle can help when you need some extra cash for specific things, such as holidays and such.

That is one of the beauties of setting this whole thing up. You can just roll on the throttle and make that money when you need it.

For me I usually start the process when the holidays are approaching. I'm an auto technician by trade and run a large business, however my side hustle is separate. I take work in when I want. My home garage is set up with a lift and all the equipment I need.

 

One Quick Note….

Wait! Let's not go any further, this is another essential thing that can not be overlooked. You need to ask yourself a very important question before we go any further down the side hustle path….

How Much Do You Want To Invest In This?

Depending on what you want to target for your hustle you may need to invest some money into it to get the ball rolling. I suggest getting a number in your head that is realistic and contains no debt.

This way you have a clear goal of what you need to put away to get started. If your hustle requires no spending that's even better.

Just keep in mind there may need to be an investment here to start. 

For example, I set my garage up to handle pretty much any job that I want to do at home. This did take some substantial investment on my part.

You need to decide how much you want to invest from the get go and let the hustle…NOT YOU pay for equipment as you need it to expand.

The reality is, the more you invest into your side hustle the more you will make. The more you make, the more you will be thinking of going all in full time for yourself!

If you are starting to make money it is very wise to reinvest some portion of it back into the business.

 

One Quick Note…. Taxes

Anytime you start to make side income there is a chance you can get into some hot water if you don't give uncle sam his cut. I do not know your situation where you are but just keep in mind that at some point you may want to set up an LLC to get your taxes in order.

Money that you make on the side should be your spending money if you are just going to stay at a lighter level. Unless you set up a legit business and claim the income I would not deposit money into your accounts.

I will be covering more on this shortly, however this article is not the place. Comment below if you want me to cover this.

Moving on….

With A Side Hustle Comes Choice

If there is a job that is too involved or I simply don't want to do it… I don't. That is the beauty of the side hustle.

“A side hustle is a flexible business model that allows you to control time and work flow.”

Would you start business, invest your life savings into it, and start cutting out twice a week because you want to sleep in?

(I hope not)

This my friend is the essence of the side hustle…. Choices…. You can cut out when you want…

Understand There Are Different Side Hustles.

 

By this I mean different commitment levels and “comfort zones.” Anything that you do you need to stand behind to be successful. This means the more you take on the more you are responsible for.

When I work on someone's car at the house I don't have the same legal protection I have at the actual shop. This is very important to understand.

You Are Responsible If Things Go Wrong…

I can't stress this enough…YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR WORK! One thing about this hustle thing is, depending on what kind of work you are doing for people you may be taking on high liability.

Even if you are just mowing a few lawns there is always a chance something can happen. Maybe you hit a rock and it breaks a window or something. It can happen…

You Will Be On The Hook….

I don't want to sound like negative Nancy here, however the fact is you need to decide how much risk you want to take as far as liability.

I do some work on cars at the house, I am a professional technician with over 20 years under my belt…. But things do happen. If I leave something loose or an engine blows right after I work on it guess what?

It's on me, there is no safety net. All I am trying to convey here is keep in mind how much liability you want to take on before you start your hustle.

One way to start a hustle without really any risk is online...

You can start your own website in a matter of minutes to get started. There is no worry about getting sued if someone gets hurt ….Hopefully 🙂

 

Start To Narrow Down Your Side Hustle.

Now that we have an idea of how much liability and stress we want to take on, let's talk a little about what you are going to start doing.

The first step here is pretty obvious. What do you like?

This seems like a very broad question, however this should be your starting point… Ask yourself

• What am I good at?
• What do I do full time now? Can I branch out?
• Do I have the equipment to get started?
• How serious am I going to take this thing?

These are all legit questions you need to ask yourself… Maybe you just want to make a few hundo on E bay a month, or maybe you want to see how far you can take this thing. The point here is you need to be realistic with what you expect to gain from your new endeavor.

These questions will really help you decide where you want to start.

 

Where To Go From Here?

Grab a pen and paper and list out a few ideas that you have, things you are good at, things you like to do. As soon as you have an idea of WHAT you want to do the next thing would be finding out what it's worth.

 

 

I REPEAT…find out what it's worth!

There is no reason to start this thing if you are going to work for nothing. I have had the problem before. You under value yourself and end up doing work for next to nothing.

This is a very bad habit… If you feel bad about charging a fair price for your service… You are going to have a hard time with your side hustle, business, or just in plain life in general.

Drop the false notion that it's wrong to get payed for your work. It's a toxic bed fellow that will take from you and make you resent trying to side hustle at all.

TRUST ME…

Now that we have some idea of what to charge for our service, it's time to get started. If you are selling on E bay, start finding products that you want to sell…. If there is a service involved in your hustle get the equipment you need, start with the most essential and get by for now with what you can.

One mistake I made in the beginning was trying to buy everything at once. Pace yourself and buy new pieces of equipment or whatever it is you need after a few jobs…AND PAY CASH !!!

DO NOT CHARGE OR BORROW TO START YOUR SIDE HUSTLE!

Take it one job at a time and keep out of debt. If you need a new lawnmower pay cash and work hard to replace that money. This will ensure that you will be able to “roll back” when you want.

Once you lose the advantage of having no debt you need to work to pay off the stuff you bought to get started.

Guess what? … At that moment you have debt you have lost the essence of the hustle, you are now in debt and the stakes have changed.

Just Get Started!

Get out there and start putting your hobbies and skills to work for you! Drop the fear of business and get moving!

There is never a “perfect” time, it does not exist. People that are successful are just as uncomfortable as you when doing side work. Heck there're some jobs that I am nervous as hell about but when I am done I'm glad I took them in.

On the way to the bank I'm even gladder… Is that a word? Who cares?

 

The bottom line is simple…

• Find what you are good at
• Decide how much you want to take on
• Find out what it's worth
• Set goals
• Get out there and start!
• Do the best work possible to get your name out there
• Invest cash slowly back in
• Succeed!

What is a good side hustle? The one that is built on a solid foundation!

I will be going over much more in detail about side hustles and making money here on Luminous Outlook. In the meantime start here and start thinking about some of these key points.

I encourage you to find your perfect side hustle…. Thanks for reading!