5 Steps to Starting a Side hustle or Solo Biz

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Welcome back to another episode of the Constructive Liberty Podcast. Today is Wednesday, January the 24th, 2023, and this is episode number 134.

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Now I'm bringing you the audio from the live stream I did on Monday night, about five steps to starting a side hustle or solo biz.

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The reason I'm bringing you a pre-recorded message is because I am feeling quite a bit on the down-low.

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We were out of town visiting some friends over New Year's and my wife picked up a bug and decided to ever so kindly share it with me. So I'm not feeling too hot today.

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It's a rough day. So I'm bringing you this pre-recorded episode. Don't forget you can always join me Monday evening at 7pm Central Time on my YouTube channel for a live stream.

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Talk about all kinds of stuff, tools, tips, tech, and mindset for building the life and career you love.

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Except we won't have one this coming Monday night because I will be watching the Georgia Bulldogs beat the TCU Horned Frogs in the College Football National Championship game. I will not be live streaming while I'm watching that.

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So check back in a week and a half. Monday, the, if my calendar will pull up, 16th will be our next Monday evening live stream. Hope to see you there. Here you go.

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Tonight we're talking about five steps to getting started in a side hustle or a solo biz.

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We talk about building a small business, but a lot of my angle is as a solopreneur. So we're talking about starting a new side hustle or a solopreneur business.

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I got a couple of quotes to get us started off with. Says you don't have to be good to start, but you do have to start to be good.

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And I really like that because I'm somebody who likes perfectionism. And this next quote really gets to me.

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It says, don't let perfectionism becoming an excuse for never getting started.

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As somebody who thinks it has to be perfect, I often let perfect get in the way of good. And it's, you have to realize, And it can be so hard if you are a perfectionist.

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Really just an excuse for not getting started. But let's jump right into it. Five things in new side hustle or solo business.

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I'm gonna spend a lot of time, probably the most amount of time on this first step. And first step is to know thyself. Jim Rohn said it this way, if you don't design your own life plan, chances are that you'll fall into someone else's life plan.

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And guess what they have planned for you? Not much. So in creating a plan for, there's kind of a whole process to starting a side hustle or a business.

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And one, you can just go do the thing if you know what you're doing already.

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But if you're not sure exactly what you want to start, you gotta start by knowing yourself.

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And that's your interests, your passions, your skills, your strengths, your personality.

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Now that's one that I talk a lot about is your personality styles. And there's a lot of different assessments that you can do to figure out your personality.

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I'm partial to the disc model of human behavior. There's also the Myers-Briggs. There's the, I'm not sure what the other one is. It's got colors and numbers.

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I can't think of what that one's called.

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I've never messed with that one. And then you've got Strengths Finder. There's a few of those like that that teach you your personality style.

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I'm gonna bring something up here on the screen, show you just a kind of a basic overview of disk. You've got four basic personality types in disk.

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You've got the, you know, you have the cross error, the index of outgoing and reserved, and task-oriented and people-oriented.

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And as you follow that compass, somebody who is outgoing and task-oriented would be the high D or the dominance.

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They're the person who is results-oriented. They're a driver, highly competitive. Somebody who's outgoing and people-oriented would be more influencing. They, that's, we'll call them the I-type. They're persuasive, inspiring, and enthusiastic.

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Then you have the people-oriented and reserved individual. they are the stable.

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They're very agreeable. They're more democratic. They like everybody to come along for the ride. And they're very patient. And then you have the reserved and task-oriented individual.

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They tend to be more cautious, very analytical, detail-oriented, and systematic, and often perfectionism.

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I'm a high C. That's the, I guess that's where the perfectionism comes in at.

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And it's interesting to see how all of these different of these different personalities, how they mesh in a, in a family or in a work environment or just really any social setting.

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If you understand personalities, it's interesting to see how each different person interacts.

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I've got another one here. It's got a lot more information on this one. I don't know if you can see this one real well,

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but the, we're gonna start on the high D, top left, dominance, their priorities are getting immediate results, taking action and challenging their self,

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and others. They're motivated by power, authority, competition, winning, and success. I'm going to pull, I'm going to enlarge this right here. They fear losing control, being taken advantage of,

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and vulnerability. They like to think that they have it all together. They're very self-confident, They're very direct, often forceful, and they will take a risk.

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But they do often come across as having a lack of concern for others, very impatient and insensitive.

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The influencing type, the high I, their priorities are expressing enthusiasm, taking action, encouraging collaboration.

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You often see the person in the group who tries to, like they're a big talker and they They like to make so that everybody else joins in and they're often the really fun one.

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You'll always see them talking to people because they're motivated by that social recognition. They like group activities and friendly relationships.

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One of my good buddies who I was just, I hung out with him this past weekend, he is the high I type.

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And he is, anytime you're in a group or in a social setting, He is bouncing around talking to all the different people. He doesn't sit there and find and latch onto one person.

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He's talking to everybody.

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Some of their biggest fears are social rejection, disapproval, loss of influence and being ignored.

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You know those people that are like that, that love the attention, they don't wanna be ignored. Like that's why they are so into all the people.

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They're talking to everybody. They're very charming, enthusiastic, sociable, optimistic, and again, that talkativeness. They can be impulsive, disorganized, and lack follow through though. My wife is also.

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And so I know like these strengths and weaknesses, they go hand in hand. The steady personality, their priorities are giving support, maintaining stability,

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and enjoying collaboration.

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They want everybody to work together in a cohesive manner and for there not to be any disagreements or any friction or anything like that.

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They're motivated by those stable environments. They like secure or sincere appreciation, cooperation, and opportunities to help.

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They're always in the background helping where they can, giving a helping hand, not leading the way. They're not gonna be out there talking to everybody, but they will see the need and plug in there.

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They fear that loss of stability. They don't like change.

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They want things to stay harmonious and they are super concerned about offending others.

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They're very patient, they're a team player, they have a calm approach, they're a good listener, and very humble.

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But some of their limitations are that they're overly accommodating. They can be taken advantage of, okay?

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And they don't like change. So if sometimes if things need to change, this person is gonna have a hard time accepting that.

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And as a result of that, they can be indecisive. Even if they see the need for change, Sometimes they can't make that decision to move ahead with it because they fear the stable environment they've rather have the.

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The the hard things that are with the with the environment that is rather than make a change and Not know exactly what's coming,

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Like that stability the high C or the conscientious personality their priorities are the accuracy that's where that perfectionism comes in.

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They also like stability and they will challenge your assumptions. So if you just throw out a statement out there that everybody knows to be true, they're probably gonna be the one to question you out on that.

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They're motivated by opportunities to use their expertise or to gain more knowledge and they have a high attention to quality.

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So these people will be trim carpenters, maybe auto detailers or accountants. Those things require a lot of detail, detailed knowledge and gotta give a lot of attention to those things.

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They fear criticism.

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And being wrong. They don't like to be wrong at all. I don't like to be wrong either.

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And you'll notice with these people, they tend to be very precise with their language, with the work that they do, with everything they do is often very precise.

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When I was a child, when I was growing up, everything in my room had its place.

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And I didn't dust my room very often. And you could tell if you went and picked something up off of my dresser, you could see exactly where that thing sat because it always stayed in its place.

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It didn't look messy, even though it was pretty dusty until you started moving those items around, you could see, okay, this dude needs to clean up, but it looks good because everything had its place and everything stayed in its place, set precision.

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They're very analytical, very skeptical, reserved, and often very quiet, depending on how their personality exactly ties in.

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I'm a CD, so I'm not always quiet, but I do tend more to the quiet side. The limitations are that they're overly critical, they tend to overanalyze things, and they isolate themselves.

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And those are three things that I do very much. Let's see.

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So if we go on to some of the, I've had a few things here to show, if we go on to some of the strengths, you know, we're still in the knowing myself. We talked through a little bit of the personality style side of things. But you also have, you know, your interests, your,

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passions and your skills and your strengths. So I pulled up a little graphic here that shows different kinds of strengths that you You might look for somebody in somebody that you're bringing into a group or maybe in a,

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relationship or in a work environment.

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Some of those things might be impulsive and you might think, well, how can that be a strength? But an impulsive person can be a quick decider.

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It's in how you look at it. Sometimes you need to make that quick decision. So rather than saying somebody's impulsive, you know, he makes a quick decision and that's a good thing in that environment.

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You know, you've got different strengths of being kind, efficient, confident, responsible, relaxed, energetic, meticulous, intuitive, driven, persuasive, creative, passionate, loyal, focused, persistent.

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All of these are different strengths of different personality types. Now.

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Outside of this, this is just one of the things that I wanted to show.

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And it, like, you can do a deep dive and all of that, but those are some of the things that you need to know when you're starting a side hustle or a small business, like where do I work the best?

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What are my strengths so that I know what I want to do and how I like working and all of those things.

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And then you also want to look at your interests passions and I'm going to pull up another graphic here. It's, this is called Iki guy.

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I think, I don't know how to say it.

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I don't speak Japanese, but this is a Japanese concept meaning a reason for being.

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Supposedly. So I found it on the internet. You can't believe everything you hear on the internet, right? But when you really dive deep into who we are, and like in this specific instance,

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we are trying to figure out our side hustle or a small business that we can start.

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So to start with, you wanna look at the things that you love doing.

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You know, that might be things like fishing, it might be snowboarding, it might be woodworking, might be spending time with animals or talking to people.

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You know, you have a whole litany of things that you love to do.

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I'm gonna small screen here in case, well, here we go. So I can see chats if there are any.

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And as you go down that list, you can see how some of those things could tie into a potential side hustle or business.

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Like if you enjoy talking to people, maybe you would be a good salesman.

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Maybe if you find a product that you really believe in, you could do sales calls for somebody nights and weekends.

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There's people that do that. They will get the leads in and schedule calls and you could just call those people up on the phone and talk them through how this product could serve that person.

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So that's how doing what you love could tie into your potential side hustle or your own small business.

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Then you also have to look at things you're good at.

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For me, I grew up doing carpentry.

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So all aspects of carbon.

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Pretty good at, whether that is framing or trim carpentry or building a deck or a screen room or outdoor living spaces, all of those types of things, I'm pretty good at them.

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Anything that kind of uses those same type of skills, I'm really good at. It's not necessarily things I love.

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Where you can see here where, you know, what you're good at and what you love intersects and that those are the things that you would be passionate about.

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And if you move over to what the world needs over on the right, that's some of the opportunities that's out there.

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The things that the world needs are, you know, if you're driving down the road and you see, hey, look, there's a fence that's falling down, that farmer needs a new fence. I'm really good at building a fence. I can go serve them.

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I can go offer to fill that need for him. Or if you notice that during the wintertime or rainy season, people have a hard time keeping their vehicles clean.

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You like cleaning your vehicle.

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That's something you are good at and you love that it's also a need that's out there in the world.

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You have to identify what those needs are. And the place where what you love and what the world needs intersects is your mission.

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And then there's a fourth part of that though. You can't just do Those three you also have to have something that you can be paid for.

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Because there's needs out there that people are not going to pay for there's things that you love doing that that people aren't going to pay you for.

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And those things are really good at.

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And so you can see kind of where some of these other intersections are like what you're good at and what you love and what you can be paid for.

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It gives you satisfaction, but maybe a feeling of uselessness because the world doesn't necessarily need it But what you're good at what you love and what the world needs that brings you delight and fullness, but you're not getting paid,

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There's no wealth there What you love what the world needs and what you can be paid for brings you excitement and complacency Decency but a sense of uncertainty because you maybe aren't that good at it.

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What the world needs what you can be paid for and what you're good at is Comfortable but leaves you feeling empty because you don't necessarily love it But right there in the middle where it says icky guy right there in the center.

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That is where where your side hustle or your small business that you're starting like When you can find that thing that brings all of that together, then you've really, really got something.

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So this also plays into step number two that I have here, which is knowing your why.

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Got a couple of quotes here, three actually. There's two great days in a person's life, the day we're born and the day we discover why.

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And I think if we tie all these things together and we find that I'll call it the icky guy, the reason why. Like that is, that brings fulfillment in life.

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That is, like this next quote said, says, the purpose of human life is to serve and to show compassion and the will to help others. That is what this is, is serving others. That is showing

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others compassion. That is giving of our strengths. I believe that's what we were created for, is to utilize our interests, our gifts, our passions, our skills, our talents, our abilities, everything about us that God created us with,

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we are meant to use that to serve other people. That is where we get a sense of fulfillment.

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That is where true meaning in life comes from. Another quote here says, A good life should always be made, not waited for.

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So when you're intentional with finding these things, finding the what you love, what you're good at, what the world needs and what you can be paid for, you are creating your life.

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You're not sitting around waiting on someone else to show up and tell you what to do or going out and getting just a job doing, I don't care what. You know, a lot of times, a lot of jobs that I've had, I hate it. I was.

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I cared about doing good work, but I didn't see the meaning behind it because I didn't love it. I didn't see that the world really had a need for it. So I was good at it and

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I could be paid for it. So that was my profession at the time. I was over here, I'm not even,

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sure where I was at. It was just my profession. I didn't love it and I didn't last there very long. So if you can find that the why, life takes on a whole new meaning. And there's three

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aspects to the why. I call it the MVP. That's your mission, vision, and purpose in life. I like to.

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Start with the end in mind. I think it's the seven habits of highly successful people. He says to start with the end in mind. Might not be that book. Anyway, I read, I don't remember what all books I read what in. But starting with the end in mind, and he takes you through the exercise of,

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how you want to be remembered at the end of your life. Like imagine you're sitting at a funeral.

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You walk up to the casket and you look down and it's you laying there in that casket. What do you want the people around you to say about the person laying in the casket? And then design your life

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around that. How can I create my life in such a way that other people will say those things about me that they will remember that I was somebody who gave it my all.

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Who utilized everything that I have. Okay, look at it this way.

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I'm a huge football fan. I love watching Georgia football and they just won a big, huge game the other night. Stetson Bennett is their quarterback right now. They're going to a second national championship in a row, a chance to go twice in a row back to back.

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Stetson Bennett is not the most talented quarterback out there.

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He's not the most physically gifted, but he has done more with what he has than most other majorly talented, gifted quarterbacks have ever done.

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Like he is about to, or he has a potential to win his second national championship. And he was a walk-on several years ago.

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I want to be the kind of person who when somebody looks at me, they say, you know, he really didn't have that much talent, but man, he did a lot with what he had, is how I want my life to be.

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Step number three is the four W's and an H, or it's kind of a little game that we used to play when we were kids, you know, the who, what, when, where, why, but it's the what, when, where, and how do I want to live?

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So if you go through like what you want your life to be, that also is going to tie into, you know, the opportunities that are there with your side hustle.

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Mark Houlihan said, "'If you truly want your life to be a magnificent story, then begin by realizing that you are the author, and every day you have the opportunity to write a new page.

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So when you wake up in the morning and you don't feel any purpose to your life, like if you sit down and be like, if I was writing my life, if I was writing the story of my life, how would I write today's page?

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And then write it out and make it happen. Like do the things you need to do to make your life happen in a way that would be exciting and meaningful for you and for other people.

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Jack Spearco, he has the survival podcast.

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A couple years back, he did a series called his, he called it the 13 stumps, but it was 13 questions or tips to help you create the life you wanna live.

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And I've kind of modified a couple of those. I think I have like eight or no, 12 of them written down here.

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I'm just gonna go through them really quick. First off, he says, what do I want in my life that I don't have? answer those things, like just go through that five, 10 minutes, what do I want in my life that I don't have?

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Then what do I have in my life that I don't want? And you may find some things there that are directly clashing, like, you know, you might have this, but you want this, and they're like two polar opposites.

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So what do you have to do to flip that? The third thing is where do I want to build my life? Do I like where I'm living now? if I'm living in South Georgia or Kentucky or Alaska, is that where I want to build my life?

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And how does the side hustle or small business that I want to build play into these things?

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Next question, or the next thing to do is to develop how can I questions. So what do I want in my life that I don't have? I want a house, so how can I get a house?

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You know, do I need to build one, buy one, borrow one, Rent one, what do I need to do to have that house? And is that going to further my mission?

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Is that going to play into the other things that I have and don't want or want and don't have?

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Number five is to develop a financial plan. How can I create the financial freedom in order to achieve those things and plan that out and say, you know, either it fits into my financial plane,

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into my current finances, or I'm gonna have to figure out.

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In order to make these things happen. Number six is to list everything you have and are grateful to have in life.

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Number seven kind of goes back to this icky guy right here. And that is a deep analysis of what is my sphere of control, influence and concern and where those things intersect.

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Now you don't wanna operate only in your sphere of control. You don't wanna operate at all in your sphere of concern because that's things you don't have control or influence over.

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And you don't wanna operate only in your control of influence, because you don't necessarily have control over those things. But where they all three intersect, that is where you wanna live your life. Number eight is to, and I modified this in a little bit.

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He said, turn off the news. I say, quit worrying about what other people are doing or saying.

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If you wouldn't take their advice, don't accept their criticisms. Or at least don't put a lot of weight into it.

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Like maybe be like, You know, is that actually a thing? And then let it go or act on it. But don't let somebody whose advice you wouldn't take, don't let their criticism bring you down.

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Number nine, look at your how can I questions and turn them into this is how I'm going to do it statements.

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And then do one of those things today. Like, how can I get that house? And then turn them, I am going to call the bank and see if I can get a loan or do this to bring my credit score up so that I can get the loan or I don't know, you know, somehow.

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However you gotta do to work through those steps to get the thing that you wanted but don't have.

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Number 11, accept the fact that you deserve exactly what you want.

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You just haven't done the work yet. I've always said it this way. You deserve everything you want in life to the exact degree that you're willing to put forth the effort to achieve it. Okay.

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Everything you want in life, but you do to the degree that you work for it, that you put in the effort to make it happen. Number 12 is to find people who have

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exactly what you want and examine what they did to get it, maybe even ask them to mentor you. Number 13 is to look over these lists every single day, make,

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updates, and don't stop until you have achieved the life you want, the side,

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hustle you want, the small business you want. Don't stop working and moving forward until you've got it.

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Let's see what else I had here. I think that's it on those. So I'm going to go full screen now so you can see my mug. Number four on the five things to do when starting a side hustle or small,

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business is look for the opportunity. And that is where we talked about that Iki guy. I brought that one up too soon.

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Know where your skills and your passions and your opportunity and what the world needs, where all of those things intersect. So we've already gone through that. I brought that up too soon, but we've gone through it. So you know what

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you need to do in those things. Look for the intersection of your skills, your passions, your opportunity, and what the world needs and focus your efforts there.

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And then the last thing, number five, is to take action. And I have take action, take action, take action.

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Like don't stop, don't sit around, don't wait on somebody else to do it for you or to make it happen. Don't sit there waiting on opportunity.

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Okay? Opportunity is not very likely going to come knock on your door. The thing you want is not going to chase you down.

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You have to go make it happen. It's not like deer hunting. You don't go sit there and wait on it.

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Go actively pursue it. Take action, create a structure for how you can make it happen.

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Like if you have to set aside an hour a day to work towards that or two hours a day to gain the skills and the knowledge to create the things that you want, then go do those things.