Are you ready to become the architect of your life, amiga? This episode promises to be your key to unlocking the world of side hustles, a world where your passions can fuel your pocket. We explore how to identify your unique skills and passions, and how to utilize the resources around you to build your side hustle's foundation. And to make your journey smoother, I’m offering a free side hustle starter kit workbook available for download!
In this episode, we explore the different types of businesses you could venture into, the platforms that can help jumpstart your side hustle, and how to identify your unique selling proposition and ideal customer. Remember, your side hustle isn't just about making extra money - it's about putting your unique stamp on a product or service.
Success doesn't happen overnight, amiga. It takes a vision, constant learning, and a whole lot of patience. Onward to success, amiga!
And don’t forget to check out the Sidehustle Starter Kit Workbook for planning and jotting down your ideas.
Here is the link: https://www.healthcarenetworkinc.com/pl/2147879780
Are you ready to become the architect of your life, amiga? This episode promises to be your key to unlocking the world of side hustles, a world where your passions can fuel your pocket. We explore how to identify your unique skills and passions, and how to utilize the resources around you to build your side hustle's foundation. And to make your journey smoother, I’m offering a free side hustle starter kit workbook available for download!
In this episode, we explore the different types of businesses you could venture into, the platforms that can help jumpstart your side hustle, and how to identify your unique selling proposition and ideal customer. Remember, your side hustle isn't just about making extra money - it's about putting your unique stamp on a product or service.
Success doesn't happen overnight, amiga. It takes a vision, constant learning, and a whole lot of patience. Onward to success, amiga!
And don’t forget to check out the Sidehustle Starter Kit Workbook for planning and jotting down your ideas.
Here is the link: https://www.healthcarenetworkinc.com/pl/2147879780
Hello and welcome to Amiga's let's Talk the show, where we discuss life and business and everything in between. I am your host, the Maris Ramirez. My goal is that every woman lives her best life. So, amiga, grab a cup of coffee or tea and let's talk. Hi, amiga, in this episode I'm going to talk about how you can start your side hustle business.
Speaker 1:So first of all, I think we need to define what we're talking about. And we say side hustle. So in the Webster dictionary, if you look it up, you'll see that it says it's work performed for income supplementary to one's primary job. And other names for side hustle that I've heard are side gigs or moonlighting. I've also heard freelancing, consulting. But I do think we probably should stick to the dictionary definition which, as I mentioned, says it should be an income supplementary to one's primary job in the beginning. I think that way, when you're starting your business, you are starting it with some peace of mind, that you have money to pay your current bills while you figure out what it is that you want to do and while you're growing your business. So grab a notebook so that you can take some notes. Also, in the show notes for this episode, you're going to find that I created a nice little free side hustle starter kit workbook that you're going to be able to download, and it will help you to put your thoughts together and to start to at least start thinking about what it is that you want to do. Think about the things that I'm going to mention today. So get comfy, let's get started. That way, I can show you and share with you how I started my six figure business and why and how you should, too.
Speaker 1:People will start their side hustle out of financial need, and I did too. So I was a single parent. I needed to pay rent, utilities, have money for private school for my daughter. One of the things that you should do is try to think about what is it that you like to do, and I think that's the most important thing, because you will have to work additional hours, potentially sleep less, and so whatever it is you're going to be doing, at least you want to enjoy it. You're going to have to really sit down and think about that, and if you download the starter kit, you'll be able to work through that For me.
Speaker 1:I got an evening part time teaching job. A friend of mine volunteer to babysit for my daughter. She did it for free. She said well, I'll just stay with her while you go and teach. And while I was at that teaching job, I realized that I love teaching, and so I began my research on how could I make this side hustle into a business. I didn't know what that would look like, but I knew that I wanted to do that. So I really put 200% into teaching so that I could then use that knowledge and develop a plan so that I could do it on my own, because what I wanted to do is I wanted to control the amount of money that I could make. So business ownership was something I was exposed to since I was very young.
Speaker 1:I come from a family of business owners. My uncles, many of them, had bodegas and restaurants. So I learned from early on that having your own business does allow you the flexibility to make the extra money, but it also comes with a commitment of long hours. I can't stress that enough. As I said before, that is why you really need to do something that you like or love.
Speaker 1:I remember being six or seven and going to my father's bodega in Washington Heights and loving being there. I remember going into the freezer refrigerators after school and eating the orange cream ice cream bars. I remember my friends walking in with their parents and me offering them ice cream and just looking at my dad like, is it okay, can I give him free ice cream? And he would just shake his head like, sure, go ahead. And I loved being there with my dad. I could tell that my dad worked a lot of hours but that he also truly enjoyed it. He enjoyed his business. He enjoyed and loved his customers.
Speaker 1:So, amiga, what will you do? Let's talk about some of the options. Three things I think you need to consider is first, what skill do you already do regularly? Maybe you could do more of that. Or what do you do regularly that you enjoy? Are you an inventor, a creator? Are you a coach to your friends? Two, do you have the mental, emotional and physical capacity to use these skills outside of your current responsibilities? And this is really important? If you're going to start a journey of doing a side hustle, then mentally prepare yourself, because it won't be easy, but it can be done. Do you have the resources to do more? And by that I mean if you have little ones, have you aligned some babysitting so that you'll have even an hour day or two hours a day to sit down and work on additional work, or the planning of thinking or figuring out how you're going to add this additional responsibility, this additional side hustle. If not, if you don't have babysitting available, then plan out when can you work on this, and maybe you're going to do it while they're sleeping, early in the morning or late at night, and by doing that, obviously that's part of your. You know your. You know your. You know your mental, emotional, physical capability.
Speaker 1:And three what other skills would you also enjoy doing regularly? Are you secretly in the shower? Do you love to paint? Do you love to act? Do you imagine yourself being a CEO or president of a large company? What are you constantly thinking about? What are you researching online? I think that's a really good indicator If someone was to look at your phone.
Speaker 1:What are you looking at? Are you looking at things related to cooking? Are you looking at social media posts related to interior decorating? What's on your Facebook, on your Instagram, on your Pinterest? Then sit down and make a list of three things you want to do. If you already know what that one thing is, because you have been thinking about it for years, then you don't have to do this exercise. You already know. But if you're not sure, what I want you to do is make a list of three things you would love to do and then sit with these three things and ask yourself, if I could do one of these things and switch it for my current job and make the same amount of money, which one of these three things would it be then? That should be your focus. You're going to. Maybe you can't switch it now, right? Maybe what you need is extra income, not just to change what you're doing. So, if that's what it is, you're gonna continue being great at your current job, but you're also, then are going to focus on this one thing, and I will go through what is it that you should do with this passion of yours, with this thought, in order to make it a practice or a job or something that brings you in money?
Speaker 1:So let's talk about the type of businesses. In general. They fall into three categories that would be either the product business, the service or the information business. Today, you can sell a product on Etsy, shopify, ebay these are just some examples obviously even Amazon, where you can create something handmade candles, personalized something and you can then add it onto this platform and you can sell there. They all have different fees. There are platforms work differently, so I would say, look into each one of your. What you're thinking to do is a product and you wanna make a list of these places where you would sell your product and then compare them, compare what the fees would be. Where would your customer be? Is this where they would go? That's important too and then make it and sell it. And we also have the digital created right.
Speaker 1:You can also, even on these platforms, sell things that you design. So you could design something on your computer. You can even do graphic design, and even if you don't do it maybe your thought is I like it but I'm not a good artist then you could hire an artist. Where would you find them? You would find them either on a platform called Fever Upwork, even on YouTube, but if you wanna design things yourself to sell, then I highly recommend that you use Canva in order to design it, because you could even use the free version, and there's millions of templates, beautiful ones. I use it every week to design things for my business, so I would recommend that you go there.
Speaker 1:Are you going to have a business, that maybe is a service. So if you're gonna have a service, let's say maybe you can provide video editing. Maybe you want to be a coach, because you already work with your friends, you're constantly giving advice. Maybe you want to be a party planner. Maybe you wanna manage somebody's medical bills. There are people that just help seniors that maybe need help understanding what their medical bills are. Maybe you wanna help parents, help them with their children, give some advice. There are people that have websites, blogs about it, and then maybe they sell a little e-book with some ideas on how things can be better.
Speaker 1:I would say, in the service business, you're basically selling yourself, selling the knowledge that you have. You can do this by hosting Facebook Live. You can host classes on Zoom. You can use other platforms like Kajabi. They're in this area. They're just like in the design and product area many platforms some also, as I mentioned before, that are free. And then there's the information business. That's the third one, and that really is a hybrid, meaning a combination of service and product. That is really mostly where I have grown my business, and so I host online courses, live pre-recorded, and I also have e-books that I sell. So I've been in that area for a very long time.
Speaker 1:So you wanna think about what type of business it is that you wanna do with your side hustle and then really start learning about the platforms that are out there and whether they're free or there's a fee. In the beginning, since you're starting small, a lot of them have limits how much you could use them, and they allow you, for minimal capacity, to use them for free. So I would say, start with the free platforms until you realize which one is the best one for you. I mean so, in order to be successful with starting a side hustle whether it is, as in the beginning, as maybe just doing another part-time job or going straight into starting our business, in either of those categories, you do need to do a lot of research. You need to consider what is available, what is out there, what are others doing. Even if you're talented and you're going to have a product, you need to think about how is your product going to be different? So you want to research your competition and I'm hesitating because I hate that word competition Really.
Speaker 1:Let's convert that word into a community of like-minded people, Because today, with the global outreach that we have, there is enough for everyone. In what I do, I'm constantly talking to other people that do what I do, the same exact thing and we share notes, we share stories, the good, the bad. We share material sometimes hey, do you have a sample contract? Hey, this is the contract proposal that I'm submitting. I'm thinking that maybe this is what I want to add as the consulting fee. What do you think? Do you think that is in market? And when you get together with people that understand you, that do the same thing, you really get the resource that you need. So let's think about what is that community of like-minded people If you don't have that network yet, because sometimes it takes a while for you to get together with these people, to meet these people, and so all you have is online, and I want you to research online.
Speaker 1:What do other people that do similar to what you want to do? What do they offer? What do they not offer? How can you get involved? You know, start participating and engaging in their platforms so that they get to know your names. Start commenting on the platforms. You want to make a list of at least five people in your industry, their names. Make a list, write it down, write their names, write their social media address and then what I want you to do as your homework is to study them for two weeks, and maybe you do it on paper, maybe you do it on an Excel spreadsheet and start writing categories. You know where are they online, what do they offer, how much do they offer it for, how often do they post on their social media?
Speaker 1:Also, you probably want to write down how many followers, even though I will say that, since you are beginning, you're not going to have as many as they have. So I don't want you to measure yourself against that, because that truly is not an indicator of whether you're going to be successful or not, because just think they started one time at some point. They started with a following of zero also. Just think about that. So if you're starting, you know, by you doing the research, maybe you're going to accelerate faster than they do. So right now, you kind of only want to know what are they doing and try to learn from what they're doing.
Speaker 1:We also need to consider who is your ideal customer, who is going to buy from you. This is so important. This is gonna be your community, your clients. This is going to come in really handy. The more that you can identify your ideal customer, the more you're gonna be able to know where you need to be available for them and also how you are going to design your marketing campaign. So you wanna start learning specifically what are their wants, what are their needs, what kind of products and services they are interested in, where are they located, what platforms are they primarily on, what is their age range? Where do they live? What kind of jobs do they do? You wanna make sure that you have a clear picture of your ideal customer so that when you're reaching out, when you're either writing a blog, maybe doing a newsletter, maybe even responding to a purchase, that you can personalize it and, as people do purchase your service and your product, you wanna try to collect testimonials from these people that identify why did they buy your product or service and then, after they use it, why do they love it and believe it. These are going to be the people that are going to give you the best referral for then attracting new customers In my business.
Speaker 1:I have to be honest that my business, for the many years that I've had it, my business comes from more than 85% of referrals from previous customers and they have come from a student to another student or they have come from students to a client they are recommending. Also, I've been asked to present in many organizations. Very few people have contracted me because they have found me online. And the funny thing is, the people that have found me online especially the clients, not students the clients have found me online at a desperation. They desperately needed somebody in healthcare consulting immediately and they just basically Googled let me find a healthcare consultant locally where I live. And they were able to find me and call me and say usually I need you right away. So I know who they are. Because they basically maybe found themselves in a very difficult situation and they were desperate. They just found me online. But most of my customers are coming through referral, which, honestly, for me, makes me feel like I have to work even harder when it's a referral, because I don't want to let the person that referred that customer down. So I almost try to do even a better job than whatever it was that I provided to that referral customer. That's at least how I think about it, and I would encourage you to think about it that way too, so that, therefore, this person that was referred can then later refer you another one, and that cycle will continue, and that has been, really honestly, how I have been growing my business for the many, many years that I've been in business, so I hope that that also works for you.
Speaker 1:I want to go back and talk a little bit more about networking, because it's so, so important. You want to network with like-minded people. You want to do it either virtually or in person, and you're able to do this either via Facebook or in local meetups. Another great place to network with like-minded people is at your local small business association, and when you attend these meetings, you get a better understanding of what is the state of affairs for your local area, potentially for your business. You might find out what are some of the challenges, what are the greatest areas of opportunity, and you want to do this early. You want to be able to identify are there any available grants? Sometimes they have grants for small business owners that you might qualify for, and so remember, you don't need to do this alone. There are people out there that are willing to share what have been their successes, what have been their failures, so that maybe you don't try that same idea, or at least that you learn from the idea. You want to find your best business friends, your BBF, and you want to cultivate that core group of people that you can depend on, that will be honest. They're going to give you honest feedback. They're going to be the first to cheer you on after your first sale or after that first big order. They're going to be the ones fueling your success.
Speaker 1:Amiga, the quality of your work really matters, so we need to make sure that we are mastering our trade. You want to focus on your strengths, not on your weaknesses. So you're going to think about what are your strengths and whatever it is you want to do and you want to learn more about it. You want to know what it is that you need to do to stand out. How are you going to be great? How are you going to be different? And one of the books I would like to recommend in the journey of mastering your trade that I think is also important to read and to understand is the Franklin Covi the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, and one of the things there is he goes through the habits right.
Speaker 1:So habit number two is begin with the end in mind. So if we're doing that, we want to begin thinking what is the best product that I or service that I can provide right now? And you want to work on that so that when you do put a service out there or a product out there, it is fantastic that when people purchase it, ask you to buy it, receive it, that they're so excited and that they receive so much value from you that they're willing to recommend you. I find a lot of times when I'm in the middle of providing a service a lot of times I provide courses where it's a package that even during the services the webinar, the live webinar series that I'm doing I Get phone calls I get inquiries about from new people, new students calling and asking about the current class, because someone is so excited about the class that they're telling a friend and the person wants to know hey, can I still get into that class or when is your next class? So your product and service and the mastery of that is Extremely important. So you want to sit down and think about, right after we've done the research with the other like-minded people, how are we going to be different, how are we going to provide something that maybe hasn't been done or that is Currently being done, but we're going to be better, we're going to be different and we need to work on that every single day.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about space. Unless you have a digital product, you need to consider your space. This is going to be really important. If you're a virtual assistant, then you probably don't need a production area. All you need is a Computer, which you could I encourage you to sit at a desk, but you're doing it at your couch when that's fantastic if you still can get your work done.
Speaker 1:But if you're doing a product, a business that requires you to Be able to work, to have supplies for example, let's say you're doing jewelry then you need supplies for your jewelry. You might need tools, you might need packaging. You're going to need a space, a designated space in your house where your materials are going to be organized. So Consider your environment. You're going to need to think about what are your.
Speaker 1:If your service is a product, what are your space spatial needs? Right, for this side hustle. What space in your home Can you dedicate to this side hustle where, if you have children, they're not going to be able to get into for safety issues, into your supplies, where things could be organized and locked? It could be a closet. What space in your home Can you Dedicate right to that side hustle, and are there any limitations? Because you have a small space, it might be difficult for you to start with a product if you're not going to be able to have the space to Allow to be able to develop that product. So, again, think about what is your space capability?
Speaker 1:I mean, you know what I'm going to say is going to be a little controversial, but if you ask many of us that are in business now that started with a side hustle and then maybe Moved on to create a bigger business, one of the things that we, most of us, have in common Is that we never started with an official business plan. We did not have the business cards, we did not have the website. Instead, we focused on what is the product that we want to sell, what is the service that we want to provide, and we focused on the research. That's why we talked about that. I don't want you to waste time in trying to time and money trying to Prepare a business plan. If you do not have a product that in my mind, then what are you creating the business plan for? You have to have something to sell and what you to start creating the items or services that are going to bring you money. That is the goal, right. Let's keep the end in mind. That's what Franklin Covay said. So let's work and try to create what we want to sell first. That is where I want you to spend most of your time.
Speaker 1:For my beginners side hustle business owners, there's some platforms that you need to have the basics. So I thought let's get these out of the way and they're free, right, and they're gonna help you with your business. So number one is Canva for designing. You definitely want to also open a zoom account. At some point you're gonna have meetings. You might think, oh, I'm not, no, I don't want to do that, I don't want to talk to people. You're gonna need to have a zoom account. If you ever get a big client, a bigger order, you might have to have a meeting. So you definitely want to have a zoom account. The zoom account also will allow you to create some videos, so I and they might send you a meeting via zoom. So you definitely want to have a zoom account.
Speaker 1:You should probably also have a Gmail business account email. You can create one. There Doesn't have to be, at this point tied to a website. When you have a little more money and you design or Buy a domain name and a website, then you'll probably get a business email. But for now, just get a Gmail account. And the other thing I would say is Be careful with the names. Make sure that your email is Put your business name in there, even if it says at gmailcom, it doesn't matter for the beginners. At least you have your business name there, an email that you know You're gonna be able to go and check daily to see where your Business emails are. If you're still working and this is gonna be your side hustle you do not want your business emails going to your job. That is not okay. You need to have a separate email for that.
Speaker 1:You definitely want to have a Facebook. If the brand is you, because you're selling a service, that's fine. You can, I guess, continue to have your family members on it. I don't have a personal Facebook. I only have a business Facebook. I didn't want to mix my personal and my business, so maybe, if you don't want to do that either, you want to create a face, a business Facebook account, just for your business. I also encourage you to have two accounts in Instagram have your personal account, where you can have your personal post and you can look up things that maybe you're interested in, and then have a Instagram account that's your business account, where only things related to business are going to be posted. And then the last one I encourage to do and there are many accounts like this for you to process payments.
Speaker 1:I have for years used PayPal and I've been very happy with them. Of course, they do take a percentage, but if you're selling something, most platforms will take a percentage, but for me it's worked out fine. I've been able to always use it. I've never had any problems, so I'm very happy with it. So that's why I'm recommending I am not getting anything back from any of these that I've listed, so you can either use these that I recommended or find some similar and get them, but, like I said, I'll list them again there also on the downloadable side hustle, start, a kit, canva, zoom, gmail, facebook, instagram and a payment account, paypal, I mean.
Speaker 1:Let me give you a tip from my journey through success, through living my best life, and that is that sometimes there have been times where I have felt lonely. It requires for me to try to reach out to those like minded people, the people that understand my struggle, the people that don't think, hey, I'm weird because I work so hard. They don't understand what is really my passion, my drive, and that can include family and friends. The interesting part is that these are the same people that, as your journey of success is growing and as you're maybe making more money and being able to do more things, are also wanting to be part of that. They're happy with enjoying your success, but they still don't want to support when you're doing the hard work. So to that I say you know, don't follow these people that maybe because they're not following their dream. Maybe that's what's making them resentful. Maybe that's why they're not supporting you. You need to follow your dream, because it is the responsibility of everyone to be their best self.
Speaker 1:I mean, I hope today was helpful in getting you to think about what is going to be my side hustle. What, potentially, is the business that I want to start or grow? It's never going to be the right time. It's never the perfect time. So I encourage you to just start. You're going to definitely have to redo, refine your work. That is the process of learning. That is what I do every day. So if you're waiting for that idea to be perfect, you're never going to start.
Speaker 1:So I encourage you to allow yourself to begin to plan and take it one day at a time. One day, you're going to look back and you're going to be so proud of what you've created, of who you've become. Most of the time, people are going to buy because they love you, because they love your product, and the rest is just going to come. So make sure that you develop your vision, that you master your trade, that your service, what you're providing, represents the person that you are, the person that you want to be seen as. And remember, success takes time. So please just start, start today.
Speaker 1:Go ahead and go to Amiga, let's Talk episode notes, and there you're going to be able to download the free Sidehustle starter kit workbook that I created so that you can go back if you were just listening this to this in your car, and have some quiet time and kind of answer the questions that I prompted you to think about earlier, and you're going to be able to write them down if you weren't able to capture the notes at this time. So I'm really excited to hear from every single one of you. What are your ideas? What service or product are you trying to create? And you know you can follow me on Instagram, mr Maris Ramirez. Post their direct message me there and send me your ideas. I would love to hear all about them. And the best of luck to you, amiga. I know you can do it. Let's start.