This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Coming up on the podcast today, we're gonna hear from Marcus. He's from Philadelphia. He jumped into the world of drop shipping. And so far it has not been an amazing success. Now this is Not Failure Friday.
It's a regular episode, episode 2,467 of Side Hustle School. I'm your host, Chris Guillebeau. So it's Not Failure Friday, but Marcus is struggling a bit. Sales aren't growing like he expected. And he's starting to wonder if it's time to pivot or quit.
Now this is a common dilemma. We're always constantly choosing how do we spend our time? What do we focus on? There's so many different ideas and opportunities out there. You know, how do we make these decisions?
And when do we back away from something versus doubling down on it? So let's see if we can help Marcus and maybe somebody else out there. Should I quit my drop ship hustle? Should I do more with it? Should I do something else?
When is a side hustle, just not a viable detailed question from Marcus and my answer coming up in just 30 seconds. [Music]
Hi, my name is Marcus and I'm reaching out from Philadelphia. I recently started a drop shipping business after watching some videos on Amazon. But to be honest, I haven't seen the growth I was expecting. I've invested a lot of time and some money into it, but I think I made the wrong choice.
Are there any red flags I should be looking for that indicate it's time to pivot or quit? [Music]
Marcus, it sounds like you are at a crossroads with this drop shipping business. Well, first of all, don't beat yourself up. You know, I think it's actually really good to be asking yourself, is this the right time to pivot or quit? I think that's a great question to ask at any time.
You know, even if things are going well, in fact, because sometimes you can kind of plan ahead and say, okay, this is going well, but there's going to be some changes coming up. You know, I could kind of look ahead and see that I don't want to be doing this in three months or six months or whatever. So it's always good to ask. And also when you ask that question, if your answer is like, nope, I'm perfectly happy doing what I'm doing, then that's great too, because then you have the confidence of that and you're not doubting yourself. You're like, I'm on the right track.
So always a great question to ask. I think what you want to do, if it's like a situation where you're having some doubts specifically because it's not working, then you want to think about some red flags or just signs, you know, that it might be time to actually make that change. So number one is financial drain. If it's not profitable, if there's no path to profitability, you know, if it's just not working, as I said, that's the first and foremost, you know, your side hustle is not a hobby. It's not just a passion.
I mean, it can be a passion. It can be something you do for fun, but it should also make money. That is a key point, a side hustle is an income generating project. If it's not generating income, then you need to figure out something else. And it's okay, as I said, it's okay, but you need to figure something else out.
Next, consider your time and emotional costs. So Marcus, in his case, he talked about, he's spending a lot of time, which is pretty common with drop shipping. Like you need to kind of do a lot of market research, learn a lot along the way. These are valuable skills that can serve you well, you know, for other stuff. So it's not a bad investment at all, but you know, if you have invested a lot of time already and it's still not working as mentioned, that's another warning sign.
And then let's go back to passion 'cause I did use that word. How invested are you emotionally? Like if you have lost the spark or enthusiasm, that is a major red flag, I think, just as important as the question of profitability, because life is short, right? There's so many things that we could be doing with our time, especially like anybody who's listening, you know, like myself, we're relatively privileged. Like we have the ability to make certain choices in life.
We have some autonomy and that's wonderful. It's wonderful, it is remarkable. And so we need to put it to good use. And so once you start thinking, am I doing, you know, is this project, does it have legs? Like, should I keep going?
Often it is a sign that it's time to make a change or at least start thinking about a change. So Marcus, I offer that to you freely, obviously take what sits well, ignore anything that doesn't, you got to make your own choices, but I'm cheering you on and listeners, wherever you are in the world, whatever you're up to, I am cheering you on as well. It's been so fun to be on book tour and hear so many stories from folks. So it just kind of gave me a lot of energy for making the podcast over the next few months, different conversations I want to have. So I hope you'll continue to listen.
It's all completely free, of course. New episode every day. My name's Chris Guillebeau. You're listening to Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
