When is it time to take your side hustle full time?
Hey everybody my name is Marcelo Dominguez I am a lawyer answering this very important business question because I know that if you’re an entrepreneur, a small business owner or at least you’ve been thinking about it for a really long time then this is the right blogpost for you.
So the most obvious answer to this question is whenever you start making more money with your side hustle then you’re making with your full-time hustle then I think that makes sense right? Why wouldn’t you if you’re making more money with your side hustle and you love your side hustle more? What is the answer that straightforward? Is it that clear-cut? I mean is the answer right in front of you? and you just kind of don’t want to believe it is that when you should some of you don’t want to wait until you start making more money with your side hustle some of you are probably wondering well can I just quit my full-time whenever I’m making even half of what I’m making at my job right now?
Is that enough? is that the right time? So the less obvious answer here is are your circumstances right for you to go ahead and quit your full time job? Even though your side hustle is not making the same as your full-time job well let me ask you a couple questions and let’s see where you stand so take out a pencil and paper or take out your iPhone because I want you to write down these important questions do you have enough money to support your necessities?
What are your Necessities?
I want you to create a list of what your bare necessities are month to month in order for you to feel comfortable do you have a mortgage your electric bill your water bill is all of this covered by you or is it covered by somebody else maybe that’s an expense you don’t have to worry about if it’s covered by somebody else so moving on is it a necessity for you to maybe get your nails done can you not live without getting your nails done if it is then put that on the list now I know that might sound kind of silly but some people cannot live without these sorts of things I want you to write down on this list what is it that you cannot live without that you actually have to pay for some people have to have a monthly massage some people have to order food from like Ubereats or Doordash or favor whatever because they don’t really want to cook for themselves some people are knowing just budgeting 300,400 a month for groceries because it’s just them living in an apartment because it’s just them they have to worry about write down what your absolute Necessities are like how much do you have to spend in one single month so I want you to be really really thorough with this list and I also want you to be really honest because it’s very easy to say oh yeah I’ll go without a manicure this month or oh I’ll budget 200 for food instead of 300 and then you find when Saturday rolls around you’re really craving some kind of sushi dinner that you really can’t live without so be realistic about what goes into this list so now on the right side of the paper I want you to be honest about how much your side hustle is making or how much your side hassle has to make in order to cover those bare necessities so for some of you that have already started a side hustle maybe you’re making let’s say five grand a month so you’re gonna put 5K at the top on the right side of the paper and you’re going to analyze that against what you wrote in your necessities list
If your necessity list comes out to 3 000 a month and your side hustle is making you five thousand well I think that is clear but let’s say your side hustle is actually only making you three thousand dollars a month the same amount as what your Necessities are I think you really need to ask yourself am I willing to cut down what’s on my necessity list if I am not willing to do that then am I able to make ends meet with the three thousand dollars from my side hustle quit my full-time job and really not have any extra cushion let’s assume for the purpose of this example that you don’t really have extra fun saved up so your three thousand dollars over here is covering your three thousand dollars over here but let’s say something comes up and you need extra money let’s say your washing machine breaks down let’s say your car breaks down let’s say you really have to help a family member out who’s in a bind let’s say you have a medical emergency are you the kind of person that wants to move forward knowing that you have a little bit of extra cushion or are you just going to risk it are you just going to move forward and say no I’m eventually going to grow it above 3000 anyways so I’m going to take that leap of faith and do it right now now let’s say your side hustle is only making you around two thousand dollars a month and let’s say your necessities come out to a total of still three thousand dollars I think you really need to ask yourself okay again am I willing to cut down on what’s on my necessities list if I’m only making two thousand dollars or should I wait until I’m making more with my side hustle either to match what I need to spend or until it goes above it I think writing stuff down on a piece of paper so that you can actually see the numbers and you actually are able to compare side a with side B will really provide you with a deeper dive into what it is that you’re analyzing because when you’re just thinking about it in your head it’s very easy to say well no I love my side hustle I know it’ll eventually be successful but you’re not really paying attention to what it is that you could cut out what is it that you can sacrifice what is it that you actually have to pay before your lights get cut out or before you get kicked out of your apartment or your house you need to take a hard look at what it is that you actually have to pay for you know you can’t really forego your mortgage payment but you could forgo your sushi dinner how much extra effort could you put in your side hustle so that you don’t have to worry as much about cutting stuff out of your list being able to see that on paper is going to make a big difference for you so for lots of you the question isn’t how I’m going to quit my full-time job it’s when should I quit my full-time job how do I know if my side hustle job can become my full time job now so be honest about what’s at stake for you here if you do quit your full-time job and you aren’t making enough with your side hustle are you at risk of not being able to make your mortgage payments your utilities do you send your kids to privates when you’re not able to make the school payments now are you somebody that is not going to be able to buy groceries now are you going to be living off of ramen and grilled cheese sandwiches and are you okay with living off of ramen and grilled tea sandwiches I mean people have done it these headlines are not made up there are plenty of entrepreneurs who have made sacrifices for a short amount of time so that they can build and grow their business or determine if it is viable.
Are you less of a risk taker and you really want to make sure that your side hustle is bringing in a lot more income than your current full-time job before you decide to jump for lots of you who have a family you might have dependents and you really can’t afford to just leave on a whim and you can’t afford to take as many risks as somebody who’s who doesn’t have dependents so think about these things and write them down on side A and do the analysis against side B on this piece of paper because like I said is going to be very helpful you think you have everything organized in your mind but I promise you that by seeing it on paper it will give you a little bit of a different perspective and it’ll help you gain Clarity make sure to catch that video right there to think about whether you need to start an LLC or have an LLC an EIN when your side hustle turns into a full-time business it might not be the case for you so make sure to catch that video and as always leave me a comment down below and tell me what kind of business you are starting I am rooting for you and please don’t forget to subscribe to this channel for more business tips
Thank You!