Author: Boiki Keaitaya

In the introductory post on the Side Hustle Business Idea Validation series, I pointed out that our post today will focus on- validating the side hustle business idea against the hustler’s personal circumstances.

I am of the belief that not all of us can do the same businesses and perform effectively and win. It is therefore important to take into account certain personal considerations before running with our hustle ideas.  

I believe it will be suicidal for a side hustler to pick any business idea without considering if it fits their personal situations.

I can attest to what happened to me after running with a business without considering my personal situation.

That is what happened.

In 2007, I opened a pub as a side hustle primarily because I had always wanted to own a pub. At that time I was working full time as a math teacher and having small grocery store run on the side as well. The pub was a second hustle. Besides the apparent increase in work, I am kind of laid back person with low tolerance for environments bordering on lawlessness. With that kind of personality, the liquor hustle turned out to be a disaster. It was a marriage made in hell. The business atmosphere was so toxic it drove me nuts. There were constant complaints from neighbours about the noise from the pub, rough behaviour of drunken patrons, refusal by patrons to exit the pub at gazetted closure time, regular fights among patrons –all leading to harassment and imposition of fines by cops and huge furniture maintenance bill. The trouble didn’t end there, because of late closure time; I often arrived home exhausted and at midnight. I was extremely unhappy, stressed and miserable. Eventually, I divorced the liquor hustle in 6 months.

The story above shows how important it is to consider certain personal considerations before running with our business ideas.  To help you do so, I have identified flags to guide your validation exercise.  

Flag #1: Can your health withstand potential stress pressures imposed on it by the intended side-hustle?

Running a business can generate colossal amounts of stress pressures imposed on your body, soul and mind. No doubt about that. 

Working the job and running a business together will surely double or triple one’s stress pressures to astronomical levels that may put one’s health at risk.

This then begs this question; Can your health withstand potential stress pressures imposed on it by the intended side-hustle?

Flag #2: Does your intended business match your personality?

Just because you are adrenaline-charged and hungry for a side business, it doesn’t guarantee that any hustle you choose will fit your personality.

Personality dispositions such as our beliefs, values, character, moods, etc. can determine which business environments are suitable to work under. It is in our interest to ensure our intended businesses match our personalities. My experience with the pub hustle taught me this important lesson; choose a business that fits your personality.

Flag #3: Does your intended side-business match your strengths?

If one enters the hustle area they are stronger in, their odds of success can improve significantly as they will have a higher pace of execution.

There is always something we are stronger in. It could be our passions, experiences, technical skills etc. If we can monetize that which we are stronger in, our odds of success can improve significantly owing to greater levels of execution and motivation.

This is not to say we can’t start a side hustle in the area we are weak in. I actually had no online marketing skills when I decided to become an internet marketer.

Flag #4: Does your intended side-business match your lifestyle?

The pub business I indicated above altered my lifestyle in many bad ways.

One, I couldn’t find time to visit my family something I had always done with ease.

And two, I am a keen follower of Formula1, which I watch religiously on Sundays but with the advent of the pub business that ceased.

I became the slave to the business unable to live my life the way I wanted it. 

The business was a serious mismatch to my lifestyle; as a result, it became my worst nightmare instead of what it was intended to achieve.

Ensure your intended side hustle business matches your lifestyle?

Flag #5: Do you have the “ability” to operate the intended business?

This is an extension of flag #3. Speaking for myself; I am sure I can’t go into construction as I don’t have sufficient competencies to oversee a hustle in such an area. But I can successfully set up and run a hotdog business though I don’t have any hot-dogging experience or hot dog qualifications from the university. 

My ability to operate a side hustle was once tested to the core.

I had the misfortune of running a hair salon on the side in the late 1990s. The economy was doing well. Many people weren’t complaining about money. The opportunity was great as there was no lack of customers. But there was a problem. I was incompetent in the business of hair so to say. Hair chemicals came in 5 to 20-litre buckets instead of saying 500ml plastic bottles which could be billed easily. Chemicals had to be “spooned” leading to measurement challenges. Different types of hair used different amounts of the same chemicals making measurement even more difficult for an incompetent person like me. Also, no people had the same head sizes leading to more measurement challenges. Despite hiring talented employees, I was still very much clueless about hair business. With finer details missing in my knowledge package I became a sitting duck as employees “worked for themselves” and pilfered most of the revenues generated. I lost control, and I hated it. To make matters worse, it was a partnership in which my partners (one a life insurance consultant and the other graphic artist) decided to go AWOL leaving me to face the challenge of running the business (and the greedy landlord to contend with) alone. Had I taken time to assess my ability to run the hustle perhaps I could have opted not to go in or opted for rent- a- chair model.

We shouldn’t shy away from trying because we have no competencies in our intended side hustle particularly if the skills can be acquired or outsourced.

But if you strongly feel uncomfortable with your skill-set for the area, leave it and explore other business ideas.

Flag #6: Are you comfortable with the culture of doing business in the area you intend wading in? 

Business is not a holy place. In some countries, there is corruption and nepotism in business particularly at the level of regulation where officers want to be paid for rendering services they are already paid for by the tax payer. There is also corruption in the private sector perpetrated by employees. I have observed that the public-bid-driven industry is often tainted with corrupt tender awards.

You really need to ask if you can survive in such an industry even when the scale of the opportunity is visibly huge.

It is for you to answer but be as honest as you can possibly be.

Businesses with high entry rates such as public transport also have questionable cultures of operation.

Can you enter the taxi business in some countries where the chances of dying in the fight for customers is extremely high?

Flag #7: Determine risks associated with your intended side hustle and the extent you can tolerate them

Hustle has unquestionable risks written all over it. We risk a lot when we go into business.

We risk our money. 

We risk our family time. 

We risk our health. 

We risk our emotions.  

We risk breaking the law.  

And some businesses have occupational risks inherent in them. For example, some countries seem to have low tolerance for bloggers in the political, environmental and cultural spaces.

Personally, I have no problem risking my money into a business but I am extremely uncomfortable with risking the bank or creditor’s money. Hence I don’t borrow money to do business and I don’t enter into any hustle that requires me to borrow money because I can’t emotionally tolerate debt.

So ensure that you can tolerate the risks associated with your intended hustle?

Thank you for reading.