If You Can Follow A Recipe, You Can Sell Your Side Hustle

Approximately two months ago, I received a direct message from someone on Instagram and he said something along the lines of: “what do you do, I mean your real job?” This meant about three things, either he doesn’t take my blogging path as a career, he’s never visited my blog before to have an idea of what other things I do, or I had to sell myself.

And what did he mean by ‘real job’? Was blogging or creating videos a ‘fake job’? Jeez. This is a job as we now have countless social media gurus and other people who make a living off of the internet.

After a quick research and a bit of pondering, I was sure of one thing. I didn’t have to sell myself to him.

So I replied: “I’m a human resources professional and also run Zinny Factor. Typically, when I’m introducing myself to strangers, I usually say that I’m a creative entrepreneur and end it there. Or I just say that I run a platform and then explain. Depending on the person I’m speaking with, I could either explain that I’m an HR professional or Creative Entrepreneur.

On this fateful day, I chose both of those career paths because they both have almost an equal amount of space in my heart.

I see Zinny Factor as something different and big because I love to project the future of this hobby that has become a part of my life. But the truth is, for most of the time, Zinny Factor is my side hustle because I have to dedicate a certain amount of hours to my regular job.

I don’t know if I’m making any sense right now but this brings about the question of what a side hustle is. If you are doing something outside your full-time job, does that make it a business (meaning you are an entrepreneur/ freelancer) or is it just a side-hustle?

Download: 30 Side Hustles for Full-Time Workers

This is usually where the challenge comes in. This is where many of us begin to question whether we should quit our day jobs to begin a business because we are of the opinion that our full-time job is an obstacle hindering us from moving forward with our dreams.

While I respect the decision of some people, that’s where a side hustle comes in. You use a side hustle to figure out your business plan. Your side hustle is an opportunity to try out this business as a part-time job even though many times it could consume most of your spare time.

This is something I struggle with on a daily basis and still wrapping my head around.

It’s a way for you to still have an active income and gradually figure out if you can have a means of livelihood from your projected business. A side hustle can be many of these things or more. But for someone to think that that’s not a career path is really disappointing and thank God I was in a good mood that day.

While you may still be trying to figure out making a huge decision, here are some ways to sell your side hustle and begin making some money from it.

Read: How To Discover Your Side Hustle (With 6 Easy Tips)

Have an elevator pitch

This basically means that you should always have in mind, a couple of words/ sentences that explain what you do in a succinct and attractive manner. It should be your unique selling point, such that you are able to sell what it is that you do to the right person even when it’s unplanned.

It will help you stand out from your competitors. So what’s your selling point because you’ll need that to make a sale? Begin to figure that out as soon as possible.

Identify the person you should pitch to

It doesn’t help to give an elevator pitch or sell yourself to someone who isn’t your ideal client or brand you’d want to work with. For example, if I wanted to offer services to a client, it might be of little or no help if I tell my elevator pitch to someone who should be an ideal Zinny Factor reader.

This is because they will most likely be consumers not necessarily someone who needs my services other than what I already share on this platform. This reader already has an idea of what I do or share on the blog but doesn’t necessarily need to know how I can help him/ her with business because that’s not what his/ her interest is.

It’s up to you to identify who your ideal client is and you should do that within the little time available to you.

Define clear goals

Setting up clear goals will certainly help you sell your side hustle since you’ll have key performance indicators to keep you in check. It’s important to set clear goals because this is how you’ll succeed and progress eventually. Do you want to gain two to three clients every month for your side hustle? Who is your ideal client/ consumer? Do you need deadlines to succeed with your side hustle?

These are some questions to ask yourself if you are willing to sell your side hustle to make some income from it. So for example, if you are someone who drives an Uber on the side, your goal might be to offer your services to at least two clients every week depending on what your schedule looks like.

You never really want to put so much burden on yourself when you are first starting out because it takes a while to fully get in tune with your additional responsibilities.

So what is your side hustle and how have you been able to market your product or services? Share in the comment section below and as always feel free to send an email if you ever need help with anything. I really appreciate those of you who have taken out the time to reach out. We all learn from helping each other.

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