How to Know if a Summer Side Hustle is Right for Me?
Okay, first things first, what do we mean by a “Summer Side Hustle?”
This could mean a lot of things but in this case, we mean -
Running a business, part-time, over the summer.
Before you take the leap, there are three questions you questions you will want to consider.
1 - Am I willing to put in the work?
This is a really important question and, it’s time to be very honest with yourself.
Starting your own thing is incredibly gratifying. It allows you to be fully in control of what you do, how you do it, when you work, where you work, all the things.
That said, it takes effort upfront to pull everything together. So ask yourself, is this something you’re up for? If yes - amazing! If not, that’s okay too - congratulations for being honest with yourself.
When asking this question, it can be helpful to think about the “why” - Why do you want to do this? Is it because you want to continue to make an impact over the summer for struggling students? Is it because you want to make some extra money? Is it because you enjoy teaching and want to continue your passion over the summer? Is it something else entirely? Any reason is a perfectly good reason, but from there you need to ask if that “why” is solid enough to put in the effort it takes to run a business over the summer.
2 - Can I create and implement systems?
If you have a compelling “why” and can say “yes” to the first question, the next question you should ask yourself is whether you can put systems in place effectively. You likely do this all the time as an educator. You implement systems in your classroom, with your daily schedule, in your instruction.
When running a business, you need to be able to create and implement systems around your programming (what you’re doing with students and how), your marketing (how people find out how to work with you), organizing all the things (your tasks, documents, materials, and billing), and your finances (how people are paying you and how you stay profitable).
While you can absolutely jump right into seeing students as a tutor over the summer, having systems in place allows you to run a sustainable business that doesn’t stress you out (because who wants to be stressed out over the summer?!). It also allows you to show up as professional, organized, and collected which means that the marketing and financial pillars of your business will run much more easily!
3 - Am I willing to put a plan in place?
Okay, so if you’ve determined that you are willing to put in the work and you know you are capable of putting systems in place (even if you aren’t entirely sure what that will look like just yet), then the last question to ask yourself is whether you are willing to put a plan in place. When putting together a plan we like to use the 5Ws strategy (we use this as a comprehension strategy for our students but it works super well for planning too!)
Who do you want to work with?
What services/support do you want to provide?
When will you provide these services?
Where will you provide these services?
Why do you want to provide these services specifically?
Okay, so what’s next?
If you decide that a Summer Side Hustle is for you, we would love to help you get started. Check out our training about how to start your literacy practice, where we will walk you step-by-step through everything you need to get your business up and running!