September 23, 2023 • 39 mins
Are you ready to become the architect of your life, amiga? This episode promises to be your key to unlocking the world of side hustles, a world where your passions can fuel your pocket. We explore how to identify your unique skills and passions, and how to utilize the resources around you to build your side hustle's foundation. And to make your journey smoother, I’m offering a free side hustle starter kit workbook available for download!
In this episode, we explore the different types of businesses you could venture into, the platforms that can help jumpstart your side hustle, and how to identify your unique selling proposition and ideal customer. Remember, your side hustle isn't just about making extra money - it's about putting your unique stamp on a product or service.
Success doesn't happen overnight, amiga. It takes a vision, constant learning, and a whole lot of patience. Onward to success, amiga!
And don’t forget to check out the Sidehustle Starter Kit Workbook for planning and jotting down your ideas.
Here is the link: https://www.healthcarenetworkinc.com/pl/2147879780
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hello and welcome to Amiga's let's Talk the show,
where we discuss life andbusiness and everything in
between.
I am your host, the MarisRamirez.
My goal is that every womanlives her best life.
So, amiga, grab a cup of coffeeor tea and let's talk.
Hi, amiga, in this episode I'mgoing to talk about how you can
(00:23):
start your side hustle business.
So first of all, I think we needto define what we're talking
about.
And we say side hustle.
So in the Webster dictionary,if you look it up, you'll see
that it says it's work performedfor income supplementary to
one's primary job.
And other names for side hustlethat I've heard are side gigs
(00:47):
or moonlighting.
I've also heard freelancing,consulting.
But I do think we probablyshould stick to the dictionary
definition which, as I mentioned, says it should be an income
supplementary to one's primaryjob in the beginning.
(01:09):
I think that way, when you'restarting your business, you are
starting it with some peace ofmind, that you have money to pay
your current bills while youfigure out what it is that you
want to do and while you'regrowing your business.
So grab a notebook so that youcan take some notes.
Also, in the show notes forthis episode, you're going to
(01:32):
find that I created a nicelittle free side hustle starter
kit workbook that you're goingto be able to download, and it
will help you to put yourthoughts together and to start
to at least start thinking aboutwhat it is that you want to do.
Think about the things that I'mgoing to mention today.
(01:53):
So get comfy, let's get started.
That way, I can show you andshare with you how I started my
six figure business and why andhow you should, too.
People will start their sidehustle out of financial need,
(02:13):
and I did too.
So I was a single parent.
I needed to pay rent, utilities, have money for private school
for my daughter.
One of the things that youshould do is try to think about
what is it that you like to do,and I think that's the most
(02:36):
important thing, because youwill have to work additional
hours, potentially sleep less,and so whatever it is you're
going to be doing, at least youwant to enjoy it.
You're going to have to reallysit down and think about that,
(02:56):
and if you download the starterkit, you'll be able to work
through that For me.
I got an evening part timeteaching job.
A friend of mine volunteer tobabysit for my daughter.
She did it for free.
She said well, I'll just staywith her while you go and teach.
And while I was at thatteaching job, I realized that I
(03:20):
love teaching, and so I began myresearch on how could I make
this side hustle into a business.
I didn't know what that wouldlook like, but I knew that I
wanted to do that.
So I really put 200% intoteaching so that I could then
use that knowledge and develop aplan so that I could do it on
(03:44):
my own, because what I wanted todo is I wanted to control the
amount of money that I couldmake.
So business ownership wassomething I was exposed to since
I was very young.
I come from a family of businessowners.
My uncles, many of them, hadbodegas and restaurants.
So I learned from early on thathaving your own business does
(04:08):
allow you the flexibility tomake the extra money, but it
also comes with a commitment oflong hours.
I can't stress that enough.
As I said before, that is whyyou really need to do something
that you like or love.
I remember being six or sevenand going to my father's bodega
in Washington Heights and lovingbeing there.
(04:29):
I remember going into thefreezer refrigerators after
school and eating the orangecream ice cream bars.
I remember my friends walkingin with their parents and me
offering them ice cream and justlooking at my dad like, is it
okay, can I give him free icecream?
And he would just shake hishead like, sure, go ahead.
(04:51):
And I loved being there with mydad.
I could tell that my dad workeda lot of hours but that he also
truly enjoyed it.
He enjoyed his business.
He enjoyed and loved hiscustomers.
So, amiga, what will you do?
Let's talk about some of theoptions.
(05:11):
Three things I think you needto consider is first, what skill
do you already do regularly?
Maybe you could do more of that.
Or what do you do regularlythat you enjoy?
Are you an inventor, a creator?
Are you a coach to your friends?
(05:32):
Two, do you have the mental,emotional and physical capacity
to use these skills outside ofyour current responsibilities?
And this is really important?
If you're going to start ajourney of doing a side hustle,
then mentally prepare yourself,because it won't be easy, but it
(05:54):
can be done.
Do you have the resources to domore?
And by that I mean if you havelittle ones, have you aligned
some babysitting so that you'llhave even an hour day or two
hours a day to sit down and workon additional work, or the
planning of thinking or figuringout how you're going to add
(06:19):
this additional responsibility,this additional side hustle.
If not, if you don't havebabysitting available, then plan
out when can you work on this,and maybe you're going to do it
while they're sleeping, early inthe morning or late at night,
and by doing that, obviouslythat's part of your.
(06:41):
You know your.
You know your.
You know your mental, emotional, physical capability.
And three what other skillswould you also enjoy doing
regularly?
Are you secretly in the shower?
Do you love to paint?
Do you love to act?
Do you imagine yourself being aCEO or president of a large
(07:07):
company?
What are you constantlythinking about?
What are you researching online?
I think that's a really goodindicator If someone was to look
at your phone.
What are you looking at?
Are you looking at thingsrelated to cooking?
Are you looking at social mediaposts related to interior
(07:30):
decorating?
What's on your Facebook, onyour Instagram, on your
Pinterest?
Then sit down and make a listof three things you want to do.
If you already know what thatone thing is, because you have
been thinking about it for years, then you don't have to do this
exercise.
You already know.
But if you're not sure, what Iwant you to do is make a list of
(07:52):
three things you would love todo and then sit with these three
things and ask yourself, if Icould do one of these things and
switch it for my current joband make the same amount of
money, which one of these threethings would it be then?
(08:12):
That should be your focus.
You're going to.
Maybe you can't switch it now,right?
Maybe what you need is extraincome, not just to change what
you're doing.
So, if that's what it is,you're gonna continue being
great at your current job, butyou're also, then are going to
focus on this one thing, and Iwill go through what is it that
(08:38):
you should do with this passionof yours, with this thought, in
order to make it a practice or ajob or something that brings
you in money?
So let's talk about the type ofbusinesses.
In general.
They fall into three categoriesthat would be either the
(09:00):
product business, the service orthe information business.
Today, you can sell a producton Etsy, shopify, ebay these are
just some examples obviouslyeven Amazon, where you can
create something handmadecandles, personalized something
(09:26):
and you can then add it ontothis platform and you can sell
there.
They all have different fees.
There are platforms workdifferently, so I would say,
look into each one of your.
What you're thinking to do is aproduct and you wanna make a
list of these places where youwould sell your product and then
(09:49):
compare them, compare what thefees would be.
Where would your customer be?
Is this where they would go?
That's important too and thenmake it and sell it.
And we also have the digitalcreated right.
You can also, even on theseplatforms, sell things that you
(10:11):
design.
So you could design somethingon your computer.
You can even do graphic design,and even if you don't do it
maybe your thought is I like itbut I'm not a good artist then
you could hire an artist.
Where would you find them?
You would find them either on aplatform called Fever Upwork,
(10:33):
even on YouTube, but if youwanna design things yourself to
sell, then I highly recommendthat you use Canva in order to
design it, because you couldeven use the free version, and
there's millions of templates,beautiful ones.
I use it every week to designthings for my business, so I
(10:55):
would recommend that you gothere.
Are you going to have a business, that maybe is a service.
So if you're gonna have aservice, let's say maybe you can
provide video editing.
Maybe you want to be a coach,because you already work with
your friends, you're constantlygiving advice.
Maybe you want to be a partyplanner.
(11:18):
Maybe you wanna managesomebody's medical bills.
There are people that just helpseniors that maybe need help
understanding what their medicalbills are.
Maybe you wanna help parents,help them with their children,
give some advice.
There are people that havewebsites, blogs about it, and
(11:41):
then maybe they sell a littlee-book with some ideas on how
things can be better.
I would say, in the servicebusiness, you're basically
selling yourself, selling theknowledge that you have.
You can do this by hostingFacebook Live.
You can host classes on Zoom.
(12:01):
You can use other platformslike Kajabi.
They're in this area.
They're just like in the designand product area many platforms
some also, as I mentionedbefore, that are free.
And then there's theinformation business.
That's the third one, and thatreally is a hybrid, meaning a
combination of service andproduct.
(12:24):
That is really mostly where Ihave grown my business, and so I
host online courses, livepre-recorded, and I also have
e-books that I sell.
So I've been in that area for avery long time.
So you wanna think about whattype of business it is that you
(12:47):
wanna do with your side hustleand then really start learning
about the platforms that are outthere and whether they're free
or there's a fee.
In the beginning, since you'restarting small, a lot of them
have limits how much you coulduse them, and they allow you,
for minimal capacity, to usethem for free.
(13:07):
So I would say, start with thefree platforms until you realize
which one is the best one foryou.
I mean so, in order to besuccessful with starting a side
hustle whether it is, as in thebeginning, as maybe just doing
another part-time job or goingstraight into starting our
business, in either of thosecategories, you do need to do a
(13:30):
lot of research.
You need to consider what isavailable, what is out there,
what are others doing.
Even if you're talented andyou're going to have a product,
you need to think about how isyour product going to be
different?
So you want to research yourcompetition and I'm hesitating
because I hate that wordcompetition Really.
(13:52):
Let's convert that word into acommunity of like-minded people,
Because today, with the globaloutreach that we have, there is
enough for everyone.
In what I do, I'm constantlytalking to other people that do
what I do, the same exact thingand we share notes, we share
(14:13):
stories, the good, the bad.
We share material sometimes hey, do you have a sample contract?
Hey, this is the contractproposal that I'm submitting.
I'm thinking that maybe this iswhat I want to add as the
consulting fee.
What do you think?
(14:33):
Do you think that is in market?
And when you get together withpeople that understand you, that
do the same thing, you reallyget the resource that you need.
So let's think about what isthat community of like-minded
people If you don't have thatnetwork yet, because sometimes
it takes a while for you to gettogether with these people, to
(14:57):
meet these people, and so allyou have is online, and I want
you to research online.
What do other people that dosimilar to what you want to do?
What do they offer?
What do they not offer?
How can you get involved?
You know, start participatingand engaging in their platforms
(15:21):
so that they get to know yournames.
Start commenting on theplatforms.
You want to make a list of atleast five people in your
industry, their names.
Make a list, write it down,write their names, write their
social media address and thenwhat I want you to do as your
homework is to study them fortwo weeks, and maybe you do it
(15:45):
on paper, maybe you do it on anExcel spreadsheet and start
writing categories.
You know where are they online,what do they offer, how much do
they offer it for, how often dothey post on their social media
?
Also, you probably want to writedown how many followers, even
(16:06):
though I will say that, sinceyou are beginning, you're not
going to have as many as theyhave.
So I don't want you to measureyourself against that, because
that truly is not an indicatorof whether you're going to be
successful or not, because justthink they started one time at
(16:27):
some point.
They started with a followingof zero also.
Just think about that.
So if you're starting, you know, by you doing the research,
maybe you're going to acceleratefaster than they do.
So right now, you kind of onlywant to know what are they doing
and try to learn from whatthey're doing.
(16:47):
We also need to consider who isyour ideal customer, who is
going to buy from you.
This is so important.
This is gonna be your community, your clients.
This is going to come in reallyhandy.
The more that you can identifyyour ideal customer, the more
(17:08):
you're gonna be able to knowwhere you need to be available
for them and also how you aregoing to design your marketing
campaign.
So you wanna start learningspecifically what are their
wants, what are their needs,what kind of products and
services they are interested in,where are they located, what
(17:31):
platforms are they primarily on,what is their age range?
Where do they live?
What kind of jobs do they do?
You wanna make sure that youhave a clear picture of your
ideal customer so that whenyou're reaching out, when you're
either writing a blog, maybedoing a newsletter, maybe even
(17:51):
responding to a purchase, thatyou can personalize it and, as
people do purchase your serviceand your product, you wanna try
to collect testimonials fromthese people that identify why
did they buy your product orservice and then, after they use
it, why do they love it andbelieve it.
(18:13):
These are going to be thepeople that are going to give
you the best referral for thenattracting new customers In my
business.
I have to be honest that mybusiness, for the many years
that I've had it, my businesscomes from more than 85% of
(18:33):
referrals from previouscustomers and they have come
from a student to anotherstudent or they have come from
students to a client they arerecommending.
Also, I've been asked topresent in many organizations.
Very few people have contractedme because they have found me
(18:59):
online.
And the funny thing is, thepeople that have found me online
especially the clients, notstudents the clients have found
me online at a desperation.
They desperately neededsomebody in healthcare
consulting immediately and theyjust basically Googled let me
find a healthcare consultantlocally where I live.
(19:21):
And they were able to find meand call me and say usually I
need you right away.
So I know who they are.
Because they basically maybefound themselves in a very
difficult situation and theywere desperate.
They just found me online.
But most of my customers arecoming through referral, which,
honestly, for me, makes me feellike I have to work even harder
(19:45):
when it's a referral, because Idon't want to let the person
that referred that customer down.
So I almost try to do even abetter job than whatever it was
that I provided to that referralcustomer.
That's at least how I thinkabout it, and I would encourage
you to think about it that waytoo, so that, therefore, this
(20:06):
person that was referred canthen later refer you another one
, and that cycle will continue,and that has been, really
honestly, how I have beengrowing my business for the many
, many years that I've been inbusiness, so I hope that that
also works for you.
I want to go back and talk alittle bit more about networking
, because it's so, so important.
(20:28):
You want to network withlike-minded people.
You want to do it eithervirtually or in person, and
you're able to do this eithervia Facebook or in local meetups
.
Another great place to networkwith like-minded people is at
your local small businessassociation, and when you attend
(20:51):
these meetings, you get abetter understanding of what is
the state of affairs for yourlocal area, potentially for your
business.
You might find out what aresome of the challenges, what are
the greatest areas ofopportunity, and you want to do
this early.
You want to be able to identifyare there any available grants?
Sometimes they have grants forsmall business owners that you
(21:15):
might qualify for, and soremember, you don't need to do
this alone.
There are people out there thatare willing to share what have
been their successes, what havebeen their failures, so that
maybe you don't try that sameidea, or at least that you learn
from the idea.
You want to find your bestbusiness friends, your BBF, and
(21:39):
you want to cultivate that coregroup of people that you can
depend on, that will be honest.
They're going to give youhonest feedback.
They're going to be the firstto cheer you on after your first
sale or after that first bigorder.
They're going to be the onesfueling your success.
Amiga, the quality of your workreally matters, so we need to
(22:00):
make sure that we are masteringour trade.
You want to focus on yourstrengths, not on your
weaknesses.
So you're going to think aboutwhat are your strengths and
whatever it is you want to doand you want to learn more about
it.
You want to know what it isthat you need to do to stand out
(22:20):
.
How are you going to be great?
How are you going to bedifferent?
And one of the books I wouldlike to recommend in the journey
of mastering your trade that Ithink is also important to read
and to understand is theFranklin Covi the Seven Habits
of Highly Effective People, andone of the things there is he
(22:44):
goes through the habits right.
So habit number two is beginwith the end in mind.
So if we're doing that, we wantto begin thinking what is the
best product that I or servicethat I can provide right now?
And you want to work on that sothat when you do put a service
out there or a product out there, it is fantastic that when
people purchase it, ask you tobuy it, receive it, that they're
(23:07):
so excited and that theyreceive so much value from you
that they're willing torecommend you.
I find a lot of times when I'min the middle of providing a
service a lot of times I providecourses where it's a package
that even during the servicesthe webinar, the live webinar
series that I'm doing I Getphone calls I get inquiries
(23:32):
about from new people, newstudents calling and asking
about the current class, becausesomeone is so excited about the
class that they're telling afriend and the person wants to
know hey, can I still get intothat class or when is your next
class?
So your product and service andthe mastery of that is
Extremely important.
(23:53):
So you want to sit down andthink about, right after we've
done the research with the otherlike-minded people, how are we
going to be different, how arewe going to provide something
that maybe hasn't been done orthat is Currently being done,
but we're going to be better,we're going to be different and
we need to work on that everysingle day.
(24:13):
Let's talk about space.
Unless you have a digitalproduct, you need to consider
your space.
This is going to be reallyimportant.
If you're a virtual assistant,then you probably don't need a
production area.
All you need is a Computer,which you could I encourage you
to sit at a desk, but you'redoing it at your couch when
(24:36):
that's fantastic if you stillcan get your work done.
But if you're doing a product, abusiness that requires you to
Be able to work, to havesupplies for example, let's say
you're doing jewelry then youneed supplies for your jewelry.
You might need tools, you mightneed packaging.
You're going to need a space, adesignated space in your house
(24:58):
where your materials are goingto be organized.
So Consider your environment.
You're going to need to thinkabout what are your.
If your service is a product,what are your space spatial
needs?
Right, for this side hustle.
What space in your home Can youdedicate to this side hustle
(25:18):
where, if you have children,they're not going to be able to
get into for safety issues, intoyour supplies, where things
could be organized and locked?
It could be a closet.
What space in your home Can youDedicate right to that side
hustle, and are there anylimitations?
Because you have a small space,it might be difficult for you
(25:39):
to start with a product ifyou're not going to be able to
have the space to Allow to beable to develop that product.
So, again, think about what isyour space capability?
I mean, you know what I'm goingto say is going to be a little
controversial, but if you askmany of us that are in business
now that started with a sidehustle and then maybe Moved on
(26:03):
to create a bigger business, oneof the things that we, most of
us, have in common Is that wenever started with an official
business plan.
We did not have the businesscards, we did not have the
website.
Instead, we focused on what isthe product that we want to sell
, what is the service that wewant to provide, and we focused
(26:24):
on the research.
That's why we talked about that.
I don't want you to waste timein trying to time and money
trying to Prepare a businessplan.
If you do not have a productthat in my mind, then what are
you creating the business planfor?
You have to have something tosell and what you to start
creating the items or servicesthat are going to bring you
(26:45):
money.
That is the goal, right.
Let's keep the end in mind.
That's what Franklin Covay said.
So let's work and try to createwhat we want to sell first.
That is where I want you tospend most of your time.
For my beginners side hustlebusiness owners, there's some
platforms that you need to havethe basics.
So I thought let's get theseout of the way and they're free,
(27:08):
right, and they're gonna helpyou with your business.
So number one is Canva fordesigning.
You definitely want to alsoopen a zoom account.
At some point you're gonna havemeetings.
You might think, oh, I'm not,no, I don't want to do that, I
don't want to talk to people.
You're gonna need to have azoom account.
If you ever get a big client, abigger order, you might have to
(27:30):
have a meeting.
So you definitely want to havea zoom account.
The zoom account also willallow you to create some videos,
so I and they might send you ameeting via zoom.
So you definitely want to havea zoom account.
You should probably also have aGmail business account email.
You can create one.
There Doesn't have to be, atthis point tied to a website.
(27:53):
When you have a little moremoney and you design or Buy a
domain name and a website, thenyou'll probably get a business
email.
But for now, just get a Gmailaccount.
And the other thing I would sayis Be careful with the names.
Make sure that your email isPut your business name in there,
(28:17):
even if it says at gmailcom, itdoesn't matter for the
beginners.
At least you have your businessname there, an email that you
know You're gonna be able to goand check daily to see where
your Business emails are.
If you're still working andthis is gonna be your side
hustle you do not want yourbusiness emails going to your
(28:37):
job.
That is not okay.
You need to have a separateemail for that.
You definitely want to have aFacebook.
If the brand is you, becauseyou're selling a service, that's
fine.
You can, I guess, continue tohave your family members on it.
I don't have a personalFacebook.
I only have a business Facebook.
(28:58):
I didn't want to mix mypersonal and my business, so
maybe, if you don't want to dothat either, you want to create
a face, a business Facebookaccount, just for your business.
I also encourage you to havetwo accounts in Instagram have
your personal account, where youcan have your personal post and
you can look up things thatmaybe you're interested in, and
(29:21):
then have a Instagram accountthat's your business account,
where only things related tobusiness are going to be posted.
And then the last one Iencourage to do and there are
many accounts like this for youto process payments.
I have for years used PayPal andI've been very happy with them.
(29:43):
Of course, they do take apercentage, but if you're
selling something, mostplatforms will take a percentage
, but for me it's worked outfine.
I've been able to always use it.
I've never had any problems, soI'm very happy with it.
So that's why I'm recommendingI am not getting anything back
from any of these that I'velisted, so you can either use
(30:08):
these that I recommended or findsome similar and get them, but,
like I said, I'll list themagain there also on the
downloadable side hustle, start,a kit, canva, zoom, gmail,
facebook, instagram and apayment account, paypal, I mean.
Let me give you a tip from myjourney through success, through
(30:30):
living my best life, and thatis that sometimes there have
been times where I have feltlonely.
It requires for me to try toreach out to those like minded
people, the people thatunderstand my struggle, the
people that don't think, hey,I'm weird because I work so hard
.
They don't understand what isreally my passion, my drive, and
(30:56):
that can include family andfriends.
The interesting part is thatthese are the same people that,
as your journey of success isgrowing and as you're maybe
making more money and being ableto do more things, are also
wanting to be part of that.
(31:18):
They're happy with enjoyingyour success, but they still
don't want to support whenyou're doing the hard work.
So to that I say you know,don't follow these people that
maybe because they're notfollowing their dream.
Maybe that's what's making themresentful.
Maybe that's why they're notsupporting you.
(31:38):
You need to follow your dream,because it is the responsibility
of everyone to be their bestself.
I mean, I hope today was helpfulin getting you to think about
what is going to be my sidehustle.
What, potentially, is thebusiness that I want to start or
(32:00):
grow?
It's never going to be theright time.
It's never the perfect time.
So I encourage you to juststart.
You're going to definitely haveto redo, refine your work.
That is the process of learning.
That is what I do every day.
So if you're waiting for thatidea to be perfect, you're never
(32:22):
going to start.
So I encourage you to allowyourself to begin to plan and
take it one day at a time.
One day, you're going to lookback and you're going to be so
proud of what you've created, ofwho you've become.
Most of the time, people aregoing to buy because they love
(32:43):
you, because they love yourproduct, and the rest is just
going to come.
So make sure that you developyour vision, that you master
your trade, that your service,what you're providing,
represents the person that youare, the person that you want to
be seen as.
(33:03):
And remember, success takestime.
So please just start, starttoday.
Go ahead and go to Amiga, let'sTalk episode notes, and there
you're going to be able todownload the free Sidehustle
starter kit workbook that Icreated so that you can go back
if you were just listening thisto this in your car, and have
(33:24):
some quiet time and kind ofanswer the questions that I
prompted you to think aboutearlier, and you're going to be
able to write them down if youweren't able to capture the
notes at this time.
So I'm really excited to hearfrom every single one of you.
What are your ideas?
What service or product are youtrying to create?
(33:45):
And you know you can follow meon Instagram, mr Maris Ramirez.
Post their direct message methere and send me your ideas.
I would love to hear all aboutthem.
And the best of luck to you,amiga.
I know you can do it.
Let's start.
Hello and welcome to Amiga's let's Talk the show,
where we discuss life andbusiness and everything in
between.
I am your host, the MarisRamirez.
My goal is that every womanlives her best life.
So, amiga, grab a cup of coffeeor tea and let's talk.
Hi, amiga, in this episode I'mgoing to talk about how you can
(00:23):
start your side hustle business.
So first of all, I think we needto define what we're talking
about.
And we say side hustle.
So in the Webster dictionary,if you look it up, you'll see
that it says it's work performedfor income supplementary to
one's primary job.
And other names for side hustlethat I've heard are side gigs
(00:47):
or moonlighting.
I've also heard freelancing,consulting.
But I do think we probablyshould stick to the dictionary
definition which, as I mentioned, says it should be an income
supplementary to one's primaryjob in the beginning.
(01:09):
I think that way, when you'restarting your business, you are
starting it with some peace ofmind, that you have money to pay
your current bills while youfigure out what it is that you
want to do and while you'regrowing your business.
So grab a notebook so that youcan take some notes.
Also, in the show notes forthis episode, you're going to
(01:32):
find that I created a nicelittle free side hustle starter
kit workbook that you're goingto be able to download, and it
will help you to put yourthoughts together and to start
to at least start thinking aboutwhat it is that you want to do.
Think about the things that I'mgoing to mention today.
(01:53):
So get comfy, let's get started.
That way, I can show you andshare with you how I started my
six figure business and why andhow you should, too.
People will start their sidehustle out of financial need,
(02:13):
and I did too.
So I was a single parent.
I needed to pay rent, utilities, have money for private school
for my daughter.
One of the things that youshould do is try to think about
what is it that you like to do,and I think that's the most
(02:36):
important thing, because youwill have to work additional
hours, potentially sleep less,and so whatever it is you're
going to be doing, at least youwant to enjoy it.
You're going to have to reallysit down and think about that,
(02:56):
and if you download the starterkit, you'll be able to work
through that For me.
I got an evening part timeteaching job.
A friend of mine volunteer tobabysit for my daughter.
She did it for free.
She said well, I'll just staywith her while you go and teach.
And while I was at thatteaching job, I realized that I
(03:20):
love teaching, and so I began myresearch on how could I make
this side hustle into a business.
I didn't know what that wouldlook like, but I knew that I
wanted to do that.
So I really put 200% intoteaching so that I could then
use that knowledge and develop aplan so that I could do it on
(03:44):
my own, because what I wanted todo is I wanted to control the
amount of money that I couldmake.
So business ownership wassomething I was exposed to since
I was very young.
I come from a family of businessowners.
My uncles, many of them, hadbodegas and restaurants.
So I learned from early on thathaving your own business does
(04:08):
allow you the flexibility tomake the extra money, but it
also comes with a commitment oflong hours.
I can't stress that enough.
As I said before, that is whyyou really need to do something
that you like or love.
I remember being six or sevenand going to my father's bodega
in Washington Heights and lovingbeing there.
(04:29):
I remember going into thefreezer refrigerators after
school and eating the orangecream ice cream bars.
I remember my friends walkingin with their parents and me
offering them ice cream and justlooking at my dad like, is it
okay, can I give him free icecream?
And he would just shake hishead like, sure, go ahead.
(04:51):
And I loved being there with mydad.
I could tell that my dad workeda lot of hours but that he also
truly enjoyed it.
He enjoyed his business.
He enjoyed and loved hiscustomers.
So, amiga, what will you do?
Let's talk about some of theoptions.
(05:11):
Three things I think you needto consider is first, what skill
do you already do regularly?
Maybe you could do more of that.
Or what do you do regularlythat you enjoy?
Are you an inventor, a creator?
Are you a coach to your friends?
(05:32):
Two, do you have the mental,emotional and physical capacity
to use these skills outside ofyour current responsibilities?
And this is really important?
If you're going to start ajourney of doing a side hustle,
then mentally prepare yourself,because it won't be easy, but it
(05:54):
can be done.
Do you have the resources to domore?
And by that I mean if you havelittle ones, have you aligned
some babysitting so that you'llhave even an hour day or two
hours a day to sit down and workon additional work, or the
planning of thinking or figuringout how you're going to add
(06:19):
this additional responsibility,this additional side hustle.
If not, if you don't havebabysitting available, then plan
out when can you work on this,and maybe you're going to do it
while they're sleeping, early inthe morning or late at night,
and by doing that, obviouslythat's part of your.
(06:41):
You know your.
You know your.
You know your mental, emotional, physical capability.
And three what other skillswould you also enjoy doing
regularly?
Are you secretly in the shower?
Do you love to paint?
Do you love to act?
Do you imagine yourself being aCEO or president of a large
(07:07):
company?
What are you constantlythinking about?
What are you researching online?
I think that's a really goodindicator If someone was to look
at your phone.
What are you looking at?
Are you looking at thingsrelated to cooking?
Are you looking at social mediaposts related to interior
(07:30):
decorating?
What's on your Facebook, onyour Instagram, on your
Pinterest?
Then sit down and make a listof three things you want to do.
If you already know what thatone thing is, because you have
been thinking about it for years, then you don't have to do this
exercise.
You already know.
But if you're not sure, what Iwant you to do is make a list of
(07:52):
three things you would love todo and then sit with these three
things and ask yourself, if Icould do one of these things and
switch it for my current joband make the same amount of
money, which one of these threethings would it be then?
(08:12):
That should be your focus.
You're going to.
Maybe you can't switch it now,right?
Maybe what you need is extraincome, not just to change what
you're doing.
So, if that's what it is,you're gonna continue being
great at your current job, butyou're also, then are going to
focus on this one thing, and Iwill go through what is it that
(08:38):
you should do with this passionof yours, with this thought, in
order to make it a practice or ajob or something that brings
you in money?
So let's talk about the type ofbusinesses.
In general.
They fall into three categoriesthat would be either the
(09:00):
product business, the service orthe information business.
Today, you can sell a producton Etsy, shopify, ebay these are
just some examples obviouslyeven Amazon, where you can
create something handmadecandles, personalized something
(09:26):
and you can then add it ontothis platform and you can sell
there.
They all have different fees.
There are platforms workdifferently, so I would say,
look into each one of your.
What you're thinking to do is aproduct and you wanna make a
list of these places where youwould sell your product and then
(09:49):
compare them, compare what thefees would be.
Where would your customer be?
Is this where they would go?
That's important too and thenmake it and sell it.
And we also have the digitalcreated right.
You can also, even on theseplatforms, sell things that you
(10:11):
design.
So you could design somethingon your computer.
You can even do graphic design,and even if you don't do it
maybe your thought is I like itbut I'm not a good artist then
you could hire an artist.
Where would you find them?
You would find them either on aplatform called Fever Upwork,
(10:33):
even on YouTube, but if youwanna design things yourself to
sell, then I highly recommendthat you use Canva in order to
design it, because you couldeven use the free version, and
there's millions of templates,beautiful ones.
I use it every week to designthings for my business, so I
(10:55):
would recommend that you gothere.
Are you going to have a business, that maybe is a service.
So if you're gonna have aservice, let's say maybe you can
provide video editing.
Maybe you want to be a coach,because you already work with
your friends, you're constantlygiving advice.
Maybe you want to be a partyplanner.
(11:18):
Maybe you wanna managesomebody's medical bills.
There are people that just helpseniors that maybe need help
understanding what their medicalbills are.
Maybe you wanna help parents,help them with their children,
give some advice.
There are people that havewebsites, blogs about it, and
(11:41):
then maybe they sell a littlee-book with some ideas on how
things can be better.
I would say, in the servicebusiness, you're basically
selling yourself, selling theknowledge that you have.
You can do this by hostingFacebook Live.
You can host classes on Zoom.
(12:01):
You can use other platformslike Kajabi.
They're in this area.
They're just like in the designand product area many platforms
some also, as I mentionedbefore, that are free.
And then there's theinformation business.
That's the third one, and thatreally is a hybrid, meaning a
combination of service andproduct.
(12:24):
That is really mostly where Ihave grown my business, and so I
host online courses, livepre-recorded, and I also have
e-books that I sell.
So I've been in that area for avery long time.
So you wanna think about whattype of business it is that you
(12:47):
wanna do with your side hustleand then really start learning
about the platforms that are outthere and whether they're free
or there's a fee.
In the beginning, since you'restarting small, a lot of them
have limits how much you coulduse them, and they allow you,
for minimal capacity, to usethem for free.
(13:07):
So I would say, start with thefree platforms until you realize
which one is the best one foryou.
I mean so, in order to besuccessful with starting a side
hustle whether it is, as in thebeginning, as maybe just doing
another part-time job or goingstraight into starting our
business, in either of thosecategories, you do need to do a
(13:30):
lot of research.
You need to consider what isavailable, what is out there,
what are others doing.
Even if you're talented andyou're going to have a product,
you need to think about how isyour product going to be
different?
So you want to research yourcompetition and I'm hesitating
because I hate that wordcompetition Really.
(13:52):
Let's convert that word into acommunity of like-minded people,
Because today, with the globaloutreach that we have, there is
enough for everyone.
In what I do, I'm constantlytalking to other people that do
what I do, the same exact thingand we share notes, we share
(14:13):
stories, the good, the bad.
We share material sometimes hey, do you have a sample contract?
Hey, this is the contractproposal that I'm submitting.
I'm thinking that maybe this iswhat I want to add as the
consulting fee.
What do you think?
(14:33):
Do you think that is in market?
And when you get together withpeople that understand you, that
do the same thing, you reallyget the resource that you need.
So let's think about what isthat community of like-minded
people If you don't have thatnetwork yet, because sometimes
it takes a while for you to gettogether with these people, to
(14:57):
meet these people, and so allyou have is online, and I want
you to research online.
What do other people that dosimilar to what you want to do?
What do they offer?
What do they not offer?
How can you get involved?
You know, start participatingand engaging in their platforms
(15:21):
so that they get to know yournames.
Start commenting on theplatforms.
You want to make a list of atleast five people in your
industry, their names.
Make a list, write it down,write their names, write their
social media address and thenwhat I want you to do as your
homework is to study them fortwo weeks, and maybe you do it
(15:45):
on paper, maybe you do it on anExcel spreadsheet and start
writing categories.
You know where are they online,what do they offer, how much do
they offer it for, how often dothey post on their social media
?
Also, you probably want to writedown how many followers, even
(16:06):
though I will say that, sinceyou are beginning, you're not
going to have as many as theyhave.
So I don't want you to measureyourself against that, because
that truly is not an indicatorof whether you're going to be
successful or not, because justthink they started one time at
(16:27):
some point.
They started with a followingof zero also.
Just think about that.
So if you're starting, you know, by you doing the research,
maybe you're going to acceleratefaster than they do.
So right now, you kind of onlywant to know what are they doing
and try to learn from whatthey're doing.
(16:47):
We also need to consider who isyour ideal customer, who is
going to buy from you.
This is so important.
This is gonna be your community, your clients.
This is going to come in reallyhandy.
The more that you can identifyyour ideal customer, the more
(17:08):
you're gonna be able to knowwhere you need to be available
for them and also how you aregoing to design your marketing
campaign.
So you wanna start learningspecifically what are their
wants, what are their needs,what kind of products and
services they are interested in,where are they located, what
(17:31):
platforms are they primarily on,what is their age range?
Where do they live?
What kind of jobs do they do?
You wanna make sure that youhave a clear picture of your
ideal customer so that whenyou're reaching out, when you're
either writing a blog, maybedoing a newsletter, maybe even
(17:51):
responding to a purchase, thatyou can personalize it and, as
people do purchase your serviceand your product, you wanna try
to collect testimonials fromthese people that identify why
did they buy your product orservice and then, after they use
it, why do they love it andbelieve it.
(18:13):
These are going to be thepeople that are going to give
you the best referral for thenattracting new customers In my
business.
I have to be honest that mybusiness, for the many years
that I've had it, my businesscomes from more than 85% of
(18:33):
referrals from previouscustomers and they have come
from a student to anotherstudent or they have come from
students to a client they arerecommending.
Also, I've been asked topresent in many organizations.
Very few people have contractedme because they have found me
(18:59):
online.
And the funny thing is, thepeople that have found me online
especially the clients, notstudents the clients have found
me online at a desperation.
They desperately neededsomebody in healthcare
consulting immediately and theyjust basically Googled let me
find a healthcare consultantlocally where I live.
(19:21):
And they were able to find meand call me and say usually I
need you right away.
So I know who they are.
Because they basically maybefound themselves in a very
difficult situation and theywere desperate.
They just found me online.
But most of my customers arecoming through referral, which,
honestly, for me, makes me feellike I have to work even harder
(19:45):
when it's a referral, because Idon't want to let the person
that referred that customer down.
So I almost try to do even abetter job than whatever it was
that I provided to that referralcustomer.
That's at least how I thinkabout it, and I would encourage
you to think about it that waytoo, so that, therefore, this
(20:06):
person that was referred canthen later refer you another one
, and that cycle will continue,and that has been, really
honestly, how I have beengrowing my business for the many
, many years that I've been inbusiness, so I hope that that
also works for you.
I want to go back and talk alittle bit more about networking
, because it's so, so important.
(20:28):
You want to network withlike-minded people.
You want to do it eithervirtually or in person, and
you're able to do this eithervia Facebook or in local meetups
.
Another great place to networkwith like-minded people is at
your local small businessassociation, and when you attend
(20:51):
these meetings, you get abetter understanding of what is
the state of affairs for yourlocal area, potentially for your
business.
You might find out what aresome of the challenges, what are
the greatest areas ofopportunity, and you want to do
this early.
You want to be able to identifyare there any available grants?
Sometimes they have grants forsmall business owners that you
(21:15):
might qualify for, and soremember, you don't need to do
this alone.
There are people out there thatare willing to share what have
been their successes, what havebeen their failures, so that
maybe you don't try that sameidea, or at least that you learn
from the idea.
You want to find your bestbusiness friends, your BBF, and
(21:39):
you want to cultivate that coregroup of people that you can
depend on, that will be honest.
They're going to give youhonest feedback.
They're going to be the firstto cheer you on after your first
sale or after that first bigorder.
They're going to be the onesfueling your success.
Amiga, the quality of your workreally matters, so we need to
(22:00):
make sure that we are masteringour trade.
You want to focus on yourstrengths, not on your
weaknesses.
So you're going to think aboutwhat are your strengths and
whatever it is you want to doand you want to learn more about
it.
You want to know what it isthat you need to do to stand out
(22:20):
.
How are you going to be great?
How are you going to bedifferent?
And one of the books I wouldlike to recommend in the journey
of mastering your trade that Ithink is also important to read
and to understand is theFranklin Covi the Seven Habits
of Highly Effective People, andone of the things there is he
(22:44):
goes through the habits right.
So habit number two is beginwith the end in mind.
So if we're doing that, we wantto begin thinking what is the
best product that I or servicethat I can provide right now?
And you want to work on that sothat when you do put a service
out there or a product out there, it is fantastic that when
people purchase it, ask you tobuy it, receive it, that they're
(23:07):
so excited and that theyreceive so much value from you
that they're willing torecommend you.
I find a lot of times when I'min the middle of providing a
service a lot of times I providecourses where it's a package
that even during the servicesthe webinar, the live webinar
series that I'm doing I Getphone calls I get inquiries
(23:32):
about from new people, newstudents calling and asking
about the current class, becausesomeone is so excited about the
class that they're telling afriend and the person wants to
know hey, can I still get intothat class or when is your next
class?
So your product and service andthe mastery of that is
Extremely important.
(23:53):
So you want to sit down andthink about, right after we've
done the research with the otherlike-minded people, how are we
going to be different, how arewe going to provide something
that maybe hasn't been done orthat is Currently being done,
but we're going to be better,we're going to be different and
we need to work on that everysingle day.
(24:13):
Let's talk about space.
Unless you have a digitalproduct, you need to consider
your space.
This is going to be reallyimportant.
If you're a virtual assistant,then you probably don't need a
production area.
All you need is a Computer,which you could I encourage you
to sit at a desk, but you'redoing it at your couch when
(24:36):
that's fantastic if you stillcan get your work done.
But if you're doing a product, abusiness that requires you to
Be able to work, to havesupplies for example, let's say
you're doing jewelry then youneed supplies for your jewelry.
You might need tools, you mightneed packaging.
You're going to need a space, adesignated space in your house
(24:58):
where your materials are goingto be organized.
So Consider your environment.
You're going to need to thinkabout what are your.
If your service is a product,what are your space spatial
needs?
Right, for this side hustle.
What space in your home Can youdedicate to this side hustle
(25:18):
where, if you have children,they're not going to be able to
get into for safety issues, intoyour supplies, where things
could be organized and locked?
It could be a closet.
What space in your home Can youDedicate right to that side
hustle, and are there anylimitations?
Because you have a small space,it might be difficult for you
(25:39):
to start with a product ifyou're not going to be able to
have the space to Allow to beable to develop that product.
So, again, think about what isyour space capability?
I mean, you know what I'm goingto say is going to be a little
controversial, but if you askmany of us that are in business
now that started with a sidehustle and then maybe Moved on
(26:03):
to create a bigger business, oneof the things that we, most of
us, have in common Is that wenever started with an official
business plan.
We did not have the businesscards, we did not have the
website.
Instead, we focused on what isthe product that we want to sell
, what is the service that wewant to provide, and we focused
(26:24):
on the research.
That's why we talked about that.
I don't want you to waste timein trying to time and money
trying to Prepare a businessplan.
If you do not have a productthat in my mind, then what are
you creating the business planfor?
You have to have something tosell and what you to start
creating the items or servicesthat are going to bring you
(26:45):
money.
That is the goal, right.
Let's keep the end in mind.
That's what Franklin Covay said.
So let's work and try to createwhat we want to sell first.
That is where I want you tospend most of your time.
For my beginners side hustlebusiness owners, there's some
platforms that you need to havethe basics.
So I thought let's get theseout of the way and they're free,
(27:08):
right, and they're gonna helpyou with your business.
So number one is Canva fordesigning.
You definitely want to alsoopen a zoom account.
At some point you're gonna havemeetings.
You might think, oh, I'm not,no, I don't want to do that, I
don't want to talk to people.
You're gonna need to have azoom account.
If you ever get a big client, abigger order, you might have to
(27:30):
have a meeting.
So you definitely want to havea zoom account.
The zoom account also willallow you to create some videos,
so I and they might send you ameeting via zoom.
So you definitely want to havea zoom account.
You should probably also have aGmail business account email.
You can create one.
There Doesn't have to be, atthis point tied to a website.
(27:53):
When you have a little moremoney and you design or Buy a
domain name and a website, thenyou'll probably get a business
email.
But for now, just get a Gmailaccount.
And the other thing I would sayis Be careful with the names.
Make sure that your email isPut your business name in there,
(28:17):
even if it says at gmailcom, itdoesn't matter for the
beginners.
At least you have your businessname there, an email that you
know You're gonna be able to goand check daily to see where
your Business emails are.
If you're still working andthis is gonna be your side
hustle you do not want yourbusiness emails going to your
(28:37):
job.
That is not okay.
You need to have a separateemail for that.
You definitely want to have aFacebook.
If the brand is you, becauseyou're selling a service, that's
fine.
You can, I guess, continue tohave your family members on it.
I don't have a personalFacebook.
I only have a business Facebook.
(28:58):
I didn't want to mix mypersonal and my business, so
maybe, if you don't want to dothat either, you want to create
a face, a business Facebookaccount, just for your business.
I also encourage you to havetwo accounts in Instagram have
your personal account, where youcan have your personal post and
you can look up things thatmaybe you're interested in, and
(29:21):
then have a Instagram accountthat's your business account,
where only things related tobusiness are going to be posted.
And then the last one Iencourage to do and there are
many accounts like this for youto process payments.
I have for years used PayPal andI've been very happy with them.
(29:43):
Of course, they do take apercentage, but if you're
selling something, mostplatforms will take a percentage
, but for me it's worked outfine.
I've been able to always use it.
I've never had any problems, soI'm very happy with it.
So that's why I'm recommendingI am not getting anything back
from any of these that I'velisted, so you can either use
(30:08):
these that I recommended or findsome similar and get them, but,
like I said, I'll list themagain there also on the
downloadable side hustle, start,a kit, canva, zoom, gmail,
facebook, instagram and apayment account, paypal, I mean.
Let me give you a tip from myjourney through success, through
(30:30):
living my best life, and thatis that sometimes there have
been times where I have feltlonely.
It requires for me to try toreach out to those like minded
people, the people thatunderstand my struggle, the
people that don't think, hey,I'm weird because I work so hard
.
They don't understand what isreally my passion, my drive, and
(30:56):
that can include family andfriends.
The interesting part is thatthese are the same people that,
as your journey of success isgrowing and as you're maybe
making more money and being ableto do more things, are also
wanting to be part of that.
(31:18):
They're happy with enjoyingyour success, but they still
don't want to support whenyou're doing the hard work.
So to that I say you know,don't follow these people that
maybe because they're notfollowing their dream.
Maybe that's what's making themresentful.
Maybe that's why they're notsupporting you.
(31:38):
You need to follow your dream,because it is the responsibility
of everyone to be their bestself.
I mean, I hope today was helpfulin getting you to think about
what is going to be my sidehustle.
What, potentially, is thebusiness that I want to start or
(32:00):
grow?
It's never going to be theright time.
It's never the perfect time.
So I encourage you to juststart.
You're going to definitely haveto redo, refine your work.
That is the process of learning.
That is what I do every day.
So if you're waiting for thatidea to be perfect, you're never
(32:22):
going to start.
So I encourage you to allowyourself to begin to plan and
take it one day at a time.
One day, you're going to lookback and you're going to be so
proud of what you've created, ofwho you've become.
Most of the time, people aregoing to buy because they love
(32:43):
you, because they love yourproduct, and the rest is just
going to come.
So make sure that you developyour vision, that you master
your trade, that your service,what you're providing,
represents the person that youare, the person that you want to
be seen as.
(33:03):
And remember, success takestime.
So please just start, starttoday.
Go ahead and go to Amiga, let'sTalk episode notes, and there
you're going to be able todownload the free Sidehustle
starter kit workbook that Icreated so that you can go back
if you were just listening thisto this in your car, and have
(33:24):
some quiet time and kind ofanswer the questions that I
prompted you to think aboutearlier, and you're going to be
able to write them down if youweren't able to capture the
notes at this time.
So I'm really excited to hearfrom every single one of you.
What are your ideas?
What service or product are youtrying to create?
(33:45):
And you know you can follow meon Instagram, mr Maris Ramirez.
Post their direct message methere and send me your ideas.
I would love to hear all aboutthem.
And the best of luck to you,amiga.
I know you can do it.
Let's start.
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