How to Start a Side Hustle

The Side Hustle Portfolio System (1.5 hour online)

Learn the mindsets and systems needed to manage your time, energy, and focus, as you grow your business.

• Define your Vision Statement - make sure you are building a business that aligns to things that matter most to you. Define your WHY. 

• Learn to install the Weekly Planning Ritual so you can effectively manage your time, energy and focus throughout the course, and beyond. 

• Understand the Side Hustle Spectrum: the wide range of business models that are available to side hustlers today. 

Customer Discovery (1.5 hour online)

Learn how to conduct customer discovery research to identify the ideal target customer(s) for your creative business.

• Go deeper than a demographic understanding of your customer by learning to identify your ideal target customer segment. 

• Use the Customer Story template to define your assumptions about your ideal target customer.

• Build market awareness by conducting market research: interview/survey prospective customers to uncover unmet needs, and explore competitors in the market so you can find opportunities to differentiate your offer. 

Your Business Model (1.5 hour online)

Learn to define your first business model hypothesis and quickly test it using rapid prototyping techniques.

• Use your understanding of your customer to define the business model you will deploy to serve them.

• Learn to define your offer (the features, value proposition and pricing) and then quickly test your offer by building a prototype.

• Learn different Channel Strategies - uncover innovative ways to reach your customer (you don’t need to be famous on social media to reach customers - you will be introduced to the Side Hustle Matrix - an overview of the wide range of opportunities that exist to market and sell to customers - e.g. platform-based sales, content-based, partnership-based, etc. ).

• Learn different Customer Relationship Strategies - an introduction to the buyer’s journey and the tactics you can use to attract, educate and nurture customers toward a purchasing decision. This includes an overview of social media tools and ecommerce options. 

• Define the resources needed to deploy your business model. 

Sales Strategies and Tactics (1.5 hour online)

Learn about a wide range of sales and marketing strategies and identify which fits best with you and your business.

• A deep dive into various pricing strategies (value-based pricing and anchor pricing).

• Learn to establish pricing so that you have enough of a margin to be cash flow positive from day 1. 

• Building on the side hustle matrix discussion in week 3, week 4 will dive further into various sales models (wholesale, retail, affiliate, etc).

The Launch + Backend Systems and Operation (1.5 hour webinar)

In week 5 and 7 of the course, you’ll learn how to leverage the insights you have collected from touch points with prospective customers thus far to define your Minimum Viable Offer - the first version of your side hustle that you will launch. You will also learn about the back end systems you should implement as you launch your business (business registration, accounting/financial tracking, etc) so you are set up to grow a thriving side hustle. And, you’ll explore a range of funding options that are available to help kickstart growth with your business. 

• Use the Roadmap planning tool to plan your side hustle launch. 

• Understand the Minimum Viable Offer approach to launching, so you can get to market quickly, while exposing yourself to the smallest amount of risk. 

• Learn to set targets for your launch and how to track your performance. 

• Understand how to track your expenses and revenue, and learn about the range of accounting software that is available to support your business. 

• Finalize your MVO roadmap so you are set up with a 12 week plan to guide your side hustle growth beyond the scope of the course.

Side Hustle Expo (3.5-hour in-person event)

In week 6 of the course, you’ll take part in the Side Hustle Expo, a public marketplace where you can test your Minimum Viable Offer with real customers. You’ll have the opportunity to showcase and sell your products or services, practise communicating your value proposition, and gather feedback that can help you improve your side hustle before completing your launch roadmap.

Set up a vendor table that clearly communicates what your side hustle offers, who it is for, and how much it costs.

Test your Minimum Viable Offer with real customers in a supportive, low-risk environment.

Practise pitching your side hustle and answering questions about your products or services.

Make sales, collect customer feedback, and observe how people respond to your offer.

Use what you learn at the Expo to refine your offer, pricing, messaging, and next steps.

The Launch + Backend Systems and Operation (1.5 hour webinar)

In week 5 and 7 of the course, you’ll learn how to leverage the insights you have collected from touch points with prospective customers thus far to define your Minimum Viable Offer - the first version of your side hustle that you will launch. You will also learn about the back end systems you should implement as you launch your business (business registration, accounting/financial tracking, etc) so you are set up to grow a thriving side hustle. And, you’ll explore a range of funding options that are available to help kickstart growth with your business. 

• Use the Roadmap planning tool to plan your side hustle launch. 

• Understand the Minimum Viable Offer approach to launching, so you can get to market quickly, while exposing yourself to the smallest amount of risk. 

• Learn to set targets for your launch and how to track your performance. 

• Understand how to track your expenses and revenue, and learn about the range of accounting software that is available to support your business.

• Finalize your MVO roadmap so you are set up with a 12 week plan to guide your side hustle growth beyond the scope of the course.

Continued coaching and funding opportunities are available after program completion.