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Side hustles are incredibly rewarding endeavors. The biggest problem most people have is thinking that a side hustle is going to solve all of their financial problems. Unfortunately, that is not the case. There will be work that you have to put in place first before you begin to see the fruits of your labor. In addition, you will need to avoid some of the top side hustle mistakes.
Every mom will have her own reason for wanting to dabble in the side hustle business. Some moms just want something fun to do while other moms simply don’t want to return to work after maternity leave. Whatever your reason is for wanting to create a side hustle, it’s important to see the full picture of what that entails.
4 Side Hustle Mistakes
In order to have an effective side hustle, you’ve got to recognize some of the most common side hustle mistakes. So what are some of the big mistakes moms make when they set up a side hustle?
Improper Financial Planning
One of the top side hustle mistakes is improper financial planning. There are so many aspects of your financial planning that you need to have in place. These do not just include budgeting for your side hustle, but you also need to look at the financial transaction part of your side hustle.
If you are selling products through an e-commerce website, you need to make sure that you have adequate protection against chargebacks and refunds to minimize your outgoings. A transaction should be very simple because a customer then pays you, but it can become very complicated when there are so many different aspects that can muddy these waters.
You need to prepare yourself financially to ensure that you can account not just for dips in profit but if there are any transactional issues.
Being Too Rigid
Many moms set up a side hustle with the hope that it will run itself. However, there’s a very specific period of time when you need to adapt to changes either on your website or by listening to feedback. It’s critical to stay open to new ideas, especially during the first few months. You need to adjust your strategies where needed, and one of the major issues most moms with side hustles have is thinking that they need to run things in a certain way.
So many people think that it’s far easier to stick to their guns and do just one approach, but if you find that you’re not selling your product properly or you are setting unrealistic expectations for yourself, you may need to go back to the drawing board.
It’s important to remember that side hustles can take time to generate any form of income. Therefore, you also need to be persistent and patient, and not be too rigid at the outset. This will help you make fewer side hustle mistakes.
Underpricing Your Services
We all think that we want to be competitive to get customers. However, when you set your prices too low, this will have a detrimental impact, not just on your profitability, but your skills as business people.
Whatever product you are selling, you need to charge accordingly, and this means researching the appropriate market rates. There’s nothing wrong with undercutting a competitor. However, if you are putting yourself into debt for the sake of a customer, thinking that you will be able to profit in a year’s time, this can be a very harmful cycle that’s tough to break out of.
Over-Relying on One Income Source
Over-relying on one income source is a common side hustle mistake moms make. If you want diverse streams of income you have to be aware that your side hustle should not be the only method. A side hustle is something that you literally operate on the side. You need to diversify your income sources to reduce any financial vulnerability.
Side hustles can be very effective, but make sure that you are not falling foul of any of these mistakes.
