The honest truth about starting any business, whether it’s full-time or a side business, is that it takes a lot of hard work. You’re going to have setbacks…you’re going to have moments where things are going right…you’re going to have moments of burnout…but you’re also going to have moments of “wow, this is going great!”.
Entrepreneurship is a rollercoaster ride.
Just know that. You aren’t abnormal if you are feeling high’s and low’s. It also takes daily effort. In fact, create a habit out of daily effort. Whether it be 30 minutes of work or 2 hours of work, just make it a habit of working on your business every day. The compound effect of seemingly small amounts of work over time is incredible. Dan Hardy has a great book about this.
Over my 10+ years of trying to make money on the side, I’ve had some big wins and I’ve had some big failures. Before WPamplify, my current side business, I was doing affiliate marketing and doing extremely well. And then it blew up in my face because of several reasons, the main 2 reasons being Google’s clamp down on affiliates buying advertising on Adwords…and an influx of competition that I didn’t react quick enough to.
And then I created an eCommerce website that ended up making me 4 figures per month and I eventually sold it for 5 figures because I couldn’t keep up with the manufacturer’s constant backorders.
But there are also probably a half dozen affiliate sites I’ve created that flopped. And a few eCommerce sites I created that never made a single sale.
What does it really take?
It takes ambition and motivation that doesn’t fizzle out at the first sign of things getting hard. It takes learning from your failures and trying not to make the same mistake twice.
And being you have a full-time job, it takes sacrifice. Are you willing to put in the hours before and/or after work? As I’m typing this, it’s 6:30am on a Tuesday morning. At 7:30, I will get in the shower and then head to work. When I get home, I’ll spend time with my family and eat dinner, but then the laptop gets fired up again around 9pm.
I try to maintain this schedule every day. On the weekend, I definitely put in some hours, but it’s less structured. Actually, I’ve recently mixed things up. In the morning I have a routine of writing for this blog, maintaining a journal which includes what I’m grateful for, and exercising. And then I head to work and do my best to make solid daily progress there. And then at night I work on WPamplify.
I know this sounds like a lot of work, but that’s because it is. Now maybe I’m not the most time-efficient person in the world…I’m definitely obsessive…and you might be able to get away with just putting in a couple of hours after work and that’s fine to avoid burnout. Whatever works for you. The important thing is making it an almost daily habit of continuous movement towards your goal of making your side business successful.
Also expect to pivot.
When I first started my side business, it was called Website Booster Shot. My original idea was to offer small businesses a one-time SEO optimization. I quickly realized that a monthly subscription model is much better and ultimately more effective for my clients.
And then 2 years later I realized I was working on a lot of WordPress websites and I enjoyed it. So I pivoted again with a completely new brand to focus on optimizing small business WordPress websites. Don’t be afraid to pivot. It’s very likely your first idea will change over time and that’s OK. You test, learn, optimize and improve.
How do you know you’re heading in the right direction?
Well, over time you build up gut intuition that is surprisingly awesome. But you also have to pivot in response to data and what you’ve learned. And then once you pivot, what are the results? Ultimately, results tell you what you need to know. Meaning, are you getting more leads and clients? Are you providing a better service to your clients? And so forth.
Burnout
One last point I want to address is burnout. Yes, it happens. It definitely happens to me. In fact, I just went through it. What I find helpful…and this might be different for you…is I just unplug for a full day and get a good night’s sleep of 8-9 hours. Usually this cures the burnout. I also exercise almost everyday to keep my body strong.
But like I said, what works for me, might not work for you. Once you get in the trenches, you’ll figure out what’s best for you. Being that you’re reading my blog, you’ve already qualified yourself as someone that is interested in starting a side business and takes action…keep moving forward!
