So You Want To Start A Side Business, But You Have Hardly Any Time……

There are many options for side income streams that can  supplement your current income or provide a platform for a part-time side business that you cold eventually grow into a full-time venture (i.e. quit your day job).  You must have seen many ads and webinars for “Affiliate Marketing”, “Taking Surveys”, “Franchising”, “Freelancing”, “Day Trading”, and the list goes on… All of these have the potential to make you some money but they do require an investment and commitment of time and/or money.  If you are currently holding a fulltime job, and need it to pay for things like housing, health insurance, college, groceries, utilities etc., you likely do not have much of either of these to spare on a business venture that might or might not work. So what do you do?

First, you must decide on your life’s priorities. For me, yes I could spend all my non-working hours working on a side business, and I started out this way years ago, but soon realized that this would lead to giving up on things that were more important to me, like getting married and stating a family.

So the second step is to define just how much time you have available for a side business, and when you actually write it all down, it is more than you might think. You need to think of time outside the box of large dedicated hours and hours. For busy working adults, this time is more spread out; think about how I am writing this post now while waiting for the dentist. If someone asked me “you should think about starting a blog”, I would probably reply “I don’t have the time needed for that”. But somehow I do. Last weekend I reworked the website while waiting for 6 hours at DMV to get my license renewed. I have also gotten up just 20 minutes early to follow up on orders of my online products and hired writers to help with book manuscripts. Maybe free time is available during the commercials, or skipping a TV show now and then, it’s different for everyone but its within your control to identify and focus on the time you do have.

The third step is to define how much money you are willing to invest. If you are going for a franchise, you might need $200,000+. If you need specialized training or a certification you might need $5,000+. If you are starting a freelance writing business or blog you might need $50. It’s all up to you, but be clear up front so you don’t end up pouring more and more money into one idea when it might be better to reevaluate and change direction. For me, the time limitation dictated the money limitation. There was no way I would invest over $5000 in a business that I could only afford to spend a few hours a month on. I would surely end up losing this investment.

Last, you need to define a business that you will enjoy doing or one that gives you a purpose, something that drives you forward. If you start a side business that is pure drudgery, you will reach a point where it’s just not worth it to continue, even if you are making some money it will just not be worth the pain to push harder to grow it. More likely you will drop it or let is tail off.

​So given all those considerations what types of side business will work? It will be different for each person and situation, but for me it became clear that producing a product which I had control over and selling it on an established marketplace was the right place to start. My product of choice was information products, namely eBooks, Print Books, Manuals and Business Templates. I took a few online courses to learn about this business and then hit the ground running. I create these products myself and I sell them on the following marketplaces, check these out:

• Amazon
  
• ETSY 
• Fiverr 
• Smashwords 

It is definitely possible to startup and run a side business, even when “responsibilities” limit your time, funding and flexibility. It only become impossible when you give up or when you believe it impossible. Never give ever ever up!

Until next time.
All the best,

​Erik