Many of my conversations start with asking my clients “Why?” Why do you want to take your ‘side hustle’ at all? Why do you want to do this full time? Why this particular business? Being an entrepreneur is not for everyone.
Evaluating the bigger picture is also crucial. Gaining perspective on what you are doing, whether or not you have competitors in the same market is irrelevant. If someone else is making a living from a similar business, then so can you! If no one is doing what you want to do you have an entire market to yourself- so while there is a risk, you do have an entire market to yourself. What an exciting opportunity! Regardless of whether someone else is in your market or not, knowing where you stand and gaining perspective on where you are starting from is important.
Now think about your customer. Who is that person? These are all questions you need to ask yourself and nothing an article is going to be able to outline for you. Building your business requires knowing more than just what you want to do.
You have to know why the impact or service that you are providing is needed and then WHO will it impact. Who is the person who will be willing to pay for what your business has to offer? It doesn’t matter if you have a product or a service; knowing who will value this is crucial. Without it, you won’t reach that customer.
When you are thinking about why your business exists and the impact you are trying to make, then you have to decide what parts of that are you going to be able to monetize? What products and services are you able to provide that someone will spend money on?
Now the real work starts….
It’s time to put in some real work and consider what strategies are going to result in sales? How are you reaching that customer? Do they already need your product? If so, do they know that they need it? Is this an every-day necessity, something that comes up periodically, or something they don’t yet know they need!?
Next, be willing to put in the time. Running your own show takes twice the amount of time as a regular full-time job. And while you will need to be diligent and literally “own your dream” it’s also important to know what functions to let go of. Evaluate what can be out-sourced in order for you to focus on what requires your time.
Next, actually, PUT IN THE TIME. 
This is where you start talking about your side hustle and what you do and how you can help people. Get on social media. Get on stories.
There is no sense in being SO stuck in your head that you make yourself nervous, you fixate on “what ifs” that result in a fear of failure, and fear of judgment of others. This will keep you from being able to stay focused on your mindset and reaching the right audience. The right audience will support you and what you are doing, they will have a need or desire for what you have to offer. So go out there already!
