As I talked about in my last post, for my birthday in May I bought myself a present- a course to learn how to start a drop shipping business (see my post at https://thesidehustlejourney.com/2zmf). I had published a blog back in January talking about how I was thinking about drop shipping as a possible side … Continue reading Updates from 1/2 way through my dropping shipping course for my new side hustle.
Tag: Wordpress
Creating The Side Hustle Journey website and blog
About 5 months after starting my The Ordinary Parent Facebook group and deciding to brand myself as The Ordinary Mom for my side hustles, I decided that others might find value in going through this journey with me. I had the epiphany on one of my long drives for work that I wanted to publicly document this process. I will say that I’m an excellent documenter (I think it’s one of my special gifts) and realized I had tons of notes in Evernote and on Google Docs about my side hustle journey thus far.
How I set up my business to get ready to do business
In the post, I am going to tell you how I did the few necessary steps to set up my business. I had an mentioned in an earlier post, I had used the free resources of a Small Business Development Center to help me come up with a business plan and get started on a side hustle. I didn’t ever start that original business but I learned how to set up a business in my state (California). FYI- Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) are funded by the government and offer free business consulting to anyone who wants to open a small business. It’s the best kept business secret out there.
10 tips to help you start a side hustle
So you want to start a side hustle but don’t have any extra time. As a mom of 3 elementary aged kids, 1 dog (we had 2 but, sadly, one died a few months ago), 2 hamsters, a full time job, tons of kids sports and other kid activities and a busy family life, if I can do it so can you. I set aside 2 hours a week to devote to it. That makes it a slow process but I look forward to that time every week and I have found it gives me more energy instead of taking it away. Part of my side hustle journey is that I want to share my learnings, successes and failures with others to help them on their own side hustle journeys. I want to help create a community of people who are passionate about what they do and have the freedom to follow their dreams.
Tweaking The Ordinary Mom Facebook Page and dipping my toes into the t-shirt business on Teespring
As I described in my last blog, I finally took action on something and started a closed Facebook page in August 2018. (https://thesidehustlejourney.com/2019/04/28/taking-action-by-starting-a-closed-facebook-page/) After purchasing the URL http://www.theordinarymom.com from WordPress and all of the extras I thought I needed in case I created a website, I had spent $98. To sign up for your own WordPress account to start your own side hustle journey, click here: https://wordpress.com/alp/?aff=13401&cid=2093430 (FYI- this is an affiliate link and I’ll make money if you sign up this way).
Taking action by creating my brand, starting a closed Facebook page and buying a URL
As you read in my last blog, in August 2018 I had narrowed down my options and decide to take action on my side hustle journey. https://thesidehustlejourney.com/2019/04/25/narrowing-down-my-options-and-getting-close-to-taking-action/ I had decided to brand myself The Ordinary Mom and start a closed Facebook group. I wanted to make sure that I could own that name so I knew I had to buy the URL ASAP before someone else did. I didn’t know if I would do anything with the website at this point but I wanted to have the option to create a website at a future date.
Narrowing down my options and getting close to taking action
After spending my summer binging podcasts on http://www.thesidehustlenation.com during my long drives for business, in August 2018 I decided I need to create a short list and then take action on something-- anything-- to move forward on this journey.
How I spent the summer binging podcasts about side hustles
I’m on a side hustle journey. I don’t know where it will go but I’m enjoying the ride. My first attempt was to think about starting a propane delivery service. See that experience in my blog at https://thesidehustlejourney.com/2019/02/19/the-first-attempt-propane-delivery/. After researching what it would entail to start a propane delivery service, I decided it was too much work with too little margins and I didn’t think I could do it as a side hustle while keeping my day job and my sanity. I stepped back to regroup and realized that I had a blank slate and didn’t know what I wanted to do. I searched the internet for good side hustle resources and came across Nick Loper’s website called The Side Hustle Nation (https://www.sidehustlenation.com/). He has great information on it and tons of podcasts.