Side hustle to solopreneur: 3 must-dos when making the leap

Are you looking to make the jump from side hustle to solopreneur? These days it seems many are, with more Americans leaving their nine-to-fives and entering the world of self-employment. Of course, while running a side hustle can be a great experience for managing a full-fledged business, there are growing pains that can come with scaling. That’s why, as you plan to expand your solopreneur business, there are a few actions you’ll want to take along the way:

Track your business income and expenses

One major mistake that many people make when starting a side hustle is to let their personal finances mingle with their new business finances. While that might not be a huge deal at first, as your business grows, you’re certainly going to want to separate your expenses and income for a number of reasons.

For one, the money you spend on supplies and services for your business could result in a tax deduction. Beyond that, it’s important to look at your business’s financial performance on its own in order to properly assess its health. Therefore, it’s well worth investing in bookkeeping software or other solutions to help you manage your business’s money.

Keep yourself organized

As your business grows, it can be troublingly easy to lose track of certain projects and tasks. Unfortunately, these small misses can quickly snowball and spell disaster for your business. That’s why organization is key for taking your company to the next level, keeping your customers happy, and turning a profit.

Thankfully, there are now a number of free project management tools available that you can use to both keep yourself on track as well as collaborate with co-workers and clients. Ranging from simple “to-do list” solutions to more elaborate “superpowered spreadsheets,” these services can help you stay organized, meet your deadlines, and, in turn, keep on growing.

Monitor your time

Going hand in hand with organization and keeping tabs on your various projects, it’s also a good idea to track how much time you’re spending on certain business activities. Not only could this information help you to find inefficiencies in your system that you can focus on fixing (including potentially outsourcing tasks to virtual assistants or other freelancers) but could also reveal that a change in your pricing may be necessary to better reflect your labor costs. For those reasons and others, checking out task tracking software or similar solutions could well be worth your time.

As you attempt to scale your side hustle into a business, there are several things you’ll need to keep in mind. By focusing on finances, keeping organized, and tracking your time, hopefully, you can successfully make the transition to solopreneur and beyond.

(Featured image by DepositPhotos)

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DISCLAIMER: This article expresses my own ideas and opinions. Any information I have shared are from sources that I believe to be reliable and accurate. I did not receive any financial compensation for writing this post, nor do I own any shares in any company I’ve mentioned. I encourage any reader to do their own diligent research first before making any investment decisions.