The side hustle...

I started doing a side hustle in earnest this year....and it's gone surprisingly well.

I was aiming to earn 10k this financial year and it looks like I'm going to get there 6 months in! Not ready to quit my full time job yet but if things keep on going the way I suspect they might I may try to drop a day next year to devote to the side hustle.

Anyone else had a cracking side hustle that they turned into a proper business? If so how did you navigate the change from full time employee to running your own business?

 

Not at the moment, but 12 years ago did exactly this.
Wanted to make an extra $200/week on the side and ended up making a few hundred k that first year. It only got better after that.
Went from side hustle to full time biz in about 1 month due to simply being too busy to keep the previous job.

Keep it going, unlike being employed, business returns are unlimited if you give the market what it wants.

 

Not up to the returns of 'Ace' and 'Hammer' but I started up my blog; anewhouse.com.au. which now makes me around $500 a month for around 2 hours effort a week.

Nice little supplement to my pensions.

 

I have been in the carpet / upholstery cleaning business (partnership) for over 35 years. Just over a decade ago after constant remarks from clients about the high humidity and constant mould issues they were having we decided to add mould remediation to our business profile.
Now we do nearly as much of it as we do carpets. It has been a great inclusion, pushing our profit up considerably. A lot of our work (mould remediation) is within the agricultural industry and the hospitality industry..... so commercial based as opposed to residential. This is where the big money for us now is.
Thinking a little outside the square can pay enormous dividends.

 

Have had a side hustle for a little over 12 months.

Broke the $2k+/week mark consistently, bringing on a part time manager now with a friend hitting similar numbers in same businees. Aim is to hit $4k/wk by June 2019.

I'm not ready to leave my day job for a while. I earn well and can manage both, also, been in a similar position before and had profits drop drastically due to my poor management.

I am dealing with a bit of anxiety due to the added pressures, that's where my focus is atm. Took up boxing 4 times a week to help me destress. My partners been super supportive and helps me run the business. Couldn't do it without her.

I've had a handful of failed side hustle before this. Had to be consistent, and going back to work after a year off helps keep me disciplined and focused.

 

I've recently resigned from my 4 day/week job to focus on my side hustle so we're in a similar position. I would suggest going part time first to see if the side hustle has enough potential. But if your employer refuses to offer part time you might have to make a hard decision.

 

31 years and 11 months and 4 days ago started my side hustle. 30 years ago gave up work to develop it, 13 years ago became passive sole shareholder in the company i started. Now employs 36 staff and 1400 sub contractors.
all the hard work, pays off and this was about my 6th business venture.

 

Well done.
May I enquire what you went into?

 

Body corporate management!

Before it was a business, it used to be a side hustle for real estate agents and accountants.

Next side hustle was property development. While still owning above.

Current side hustle is financing other people’s developments while still owning the other two.

 

Hi Brian,

It is great to hear you are making some addition income through your blog. I am considering starting a blog/service website offering free content etc. May I ask how your website generates income? Is it solely affiliates or other methods? And how long did it take before it started generating some revenue? Also did you do teh website design yourself and who do you use for hosting etc?

Regards

John

 

I generate income from:
Selling my anewhouse guides........around $250 a month.
Google ads.......around $150 a month.
Charging for Guest posts.....around $100 a month.

The first year the web site cost me around $300
Year 2 I covered my cost plus recouped losses of year 1
Year 3 I made around $2,000 profit,
In the four years since then I have been making around $5,000 -$6,000

I got some help from my daughter for the first website.....but wordpress, which I use is fairly easy to learn and I have started other blogs for voluntary groups without any help.

 

Got one of your guides, very good job!!!

 

I feel inadequate. Here I was thinking property was my side hustle...

 

I've read a few of your posts and you've obviously done very well, but it's interesting to see once again that underlying all that success is sheer hard work and tenacity! It's usually the case with successful people, but often not seen by the outside observer.

 

Started my side hustle a few years ago and decided to drop a day at my normal job to try and grow it and get more experience.
Got to earning around $600 gross a week which was marginally better than my PAYG.

I have since returned to my PAYG fulltime but my side business is still doing the same which has been a great little bonus. Still not passive enough for my likings though so got another little side development for a website happening.

 

Just grabbed a copy of the book so thanks for sharing. Off to Bali on Friday so dare say it will be read by the pool in about 2 days.

I did read the first chapter though and think I’m in trouble. Coming from an IT background all my ideas are huge development projects! He said your side hustle should be making you money in 28 days. I don’t even finish my scoping documents in 28 days! Haha

 

@bashworth I have just started an Airbnb blog and would love to find out more about your google ads- any tips or resources you have would be much appreciated !