Ya’ll know by now that I don’t believe you have to “jump of the cliff” to become an entrepreneur. In fact, it’s easier and more sustainable for you to grow your business slowly, especially as a side-hustler so that you can work on each stage of your business with focus to stay on track and out of overwhelm.
But what if you’ve been doing this for a while and you’re not seeing any signs of success (in other words, you don’t have clients but feel like you’re super busy and working all hours to make this work)?
Side-hustlers, you don’t need a website, fancy funnels and all the things to get started, in fact you can use what you have already to start building and creating connections and clients. And because “people buy from people” the biggest factor in creating success is building that like, know, and trust factor first and foremost.
If you are a Service provider (think coach or healer), check that you have these simple things in place:
- A way to connect and build your community (this can be more effective offline rather than online to begin, all you need is your immediate network, your phone and emails). Remember to use your current network of family and friends (the people who already love, know and trust you) by sending them an email to tell that what you are up to. Even if they are not your ideal client, they might know someone who is.
- A process for you to take someone through on a call, where you can create a breakthrough and help them see where they are now and where they want to be, you can ‘close the gap’ for them and show them what’s possible so they are begging to work with you.
- A system to follow up and check-in. Not every person you talk to will become a client immediately, but they may in a month, a year, 2 years and it’s your job to stay in touch, continue providing value and ASK for referrals.
- A system to on-board your clients with ease, do you have a payment system, invoicing and an agreement in place? You don’t want to be scrambling at the last moment once you do get a client. The easier you make it for yourself the smoother it will be for you and them.
It can be as simple as that!
If you have a product based business, you can do all the above e.g. letting everyone you know about your products and don’t be afraid to ask your immediate network for help in getting the word out, people LOVE to help – don’t get into the fear of feeling like you don’t want to annoy anyone by asking, remember that your product is there for a reason and you never know who may want it, it’s your job to sell what you have!
- Find collaborators or people in you network who have a similar product or something aligned and share the workload of getting your products out there together
- Choose one platform to sell your product and get it working for you first, before you choose all the social media sites to be on… where are your target market most likely to be hanging out?
- Get a stall at the local markets and start talking to people in your local community, you’ll be surprised how much support you receive
- Join local meet-up or networking groups, get out and about to tell people what you do and how they can access your products, the more you get to know the people who are closest to you, you can really ‘test’ what works and what doesn’t before you invest in any big marketing campaigns and take the product out further
When you have a look at the foundations of where you begin, this can then be taken to the next step of growth for you where you can start to look at new ways of creating clients and customers also, put a plan in place for your marketing, content and visibility. Taking the next step wherever you are in your side hustling journey.
I’d love to hear your comments on this, let me know how you’ve set yourself up for success by keeping things simple or what tips you liked best.
xo Gina
PS – I lost connection at the end so make sure to catch the rest of this conversation HERE
