How to Find Time to Start a Successful Side Business?

Updated on October 31, 2022 in Ecommerce by Nishant Shrimali

Starting a side business can be is challenging.

Even though one might have the drive and desire to start, it’s not always easy to find the time—especially with so much competition in today’s job market.

With that said, if you’re passionate about starting a side business, there has to be a way for you to make it happen. You just need to know what exactly is standing in your way.

If you are reading this article, you probably already know something is holding you from starting your own business.

Maybe you don’t have enough money or the right skill set, maybe you are already juggling with a lot of things in your life, or it can simply be finding a balance between being burned out or being motivated. Whatever it is, I have outlined some helpful tips on how you can find the time to start a side business and become successful with it.

So without taking any more time, let’s get started with ultimate tips.

How to Find Time to Start a Successful Side Business

Plan ahead

Before you even think about starting a side business, you need to know where you want to go with it.

It’s not about having thoughts that you have while brainstorming or while you’re trying to come up with a business idea. It’s about a plan you need to have in the back of your mind at all times.

What is your ultimate goal with this side business? What are you trying to achieve with it? What problem are you trying to solve?

If you don’t have a clear idea about what you want to do with your new side business, it will be even more challenging to find the time to start it. You need to know what you’re working towards to stay on track.

Planning will not only help you start a successful side business but also stick with it.

Set small, incremental goals

With that said, don’t just set one large goal for yourself: set smaller, incremental goals along the way.

You’re not going to build a successful side business in one day, one month, or may be even one year.

It will take you some time to get it off the ground, and it will take a lot of hard work. You need to be patient with yourself and set realistic goals along the way.

Even fortune 100 companies have quarterly goals. Create realistic goals for your business. And based on your schedule understand what work you’ll have to do to achieve your goals.

If you set one large goal, it might be too overwhelming to see it through to the end.

On the other hand, breaking your larger goal down into smaller, incremental goals might make it seem a bit more realistic and achievable.

This will help you stay on track, and it will also keep you motivated throughout the process.

Find the time on weekends

Now I am not saying to kill your social life entirely. But we have 24 hours, and our priorities should be set.

If you are already working 9-5, let’s be real, the rest of the day is already booked by preparing for the job and ensuring healthy lives and relationships.

But if you can scrub out 1 hour of deep work to start a successful side business – you might not have to cut down your other life.

Yes, putting in more hours and hustling will give quicker results – but let’s be realistic and think about the long-term commitment to the business.

Start with 1 hour of deep work daily, and 2 or 3 hours of work on weekends.

Deep Work, essentially means – knowing what you are going to do in a set timeframe and focusing on just that. No other work, no distraction, and no getting involved in other “essential work”.

If you said, you’ll be creating a landing page, don’t open your Gmail for the next hour to see if there are any updates. Just create the landing page and do nothing else.

Another popular concept that is for creating a framework around our goal is Monk Mode.

A framework where you dedicate a portion of a your day, your week or your year towards your goal—and other time, you don’t even think about your work.

If you want to learn more about this framework and how to work around it, here is a video by Iman Gadzhi sharing how he enters and exits monk mode to run his agency.

Keep track of work

When you are on a path to starting a successful side business, you are your boss and your employee.

But the truth is – you are a bad boss and a worse employee.

You’ll tell yourself to do one thing and won’t do it. Procrastination won’t let you. So you must stay accountable for your work.

Start writing down what you do on daily basis as a report.

It will work as a reminder of what all work is done, and what is needed to be done the next day.

In addition to this, writing your progress will also allow you to note down ideas that randomly pop into your head that can help you grow.

Save them in the “ideas” section to think more about them later.

Outsource repetition

Starting a side business requires a lot of repetitive, but important work. Now, you can either spend your limited time doing that or can focus on your taking your side business from the ground to a successful enterprise.

Outsourcing essentially means hiring a person or a service to do specialized work. The hiring is usually on a contract or per project/task basis.

That means the cost of getting the work done is far less than the time you would invest in doing it yourself.

Here are a few things that you can outsource:

• Product Photography
• Product photo editing
• Accounting
• Content Writing
• Copywriting
• Marketing

Based on your expertise, budget, and stage of your side business you can surely outsource most of the repetitive work and focus on managing your business and customers.

Ask for help from friends and family

At some point, you’re probably going to need some help with your side business. You might need to purchase some supplies, or you might need some additional training.

You might need a co-worker or family member to watch your kids for a couple of hours a week so you can make some progress.

You might be tempted to try and do everything on your own as a sign of strength and determination, but that can be counterproductive in the long run.

Instead, you should try and ask for some help from your friends and family members.

It’s amazing what can be accomplished when people come together and work towards a common goal.

Become fluid with progress

When you will start a successful side business, a lot of factors will come into factor. You might have to just revise everything and start from the first step.

It’s not isolated for side business but business in general.

As the last point, it is really important to share with you that you must be ready to take new turns with your business as time progresses.

Understand what works according to your customer and grow accordingly.

Conclusion

Starting a side business can be challenging, especially if you don’t have a lot of free time. 

With that said, there are ways to find the time to start a side business and be successful with it. You just need to plan, set small, incremental goals, and find the time on weekends. 

You also need to set strict work hours, ask for help from friends and family and don’t forget about your work responsibilities.

With these tips in mind, you will be well on your way to building a successful side business.

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