I Have a Job

A lot of aspiring entrepreneurs are people who have jobs that currently pay their bills. They have dreams of running their own business, but the thought of leaving a steady paycheck leaves them in fear. Some people claim to want to be in business for themselves, but their actions show that their job is clearly their priority. It is impossible to take on a huge undertaking like starting and running a business full time without making a commitment. It can be very uncomfortable. There is really not a way to ease into it. You have to make a plan, then dive in.

I have done business with a friend of mine in a field I have no expertise in. I figured he is a good guy and he seemed to know what he was doing, so I gave him a try. My friend is moonlighting in this business. It is his side hustle. It wasn’t long before I noticed that my friend was content with his business being a side hustle. He was very unorganized and his communication was terrible. I really didn’t hold this against him because I have dealt with the hardships of transitioning from a job to being in business full time. The problems began when it became apparent that he was content to be a side hustler. He expected you to understand that he was just doing this on the side so there was only a certain amount of professionalism and organization you could expect from him. He was content to just get by. He really showed no effort in improving his offering. He wanted his customers to trust him when it was very clear he was just winging it. He promised his customers results that could only come from someone who was committed to the business full time. I guess what disappointed me most is that he just wasn’t honest. He should have just told his customers that he was doing this on the side, so once you get to a level that requires more commitment you should look for someone that does this full time.

Eventually I had to find someone else to handle my business, and from afar I watched a steady stream of people walk away from his business. I actually had no intention of ending our business relationship. I had no knowledge of this business so my standards were based on the way my friend did things. Out of friendship, I tried to discuss some of the problems I and some of his other customers had and he didn’t want to hear it. One of the biggest issues his customers had was his lack of communication. There was a time I contacted him to ask when we were going to get back to business after a break. During the weeks I waited for a response, a cousin of mine who had been inviting me to check out the company she does business with invited me to an open house. She had invited me many times and I just never listened. She invited me again. This time it was different. I had just made up my mind that I was going to start checking out more opportunities. Since my guy still had not responded, I decided to tag along and just to follow through on my promise to be more aware of other situations. I went and checked out her people. I walked into the open house with no intention of doing business with these people. They changed my mind in less than 20 minutes. They were 100 percent dedicated to their business and it showed. The difference between my friend’s business and this one was like night and day. There was no comparison. There just was no logical reason not to switch. Even though this company was run by people with jobs, they built systems to make sure their customers were fully taken care of. They were organized, efficient and their communication was great. My guy was running his business on the fly. There were many miscommunications, miscues and mishaps. These people had their business running like a well oiled machine. Although I felt a little guilty leaving my friend’s business, I did it and I have not looked back. I have not regretted my decision for one second.

If you go into business, even if it is a side hustle, you must be fully committed to giving your customers top notch service. You can never build giving lackluster service. No matter how committed they are to you, if your customers have the opportunity to see business done at a high level by someone else, they are not going to have a choice. They are going to leave you. Expecting people to stick with you out of loyalty or ignorance even though your product is subpar is not a sustainable business model. How many people do you know that want to willingly get less for their money?

Be honest about the level of service you are able to offer. If there are limitations to the level of service you can offer, be up front. Maybe partner up with someone else that can take on your clients once they have passed the point you can help them. Your customers will respect your honesty and you won’t end up being enemies when you parts ways. Maybe some of your customers will stay with you if you are up front with them. Maybe some people will be willing to work with you while you are going through your growing pains. If you are not honest, they will feel deceived and taken advantage of. For the record, I don’t think my friend was trying to be deceitful. I think he was overwhelmed with the responsibility of trying to run a business solo when he clearly needed help. Because I have been there I understand what he was dealing with, that’s why I came to him with feedback hoping he would change for the benefit of him and his customers. Unfortunately, when you are too busy working in your business, you don’t have time to work on your business. You are too busy putting out fires to look at the big picture.

You should listen to the feedback of your customers. My guy was totally unwilling to listen to his customers feedback even though it was given in an attempt to help him improve and prevent the loss of his customers. He took things personally and didn’t even consider change. To this day, I watch him loose customers at an alarming rate. To this day he thinks it is the fault of his “unloyal” customers instead of his bad service.

When you are running a side hustle, you need to be honest with yourself about what you want to do. Do you want to be full time? If so, act like it. If you are content with being a side hustler, be honest with yourself and your customers. Pay attention to the needs of your customers and be willing to change to get better. If not you will have multitudes of dissatisfied customers walking away from you even if you have the best of intentions. Understand that even a side business needs to be organized and be run efficiently to succeed. Just because you are part time does not mean you customer only wants half the level of quality.