With the global side hustle industry projected to swell to a staggering $14.39 billion by the year 2030 as the largest contributor to the overall workforce, the prospects are certainly bright for aspiring entrepreneurs, and there has never been a better time to start a business.
But starting and growing a successful business, whether as a side hustle or full-time, often sounds scary. One of the main reasons we delay and procrastinate with setting up a business is that we entertain our fears:
“What if it doesn’t work out? What if I don’t know enough? What if I don’t have enough money to give it a head start? What if I don’t land any clients?” All these fears result in us losing our inherent career potential. There is so much that could be achieved if we stopped procrastinating and decided to act now.
Instead of asking, “What if it doesn’t work out?,” consider replacing that question with, “What if it does work? How would my life and that of my loved ones change? How would this impact my career trajectory positively? How could this supercharge my earnings and my skills potential?”
It’s also key to remember that there’s never a perfect time to start a business. There will always be delays, excuses, market changes, lack of resources, even a recession, that will threaten your business growth. But there are many examples of businesses and industries that have thrived under pressure and during times of recession, particularly within retail, technology, and healthcare. If you wait for the perfect time to happen, it will never come.
With that being said, if ever there was a “perfect” or ideal time, it certainly is now. If you’re considering dabbling in entrepreneurship and believe you have the skills, drive, and knowledge to invest in and grow your own venture, here are six reasons you should definitely give it a shot in 2024 and put it on your New Year’s resolutions list:
AI Propels Your Business
With the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence and its application for business tools, this is the perfect time to start a new venture, because many of the aspects of running a business or developing the idea that traditionally take a very long time to accomplish, can now be achieved within a fraction of the time. There exists a plethora of time-saving AI-powered tools available to you as a business owner to help with manual tasks such as accounting, contract creation, customer service, templates, policies, and marketing and content creation. You can even use AI to generate entrepreneurial ideas.
Working From Home
Since the pandemic we’ve been privileged with expanded capabilities to work remotely, which enables flexibility, and reduces accessibility issues or the need for you to worry about how your business could interfere with your personal and family responsibilities. You can now literally work from anywhere with a laptop and a stable internet connection.
Networking Is Easier
Professional networking for business opportunities is now easier thanks to social platforms such as LinkedIn, which saw a spike in usage during and after the pandemic from 675 million members in the first quarter of 2020, to approximately 950 million by the third quarter of 2023. More people are using social media to connect, exchange valuable contacts, and meet remotely via video conferencing software such as Zoom or Teams. You can easily access key business contacts, form partnerships, and find clients from around the world, all from the comfort of your home while enabling your business to grow.
Freelance Marketplaces
Thanks to freelancing marketplaces such as Fiverr, UpWork, and even LinkedIn’s services section included in personal LinkedIn profiles, you can easily promote your services and place your skills in front of thousands of eager customers. In addition to making your marketing easier, some freelancing platforms handle records, process payments, and provide mechanisms for you to proudly display your portfolio of work and customer testimonials as well.
Website-Building Without A Developer
There is a huge variety of popular and lesser-known website-builders such as Wix, Carrd, Squarespace, and Shopify that allow you to create your own professional, sleek site for a fraction of the cost it would take you to hire a developer. If you don’t consider yourself to be much of a creative, many of these sites have pre-built customizable templates that you can use; alternatively you can use a blank template and start from scratch.
Access To Talent
Because many people have been laid off from their jobs since the pandemic, there is now an enormous talent pool of ex-employees that are providing independent consulting services as they get back on their feet towards finding work. You could pay them for their services such as graphic design, business advising, or marketing, which will provide a twofold reward: not only does your business stand to benefit from their services, but these ex-employees will receive financial support while job-hunting, and a portfolio that they can use when pitching to employers.
So if you’ve been delaying and wondering when to finally launch that business idea that’s being lingering in your head for a while…just go ahead and start. When you take the first step, procrastination will become less of an addiction and you will enjoy witnessing progress.
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