Side Business, Smart Business
It seems that this is your first time to my blog. Welcome! In this blog I will share my ideas on how you can make a living in a way that feels good to you, your family, your environment and everyone around you. If you want to know more about me and this blog, check out my about page. And if you want to stay updated on my new posts, subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for stopping by!
When the time available for building your business is limited, you have two choices: you can play smart, or you can forget all about sleeping or relaxing with your family and spend all of your free hours working on your side business.
You choose.
If you want to work all day and all night, feel free to do so. But if that’s not your dream, I have some tips to share with you.
Be smart in picking your business
This is the first and most important decision that will define how much of your time you will spend on your business.
Sure, there is no such business that wouldn’t take a slice of your time - nor should there be. But still, some lines of business just require more work than others. That’s why when planning a side business you shouldn’t just pick the first thing that comes to mind. Instead, think about your different options and how likely it is for you to burn out pursuing each of them.
Pick the one least likely to turn you into a zombie.
- Don’t do the same thing you do in your day job: If you code all day, going home to work on yet another programming task doesn’t feel like relaxing. You have other interests as well, don’t you? Starting a side business is an opportunity to pick one of your still unused skills and take the most out of it.
- Don’t pick a business that requires you to be available all the time: One of the reasons why I chose freelance writing as my (first) side business is that it doesn’t require too many meetings with the customer at a specific time and places. Most of the communication can be handled through e-mail, and the working hours arranged according to my own schedule. This helps a lot in reducing the stress and balancing the days.
- Pick a business model that scales both up and down: When you are just starting, it’s hard to know how much work you can handle. That’s why it’s a good idea to try and build your business from small pieces that you can drop or add easily when you learn more about your personal balance. For example, in addition to print magazine articles, I do freelance blogging gigs. Blogging work is quicker to get done so it gives me a finer resolution for defining how much work I collect for a week. In the same way a graphic designer could add small, quick poster designs or mini websites to her portfolio in addition to the bigger scale projects to have finer control over the work load.
- Pick a business that can work without your input: I have to admit that in my freelance writing business I don’t follow this advice. And the resulting problems are already starting to show. As a side business entrepreneur, if growing your business means getting more work, you risk losing your balance and getting into trouble. That’s why even though the writing business keeps me busy, I can’t give up building this blog and writing my first e-book (I’ll share more information on it once I’m done with this series of articles) so that I could make my business bring me money even when I’m not working.
And finally, don’t be afraid to try things out, make mistakes and iterate.
Start small with some idea on how your business can grow in the future, and then improve and fine tune it as you go.
Be smart in picking your projects
Saying no is hard.
What’s even harder is saying no to a project you know would be extremely interesting.
But nevertheless, it’s also the most important skill you need to learn when building a smart, balanced side business. You will have to say no to boring, repetitive projects that don’t pay well or have any strategic value. But just the same, you will have to say no to many projects that you’d love to do. If you don’t, eventually someone else will say it, maybe your boss in your day job or your wife.
Here are the guidelines I use for knowing when to say no and when to say yes:
- Know your goals: When you know where you want to be in a few years (or even a few months) from now, it’s much easier to know whether this project at hand will get you towards those goals or not.
- Know your limits: This is something you probably have to learn through trial and error. By once taking more projects than you can handle, you’ll know where your limit is. Be sure not to cross it ever again. A good tip I read some days ago says: “One in, one out“.
- Get more information: At first, every new venture looks doable (at least to me, I’m an optimist), so don’t decide right away. Ask for more information, and think about the consequences from going with that project. Think about things like money, strategic value for the future and most importantly, balance. Then in a day or two you are much better informed to say yes or no.
Because this is such an important question, back in January I decided to consult some experts regarding it. Check out their answers for more insight in picking the right projects.
Be smart in managing your time and workload
Finally, no matter how good your plan, there is still one thing that can bring it crumbling down: The way you use your time.
If you organize your time perfectly, you can add more projects and still get all of them done on time without compromising your quality of life. But if you fail in your time management, even a small amount of work can drive you to the edge of a mental breakdown.
There are two ways to address this question:
- Optimize your hours: If you spend one hour on your business every day, you get a total of seven hours. In seven hours, if you use them well, you can do a lot. So, clear out distractions, concentrate fully during the time devoted to your business and then relax. (We will talk more about this in an upcoming post in just a few more days)
- Know your limits: Don’t get greedy when planning the things to get done during a week. It’s way too easy to add still one more item to the list and think that you can do it. When the implementation comes, you will thank yourself for every project you dropped off the list.
Simplify. Implement. Relax.
Just be smart
I’m sure you are at least as smart as I am and can use these tips to create something meaningful and smart. And when you do (or if you have done it already), I’d love to hear about your experiences! Comments are open.
This was the third article (1, 2) in my series on building a profitable side business that doesn’t break your work/life balance. There are still more articles coming, so if you don’t want to miss any of them, subscribe to my RSS feed!
If you enjoyed this post and don't want to miss any of my new content, subscribe to my RSS feed or have the latest posts delivered straight to your e-mail inbox.
March 5th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
haha .. does that mean you won’t be coding for us?
as much as it shoots me in my own foot .. I have to agree with “Don’t do the same thing you do in your day job”. I sets up so many possible conflicts of interests in terms of energy and focus.
This is a great article jarkko.
March 5th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
I’ve always thought lawn care would be an easy business to start.
March 6th, 2008 at 10:22 am
@shane: yeah, I guess that’s what it means - at least for now… Good that you agree that it makes sense.
@graham: lawn mowing can be easy to start (except when it’s snowing, like today), but it has the major problem that to earn more from it you need to work harder - unless you hire some kids to do the work (which could actually make it a decent business…)
March 6th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
I quite agree that one should avoid a business that requires you to be available all the time. Even if you aren’t actually called upon that often, the fact that you *could* be called upon can easily drain non-business activities of their fun.
Regarding lawn-mowing, it’s actually a good business to be in. I did quite a bit of that during my teen years. What I found was that while I did reach an income limit*, the effort required was usually minimal. Plus I was able to listen to hundreds of hours of college-level courses while I worked!
* The income limit is higher than you’d think, though, especially if you’re willing to invest in quality equipment.
March 30th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
I have to disagree with you on “Don’t do the same thing you do in your day job.” I think as long as you are disciplined enough to keep your day and side jobs separate, you won’t run into conflict of interest issues. Also, I believe that the two can complement each other: for instance, I have learned much in my day job that helps me with my side job, and vice-versa.
March 31st, 2008 at 9:47 am
@Bob: Yeah, that’s the other side of the picture. Not doing the thing you do in your day job usually pushes you away from your comfort zone to do something you are less experienced with. And naturally, that can be something not everyone is willing to do…
But for me, at least, this principle has two major advantages:
1) It makes it much easier for me to separate my business from my job. This way the risk of hurting my employer becomes smaller with less stress. (I agree that it’s not the only way to avoid conflict: you can also try to be really careful in deciding the kind of projects you work on so that they are not considered competing against your employer. But I prefer to skip this part and do something completely different.)
2) It makes me think of my business as a business rather than another job. When I’m doing something I’m not quite that experienced in, it’s more natural to me to ask for help from others, outsource some parts of the work, and so on than if I do something I know perfectly.
Jarkko’s last blog post: Planning Your Life, Business and Everything
April 10th, 2008 at 4:59 am
Another important tip: don’t promote your side business at your full-time job.
It not only brings up a conflict issue, but makes your boss suspect that everything you do is benefitting your side job, even taking a sick day.
Flora Morris Brown, Ph.D.’s last blog post: Where Do You Draw the Line on Jobs?
April 11th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
@Flora: Good tip! Having been sick for the past two days I know exactly what you mean.
But it’s also a really tricky one, because how do you promote your side business without letting your full-time employer know about it? I mean, you make sure not to talk about it at work, but still in the era of Internet, everyone will be able to read your blog and find out what you are up to.
This is something I think about a lot, actually. Am I being too open about my side businesses on my blog? And do I make it clear enough that I don’t mean no harm to my full time job either?
April 13th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
I think, although a smart move to bring up, you miss a little on your first point, about not working in the same field as your day job. There are concerns if you want to do so, but as long as you’re aware of them, and handle them up front, I think you’re ok.
The rest of the article, however, is top notch, and particularly picking a business model that keeps working without your input. That’s a tough one in many fields, but a good one if you can pull it off.
I wrote up a little piece on this in my blog. If you got the time, feel free to check it out: http://www.emerslund.no/picking-your-business-picking-smart/
Jørgen Emerslund’s last blog post: Picking your business - picking smart
April 17th, 2008 at 10:18 am
@Jørgen: Sorry it has taken so long to answer your comments. It’s just that I don’t want to do it too lightly, so I’m writing a full post to reply to your thoughts. It should be up tonight - if things go as planned :)