Starting a side hustle is something that people are increasingly doing in addition to their day job, and when it goes well it often turns into a full-time job and a successful business.
While there are plenty of benefits to branching out and starting a side hustle, you’re still probably going to have to invest time and money to make it work.
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So what should you know about spending on a side business? How should you budget, and what should you expect to put in, to get the results you want?
When you’re creating a side business, you’re probably not going to be putting the amount of money into it you would if someone were let’s say heading a startup and looking for funding from investors, but there will still be some costs.
The following are some of the key things to know about spending and budget for a side business.
Do Your Research On Marketing Tools
There are tons of marketing tools out there that say they’ll help you build your business, but most do come at a cost. When you’re just starting out it can be tempting to want to use them all, but those seemingly small monthly charges and expenses can add up quickly.
You’re better off doing your research, finding one option you’re most interested in, and devoting your budget to that tool or platform.
Then, you can grow from there. If you start out trying to use every marketing tool not only is it going to get costly but also complex.
Learn Before You Do
For a lot of side businesses, people start out relying solely on either social media advertising or something like Google AdWords to drive traffic to their site or company.
Something like Facebook advertising can be one of the best methods to get people interested in your products or services, but it’s not cheap.
It’s important to be strategic and learn all you can about these advertising tools before you start spending money.
There may still be some trial and error as you’re optimizing and testing, but if you go into something like Facebook advertising with no background knowledge, you’re likely going to be throwing money away.
Spend Incrementally
Finally, when you’re starting a side business, it can come with a sense of enthusiasm. You feel like you’re taking control of your financial life and moving toward being wealthier and independent of your day job eventually.
With that enthusiasm can come the tendency to overspend in the very earliest days of setting up a side business.
It’s not necessary to spend your entire savings all at one time. The good thing about a side hustle is the fact that you still have the security of your day job. You can do things at your own pace, and this includes spending.
Spend incrementally, and start out with a small budget. Grow it from there as you start to earn revenue. In many ways, it’s like the idea of scaling your business up.
Start by spending on the essentials, and then go step-by-step to build your business slowly.
I was lucky, every dollar I’ve spent on my five side gigs was directly chargeable to clients. But since my gigs are all versions of consulting and I market strictly by word of mouth, and do not want any more clients since I’m only working for fun, I’m clearly an outlier. Most giggers want to make the most money they can and do have expenses associated with getting started, marketing or cost of goods
True!