Many people have considered turning their side-hustle into their full time gig… but what’s really involved in turning a hobby into a business?
Over the last few years, I have been transforming my hobby into a small business. After a slow but steady start, June 2021 became a major turning point with the decision to quit my day job and focus on my business full time.
My journey from side hustle to full time was a learning curve, so I’m going to share some of my tips on growing a successful online and market-based business. There are plenty of resources online to help you write a business plan, develop strategies and work on finances, so I won’t go into that level of detail, rather I want to provide practical tips for building your business from the ground up.
Build your brand:
The first step in building any business is to establish your brand, this isn’t just the logo and colour palette this includes your vision, mission and values. It includes what you stand for and what people can rely on you for, it involves how you want your customers to feel about you. Your customers will feel something about you, I promise. So why not design that feeling from the get-go. Know your business and your ideal customer and develop your core business principles and brand around this.
In addition to building your business brand you should establish your personal brand – how do you want your customers to see you and how do you want to be remembered. You will always be on show so comments you make on your Facebook page, both business and personal represent and reflect your brand.
Develop a social media strategy and be on the platforms your ideal customers are on. You should use your social media accounts to build relationships, connect with customers, add value to customers/followers’ lives and lastly to showcase your products. Make sure you focus on connection and value over products as your customers are more likely to buy from you because they like you or what you stand for rather than because of the products you sell.
Build your authenticity:
As a small business owner, you need to be authentic. Your customers want to see you and determine whether you are values aligned. Make sure you are showing up on your social media and on your website so your customers can see you for who you are.
I’m an advocate for having a selection of professional photos featuring you and your products, however, you also need the candid photos of you and ‘slightly off’ selfies. Over time, you will work out when to use professional and when to use the camera phone and your customers will be grateful for your authenticity.
~Business Game Changer Special Promotion~
Lastly you want to talk about why you do what you do and the reason you started your business. What it is that drives you and why do you keep going?
Build your presence:
According to Australia Post in the 2022 Inside Australian Online Shopping eCommerce Industry Report, 9.2 million Australians households are shopping online. Therefore, it is imperative your business has an online presence regardless of whether you are product or service based.
If you are a product-based business, I would recommend an online store with Australia wide shipping. If you are a service-based business consider how you connect with your customers and how your website can facilitate this, e.g., online booking systems.
If you are a product-based business you should consider building a local customer base through attending markets and pop up shops.
Build your customer experience:
Once you’ve developed a social media following and you’re converting website or market visitors into customers, you want to build a customer experience that helps them ‘stick’. This goes beyond pretty packaging and good products, this is about retaining the customers, so they continue to come back to your business.
In addition to amazing customer service, you will want to ensure you provide an avenue for your customers to connect with you on social media – this is best achieved through using a QR code that links to linktree or a similar link platform. For example, every card I have – business, earring, packaging – has a QR code which takes the scanner through to my linktree account and the customer can then choose how to connect with me (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, website). This is a great tool for allowing customers to connect on their terms.
Once your customers have received their order reach out to them for a review. This can be done through an automated post-purchase email. Reviews are important to help build trust and for potential customers to see what others are saying about you. I’ve recently updated my ‘review’ email to include some suggested words that customers could leave in their review and I’ve let them know why leaving a review is important. I have included a few keywords to aid my SEOs. For example, “I love my funky earrings from Art by Sophia”. The keywords for SEO purposes being ‘funky earrings’ and ‘Art by Sophia’.
Build your authority:
As your business grows, you will want to build yourself as an authority in your industry this can be achieved through publicity; Facebook or Instagram live sessions; blog posts; and through customer reviews. Make sure you link your publicity; reviews and informative posts to your website and social media so that customers can start to see you as an authority in your industry.
I use a scroll bar on the homepage of my website with logos of media publications I have appeared in along with a webpage dedicated to my brand. This page covers publicity, awards and nominations, and any affiliate relationships and brand ambassador information that is relevant. This helps customers see that there is more to the brand than some earrings or custom products.
Build your business:
Follow these real tips to build your business from the ground up. Don’t forget the most important thing is to be your authentic self and make sure you connect and add value to the lives of your customers. How are you going to be authentic for your customers so you can show them who you really are?
By Sophia Czarkowski
Bio:
Sophia Czarkowski is based in Rockhampton Queensland and is the CEO and Founder of two small businesses. Art by Sophia, creating products make a statement, and Catsumi, for happier and healthier cats that play for life.
Sophia was a finalist in the Capricorn Enterprise 2021 Best in Business Awards and was recently named in the top 150 businesswomen of Rockhampton and the Capricorn Coast. Sophia is passionate about doing what brings her joy and helping others to find what brings them joy.
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