So, you’re ready to leave the corporate world behind and upgrade your side gig into a full-time career. Congratulations!
If you’re willing to do the work, transitioning from a side gig to a full time entrepreneurial career is totally possible and incredibly rewarding. Here are
4 steps you need to take to go pro:
1. Treat It Like a Business
While many casual entrepreneurs get by with basic equipment and referrals from their immediate network, going full time means it’s time to get serious. Build an online presence for your business. Figure out how much time, effort, and money you can devote to advertising. Seek out new leads on job boards, through your network, or on online marketplaces like Fiverr®.
For online voice over artists, this could mean shelling out for some higher quality equipment. If you run an online marketing business, make sure you have a thriving social media presence. For any type of business owner, this transition is also a good time to sort out taxes and iron out any financial and legal issues.
2. Stabilize Your Income
Working for yourself in any form is unpredictable by its very nature — especially financially. But if you want to make the leap from side gig to full time responsibility, you’ll need to take some steps toward steadying your income. While making a few thousand one month and nothing the next is fine when you’ve got a full-time job to fall back on, a wildly fluctuating income will make a full time freelance career that much more stressful.
One way to stabilize your work and your income is to try to set up some larger or more long term contracts with new or existing clients. While quick jobs and one-offs are a fine way to make a bit of extra cash, having a regular, ongoing arrangement with one or more clients will give you income you can count on. For freelance writers, this might mean negotiating a set number of articles or blog posts you’ll contribute per month with a few different clients.
3. Do a Slow Transition
You don’t have to jump in all at once — in fact, it’s advisable not to. Preferably, you should up the amount of time you spend on your side gig to the maximum amount you can handle. At this point, you could consider switching to a part-time job while you continue to build your business. Of course, this may not be feasible, but keep in mind that the effort you put into your business now will pay off in the future.
4. Make Sure You Really Love It
While you do need to take your entrepreneurial career seriously and treat your work like a legitimate business, passion is still paramount. After all, you don’t want to quit your soul-sucking corporate job only to find yourself on yet another frustrating career path.
Your passion is the fuel that will drive you to work long hours and pour those all-too-necessary blood, sweat, and tears into building a thriving business. If you’re not sure you love your side gig enough to do it full time, look at shifting your focus or adding additional services to round it out.
Are you making a living doing what you love? We want to hear about it! Please share your story with us in the comments below or send us an email to community@fiverr.com
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