So many amazing businesses have launched in the throes of motherhood. Follow those footsteps and take your side hustle from sucky to success. You got this babe!
By Sian Yewdall
They say, “if you want something done, give it to a busy person.” I say, “If you want to start a business, ask a Mum.”
How many mamas across Australia are working their booty off all day and night in a start-up side-hustle? If you’re one of those mamas reading this and visualising the day you are CEO of your own #bossmama empire, here are some hacks!
Side Note: Depending how old your kids are, sleep might be a significant consideration, and as someone who tried to get her business off the ground with a new baby on her boob 24/7, I don’t recommend sacrificing your sanity for the side-hustle. It’s really not worth it. Please concentrate on yourself first mama! If sleep isn’t an issue and you’re ready to dive in… please continue.
“DON’T BE SO HARD ON YOURSELF AND STUCK IN DOING THINGS ‘PERFECTLY’ THAT YOU DON’T TAKE ACTION AT ALL.”
1. Acceptance
You can only move forward if you accept where you are now. Things may not be exactly what you want them to be but that won’t change your situation.
If you whinge, bitch and complain about not being where you want to be then the road ahead will always be hard. Accept that this is where you are in life, pull up your big girl pants and make the most of it. Enjoy it. Bask in it. Take advantage of it. Love it.
If you can’t accept the here and now, what makes you think you will accept more down the track once life gets your tick of approval. I’m not saying, ‘settle’ for what you’ve got, I’m saying make the most of what you’ve got so you can create the future you dream of. Only then will things shift in your favour.
2. Work On What Matters
Your side-hustle will never be anything more serious if you think, “I really should post something on Instagram, but I’m exhausted.”
Concentrate what little time you do have for your side-hustle on those revenue generating activities.
Think setting up automated emails to on-board new customers. Creating a marketing plan that will build awareness of your business and shift prospects from interested to invested. Review your data to see what’s working. Build relationships with people who have shown interest. Or something radical like making an offer to get the sale!
If you spend all your time trying to get more Insta followers or style the right photo for your next post, it will be a very slow and frustrating slog up hill to shift your side-hustle from sucky to success.
3. Build A Brand Not A Business
Building a brand goes beyond the two different shades of pink you’ve selected from Canva for your DIY logo.
It’s the personality of your business. It is your values, mission. And above all else, it’s the way your customers talk about your business when you’re not around.
If your side-hustle is ever going to shine like a diamond then infuse it with the love it deserves and treat every single person that comes in contact with it like a valuable jewel adding to its success.
Social media is only one small piece of the pie. Your brand needs to live and breathe outside social platforms to genuinely thrive.
4. Focus On Selling An Offer Not A Product
One of the biggest shifts I see in my clients is when they realise the profound impacts their business has on their customers.
The joy that comes from seeing the results they can achieve for their clients is really what matters. And guess what? That’s what your customers are buying. They want transformation, results and all the good juu-juu vibes that come with it.
And they don’t care if those incredible moments come in a $49 one-off purchase or a 6 week bootcamp. They just want an AH-HA moment that makes them feel alive, inspired and motivated.
So instead of trying to convince your customers that your product is worth them parting with their hard earned cash for, tell the story about the outcomes your clients have had in the past and how transformative your service is.
That’s an offer they can’t refuse. Remember, ladies like to buy with their hearts and then justify the purchase with their head!
5. Take Action Over Analysis
As my mum would always say, “The woman on top of the mountain didn’t fall there.”
You will never get to the top or build a thriving empire if you think about it!
Take action, little by little, day by day and you will build, grow and strengthen your side-hustle. Yes, there will be wrong turns. Yes there will be stumbles and falls, but those happen for a reason.
If you try and prevent those mishaps then you’re missing out on the magic that mistakes can create. Show me an entrepreneur who has never failed at anything and I will show you a liar! (I think someone else said that first, but I don’t remember who…)
My point is, don’t be so hard on yourself and stuck in doing things ‘perfectly’ that you don’t take action at all.
Give yourself permission to fail, to fall and f*ck up! You’re already taking action over analysis as a mama every single day and you’re making sh*t happen, why should it be any different in business?
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