This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
What's up? Welcome to side hustle school. So glad you're out there. My name is Chris Guillebeau. I am fortunate to bring you these daily stories, questions and answers, interaction for our community of amazing listeners who are all trying to do something for themselves.
Start a little business without quitting their job. Start a little business without spending a lot of money. Just do something to increase their financial security because of course that allows us to do so much more. It's ultimately not about money, at least that's not the end goal, but money is a tool that allows us to have more freedom. So today we're gonna talk about, we got a question here from a listener who grew a side hustle to a full-time business.
So naturally, well, first of all, good for her, but naturally now she wants to start another hustle. That's what you do. Even entrepreneurs have side hustles. Is this new side hustle, this new business, is it gonna be completely new or an expansion of what she's already been doing? That's what she's trying to figure out in terms of the branding, the positioning, et cetera.
So what are the factors to consider when you're making that kind of decision? I will give you four of them in response to this listener's question. So stay tuned, here's a message from our sponsor and then should I start a new business or expand my current one? [Music]
Hi Chris, this is Jenny from Iowa. I've been listening to your show for a long time and I'm currently reading 100 side hustles.
Thank you for this opportunity to participate in your new Q&A series. I'm a marketing consultant which is actually a side hustle that turned full-time for me a few years ago. I'd like to launch a second business or a new product line under my current business. What I'm working on launching is a trade show marketing kit for exhibitors at agriculture trade shows in the US and Canada. I'll offer a variety of kits at multiple price points and my target customers will be small to mid-size companies that are either just getting started or that are wanting to improve their trade show booth design.
I've worked in the agriculture industry for 15 years so I know there's a market for kits like these. My trade show marketing kits will include designs for printed and digital collateral and I'll sell them through an online store with digital delivery. My current consulting business is pretty well established within a small circle of agriculture companies but I also have several clients in other industries. So my question is this. Do you think I should offer my trade show marketing kits under my current business or should I start fresh and launch them under a new company?
Thank you and have a great day. [Music]
Hey Jenny, thank you so much for listening. Congratulations on that first business you built and congratulations for thinking about what comes next. That's always a good thing. So let's talk about this question in the context of how it might help somebody else which is always my goal here, just kind of learning by proxy.
So how might you make this decision? I think the good news is there's not really a right or wrong way because clearly some businesses have more than one division or product line, some big businesses even are doing completely unrelated things, right? Now we're not talking about big businesses, we're talking about real people but even in the case of just solopreneurs or sole proprietors, often they have a business that has more than one division or product line or they have two completely separate distinct businesses. So there's not a right way or wrong way to do it but here are four factors to consider when you're trying to make that decision and this might kind of guide the process. So factor number one is the similarity in market.
How different is the new offering? And does it serve a completely different group of people? Now in Jenny's case, it seems like the answer is it's quite different. It does serve an entirely different group of people. She says her target customers will be small to mid-sized companies that are wanting to improve their trade show booth design which is substantially different from the agricultural consulting that she is doing now.
Okay, now second factor is customer language which closely connects to that first one. How will you communicate with this target group? So if you're selling to a completely different group of people, they might use totally different language. Now that's gonna factor into your branding, your messaging, your website, copy, all that kind of stuff. So the more different it is, the more the answer might be, this should be its own independent thing.
Factor number three is income. This is gonna be estimated or projected 'cause it's a new thing. We're not quite sure what's gonna happen. But to the best of your ability, forecasting, do you think this expansion will be a small addition to your income compared to the original project or might it end up being much more? And your answer to that question might lead you in one direction or another in terms of, do I just make this a division, incorporating it into my existing project or something new?
And the fourth factor is your own capacity. Remember, for Jenny and for everybody out there and for myself as well, like we are all constrained by limited time and energy. And those factors might also influence the choice to do it one way or another. So we could say, well, it might be simpler to keep everything under one roof. Like she's already got some existing assets, design, website, communication tools, et cetera.
Alternatively, given the same constraints with a different project, you might be able to argue and say, well, it's actually simpler the other way because maybe the existing website has a lot of content to maintain, whereas this new project really just needs kind of a static homepage and maybe a sales page or some other information, but it really doesn't actually need a whole lot. So those are the factors to consider. There's no right or wrong answer. In Jenny's case, if I was forced to choose, I would say it probably sounds like this is something totally different. So rather than just thinking of it as an expansion, I would think of it as an all new project.
All right, four factors, similarity in market, customer language, income, projected income, let's say, and your own capacity. Listeners, if you've got a question, come to sidehustleschool.com/questions. We will continue to feature them throughout the year, along with updates from other listeners as they launch, grow, develop, and try out different stuff. This is so much fun for me and I hope you're enjoying it as well. Thank you for being along for the ride.
Much more is coming up. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
