After this tweet, I had some people asking what kind of business they should start.
it depends on a few too many things to give actual specific advice that would definitely fit your life situation. Things like your
- job
- debts
- needs
- skills
- knowledge
- personality
- likes/dislikes
- goals
I’m not a business consultant, so it’s not possible for me to make guesses about what would work for you. But if your intention is to keep your day job, you need to make sure that your business doesn’t interfere with it. All the hype about quitting your 9-5 doesn’t help if you got a family and a mortgage.
The bank doesn’t care about your personal fulfillment – they just need to make good on their loan to you. If this is you, then practical matters need to come before your wild dreams. Choose something that
- doesn’t cost too much to start
- has flexible hours
- pays quickly
I’ve done this a couple of times. One time, I did garden maintenance after my day job. I spent about $500 on gardening machines – a mower and a weed whacker. I needed them for a house I’d bought anyway. They fit into the back of my car well enough. I put a listing on my local internet classifieds advertising my services at $40 per hour. Now I know, ecom twitter / money twitter / marketing twitter are spitting their Irish coffee at their screens.
I know this is poor man’s work and poor man’s money. I don’t care, cause I worked a summer and bought 1 ounce of gold and 280 ounces of silver. Compare that to twitter, where I have now worked 4 months and earned something like $300.
Anyway, I took jobs after work and on Saturday mornings. I took payment in cash, and my customers often called me back the next month. The difference is scale though. For gardening, you hit your max earnings pretty quickly unless you apply some forms of leverage.
Other people’s time, or other people’s money. You can use other people’s time by taking on staff. Pay your guy $25 an hour to do the work for you. Pay the tax and the difference is profit. You can use other people’s money by taking a loan for more equipment. Using this you have less of a need for up-front capital – you can expand first and pay later. I did neither of these though.
I have also started a wedding photo / video studio. Twice. This one works very well as a side hustle, as weddings are always on weekends. You can spend your weeknights advertising, taking consultations, and editing your content. Shoot on Saturday and Sunday, and then back to your day job on Monday. Weddings are also very happy work. There’s most often a lot of positive emotion around. To start wedding work, basically be 20 and the rest will take care of itself. You’ll work your way through your circle of friends as they pair off and marry. Then their friends, then their friends’ friends. Eventually you won’t know how any of your clients know each other. But they’ll know you still 😛
I’ve shot over a hundred weddings now. I should probably write a book about it. Eventually though, I found I didn’t love the 18 hour days. I’ve only shot one wedding this year.
Then I started flipping. Flipping is definitely my favourite hustle. It takes less time than the others. It is not physically demanding. I can stay clean and dry. AND I make much more money. I strongly recommend that people start with flipping as a side hustle. You can earn fast. Then you can spend you earnings on other ways of making income.
Buy your first drop shipping order. Buy some equipment to start a service business. Buy shares for your future investment fund. The possibilities are boundless once you have some money.