how to kick-start your part-time business without going broke?
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Calculate before you jump-in: Let's say, you are making $4000/month from your current full time job, and you are saving around $400/month or so. Now, let’s assume that you want to open up a new part-time business of photography, and you are unsure about it being successful or not. In this situation, instead of jumping into the business directly, and getting loans from other people to start your business, you can just calculate the worst case scenario. Assuming that your equipment, advertisements and operational costs being $4000, you can save this much money in 10 months. Let's say, if you can make this much amount of money in 10 months through your photography contracts, it might not be a bad business after all. Other thing that you want to calculate before entering into the business is....how much will be your operating costs vs. how much money you are expecting to make. Though it might not give you a perfect answer, it will give you a definitive starting point of your finances. Test your business model: Once you are convinced that you really want to start your part-time business, and once you have done all of the calculations, now it’s the time to test your business model. In order to test your business idea, you might want to meet with your prospective customers to test the assumptions of your business. For example: If you want to open up a new photography business, it would be a good idea to take 1-2 contracts for free. This will not only build up your portfolio, and provide you with some good references, but it will also test your business model. If customer feedback suggests any changes to your current strategy, then go back and modify the appropriate building blocks of your business. And repeat this process with other prospective customers, until you have some amount of confidence in implementing the same business model for money. Jump in: Once you have tested your business model, now it’s the time to jump in and make some real money. In order to do this, you should capitalize your older customer base to expand your business. Word of mouth definitely helps you to get some business (at least in my experience). Obviously, having some external help from some advertising contractors wouldn't hurt either. Once your business is up and running, you should continuously assess your business' profit potential every month. You might have couple of months with some losses, but make sure that you can afford these losses through your current full-time job’s savings. If you are continuously losing money in your business, which can't be recuperated through your primary job, then it might be the time to get out. On the contrary, if you are making enough profit from your business for more than 6 months, and if you can sustain yourself from that profit, then maybe it’s the time to convert your part time gig into a full blown business. I hope, these tricks will help you kick-start your own part-time business within few months.TRANSCRIPT
1 Author: [email protected] | Contact information: http://BhavinGandhi.com
How to kick-start your part-time business without going broke? by Bhavin Gandhi
Have you ever thought of starting your own business? If so, were you successful in doing so? If not, what is holding
you back? Have you ever thought about it? Though I might not be an expert on the subject, I have some experience
in starting my own part-time gig, which I would like to share here with you. In this blog post, I will provide you with
some advice on how to kick-start your part-time business that you have always thought about, but you didn’t know
where to start.
Calculate before you jump-in: Let's say, you are making $4000/month from your current full time job, and you are
saving around $400/month or so. Now, let’s assume that you want to open up a new part-time business of
photography, and you are unsure about it being successful or not. In this situation, instead of jumping into the
business directly, and getting loans from other people to start your business, you can just calculate the worst case
scenario. Assuming that your equipment, advertisements and operational costs being $4000, you can save this
much money in 10 months. Let's say, if you can make this much amount of money in 10 months through your
photography contracts, it might not be a bad business after all. Other thing that you want to calculate before entering
into the business is....how much will be your operating costs vs. how much money you are expecting to make.
Though it might not give you a perfect answer, it will give you a definitive starting point of your finances.
Test your business model: Once you are convinced that you really want to start your part-time business, and once
you have done all of the calculations, now it’s the time to test your business model. In order to test your business
idea, you might want to meet with your prospective customers to test the assumptions of your business. For
example: If you want to open up a new photography business, it would be a good idea to take 1-2 contracts for free.
This will not only build up your portfolio, and provide you with some good references, but it will also test your
business model. If customer feedback suggests any changes to your current strategy, then go back and modify the
appropriate building blocks of your business. And repeat this process with other prospective customers, until you
have some amount of confidence in implementing the same business model for money.
Jump in: Once you have tested your business model, now it’s the time to jump in and make some real money. In
order to do this, you should capitalize your older customer base to expand your business. Word of mouth definitely
helps you to get some business (at least in my experience). Obviously, having some external help from some
advertising contractors wouldn't hurt either. Once your business is up and running, you should continuously assess
your business' profit potential every month. You might have couple of months with some losses, but make sure that
you can afford these losses through your current full-time job’s savings. If you are continuously losing money in your
business, which can't be recuperated through your primary job, then it might be the time to get out. On the contrary,
if you are making enough profit from your business for more than 6 months, and if you can sustain yourself from that
profit, then maybe it’s the time to convert your part time gig into a full blown business.
2 Author: [email protected] | Contact information: http://BhavinGandhi.com
I hope, these tricks will help you kick-start your own part-time business within few months. Do you guys have any
other ideas regarding this subject? If so, please share your ideas through comments below. My readers would be
delighted to hear your take on this.
Thanks – Bhavin Gandhi
Bhavin Gandhi | January 30, 2014 at 6:00 AM | Tags: business management, business
model, Entrepreneurs, Leadership, part time business, return on investment, Self leadership,small
business, Start your own business, start-ups | Categories: 21st Century, Leadership,Management |
URL: http://wp.me/p103Cm-aL