This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Not every side hustle takes off right away. Not every new small business is an overnight success. A lot of them may take a year or more to stabilize, but a slow start, if that's the case, is not necessarily failure, it is information. And the real issue isn't just profit, like how much money is coming in, how much you're actually making. It is what matters most to the creator in terms of creative satisfaction, extra income or a path to replacing a job.
Of course, you do wanna pay attention to some business metrics as well. So in today's listener question, we've got someone who wants to know if their slow start is normal or a warning sign that another idea might be better. And I think this is a key decision to make. So not every slow start is abnormal, but sometimes it's good as well to redirect or pivot. So let's give them a couple of things they can do, or a couple of tips to decide whether to double down, redesign, or walk away.
Thanks for tuning in today. Detailed question from our listener and my answer coming right up. [Music]
Hey there, this is Renna calling in after listening to many episodes and learning along the way. I've been crafting for a while and I spend nights knitting quirky pet sweaters and selling them on Etsy. After eight months on the marketplace, I've netted about $600 total.
And my spouse says the time might be better spent on freelance work that pays immediately. Part of me thinks every business needs a slow burn. Another part worries I'm ignoring solid feedback. How do you tell the difference between healthy persistence and stubborn denial, especially when the person questioning you is someone you trust? [Music]
So before we talk about the metrics, I think it's important to name your primary motivation.
A side hustle can exist for a lot of different reasons. Not everybody is trying to get rich or quit their job and such. So maybe just first of all, like answer this sentence, I'm doing this because, or I'm doing this too, and then fill in the blank. So if your answer is to express creativity and relax, well, you may already be winning. So just call it a hobby and remove the pressure to make money or to make more money.
And if your blank, or if your answer is to earn meaningful side income, well, that's where we need those metrics. And that's where we need some profit targets. You can also enjoy that process. It's not meant to be like this is something you enjoy versus this is something you don't enjoy. But I think there's a way to enjoy it and for it to be profitable.
So if that is your goal, maybe some honest answers here, honest numbers. If you are spending 200 hours and you're making $600 from it, that's $3 an hour. And let's not shame that. Let's just say that's our baseline. Okay, we're gonna try to do better than that.
What is the constraint? What is the constraint that is limiting the hourly income? Look at your stats. Are you lacking traffic? Like few people are coming to the listings.
What about conversion? People are looking, but not buying. What about margin? Which is where you're selling, but it's under priced and time heavy. So pick one of these things, pick one of these things and work on it.
Design a little 30 day experiment that is tied to your goal. Maybe you need to list eight new designs. Maybe you need to raise your price 30%. Maybe you need to switch to made to order so you're not pre-knitting things. I don't know, maybe you need to do more marketing and post two short videos per week.
Whatever it is, you're tying your goal to that metric. And let's say your target is, okay, I need to make $1,000 in net profit at fewer than X hours per week, whatever that looks like to you. Maybe share that plan with your spouse since your spouse is part of the conversation here so that they see structure, not just hope, but also the decision is yours. So let's just be clear about that. Emphasize that the decision is yours.
You can do whatever you want with your time, right? And I think it's good to protect your energy, limit your weekly hours, you know, six to eight maybe in this situation. If you have hit the profit per hour target, you have earned the right to continue. If you miss it, you decide, okay, maybe I will pivot. I will sell some digital knitting patterns.
I will try to license my designs, something else. Or you pause and redirect that time to higher paying freelance work while you keep doing the sweaters as a joy project. There's always more than one way to do things, but I do think it's important to have clarity about your goals and to match your actions to your goals as well. And that way, you know, as long as you keep making some progress, you're going to get closer to what you have decided is important to you. And listeners, that is my goal, speaking of goals, that is my goal for you, that you will do more of what is important to you, that you'll have the ability to do that because you have made active decisions and prioritized again what is most important so that you can just keep doing more of that and your life becomes more aligned and integrated.
I think ultimately that's the life mission for a lot of us out there, just to live a more aligned, integrated life, maximize potential and so on. Let me know what you think, of course, sidehustleschool.com. I'm on social media most days as well, yearofmentalhealth.com, 193 countries on Instagram, or just my name, Chris Gillibaux, everywhere else. Complete archives available on the website for download or streaming. New episodes drop wherever you listen to your podcasts.
That's it for now. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
- From the Onward Project.
