How To Avoid Business Myopia And Build A Profitable Side Business

How To Avoid Business Myopia And Build A Profitable Side Business

I have terrible business ideas. Lots of them.

I also have good ones sometimes. I have a little notebook that sits on a shelf on my desk that I jot down all my side-business ideas and occasionally I’ll go through that book and see if anything jumps out.

Then, once I’ve seen a business idea that jumps out, I’ll do a little research. Most ideas don’t have any merit – they either cost too much to reproduce or there’s too much competition or something else.

Some ideas are still with me after this. Those are what I’m talking about today.

Avoiding Business Myopia

I’m a writer. Generally, all my projects involve writing in some way. I write fiction. I write non-fiction. I start websites. I write copy for other people. I publish books.

All of these things involve a ton of writing. Because of this, I know a lot about the business of writing and the feasibility of writing ideas.

However, writing takes time, and there’s only so much writing you can do in a day. Meanwhile, I routinely work on my writing business and think, “If only there were a piece of software that could do X” or “If only I could hire someone to do X.”

If You Buy Something, You Can Probably Sell It…

If you’re involved in self-improvement or business in anyway, you’re buying stuff. Even if you’re one of those super-frugal minimalists, chances are you’re spending your money or time on various services.

Have you ever had bad service?

Have you ever thought about a novel presentation or a new angle that the current providers just aren’t hitting the spot?

Maybe you know a lot about a particular problem that nobody is ready to solve. Chances are, you could provide that service to other people in the same boat as you.

Give Yourself A Reward: Each Project’s Profits Are A Budget For “Something”

Now, I’m not saying you should quit your job as a high-flying lawyer in order to fix your neighbour’s car. But you don’t have to do that in order to have a profitable little venture. In fact, most ventures that people think of should be part time.

Everyone wants to be a digital nomad hustler selling motivation to other hustlers, but they all quit after six months when they’re one out of a million and they don’t make $3k a month or whatever it takes to live in Bangkok. On the other hand, having a little motivation site that makes $50 a month is not the worst thing in the world.

I like to think of a side project in terms of paying for one thing – and give time to it accordingly.

For instance, if you could make a website that gives you $200 a month, that might pay your student loan. It might pay for your electricity bill. It might fund your drug habit. It might give you $200 a month extra to buy cool gadgets which you review.

Doing this step is a great way to work out your potential income, and it makes your goals real without sacrificing realistic objectives.

For instance: “I’m going to write a book and sell it… then quit my job and travel the world indefinitely” is a stupid goal.

“I’m going to write a book, sell it and then every time I sell ten copies in a day I’ll go to a restaurant and have steak” is a better goal.

Getting The Skill

Luckily for all of us, it’s never been easier to get a skill.

Let’s say you hate all the WordPress themes that are on the market. They don’t look like you want them to.

You can go to YouTube and find out how to create a layout in Photoshop for absolutely free.

You can then go to Udemy and buy a course for about $20 that’ll teach you how to build a WordPress theme out of that.

I know, because I’ve done this myself.

Now, I haven’t done this, but you can then probably upload your theme to Themeforest and sell it. Providing it’s good and it has no bugs, you can easily make cheeseburger money doing this; and probably a lot more.

Who knows? You might get so much custom it’ll be time to turn it into a bona-fide side project.

Hiring Help

I once tried hiring a freelancer. This was a mistake; I didn’t know anything about freelancing myself, I hadn’t drilled down exactly what I wanted them to accomplish, and I didn’t know enough about hiring to see the warning signs when the project start to go awry.

However, I have ideas that outpace both the time I have and the skill I have. Hiring help will be something I do in the future.

My advice based on my mistakes last time around:

• DO what you need your freelancer to do. Go through it, take screenshots, and make a video. Whatever you need. Do it once through, and use your process as the backbone of their training material. (Keep this material – it’s valuable.)
• Be very clear what you expect of them and when. Talk it through with them before they start, and make sure they can do it. Even if it’s a simple job, get confirmation.
• If it’s not working out, then cut the cord and find someone who you’re better suited to working with. There are a billion freelancers out there – and you’re doing both the freelancer and yourself a favour. As a freelancer, there’s nothing worse than being stuck in a project where you hate your hirer and your hirer hates you.
• Expect the qualities I’ve written about below. Don’t settle for someone who is late, doesn’t do the job you want or doesn’t do it well.

Outside of that, there are countless freelancers who’ll do absolutely everything. You might be a hot-shot writer but a terrible web designer. You might be a great graphic artist but your written communication is dire. You have two choices: Do all these things yourself, or subcontract them.

I recommend doing everything yourself when you start because you need to learn about the different facets of business. However, there’ll come a time when you say, “I’m wasting my time doing these things… should I outsource some of it?” If you’re asking that question, then the answer might well be “Yes.”

Using The Skills You Already Have

I’m assuming that you have a modicum of writing skill. If you don’t, read all the posts on my website, and then you will.

Whatever your main skill is, do not abandon that. For instance, with every side project I create, I remember that I’m a writer first and foremost. I’m not ever going to be able to out-design a graphic designer. I’m not going to be able to program the next Facebook.

Luckily, I don’t need to. I’ve tried this before, and it obviously didn’t work.

What you need to do is pick your skill – whatever it may be – and use the unique leverage you get from that skill in order to give you a unique selling point.

If you’re a copywriter, then that’s superior selling via the written word.

Remember, Most Of The Competition Are Clones Of Each Other.

You need a big idea that differentiates you from the samey-nature of all the turnkey businesses and four-hour work week guys out there. Further to that, you need to bear in mind the three key things every business needs to provide:

• Relevant Service
• High Quality
• Delivered On Time

I’m not joking when I insistently repeat (bear with me, regular readers) that if you can provide those things, you are better than most of your competition.

You don’t have to create the next Facebook to make money. Especially not when you’re talking about a side business which you’re going to devote a couple of hours a week to.

Final Thoughts

This was going to be a much shorter – and more concise – article. Building a profitable side business isn’t difficult, but it does rely on doing things and accumulating knowledge.

However, the above points are useful if you’re thinking of starting a little venture.

I’m out of time. If you’d like more ramblings about this, let me know in the comments.

Hopefully, next time I write about this I’ll be able to tell you what sparked this little idea and how I used it!