It’s become quite a trend of late: Entrepreneurship.
Add that to the fact that you are a student and a little bit of extra cash goes a long way, it sounds like the dream come true.
University is one of the better times to start up a side-hustle. You have arguably the most freedom you will likely get before getting involved in the 9-5 scheme, and you are surrounded by a whole bunch of aspiring professionals.
There is no shortage of ambition in your immediate surrounding environment.
One couldn’t ask for a more conducive environment to be placed in when looking at building-up a side-hustle.
Besides the benefit of being placed in a conducive environment, there also isn’t necessarily any pressure placed on your shoulders:
1. It’s a side-hustle, not entirely an entrepreneurial venture.
2. You will still be at university to work towards getting your piece of paper.
One of the few downsides to a failed start-up is possibly recovering zero of your start-up costs.
Apart from that though, you’ve got ‘nothing’ to lose.
With ‘being your own boss’ having such an established presence at the moment, the web is overpopulated with ideas for student side hustles, yet not many provide insight on things to consider before launching your side gig.
So that’s exactly what this article is going to aim to accomplish: things to consider before getting your hands dirty with the construction process of your startup.
That said, the first thing you will want to do is
ASK YOURSELF THIS QUESTION
Why do I want to build my side-hustle?
It wouldn’t be a surprise to hear that you have been somewhat influenced by all those countless entrepreneurship gurus across the internet.
But go beyond that, dive deep into your motivations behind wanting to create another income stream for yourself.
If you can successfully outline this question, then you can direct the vision you have for your hustle.
Having a vision is crucial to the success of your goals.
Without vision, you won’t be able to correctly align your goals with the message you want for the ‘brand’ to carry forward as well as the atmosphere and feel to it.
Don’t rush this first step. Take all the time you need to get your road-map crystal clear.
But most importantly, by being real with yourself you will quickly be able to determine whether or not you are just jumping on the bandwagon or if you have somewhat ‘purified’ motives behind your drive.
Now that you have your ‘’why’’ mapped out, ask yourself
THE SECOND QUESTION
You’ve got the ‘’why’’ now you’re just missing the what.
What do I mean by ‘’’the what’’?
Your passions.
Figure out what you’re passionate about.
The benefits to syncing your hustle with your passion/s are endless, but the major ones include:
- Being able to accomplish an authentic feel to your gig. Remember what we were saying earlier about ‘purified’ motives?!
- Secondly, when the ‘tough times’ come knocking – and they will – having that innate drive to want to do something will help you keep at it and prosper through the adversity.
- Lastly, if you are passionate about something then it makes sense that you would naturally know a fair bit about your chosen field. Being knowledgeable about a field helps establish credibility and assert your authority within the given field.
Enough questions, now it’s time to start
PLANNING OUT YOUR IDEA
Right off of the bat, you’re going to want to be prepared for a long process.
Like a very, very long process.
Seriously don’t underestimate the time that this step is going to consume.
There is a high likelihood that – if you are ‘really’ planning out your idea to the T – that this section of the job will become frustrating.
This will be because you’re going to feel like you are making zero progress.
But just like we said earlier, don’t rush the process.
This part is going to be the most important because once you do launch, you’re going to hit the ground running.
You won’t want to be playing the chasing game. That will be a one-way ticket straight to taking an ‘’L’’.
Now as frustrating as what this process might become, you will thank yourself once you launch because with launching your gig comes another wave of stresses.
Planning helps to best reduce the stresses you will experience.
Though as important as planning is, just remember that you are not going to put together a flawless plan.
Trying to perfect every little detail is going to eliminate any possibility of actually executing your idea.
Put in the grind and then go with the flow.
One of the first things you might want to consider when planning your idea is it’s
FLEXIBILITY
To win the jackpot you’ll want for your studies and side-hustle to be able to co-exist.
The lesser the demand that your side-hustle places on your studies the better.
Why?
It’s a ‘’side’’ hustle, not an entrepreneurial venture.
We are not looking to start-up a business – at least not immediately – but rather just keep our bank account stimulated.
Also, there are going to be times when you will need to compromise one for the other and you want to be able to do that and not be stuck between a rock & a hard place.
If your idea is proving to not be the most flexible don’t just knock it entirely, play around with the idea and see how you can try and re-angle it to better suit your schedule.
In a different sense of the word – flexibility – you also want to consider the
ADAPTABILITY OF YOUR IDEA
Right now, the world of business is caught up in quite an aggressive period of change.
The business world was inevitably going to shift & change, but COVID-19 has certainly catalyzed the process.
With this in mind, you want to ask yourself if your gig is going to be able to adjust relatively easily or not.
The business world is ‘gradually’ turning a cold shoulder on physical aspects.
It is being re-defined by a digital accent.
How does your side-hustle account for this transition process?
Now that we’re on the topic of adaptability, we need to look at the
FUTURES OF INDUSTRIES
We are living through one of the greatest technological tidal waves that mankind has ever seen.
Anyone or anything that is going to choose to bet against tech will lose.
Technology needs to be embraced.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise to you that this tsunami is going to challenge and drown a fair-few industries.
Be wise in your choice of industry.
The value of clearly defining your industry will help you to accurately plan & execute your marketing strategy.
You will also be able to identify your target market & fellow competitors.
On the topic of competitors though, if you can identify these key figures in your niche then you can use them as lessons to learn from. Find what it is that they do well and then add your signature to the ‘secret’ recipe.
We have already hinted towards the point of establishing the
SHELF-LIFE OF YOUR IDEA
By this, I am not just talking about external factors that will influence the timeline of your hustle.
No no.
Right at the start, we spoke about why figuring out your ‘’why’’ was crucial, because it quickly determines if you are trend-hopping.
If you knowingly go trend-hopping then once your honeymoon period is over, your side hustle will soon crash & burn.
Be honest with yourself about the level of commitment you’re willing to show towards this gig of yours.
And even if you are trend-hopping – like producing face masks for instance – it won’t be successful unless you are committed and put in the work.
Now that you’re ready to get out of the starting blocks, it’s time to
LOOK AT FUNDING
The key realization to come to terms with is that it takes money to make money.
You will need to plug in some capital if you have any hopes of building up your side gig.
But how much is it going to cost?
Well, that’s where the research part comes in.
Start-up funds are not always the easiest to get your hands on, but luckily for you, you would’ve done sufficient planning to be able to confidently pitch your idea to someone else if you need to have some financial help.
Related: Money Making Mindset for Students
THAT’S A WRAP
The world of business is quite exciting. The thrill of the pursuit of making your dreams come true is quite exciting.
I hope that you were able to get some worth out of this and possibly gain a little more insight about things to think about before starting a side hustle.
I WANT TO KNOW FROM YOU:
Why do you want to start a side hustle?
