Is it time to turn your side-hustle into your full-time job?
Do you have a side-hustle? It’s often the secret ingredient to generating more income while working a full-time job. What can we say, it takes hard work to be a superhero – working a full-time job during the day, and being a side-hustler (often at night).
While it can help to boost finances each month, working on the side can also cause many distractions that could negatively impact your end game.
So the question is… should you quit your secure job to make your side-hustle into your full-time job?
We are here to talk more about these pros and cons before you make the big decision to go pro.
Advantages of keeping your day job
To make your side-hustle into your full-time job takes courage and a strong will. There are numerous advantages to being your own boss, which we’ll chat more about further on, but it can be a big risk to quit your job.
Running a business involves more than just the product that you sell. It takes a considerable amount of marketing to get new clients and your customer service has to be exceptional.
It also takes knowing your market in-depth and you need to embrace change and new technology. While being your own boss may seem like a treat, it isn’t as glamourous as the #bosslife posts on Instagram might have you believe!
While it’s exciting to see your side-projects come to life and start getting more clients, you need to think long and hard before you give up the many benefits of a permanent job. Even if that job is tiring and some of your colleagues are annoying.
While many people start side businesses to generate extra income each month, some are determined to grow their side-hustle into a full-time business.
But before you take the plunge, take a look at some of the benefits of your current full-time job:
Stability
Even though we live in an age where job requirements and functions are constantly changing, if you have a permanent position at a company, you have a measure of stability.
You know what you have to do, what deliverables are expected by you and how to handle your cranky boss.
Guaranteed income
Unless you’re working exclusively on commission, permanent employment means that you get your set salary every month like clockwork, whether you’ve worked especially hard that month or not.
When you work for yourself, your salary has to be earned with hard work.
And if your business doesn’t get paid… neither do you.
Benefits
Working for a company may include benefits such as a cell phone allowance, car allowance, medical aid and provident fund contributions and possibly even a bonus.
Not to mention annual leave during which you still get paid, even though you aren’t working during your time off.
When you take your side-hustle full-time, you will have to shell out for all of these benefits yourself.
So, should you turn your side hustle into a full-time job?
Yes, there are many advantages to transforming your small little business into your full-time job. It can be a wonderful growth experience to start a company from the ground up and be the one making the important decisions.
And yes, there is potential to earn loads more money running your own business. It can be far more satisfying than working for a boss (boardroom of shareholders) who take the biggest slice of the pie.
Benefits when you make your side hustle into your full-time job
You are your own boss
This is probably the biggest appeal for most entrepreneurs. Many people are attracted to the idea of being the one making decisions and not being told to do anything by someone else.
Being an entrepreneur means that you get to make the decisions and set the rules on your terms. There’s no need to report to a manager, supervisor, or boss any longer.
You decide when, where and how you work and being your own boss can be exceedingly liberating.
Boost your self-esteem and sense of self-worth
Being an entrepreneur is a huge plus and positive boost to your self-esteem. You are finally “emancipated” from being told what to do, and you are the owner of your business.
As your business grows, you feel a sense of success and you have the pride in knowing that you are the one who made it happen. While not everybody has what it takes to be a good business owner, you’ve proved the odds wrong.
Builds resilience
Let’s face it; you can only become resilient once you’ve faced some challenges and hard times. And when it comes to starting a business, challenges are guaranteed.
Things can go wrong at every level of your business and let’s face it, these challenges are your opportunity to innovate and improve.
This is exactly what being an effective business owner is about.
You get to delegate
When you first start out, chances are that you’ll be the one doing all the work and wearing all the hats.
You’ll be the one doing the networking, advertising, social media posting, content & copywriting and, finally, selling.
But if you are successful, you might find yourself in the position to hire some staff or maybe a few freelancers.
This gives you the opportunity to delegate the tasks that you don’t like so that you can focus your energy and strengths on the things that directly affect your bottom line.
You get to connect with like-minded people
Being an entrepreneur can open more doors than working for someone else. You’ll be able to network with other self-employed folks and learn things along the way. You’ll also make new contacts and connections which could be handy along the way.
Boatloads of money
Most people don’t start their businesses to earn the same or even less than they did when they were employed full-time. They want to rake in the cash!
When running a successful business, your income level is uncapped and, theoretically, you can live the life of a celebrity, provided your business is making that much.
So long as you are being smart with your money and building up a substantial “rainy day” fund, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t reap the financial rewards for all your hard work.
When first starting out though, it’s best to re-invest as much money as possible back into your business.
Disadvantages when you turn your side-hustle into your full-time job?
Let’s touch on some of the downsides to running a business on your own.
You have sole responsibility
While it’s great to work for yourself, it can be crappy too. Since you make all the decisions and steer the ship, you are also responsible for every failed attempt or bad decision.
Even if you hire employees, you are also ultimately responsible for their performance and deliverables.
You now work for your client
While it sounds amazing to work for yourself, remember you aren’t the one buying your products and services, your clients are.
So you are ultimately answerable to their happiness and your clients, in a way, become your “new boss”.
This doesn’t mean that you take orders from them or allow them to walk all over you, but it does mean that your mindset needs to be 100% client-focused.
You have to make the client your main priority if you want to sell repeatedly to your existing clients and if you want to be recommended by them to their peers.
Earning potential can be slow… and low
While it’s fun to assume that you’re going to start coining it in the first month of taking your side-hustle full-time, you can be selling yourself a dream and not reality.
Most business owners will confirm that making real money takes a lot longer for some than it does for others.
In fact, it might take years to see the anticipated profits you thought you’d get with your business.
That’s why side-hustles are so great; they allow you to earn a steady paycheck without the risks involved in doing it full-time.
It’s hard to have patience
Sometimes being an entrepreneur is a waiting game. This may frustrate some of us, but patience is a skill side-hustlers must acquire.
In addition, you’ll likely have to face changes in the market and some stiff competition.
Big demands on your time and energy
Side-hustles take hard work, time, and effort but it’s nothing compared to doing it full-time.
When you run your own business, you’ll find that almost all your time and energy goes into building it. At least, that’s how it will be in the beginning.
This could have a big impact on your relationship or family life, so you have to take them into consideration before you make your side-hustle into your full-time job.
In the business itself, things might fall through the cracks because you just don’t have time to do it all yourself. That’s why you need to get profitable as soon as possible and hire other people to take some of the load off you.
Also, you might not be very good at these other functions. You might be excellent at producing your product but suck at doing online marketing. That’s when you need help from people who excel in this area.
You can’t really take leave
As mentioned, in your current job you have the right to annual leave and even sick leave where you still get paid for all that time off.
This can be very hard to achieve when you are running your own business, especially when starting out. Unless you have people who can run the business for you, it will be a challenge to truly take time off.
It’s a risk
Starting any business is a risk. Even if you’ve done thorough market research and you think you’ve learned all there is to know, the risks are still there.
If you’ve banked finances on it, there could be chances of losing big money too. So, even while it may look glamorous, the risks and challenges are VERY REAL.
Characteristics you need when you make your side-hustle your full-time job
Dedication
Dedication to your side hustle is a must. There are always so many things to learn along the way.
Know what you want to do
If you have a good idea and know what you want to do, then it makes sense to pursue it. Often, a side-hustle is something that someone is passionate about and this can naturally evolve into a full-time business.
If and when the time comes to cut ties with your full-time job, you’ll have room to focus on what you love. This is more fulfilling than going to work on something that you hate every day. Not to mention the demotivation and negative energy that comes with that mindset.
Be committed to learning
Once you’ve successfully launched your new business, it’s time you expand on that good achievement by learning even more. You don’t always have to dock out hundreds of Rands to do so. Many business owners are willing to help with free webinars.
You’ll find many resources online. You’ll also enjoy a variety of low-cost and free online learning classes in marketing and business management to name a few.
As a digital marketing agency, we offer free training in our Facebook Group “Social Media Marketing for Entrepreneurs“.
Pro tips
- If your side-hustle shows the potential to make more money than your full-time job, then you’re off to a good start
- Don’t quit your full-time gig unless you know that your side-hustle can bring in more money than you’re currently earning.
- Before quitting your job, cut your expenses to the bare minimum to save money which you might need for your business.
- Your decisions will affect your family. Be sure to have open and honest conversations with your partner before making any big decisions.
- Don’t have high-income expectations because sometimes it takes longer than you think
The takeaway on how to make your side-hustle into your full-time job
If you just want to dip your toe into the entrepreneurial waters, then learning how to start a side hustle while working full-time is the safest plan to follow.
Start small and grow your business on the side, while enjoying all the benefits that permanent employment offers you.
Once you’re at the point where you feel that you can work for yourself full-time, then you can make the choice to quit your day job.
There are many entrepreneurs who know the benefits of having a side hustle, and with the right strategy in place, you could do so too.
