Start A Side Business While Working Full Time

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YAY on your decision to start a side business.  But now you are wondering how in the heck can I do this with a full-time job.  Stop your fretting over it. I am about to drop some gems on the 8 steps you need to take to start your biz while working full time.  Be sure to get your pen and pad.

Step 1 – Create Intentional Time

I know a lot of you want to dive right in to get your business up and running.  Take it from me, this is a crucial step that will set you up for success.

Create time on your calendar to work on your business.  Name it Building My Business. By doing this, you are making a commitment to your business.  It also allows you to start making decisions about how you use your time and not allow things to come in and next thing you know you have not done anything on your business.

You will want to find at least 15-20 hours a week.

This may look like the following:

1 hour each day from Monday – Friday = 5 hours

5 hours on Saturday

5 hours on Sunday

There is 15 hours right there.

 

Step 2 – Create Routines

I know you have heard you need to grind.  Or I have never taken a day off until my business was successful.  I call BS on that advice.  But I won’t get on my soap box.  LOL

Creating a morning and evening routine will allow you to have time for self-care and be highly productive.  You should create a Morning & Evening routine.

EVENING ROUTINE

Let’s start with the evening routine.  This is the routine that will set up your day to be stress free and successful.  You should have the following task in your evening routine:

1. Set bed time
2. Set out your clothes for the next day. I mean the entire outfit down to shoes, accessory and undergarments
3. Do meal prep for the next day (breakfast and lunch mandatory, if you have enough time dinner)
4. Technology Blackout – this is when no t.v. or electronics. This is you winding down to go to bed on time. I usually do this 30 minutes before my bedtime.  Now before you say, well can I ready my book on my iPad.    Get a real book that you turn the pages.  You can use this time to meditate.  Or even better review your goals you want to accomplish for the next day.

MORNING ROUTINE

Your Morning Routine sets the tone for your day.  So, make it count.  You should have the following task in your morning routine:

1. Set your wake-up time. (if you have family it should be enough time before your family usual time to get up)
2. Eat Breakfast – this is the fuel your body will need to support you during the day until lunch
3. Exercise – if you are like me and allergic to exercising, start small. Walk around your block, do planks or look at YouTube and find something for beginner exercise you can do at home.
4. Mindset activities – speak your affirmations aloud or meditation- check out my video 6 Mindset Habits to Become a Successful Entrepreneur to get the other 4 mindset habits recommended.
5. Work on your business

 

Step 3 – Find a Profitable biz Idea

Nothing is worse than to be super excited about your business to find out your idea is non-starter.  It is simple to find a profitable biz idea

1. Find your top 3 biz ideas that you are passionate about and have the skillset to do
2. Validate it against search from Amazon. If you get search results with many pages, that means there is a market for your idea.  If you get nothing, then cross off that idea and go the next.

 

Step 4 – Ensure compliance with your employer

One thing you need to do is to make sure you are on solid legal ground so your employer can’t come after you when your startup is a success. The easiest way to avoid any trouble is to be sure you are working on an idea that is unrelated to the business of your employer, and to work on it on your own time and with your own equipment.

Look through your non-disclosure and other employment agreements to see what your company’s policies are. The law varies by state as to what your employer can and can’t ask of you. It also really depends if you are working on something that will compete with them, or something that came out of your work with them. Typically, both of those are no-nos. Also ensure the documents does not say, ideas related to your employers’ business belong to them.

You might want to consult with a lawyer. Make sure you go through these documents and this process so you don’t have to worry about any of that.

 

Step 5- Do Competitor Research

Now that you know your idea is profitable due to there being a market for it.  You need to find your competitive edge.  A way to do that is from competitor research.  You can find competitors from your search in Amazon on who wrote books around your biz idea.

 

Start to write their name down and then baby stalk them on the internet.

Look at their website

Look at their offerings

Look at their social media sites.

 

When you start to analyze the competitors, you will see things that they all do the same.  But it will become clear on gaps that is missing that they are not offering or talking about.  That you can do or talk about due to your knowledge and expertise and it adds value.

 

For example, if you notice your competitors are all offering 1:1 service.  But you know that your people prefer DIY options or do not have time for that.  Your competitive edge can be in how you offer your services.

 

Another example is if you notice your competitors are teaching strategies that are outdated, your competitive edge is offering an updated strategy that is proven and/or evergreen (never gets outdated).

 

Step 6 – Set your Launch Date

Nothing more makes something become real than when you put a date to it.  You need to put a date to the launch of your business.  Do not put it out too long, but not to the point that you are stressed out in trying to hit it.  For launching a business, a 3 to 6-month date is appropriate.

 

Step 7 – Set Milestones

Now that you know the end date you need to hit. You can now work on milestones you need to hit so you can launch your business.  I won’t get into detail on this video, because I already broken this down in another video you can watch.  Check out my video How to build your start up from Scratch

 

Step 8 – Take-Action

The only way I found to get what you want is to take-action towards it.  The sooner the better.  Start with step 1 and once you finish that step come back and view the video or blog post to do step 2.  Take it step by step until you get to your destination.

 

Next Steps

Which of the steps is tripping you up the most?  And why?  Let me know in the comments below.

 

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