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Work Less, Earn More is the podcast that explores how to get the most out of every hour you work. Gillian Perkins brings more than a decade of experience as an entrepreneur and educator to help you design a business that's not only flexible and fulfilling, but highly profitable. She shares strategies that are working in her own business to save time and maximize profits. She also features interviews with successful business owners on how they’re achieving big things in their businesses with crazy-little time investment. Share Work Less, Earn More with an overworked entrepreneur you know who could use a change of pace!
Gillian:
[0:00] Okay, raise your hand if you really want to start your own business,
Gillian:
[0:03] but you feel like you just don't have enough time. If that's you, first of all, I totally get it. But I want to give you a little bit of tough love and let you know that I don't think that that is actually the problem. I mean, sure, I get being short on time, and I'm sure you are. But with the right plan, I am really confident that you can actually get this business idea of yours off the ground. Or even if you don't have an idea yet, you can find an idea and even turn it into your full-time thing. And here's why I'm so sure. Because I've started over 10 businesses over the last 15 or so years. And most of the time when I started these businesses, I was already running another business or two. I was traveling. I was pregnant. I mean, now today I've got six kids at home and I'm still starting new businesses. And you better believe my schedule is pretty full and I've got a lot on my plate with all those kids.
Gillian:
[0:56] So if I can do this, I know you can do it too. I'm going to walk you through a clear step-by-step plan that you can use to get your business off the ground, turn it into a side hustle initially, start earning your first few dollars, but also how to go on to turn this into your full-time thing.
Gillian:
[1:21] [intro bumper]
We became entrepreneurs because more than anything, we want freedom. We want to be in control of our own schedule, income, and life. But unfortunately, that isn't always the reality of being a business owner. I'm Gillian Perkins, and I'm on a mission to take back entrepreneurship for what it's supposed to be.
In every episode, I'll share with you how to get the most out of every hour you work so that you can work less and earn more. Let's get to it.
[/intro bumper]
Gillian:
[1:50] First, we got to talk mindset. And I've got five important shifts that you need to make to your mindset if you want to be able to be successful at this. Now, the first one is that you have to accept that you're going to start somewhere and that it's probably not going to look anything like the final version of your business. Whatever you're dreaming of creating, this first version is not going to look like that. And so you can't expect it to. And you have to, like I said, accept that because if you are not willing to start where you are right now and start with a baby version of this business, then you will never get started. Or if you do get started, you'll never move forward with it at all. Because we have to go through all these growing stages. You know how I was telling you about my kids? Well, you know, all of them start as a baby that looks nothing like they've grown up they're going to one day be. But first, they're a baby.
Gillian:
[2:42] Then they start learning to walk. They become a toddler, right? They go to a grade school sort of stage, they become a teenager. That's how your business is going to be too. And your baby business is not going to look anything like your grown-up business. The next mindset shift you got to make is that as your business goes through these different stages of growth, you have to use the right strategies for each stage. The strategies that you'll use to get your first few customers are going to be completely different, like 180 different from the strategies that you will use when your business is mature. Those strategies will, by definition, be scalable. They'll probably be mostly automated. But the strategies that you use to get your first few customers, they're gonna be super manual. And dare I say, not scalable at all. But sometimes we can be really hesitant to use those not scalable strategies because we think, how will this ever get me where I wanna go? Like, this isn't sustainable.
Gillian:
[3:43] We need to accept early on that we have to do certain things to get those first few customers or to set up our systems initially or to work with those first few customers. How we deliver the product. We might be packing and shipping orders ourself by hand. And no, you can't ship 10,000 orders a month that way. But when you're first starting out, you know, you don't have a budget to hire or to outsource. So that's just how you have to do it. And we have to grow through these different stages with these different strategies so that we can get to where we want to get eventually. Mindset shift number three is that consistency with working on your business trumps quantity with time working on your business. Now, on the one hand, we do want to take advantage of a burst of motivation that we have. You know, every once in a while, maybe you do pull an all-nighter because you are just fired up and excited to be working on your business. and that's okay. But long-term, we want to make sure that we are putting in the hours every week rather than just really going at it for a few days every few months because that's not going to get you where you want to go.
Gillian:
[4:53] The fourth mindset shift, I know you already know, but I got to say it, when you're starting a business, you cannot be in it for the quick money. You really have to be in it for the long game.
Gillian:
[5:04] You know how I said there are different strategies for different stages of business? Well, you would use very different strategies if you just want to make as much money, say, this month as possible, compared to if you actually want to build a sustainable business, one that's going to be able to turn into your full-time thing and pay your bills next year and the year after that and the year after that. So we have to go into it with this long-term mindset and make sure that we are building strategically and building a really solid foundation so that we have something to grow on rather than just trying to make a quick buck. Okay, and the fifth and final super important mindset tip that I have for you is that you have to start somewhere, right? This isn't just about what it looks like, but it's just about the fact that when you get started, you are going to probably feel overwhelmed by some things and definitely unsure about a lot of things. And this can make you want to hold off actually getting started. You might want to wait. You might not think it's procrastinating because it's not like you know what you need to do and you're not doing it. That's what we typically feel like is procrastination. Instead, you're still figuring things out, right? But this is a form of procrastination. And why this is so important is because you can never go on to grow a business into your full-time thing or anything at all if you don't initially get started.
Gillian:
[6:30] So you have to just take these first steps, even if they're really uncomfortable, even if you're really not sure, because a lot of the time we figure things out by doing. And so you can spend months and months and months doing research and still not have the answers or the confidence that you need that you can so much more easily get by actually doing the work and, you know, stepping out into the unknown.
Gillian:
[6:53] Okay, I think that's enough about mindset now. I'm a woman of action. So let's move forward and talk about what you actually need to do. What are those first steps? Well, the first couple are about the concept, basically deciding what business to start. And I would recommend that you start by choosing a specific problem that your business will solve. So rather than thinking, I'm going to start a financial services company or a web design company, think about a specific problem that people are currently facing that you know people who have this problem that you have the ability to solve for them. Now, sometimes this is about like inventing a new solution and figuring something out that hasn't been done before. But a lot of the time, it's just about actually being willing to do the work. You know, there are people who need websites. That's a problem that we all know the answer to. But a lot of small businesses struggle to find the time or to be able to figure out what they need to do to get that website started.
Gillian:
[7:52] And so you could start a web design company and you could set up websites for small businesses. I wrote down a few more examples here to give you some ideas of what I'm talking about. One problem that a lot of small businesses face is that they don't have enough time to create content, but they want to do content marketing. So you could start a content marketing agency, for example, or help them with some other aspect of the content creation process. For example, doing video production for them.
Gillian:
[8:18] Another example of a problem that people are facing is their website isn't converting. So if you know about sales copy or sales strategy or copywriting or something like that, then you could help businesses rewrite their websites to turn their visitors into paying customers.
Gillian:
[8:34] Another problem that small business owners face is that their business might be very disorganized and this might be making them very inefficient. So you could start a company where you help small businesses get organized. Or you could become an online business manager where you provide ongoing services to help them stay organized and run more efficiently. And then for an idea that's outside of the business world, a problem that a lot of people face is that they want to eat healthier, but they struggle with motivation or they don't know what is healthy because there's so much conflicting advice out there. So by becoming a nutritionist or a health coach or something like that, or by providing healthy eating consultation services, you could help people solve that problem. Now, of course, different problems that you could solve will require different levels of expertise and perhaps credentials. And so when it comes to solving a problem and deciding what business to start, you'll want to choose a problem that, like I said before, you both know real people are facing and that it's a significant problem that they would want to pay money to solve, but also a problem that you are able to solve yourself. So it has to be something where you have the expertise, of course, and that you have the time and the resources to be able to solve it for your clients. But also, if there are any specific credentials required, that you have those credentials or you are able to obtain those credentials before starting this business. Now, like I said before, quick money should not be our main goal.
Gillian:
[10:04] But in terms of deciding between different business ideas, of course, it generally is better to choose one that can make you more money sooner. So you'll want to think about solving the biggest problem that you possibly can solve, but also a problem that you can solve relatively quickly. And this generally means a problem that you already have the expertise, credentials and resources to be able to solve for clients, and also a problem that itself does not actually take you that much time to solve or to complete the work to solve. Now, once you've decided on a problem that your business will solve for your customers, the second step is to package it into an offer. So basically what this means is, what exactly is the client going to be signing up for? What are you going to do for them specifically? How long will it take? And how much will you be charging? And the very first thing that you will want to think about here is, are you going to be doing the work for them? Or are you going to be consulting with them or coaching them through the process of doing it themselves? or are you going to be just providing educational material that teaches them how to do it for themselves? And that's basically the difference between a service offer.
Gillian:
[11:14] A done with you offer or a do-it-yourself offer. Now, if you need a little bit of help with this part of the process, you can check down below for the link to my free business plan template, which will walk you through making the decisions about all the different aspects of starting your business, but especially and perhaps most importantly, conceptualizing your offer, putting it together into something that people will actually be able to buy from you. Now, as you're doing that, I want you to keep something really important in mind. And that is the rule of one. You want to keep your offer as simple as possible. And specifically, you want to have one clear outcome, one clear process that you are going to use to get them that outcome, and one price point. Now, later on down the road, you might decide to build out more packages. So maybe you have different payment plans, for people. Maybe you have higher tier packages that include more services or features.
Gillian:
[12:09] But starting out, keep it super simple and just have one package with one outcome and one price point. Now, I would really recommend that at this stage of the game, this stage of the process of building your business, that you don't take the time to build out a website or a sales funnel or to really develop your branding or anything like that. Maybe a super simple website. Sometimes that can be helpful to feel and look a little bit more professional. But really, before we do any of that work, we want to focus on proving this concept, proving that there is demand for this product, this offer that you
Gillian:
[12:44] are imagining and putting together right now. And how you do that, the best way to do that is to get your first few customers.
Gillian:
[12:51] Obviously, big question here, right? How do you get those first customers? This is going to be one of the hardest things you'll do in the process of starting or growing your business, period. But you got to do it because you can't have your 10th customer or your 100th customer until you have your first customer, right? Okay, so to be clear, this is step three of this process of starting the side hustle, getting your first customers.
Gillian:
[13:13] And I like to take of this as kind of a two-part process. The first part is reaching out to people in your network. We don't want to start running ads to get these first few customers. We don't want to go out there and hire a marketing firm. I wouldn't really recommend you start doing content marketing. That's more of a long game. Instead, we want to try to find some customers amongst people you already know. Because remember, one of the things that I told you about choosing your business idea and choosing that problem that you're going to solve is making sure that you choose a problem that you already know real people are facing. So if you already know some people who are facing this problem, if they are actually motivated to solve it, like there is a demand for your product idea or your offer idea, then you should be able to sell this thing to these first few people. Now, there are various reasons why it might be more difficult for you to sell at first, namely that you might be a little bit lacking in the credibility department, and maybe you don't look professional enough. But if you can explain to these people how you can help them, then there should be some customers right there waiting for you. And remember, this does not need to be hundreds of customers at all. We're going to use some different strategies later on to scale this thing up. Right now, we're just trying to get your first three to five customers.
Gillian:
[14:33] There might be that many potential customers amongst your network already, or maybe not. So that's where step two will come in. But here's what I would recommend that you do to get these first few customers from your network. I want you to personally directly reach out to them and just tell them what you're working on. I want you to be super upfront, super transparent, and not try to be salesy. Don't try to close the offer. Just tell them that you are starting this business where you're going to help people do such and such, whatever it is, and explain that part in detail and then ask them if they know anyone who might be interested in this or who needs this sort of help. Now, I would highly recommend that you reach out both to people who you think are potentially a good fit, as well as people who you know have absolutely no interest in this. Because the reality of it is they might know somebody who they think would be the perfect fit for your service or for your product, but they won't be able to send that person your way unless you tell them what you're up to. Now, to help you get past that standstill and get the momentum that you need to get those first few customers, you might want to put together some sort of starter package or a discounted first session, a beta price, or even a free first session, or at least a free initial consult. Because when you don't have any testimonials yet or any reviews.
Gillian:
[15:56] Or like I said, very much credibility at all, sometimes people will need just a little bit more convincing. But I find that it's best to do this with some free or discounted work rather than trying to really sell it right out of the gate. Okay, so that's the first part of the process of step three, getting the customers. The second part is expanding your network. Because like I said, there might not be enough good potential customers in your network right now. So you might need to meet a few more people.
Gillian:
[16:24] There are plenty of different ways you can do this. You can network online in free groups like Facebook groups or even potentially on Reddit or on LinkedIn. But you also can do this in paid groups. So maybe you're part of a mastermind group online. For example, we run Startup Society, which is a networking and training program for online entrepreneurs. It's really affordable. So if you're interested in finding a group like that, you can check it out. And then another great option, of course, for growing your network is social media. So you can find potential customers on Instagram or LinkedIn or Facebook, pretty much any platform that is a social network of sorts, you can use to meet people. And especially if you are talking about your topic of choice, the problem that you're helping people solve, maybe you're sharing your story or sharing how you are helping your first couple customers, you will start a conversation there that can get people who are interested in this and need help with this, talking to you. Now, I do have one big caution for you here, and that is that you don't try to sell on social.
Gillian:
[17:30] Even big brands have a lot of trouble doing this unless they're selling very small and expensive products. And so I would highly recommend that rather than trying to sell your services or your packages or whatever they are on social media, instead, you just focus on growing your network. And this goes whether you are a big or a small brand. When you're a small brand, you're trying to develop one-on-one relationships so that you can talk to people one-on-one about potentially working with you or buying your product. Later on, when your brand is bigger, the strategy that, for example, I use today is I try to get people to connect with my brand so I can get them on my email list or on a webinar. And then those are places where I find it's much more effective to actually close sales. So those are the two parts of step three, getting your first few customers. You've got the reaching out to people in your network part and the growing your network part. And understandably, you're going to kind of go back and forth between those two things until you have at least three to five customers.
Gillian:
[18:33] This might take you a couple of months to do, but be patient with it and really work hard at it because while it might seem like this is way too slow to turn into your full time thing, these are just the growing pains and it's kind of what you have to do to get
Gillian:
[18:49] through this stage of the business growth process.
Gillian:
[18:53] Now, once you get these first few customers, you are going to have a ton more confidence and clarity and also, you know, your first dollars in the bank, which is awesome. A lot of people quit before they even get through this stage because it feels so slow and like they're just failing at it because it is so slow. And so they give up. But even the people who make it through this stage and successfully get their first three to five customers often end up quitting as well. And that might surprise you if you're not there yet. But I think the reason for this is that people feel like it is taking so much time and sometimes energy to run this business. And it's not making very much money yet. And so it feels like it's not worth it. And it's not scalable. And it's not sustainable long term. And so they end up shutting their business down and deciding it was just a bad idea. But really, what happened was they ended up just getting stuck in those strategies that were only really intended for kind of stage one of growing their business. And they were ready to move on to some new strategies. But instead, they gave up. So let's talk about what those new strategies are and specifically how you can start systematizing things early so that you can make your business more efficient and actually be able to grow it.
Gillian:
[20:12] [mid-roll ad]
We just put the finishing touches on a free business course for all those of you who are listening right now because you're just getting your business started. I know that when you are in those beginning stages, there are so many unknowns and it can be hard to grasp the big picture of where you're really taking your business and what you need to do to grow your business and reach your goals for it. I know that because that was exactly how I felt for the first few years when I was getting started. And it took me quite a while to understand that big picture. But once I did, I got so much clarity about exactly what I needed to do. So that's why I decided to create this free small business 101 course that gives you that big picture perspective. It teaches you the basics of what you need to do to get your business started, as well as helps you to understand actually how your business is going to make money and how you can set up a sales funnel to drive sales into your business, how you can start working with those customers sooner rather than later. So if this sounds like it would be helpful to you and you want to get your hands on a free copy of this course, then just head to gillianperkins.com/101. Of course, we'll put a link in the episode show notes as well. But again, that URL is just gillianperkins.com/101.
[/mid-roll ad]
Gillian:
[21:28] Okay, so now we are at step number four of this process of starting your side hustle and turning into your full-time thing. And step four is to systematize really early.
Gillian:
[21:39] Now, sometimes people think that systematizing or automating means really complicated processes or fancy, complicated tech setups. But that is not the case at all. In fact, the reality is that there is a ton of streamlining that we can do by just using simple templates for the tasks and the projects that we're working on. And that can save us a ton of time. So for example, you can streamline your process for onboarding new clients. You can do this by creating email templates with the information that you need to send them when they sign up for your services or sign up to purchase your product. And so that you don't have to write these emails from scratch every time. You can also systematize by creating an automated intake form. You can do this with a Google form or a form on your website. Or if they are booking an appointment with you and you're using a software like Acuity. Well, Right there, there's another system that can save you a ton of time instead of emailing back and forth with them to schedule a session. They can book with Acuity or Calendly or something like that. But also you can use that to create an intake form that they fill out when they book their session. The whole point of this, I know it sounds super simple, but it's going to save you so much time and enable you to actually grow your business. Okay, here's another example. You can simplify your delivery process with some systems.
Gillian:
[23:03] So if you have a service that you are delivering, instead of making it up from scratch every time, you can create a simple checklist that you follow to make sure that you are covering everything that you need to cover as you are teaching this client something or doing a service project for them. But these systems are not just for working with clients. You can also use them when it comes to marketing your business. And sometimes they're as simple as a routine. So for example, a simple routine where on a certain day of the week, every week, you are posting on a specific platform.
Gillian:
[23:36] Or you are posting and then you are sharing it somehow. You might have a post email share routine that you do on marketing Mondays every week in your business, and that can help your business to start growing, but also can save you from feeling scattered and all over the place by feeling like you constantly need to be on social media, for example. When it is a routine, it takes up a lot less brain space and requires a lot less motivation as well. Okay, and for one more example of a super simple system, that can save you lots of time is a simple tracking system. So you can create some automations that track your leads, your conversions, and your revenue so that you can see what's working in your business and double down on those things. Now, the big idea here is that systems really are the bridge between turning your side hustle into your full-time thing. Without systems, you're never going to get there. It's just going to be a side hustle that takes more and more of your time until maybe it's taking all of your time, but you're not making enough money.
Gillian:
[24:40] Of course, most people never get to that point. They just quit instead.
Gillian:
[24:44] Okay, so all of what we've covered so far is what I would call phase one. It's all the process of just getting your first few handful of customers and then starting to get a couple more customers each month after that. But we haven't really started to scale yet. We've just seriously started this thing. So now when it comes to what I would call phase two, this is where we get into creating some consistent revenue. It might not be a whole lot yet, but between $1,000 and $3,000 or so per month of revenue, month after month, so that you can see that your business is turning into a machine and it's also something that you can count on when it comes to income.
Gillian:
[25:22] Now, the first thing for phase two here that is so key is that you focus on sticking to that one thing, that you still have this one main package that you are offering or this one main product that you are selling. You keep the product really simple. You make sure you're charging a rate that is worth your time, but you don't yet try to be a very premium service. We also want to make sure that we are keeping custom work at a minimum because that can eat up so much of your time. And while it can sometimes seem like it's worth it because of a higher hourly rate that we earn from it. The fact of the matter is that you only have so much time to work on your business. And if you're spending the time on that custom work, instead of growing your business, it's really going to keep your business small long term. And so it kind of goes back to that idea of we don't want more money right now as much as we want to build a successful business for the long term.
Gillian:
[26:12] Another concept that is really key here in this phase two time is that we try to turn our one-time customers into repeat customers. So this can look like adding another offer or package that is something that customers will buy after the first package that they buy with you or the first product that they buy from you. But it also can look like just slightly adjusting that package so that it's something that people can now sign up to pay for month after month instead of just one time. This certainly requires some creative thinking, but it's well worth it. Because some of the hardest work that any business has to do is finding new customers month after month after month. The first few are the very hardest for sure.
Gillian:
[26:55] But no matter how long you've been in business, that still is generally the biggest challenge. And so if you can sell to your existing customers over and over again, then it makes the job of building your business a whole lot easier. Now, the last thing I want to say about phase two is that in this phase, you're still probably mostly closing most of your customers manually one-to-one because your audience is still probably pretty small. And so for that reason, working on growing your network and reaching out to individuals in your network is still going to be very key. And I recommend you make that one of your biggest priorities in this stage. Now, in phase three, your income will probably stay about the same, still only earning $1,000 to $3,000 per month. But you're going to focus on decreasing the amount of time that it takes to run your business so that you kind of open up your capacity to be able to scale your business and try out some new strategies that can take you to $10,000 a month and beyond. So we already talked about this a little while ago, how you can use simple strategies and simple systems to simplify your business and make it run more efficiently. Well, phase three is the time to really double down on those things and potentially add some slightly more complicated automations into the process.
Gillian:
[28:12] So definitely still make sure that you're using templates and you're batching work, but you also can consider adding some additional software or AI tools to be able to grow your business further. This also can potentially be a good time to make a first part-time hire. Now, if you're only earning $1,000 to $3,000 a month, obviously, you're not going to be able to bring someone on full-time. But sometimes hiring an assistant for just a few hours a week or an online business manager to help you kind of with the admin side of things can be huge and just make the biggest difference when it comes to freeing you up to be able to grow the business further.
Gillian:
[28:51] Okay, now let's talk about phase four, where we actually start trying to scale things. Okay. And when I say scale, what I mean is we're going to try to grow the number of customers and the number of dollars that you're bringing in every month, while not increasing your working hours. Okay, we don't want to just grow everything. We want to scale strategically.
Gillian:
[29:14] Now, one of the best ways that you can do this is to create a one to many offer. There are several ways you can do this. But basically, the idea here is that instead of you having to individually work with each and every customer for however many hours they're essentially contracting you for, or you having to make every individual product yourself, now we're figuring out a way that you can serve multiple customers at once, or at least your business can. Now, you've got a lot of options when it comes to one-to-many offers, and I'll just tell you about a few of them. It could be you creating a course or a membership, so some sort of digital product where a lot of people can learn from you all at once. This could be instead of you doing consulting or coaching services.
Gillian:
[29:57] On the other hand, you could be doing group coaching services where the people are still actually interacting with you and working with you. But now you're working with a group of people at once instead of just one person at a time. Now, if you are offering services in your business, you don't have to switch to now teaching people how to do it themselves. Instead, you can offer a one to many service by turning your business into a small agency where now you don't have to do the work yourself, but instead people who work for you can do it. And those people who work for you, they might be employees, but they also very well might be subcontractors. By creating a one-to-many offer, you will scale your capacity. So now you will be able to take on a lot more customers. And I know that might not be the problem that you're actually facing at this point in time. You might think, I could handle more customers. But the problem is that if you book yourself solid, then you won't have any time to spend actually working on your business or bringing new customers into the business. So we have to create this one-to-many offer before you're at capacity.
Gillian:
[31:00] So now we can move on to phase five, which is where we do the work to be able to bring more customers into the business. And I like to do this with a really simple but reliable evergreen sales funnel. So this is a system in your business that gets people to come into the door, come to your website, learn more about your product, get them interested in it, and then ultimately close that sale. Now, how most online businesses do this is with some sort of free lead magnet. So this might be a free training or a worksheet or a workbook. The free training could be like a webinar, but it also could be an online course. Or it could be a free consultation call. But you've got something free that you're giving away that is essentially like a sample of what your business offers. And it helps people to just get a taste of how you can help them. Now, once somebody signs up for your lead magnet, then you're going to set up a series of emails. We call this a nurture sequence. and these emails will help them to learn more about your business and how you can help them and really build a relationship with them so that they'll feel comfortable buying from you.
Gillian:
[32:06] From there, the emails can lead them to your paid offer. And this is probably going to be that one-to-many offer that you created, but it also could be a one-to-one offer. And that's basically the funnel, except for one very important thing, which is that your funnel can't make you money if there aren't people coming into it. So somehow people have to find out about that lead magnet. Somehow they have to get on your email list, right? So you can do this with paid ads or with networking or my favorite, content marketing. So making videos here on YouTube or writing content for your website then gets listed on Google. You also can do it with a podcast or with Instagram or Facebook or something like that. But I personally have found that written content and video content have helped my business grow the very most. Now, at this point, when you have worked with plenty of customers.
Gillian:
[32:57] You have this one-to-many offer and you've created this system that has new leads and customers is consistently coming into your business, you should be just about ready to go full time with your new business. And so I want to share a simple checklist with you that you can use to tell whether you're ready to maybe quit your job and actually take that leap to go full time with it. So first of all, I would recommend that you have replaced at least 60% of your current income. Now, ideally, of course, you will have replaced 100% or even way more than that. But a lot of the time, if you are working a 40-hour-a-week job, you might feel like you can't quite get there yet. But if you had 40 more hours a week, you definitely could replace your full current income. So I would just say at least 60% of your current income with the minimal hours that you're putting in the business now, if you can see a clear path to making more money once you have a little bit more time. Now, if you can't see that path, of course, you will want to have replaced between 80 and 100% of your income. So that's the first check you need there, replaced at least 60%. The second check you need is that you have that system that is built that is bringing in leads and that is working. The third check you need is that you have saved a little bit of money. Okay, because as much as I love running a business, and I truly think that it brings you so much more freedom and even security than a typical job can...
Gillian:
[34:23] The fact of the matter is that there is volatility with it, right? The reason why I say it's more secure than a J-O-B is because a job can end at any time and then you have nothing. A business, on the other hand, you'll have better months and you'll have worse months. But you can always do things to improve it and it's never going to just totally disappear, right? So you can always be working on making it be more and more successful. But you do have that volatility where you'll have some better months and some worse months. And especially when your business is young and you haven't quite figured things out yet, you might have a few hard months in a row. So I would recommend that you've saved at least two to three months of your expenses so that you won't be in a pickle if you do have a few bad months in a row. The fourth thing to check before you go full time with it is that you are feeling confident in your offer. Not just that you sold a few of them, but that it is consistently selling. And you can see that there is definitely demand for it and that the demand isn't about to dry up.
Gillian:
[35:23] Okay. And then finally, I want you to be in a place where even if you aren't totally sure what you're doing, and of course, you're still running into things all the time that you don't know, you aren't constantly guessing. You do have a little bit of confidence before you jump into this thing full bore. We often talk about the process of quitting your job and starting your own business to be leaping. But I want to make sure that you are not leaping into the unknown, but instead you are jumping onto something that is fully supported and that
Gillian:
[35:54] you have a lot of confidence in. Okay, I know that this episode is getting pretty long, but there was one more thing that I wanted to talk to you about before we wrap this up. And that is how to decide which business to start, how to find a good idea, how to choose the right business model. Okay, because I want to make sure that you don't choose a dead end idea, right? So first, let's talk about some side hustle models and what they can scale into. So for example, you can start with a service that you're doing one to one, and then you can productize it and potentially turn that into an agency. Or you can start with a coaching offer, and then you can scale to group coaching. Or you can turn it into a course if you want. You can start out doing freelance work of any sort, and that can turn into an agency down the road.
Gillian:
[36:40] You also could start out by just doing content creation. Sometimes people do this when they're not really sure what the product should be. But even if that's where you start, just with content creation, a lot of the time you can turn this into digital products or make money with sponsorships down the road. Now, I would encourage you to try to come up with a solid product or service idea from the get-go because sometimes, and I've seen this happen too often, people can build even a really big audience on a purely content creation business.
Gillian:
[37:12] And then they can struggle to find something to sell because they've kind of already given it all away, or at least they've trained their audience to expect them to give it all away. And so at that point, their only good option really is sponsorships. I know a few people who have big successful brands when it comes to audience size and views that they get on their videos and whatnot. But then they tried to sell online courses. And again, their audience just really expected everything to be free. The audience had already gotten what they needed from the creator. So even though they loved watching the videos, they weren't interested in paying for a course. So just something that I think you should think about early on. So the main point here really is that as you're choosing your business idea and choosing your model, make sure that you start with the end in mind. While that first version of this business probably won't look anything like where you eventually want to go, know where you're trying to go so that you can build strategically toward that. And when it comes to choosing a business model, just a few things to look for. First of all, low startup costs, right? We don't need to be taking out jumbo loans to be starting a business. There's a time and a place for that, perhaps. But most businesses can be started on a shoestring. Sometimes you need to spend a few thousand on product development. But I would really encourage you to try to keep your startup costs as low as possible.
Gillian:
[38:34] Second, of course, you want to look for something that there is high demand for. And like I said at the beginning, solving the biggest problem that you possibly can. The problem that people will be interested in paying the most money for is going to make your life so much easier. If you sell something that is really small and affordable and isn't solving a big problem, you're going to need a ton of customers because you don't make very much per customer. And it might be hard to get those customers because they don't really need the thing that you are offering. I also would recommend that you choose a business idea where the problem you're solving is very specific and that it's a problem that you are very well equipped to solve. You know, I was talking earlier about having the right experience and the right credentials, etc.
Gillian:
[39:17] Well, just make sure that it's a problem that you can solve really confidently because that will make it so much easier to grow your business. Okay, I'm just about out of time here. But the last thing I wanted to talk about was just a few really common mistakes that I see people make when choosing a business idea. First one is choosing something that is popular and fun, but just not very profitable. I'm talking about things like hand-making candles, crochet, having a small bakery, or starting a coffee shop. All those things are great hobbies and could even earn you a little bit of cash, but you earn so little, like the profit margins are so small for each sale that it is really difficult to turn them into your full-time thing. And when you have a bad month, it can quickly wipe out all the money you've made that year. So I would recommend choosing something with much higher profit margins. Another mistake I see people make a lot of the time is trying to start with a passive income product.
Gillian:
[40:15] I love passive income products, but they are rather tricky to kind of turn into a success. And so I'd recommend that you start with something where you are actively working to make the money, you are actively serving the client. I know it's not necessarily super scalable, and it might not be what you ultimately want to do. But it is much easier to be successful with that. And then later, you can figure out a passive income product idea. Another mistake I see people make is choosing an idea that's not very popular or doesn't solve a big problem that people are facing.
Gillian:
[40:48] The common example I see for this one is life coaching. Yes, life coaching is fun and you might feel like you have a lot to share with the world, but it can be a really difficult thing to sell because there aren't that many people out there who feel like they really want a life coach or need a life coach or are willing to pay for it. And the main reason for that is because you aren't solving a specific problem. Instead, you're trying to sell the service. So you might be able to do something very similar to being a life coach, but instead focus on the problem you're solving rather than on this service that you're selling. Okay, and then kind of on the flip side, last mistake is sometimes people choose an idea that is profitable, but that they don't enjoy. So for example, a lot of people go into accounting or want to become a lawyer, not because it sounds like a lot of fun, but just because they know that it pays well. So don't make that mistake either. Now, if you're feeling a little overwhelmed right now, you're not sure where to start. Here's a question you can chew on that can help to get things started? What problem can I solve in the next seven days that someone would pay for? And could that evolve into something bigger in the future?
Gillian:
[41:53] So just think about that. What is a problem you could solve in the next seven days that someone would pay you for?
Gillian:
[41:59] Start small and start with a problem that you can solve very soon. Now, if you need more help with any of the parts of this process, then check down below for the link to my free course called Small Business 101. one. It's an 8-video course that is going to walk you through every step of the process, including a bunch of things that we didn't cover today, including how to register your business with the state, and how to set up your website, how to create the branding, as well as some more thoughts on how to get your first customers and create a business plan and all those important steps that you need to take if you want to start a side hustle, whether you want it to grow into a full-time thing or not.
Gillian:
[42:37] [outro]
Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Work Less, Earn More. Now, here's what I want you to do next. Take a screenshot of this episode you're listening to right now and share it out on your Instagram stories. And when you do, make sure you tag me @gillianzperkins so I can see you're listening. Sharing on stories is going to help more people find this podcast so they too can learn how to build their business in a way that allows them to work less and earn more. And if you really love the show, head over to Apple Podcasts right now and leave Work Less Earn More a review to give it a boost and help even more people find it. Okay, let's wrap this up. I'm Gillian Perkins, and until next week, stay focused and take action.
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