Side Hustle to Full-Time Business: How to Know When You're Ready | Ep #154

Welcome to the Business Brainstorm Mini-Series on the Second Act Success Career Podcast! In this episode, host Shannon Russell dives into the crucial topic of transitioning your side hustle into a full-time business. Discover why nearly 40% of U.S. adults have side hustles and how you can leverage this trend to achieve financial freedom and entrepreneurial success.

Shannon shares essential insights on the following:

• The benefits and challenges of starting a side hustle while maintaining a 9-to-5 job.
• The financial, mindset, and market criteria to assess your readiness for full-time entrepreneurship.
• Real-life examples and practical steps to ensure a smooth transition.
• The importance of market research, financial planning, and maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

Tune in for actionable advice and inspiration to make your business dreams a reality. Plus, don't miss out on Shannon's free Business Brainstorm Bootcamp from July 30th to August 1st! Sign up now at https://secondactsuccess.co/brainstorm.

Join Shannon for two one-hour online workshops and a live Q&A session to answer all your business startup questions. You'll also receive a free business startup checklist to guide you every step of the way. Don't miss this opportunity to turn your side hustle into a thriving full-time business!

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Transcript

Second Act Success Career Podcast
Season 1 - Side Hustle to Full-Time Business: How to Know When You're Ready | Ep #154
Episode - #154
Host: Shannon Russell
Transcription (*created by Descript and may not be perfectly accurate)

[00:00:00] Shannon Russell: Hey there and welcome back to the business brainstorm mini series here on the second act success career podcast. This is a four-part podcast mini series. 

It all starts with episode 1 52. Which is all about planning your exit strategy from your nine to five job. Episode 1 53 is all about deciding what type of business is best for you. We have two more episodes in this mini series and it all leads into my free Business Brainstorm Bootcamp happening July 30th through August 1st.

It's going to be fantastic. As we dive into everything that you need to think about when starting a business. Sign up now at https://secondactsuccess.co/brainstorm. 



[00:00:44] Shannon Russell: You will join me for two, one hour online workshops and a live Q and a session where I will answer all of your business startup questions. Plus you will receive a free business startup checklist to help you plan your next move as well. It's all over at [00:01:00] secondactsuccess.co/brainstorm. 

Now it's onto the episode. 

Are you ready to quit your nine to five job and start a business of your own? Well, you're in the right place, my friend. Welcome to the second act success career podcast. I am your host, Shannon Russell. I am a former television producer turned business owner, career transition coach, and boy mom. My mission is to help you produce your best life.

This podcast will teach you how to get from where you are now to where you want to be and how to build a business that fits your life and lights you up. Let's get started.

Hello there. Welcome back to the show. I am your host. Shannon Russell. 

We are in the middle of a small series here that is all about leaving your nine to five and starting a business 

on these past few episodes, we have talked about how to plan your exit strategy and how to use that time to really plan for the business you [00:02:00] want to open. We also discussed how to figure out what business you want to open and how to make it happen. 

You can go back and check out episodes. 1 52 and 1 53. But here today, we are discussing side hustles. And if you want to start a business is starting a side hustle, a safer bet. We're going to dive into all things. Side jobs, side hustles. Building a business in a small, safer way. 

To see what you think will work best for you. 

Here's a quick stat for you. 

Nearly two in five people in the U S have a side hustle to earn extra cash. That is 39% of us adults. So why have side hustles taken off the way they have? Well, let's think about it. If you are working a nine to five job, if you're working a corporate job, if you have a steady gig, you are earning money. You're bringing that paycheck in and there's a lot of stability there. If you're thinking about opening a business, you can [00:03:00] throw all that stability out the window because when you open a business of your own, it really is all in how you build it. 

It is wide open. There is no concrete way to know how your business will do not one month from now one year from now, 10 years from now, it really is an open book and it's all in how you market build your team. Attract your customers. There's just a plethora of ways that your business can grow and succeed or flop and fail.

Let's dive into the idea of a side hustle or a side job, whatever you want to call it. 

It's the idea of having your paycheck, having your normal everyday job, but yet building a side business 

That can be anything from creating your own handmade goods that you sell on weekends at a craft show, or it can be taking your experience in accounting at work and starting to do people's taxes on the side. Or it can be launching an [00:04:00] Etsy shop or a Spotify shop, 

or maybe it's taking your skills or your passions, the thing that you love and you're sharing it with someone else or teaching them or coaching them. And trying to build a service-based business. Building a side business of any kind is really just a way for you to dip your toe in, see how you like it and see what your customers and what your audience thinks of what you are offering. It's a way of really doing a more deeper dive into market research, if you will, right. 

You're actually getting out there. You're building the business, you're creating the brand. You're bringing your services or products to the public. And then you're getting that feedback. So it's not just thinking about the idea and taking some surveys or polls, you're actually creating the goods or creating the services 

in reality, you're doing everything that it takes to build a full time large-scale business. 

You have to form a business. You have to come up with your business name. [00:05:00] You want to create your brand identity. You want to create your professional brand. You need to create a logo, a website, your social media, your email signature. Essentially a full business plan, even if it's a side job or a side hustle. You want to be able to have it all ready to go and then put it out there in your part-time hours or whenever you can handle. You know, Really focusing on it. 

And then in time, Slowly on the side of your actual normal paycheck, you will be able to see that business grow. And you'll be able to do the shifts and the turns and the twists and the changes. That are needed for it along the way. Slowly it is progressing as slow or as fast as you want it. 

. What is cool about this side business is that you are in control. So if you have a full-time job, you can create this on nights, weekends in any free time that you might have. [00:06:00] Or if you are a stay at home parent. And you're not working other than raising your children. You can actually create this side business while you're doing just that. 

So when the children are in school or the children are napping, 

Or at night or on weekends, when you might have some childcare help 

The main idea is that this type of business is something that you can add to your life instead of rearranging your whole life to accommodate the business. Instead you're fitting this business. Into your existing lifestyle.

Maybe you've tried this in the past. 

Maybe you've done an MLM type of business. Maybe you've had an Etsy shop. Maybe you've tutored children locally or babysat or done some dog-walking. 

These are side businesses. Even if you don't fully form a business company, if you are accepting money for your services or goods, that is a business. You've already put yourself out there to say I can offer X, Y, and Z. 

If someone is willing to pay for that, to Ching, you are [00:07:00] up and running. Think about if you've ever actually done something like this, and if you have, then you're one step closer to opening your own side business 

this type of business can also be consulting work or contract work. When I worked in television, I worked on projects that were on a project to project basis. So I would work for a few weeks, a month, six months, two years, whatever it was, but it wasn't always a full time job. 

In television, it's mostly never a full-time job and it's never a job that has benefits. It's usually a job where you are contracted for X amount of time to do this, that, and the other. And after that, you move on to the next job. Very gig economy. So, if you're used to doing that, maybe consulting on the side is something that you could go after.

What's cool about this kind of contract work or consulting. Is that you can take numerous jobs at one time. So if you have a full-time [00:08:00] job and you're dipping your toe into a side business where you are maybe you're a hairstylist and you can do contracts and take one-on-one consulting work. And you can do this whenever you have free time. Someone can book you to do their wedding. Someone can book you just for an appointment on a Saturday. You can decide when and where you want to work. That is the beauty of owning a business. Especially when it's a consulting or contracting type of business on the side. 

Very recently, I actually opened a third business. 

I know I'm a little bit crazy, but when I have an idea, I want to jump on it. Now this business is a side hustle. I opened a digital marketing business. 

This business is very passive, so I'm able to do it on top of my career coaching on top of my other franchise business. And on top of being a mom to two kids. So I jumped on it because I had had some clients ask me about the digital marketing world [00:09:00] and I wanted to learn more about it. And then as I did, I said, I want to jump in on this too. 

What's really cool about this particular business I opened is that I work about two hours or so a day. 

I make content for Tik TOK and YouTube, and I really help others. Grow businesses of their own. So it's a pretty cool side hustle that kind of fits into the rest of my life. Really, really well. And it's really passive income. So for me, I'm putting in just a very little amount of effort and then I'm getting paid. By selling this program that we sell. And the program just teaches you how to build a business. 

So it's really a win-win for me, I'm learning from the program and I'm able to use what I'm learning for my businesses and to help my coaching clients. And I'm able to sell this to other people who want to open a digital marketing business as well. And I get to help them do that. So I love it. My point of bringing that up is that side hustles come in all different shapes and sizes. I think it really [00:10:00] depends on the amount of free time that you have what you can dedicate to it. 

If it is something that lights you up, that fulfills you. And if it's something that is really worth your time. And over time, you might see the side hustle grow into full-time where you actually are making enough money to quit your full-time job. And I think if you're listening to this podcast, that is actually what you ultimately would love to be able to do. This is just a different way for you to work towards that path of being an independent business owner, but doing it on a slightly smaller scale so that you can control how fast you build your business.

Now I mentioned it a little bit earlier, but a great place to really dive into a side hustle business is to look at the online space. Look at Etsy. Look at Spotify. Look at Amazon. If you're interested in selling products and you want to create an Amazon shop. Fantastic. If you're [00:11:00] interested in creating your own digital products or handmade goods, maybe Etsy is the best route. Or you can create your own website and sell your goods and services on your own website. And like we mentioned too, you can also just create whatever it is that you are passionate about with your own hands, with your computer at home and take those goods or those services out locally in your area and sell them to your community.

Once your business is set up, 

the more you get your products or your services out in front of others, the quicker you can actually grow the business. And you'll see that income coming in. 

Next let's talk about when you actually will know that your side hustle is ready to be a full time hustle. 

I have a five step criteria that I usually talk with my clients about when they are considering quitting their job and taking that side hustle full time. Let's go through those. Now, the first one is [00:12:00] money. It always comes down to money. Right? We want to always make sure that we are. Financially fit and ready to make this change. So if you have your normal day-to-day routine, And you have your side job and it's up and it's thriving. 

Let's take a look at your financial situation. 

If you are already in financial debt, then starting a full-time business may not be the best thing for you to do at this moment. So why not work on lowering your debt before opening your business full time?

Going full-time also requires a little bit of savings, especially if you don't intend on getting alone or having investors in your business. So I would suggest having, at least at least three to six months of savings in reserve. Ready to go. 

You never know when you start taking your side business into full-time, how much more money you will need to invest if you'll need to bring on more people on your team. If you were planning on paying [00:13:00] yourself right off the bat, You want to make sure you have these savings? Ready to go because there will be some growing pains and taking it from a side hustle into full time. 

Keep in mind that your business might not accelerate as fast as you want it to when you're all of a sudden ready to go nine to five every single day. So just keep in mind, have a savings and really move into this next level of your business. In a responsible way.

Also, if you have a business plan that is really drawn out, if you know how you plan on growing your business. Over the next six or 12 months, then you can have something to work towards, but you want to keep an eye on what you have to do to grow the business, how much money you need to put into invest and grow it even further. And what you might need just for everyday expenses. 

Also if you're already profitable, that is huge. 

If your side job is already paying for itself, then you're in [00:14:00] a really good spot.

If it is not really paying the bills yet, then you want to identify what steps you need to do to get it to a place where it is really bringing money in to you, , because once you're full time, you want to really fully accelerate. 

Next is mindset. Are you obsessed with your business? Yeah. I want to make sure that you absolutely love everything about it. You are ready to go full time and you know what it takes. If you're thinking about the business 24 7. Then you are ready to leap to full-time. However, if you're just not sure. 

And you're really just, oh, it's okay. You're going through the motions. You work in spurts, it's just when the mood strikes. Then you might want to slow it down. It business is something that you think about 24 7. So if you're not in that mind frame just yet. Then maybe just give it a little bit more time. 

See if you can add a few extra hours to your schedule every week. [00:15:00] And see how just those few hours make you feel because you really want to be 100%, no, 1000% dedicated to this side hustle that is going to be your full time business.

Also, you want to think about the future. So what do you have in mind for the future of your business? 

Do you have a clear path on how you want this business to grow? 

And how you want to focus your time. 

Are you able to commit 24 7 to this business? If you have children, if you have family, if you have personal responsibilities. Make sure you look at that 

if you are taking away your full-time job to grow a full-time business, you want to make sure that you have the right work life balance as well. So you want to make sure that you still have time for your family. You have time for your personal responsibilities, and you want to make sure that you can do both. Equally. And if you're working a full-time job, then you're used to that [00:16:00] balance, but you want to make sure that you'll be able to focus the hours that are needed to really grow this business. And have the support of those around you.

Now it's time to talk about the market. You've already had this side job going for a little bit. Now, how is the market, are you learning about what your customers or clients want? Are you able to change things around to meet their needs? Is it a good time to really go full time with this type of business? Only you will know that once you really focus on the market and what's out there.

[00:16:34] Shannon Russell: If you know, other entrepreneurs who have created a full-time business in your same area, and you can reach out to them. 

That is a really great market research. Find out how they are able to do it full time. Get your research. Go back to square. One that we talked about in the past couple of episodes, and really do your market research, talk to people and see if going full-time with this business that you love is legit. 

If it [00:17:00] really can work and be profitable. 

Now let's really focus on your career. What you have been doing or are doing presently? How do you love your current job? Whether you're working a nine to five or your stay at home parent, or you're retired, whatever it is. How are you liking your current situation? What can be different? And start thinking about how you want things to be different. 

And if it's possible to incorporate those things into you, being a full-time entrepreneur.

For example, if you hate working full hours. Then you might not want to be an entrepreneur because working entrepreneur hours means. You are working around the clock at least for a while, at least until you can afford to hire managers and more people on your team. So you want to make sure that you are fully ready and you're in the head space. To make this business, your full-time career. It really is. A [00:18:00] career transition. 

You're leaving, working for someone else to work for yourself, which is, trust me, it's amazing. I would never go back to working for someone else after being an entrepreneur. But you want to make sure that you are in the right Headspace. And that, you know, this is going to be your new nine to five, at least for a little while.

Many of my clients come to me when they are already at the burnout level where they've hit burnout at their job and they just can't physically, mentally, emotionally do it any longer. If you have hit burnout in your job and you are also creating this side hustle. I want you to be honest with yourself on what feels better to you. If you leave your full-time job and you go full-time to be a business owner. How are you going to feel mentally, emotionally, physically? Are you still going to feel that level of burnout or will you [00:19:00] feel some relief? 

We feel some creative control and that you will be able to turn things off when you need to and focus more on your family or your personal life. You just want to make sure that you are not so burned out that you can't focus. On your business, do that self check-in 

and make sure that your current situation hasn't dragged you to the ground in a place where you just can't get back up again. You want to make sure that you are ready to take on to kind of shift those responsibilities and those tasks that you're used to doing into tasks that you are really in charge of as the boss. lastly, let's talk about your purpose. The purpose, the why, why you are making this change and why you want your side hustle to be full time.

Is your lack of availability or time preventing you from having your business grow? If you suspect that you're being pulled in too many directions. And that's keeping your business small. [00:20:00] Then your side hustle may be ready for full-time. If you think that you really have created this side hustle that is really taking off that you have so much passion, it is filling up your why, you know, you can create this and really serve others and help people while creating the business that you want. 

Then maybe you are ready to go. Full-time you just want to make sure that your why your purpose, your non-negotiables, everything is tied into this. And that you truly want to live and breathe your business.

Also, I want you to be realistic. Can you keep up with the demand? If you are making products, if you're sourcing products, if you have clients and you're doing one-on-one services. How much more can you really put on your plate or do you think that once you leave your full-time job, you will be able to really dedicate more hours. 

You will be able to make more product. You want to really look at your resources, your time and your schedule to see how much [00:21:00] more you can increase your productivity to allow for business growth.

And my final thought is will your full-time dedication help you be able to scale? That's ultimately what we all want as business owners. We want to be able to scale our business to where we want it. If you feel like your attention is being pulled away from your current job. And that you just don't have the energy to devote solely to this business, but you want to, then I think you might just be ready to take the side hustle. To the forefront. It really depends on all of these things to make it so that you have this perfect combination of really launching your side hustle into full time. 

Now that was a lot of information to cover. 

We talked about side hustles, being a great opportunity to kind of get your feet wet and learn about the business that you want and have it pivot and transition as you're growing, as you're [00:22:00] actually earning that paycheck from your regular job.

And over time, you'll realize you'll shift your business. 

You'll realize what the market and what your customers or clients are asking of you. And you can fine tune things until you feel like you're ready to take that side job to be a full time business. 

When that time comes, you can go back and ask yourself those questions. We just discussed to see if you are truly ready to bring your business full time. It's really up to you. Only, you will know the answer.

Keep in mind that when operating a business part-time you may find yourself doing. Jess, what needs to be done so that you can get by. You'll be a proactive forward-thinking. But you might have to push some of your ideas to the side because your mind and your body are full-time into something else. 

As a side business, you were working with limited hours. . Ask yourself. Are you finding yourself delaying marketing [00:23:00] opportunities or partnerships? Maybe expanding your product line Or truly growing this business that you love. Don't let your lack of time, stifle your business. Just let your creativity and ambition take the lead. And after you take careful look at all of the questions we've discussed and the different ideas that we talked about today. Answer them candidly, and really review your answers with yourself. 

If you think your side hustle is ready for you to be the CEO of this business, 24 7. Then consider making that happen.

When it comes down to it, my friend. No one can decide if your side business is ready for full-time except for you. So be honest with yourself. Be honest with yourself. Be honest with your family and friends and those around you. If you're leaning on them for support. Make a plan. Follow your heart. And you will be able to find your second act success.

Thank you for joining us. I hope you found some gems [00:24:00] of inspiration and some takeaways to help you on your path to Second Act Success. To view show notes from this episode, visit https://secondactsuccess.co. co. Before you go, don't forget to subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss a single episode. Reviews only take a few moments and they really do mean so much.

Thank you again for listening. I'm Shannon Russell and this is Second Act Success.