If you’ve ever dreamed of turning your side hustle into more than just a passion project, you’re not alone. A LinkedIn study shows that 52 per cent of people considering changing jobs are actively seeking opportunities outside their current career. And with cost-of-living pressures and stagnant interest rates, growing your side hustle into a full-blown business is becoming more appealing. So, before you make the call to level up your side hustle, we asked some experts for their advice. These three creative entrepreneurs explain how they turned their side projects into thriving businesses – and how you can, too.
SEE ALSO: How to Build Perfect Money-Making Side Hustles
Georgia Norton Lodge
The founder and creator of Georgia Draws a House and design agency Soft Launch says being prepared to take advantage of surprising opportunities gave her a leg up.
How It Started
Georgia Draws a House (GDAH) started as many side hustles do, with its founder, Georgia Norton Lodge, doing a favour for a loved one. While she was working full time at an agency as a graphic designer back in 2014, her sister, Zoe, was publishing a book. She asked Georgia to create the illustrations and, to practise her technique, Georgia started drawing houses in her Sydney neighbourhood. She began posting them on Instagram and, slowly but surely, orders for bespoke illustrations of people’s homes started pouring in. “I'd go to work my nine to five, which was really like seven till seven, and then I would draw all night and I’d wake up in the morning and draw,” says Georgia.
The Turning Point
Georgia says there wasn’t one single moment where everything changed, but she’d set a series of milestones she wanted to reach before jumping ship to run GDAH full time: matching the salary of her day job and having some savings in the bank to help her focus on launching. Her profile and order numbers were also given a significant boost when she was featured in an article in ‘The Sydney Morning Herald’ in 2019.
“There’s not one reel that's going to change your life, one decision that’s going to change your life,” she says. “It’s a series of half-calculated, half-fumbled, messy decisions and choices you make over a sustained period of time that will lead you to where you want to be. And when you get there, you’ll want to be somewhere else!”
How It’s Going
In the past five years, Georgia has expanded from just herself working in her bedroom to employing three staff working out of a studio space. The business has diversified from offering only house illustrations to mural design and giant colouring books for a huge variety of clients and offering online workshops. She has also recently launched a range of courses, including Become an Artist From Home, and mentorships as a passive income stream, focused on helping other artists find their niche and turn their skills into a viable business.
“GDAH has got so many different avenues, but it all starts from one niche,” she says. “I didn’t have this crazy five-year business plan where I was like, one day I’ll do giant colouring-in books and one day I’ll be a speaker and one day I’ll write this course. I did things as people asked me to. When [the business is] part of a community and it feels alive on its own, that’s when it can really, really thrive.”
Georgia’s Best Business Tips
Know That It Will Be Hard
“There are many, many privileges to running your own business, but in the setup, startup phase, it is just as hard as being employed. If you run a business, there’s always going to be things that aren’t working and you just have to stay enthusiastic, even when you don’t feel like it. Then, you can keep having fun.”
Get the Groundwork in Place Early
“When the [‘Sydney Morning Herald’] article was released, I never expected hundreds of people to order on my website, but I didn’t have a limit on there so [I was able to receive] all the sales. Getting everything set up to begin with means you have options when opportunity knocks.”
Find Your Niche
“A good niche is something that you love to do, something that you’re good at and something people will buy – and people often forget that ‘people will buy it’ part. I believe if you can sell one thing to a stranger, you can sell a hundred things to a hundred strangers.”
Separate Yourself From Your Social Media
“The trick is to not take yourself too seriously. Enjoy it, and find a separation between yourself and who you are on the internet. My Instagram account is a caricature of me; it’s not me. I find that helpful. It allows me to say things that feel a bit salesy, but when you do and it works, you don’t really care what you sound like.”
Accept ‘Good Enough For Now’
“We creatives are weird. We can’t stop thinking and moving and creating. I always use this phrase, things should just be ‘good enough for now’. So your website’s just good enough for now. Your Instagram post is just good enough for now. Your brand, your logo, it’s just good enough for now. And the reason that we do that is because what you start creating is probably not what your business is going to be.”
Know What You Will and Won’t Delegate
“Delegating has been a big challenge for me. If I’m honest, I still definitely struggle with it. No-one will ever draw a house for me; that is my art. But my team has learned to draw like me for other types of executions.”
Georgia’s Essential Products
- Artline 200 Fineliner 0.4mm Black: “All I really need to run my entire business is this pen, which I have in bulk around me!”
- POSCA PC 7M Paint Markers Assorted 8 Pack: “I use these for all my murals.”
- Quill A4 80gsm Paper Pastel Assorted 25 Pack: “When I first started, I used to mail my drawing out with pink and yellow paper slips to protect it.”
- Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 5G 8GB/128GB Graphite: “We can make changes quickly now and send things to clients.”
SEE ALSO: How to Set (and Achieve) Your 2024 Business Goals
Andrew Wyszynski
Polish-born second generation beekeeper, inventor and founder of Maya Sunny Honey, Andrew Wyszynski, believes the key to a successful side hustle is a balance of passion and business know-how.
How It Started
Growing up in Okonek in northern Poland, Andrew Wyszynski spent much of his time observing how his parents ran the family apiary farm. He went on to study and then lecture at an apiarist college before migrating to Australia in 1988 to pursue his dream of living in a country that has the perfect conditions for bees and a longer honey season. While working for a queen bee production company in Morisset in New South Wales, then as a painter in Sydney, Andrew kept his own hives and sold honey on the side.
In 2010, alongside daughters Joanna and Maya, he took the next step and turned his side hustle honey business into Maya Sunny Honey. “There is something quite special about a family-run business. And even more so, being a second- and third-generation one,” he says.
The Turning Point
Andrew invented a unique way of enabling bees to produce honey without him needing to handle the comb or honey. Maya Sunny Honey places their jars upside down on top of their beehives and the bees travel into each jar and create the comb from scratch, meaning each jar acts like a mini beehive. The success of his invention led the business to represent Australia in a worldwide beekeeping exhibition in France called Apimondia – the International Federation of Beekeepers’ Associations in 2009.
“It was that moment that pushed me to take Maya Sunny Honey to the next level,” says Andrew. “To have a bigger presence in the market, we expanded our hive count so we could meet demand, participated in local growers markets as well as giving the product a bigger push in stores, and diversified our honey range with different unique flavours.”
How It’s Going
Maya Sunny Honey products are now sold in artisan stores, delicatessens and department stores throughout Australia and via their website. To this day, Andrew is humbled by the opportunity to continue to learn about and understand bees and create a deeper connection to the natural world. “One of the biggest rewards [of my work] is the connection with nature,” he says. “It’s also incredibly rewarding to know that my beekeeping efforts contribute to the health of local ecosystems and agricultural productivity through pollination as well as helping maintain a healthy ecosystem for future generations.”
Looking to the future, Andrew hopes to grow the business internationally and to offer school programs and workshops to educate on the importance of bees to our environment. “We’d love to expand our honey range internationally and to be recognised as Australia’s premium honey brand, as well as continuing to educate people on the importance of bees. No bees, no life.”
Andrew’s Best Business Tips
Collaboration is Key
“It’s absolutely crucial to be working with other small businesses. This was even more evident through the pandemic. It gave us the opportunity to reach out to other producers and small businesses to work together and collaborate in an online social way and think outside the box and come up with new creative ways of engaging our customers.”
Create Connections
“Running a small business can feel isolating at times. Building connections with similar like-minded entrepreneurs provides support through the highs and lows of business ownership.”
Pursue Your Passion
“It’s a balance of passion and business. Knowing I am helping bees and educating adults and children on the importance of bees is pretty extraordinary. The business part is secondary although very important, but you need to make sure you love what you do.”
Ride the Waves of the Journey
“Making that transition [from side hustle to full time] can be a really rewarding journey. If you have the passion, commitment and drive, this will sustain you through challenges and motivate you to continue to push yourself and improve on your product.”
Find Your Point of Difference
“Make sure to do your market research and understand the demand of your product and identify your potential competitors. Also look at product differentiation and what sets you apart from the other products in the market.”
Develop a Clear Brand Identity
“Invest in creating a strong brand that resonates with your target audience. Develop a memorable logo, packaging design and brand messaging that communicates with the quality and authenticity of your product.”
Andrew’s Essential Products
- Square Terminal Mobile EFTPOS Credit Card POS Machine: “The Square Terminal allows me to accept payments anywhere using my smartphone, which is incredibly convenient, especially at farmers’ markets or events. It also provides valuable insights into sales trends, inventory management and customer analytics, helping me make informed business decisions.”
- Otto A4 Recycled Soft Spiral Notebook Green 120 Page: “[I use these] for jotting down notes during meetings, keeping track of orders and recording honey production details.”
- PPS Honeycomb Roll 300mm x 10m: “Environmentally friendly honeycomb wrap ensures the jars stay in one piece during transit. Not only does it look presentable when sending to customers, it’s also 100 per cent recyclable and degradable.”
- WD 2TB My Passport Portable Hard Drive Blue: “[Storing] important business documents and financial information on a hard drive provides a secure backup in case of computer failure or data loss. We use two hard drives just in case one gets damaged.”
SEE ALSO: Tips for Juggling Your Side Hustle and Day Job
Kiana Mei
Kiana Mei’s first business, Kiana Mei Designs, has grown from high-school side hustle to full-time enterprise. Her advice to young entrepreneurs? Just get started.
How It Started
At a time when her peers were picking up part-time jobs, Kiana Jackson, then 15, started her first business. Her decision to start Kiana Mei Designs, selling custom origami artworks, was instigated by time spent studying in Tokyo. The specific designs, though, were inspired by making origami with her classmates. “I came up with my first origami artwork and I asked my friends and family what they thought, then started my first market from there and that’s how it all began,” says Kiana.
The Turning Point
Kiana mastered the juggle between her school studies and showcasing Kiana Mei Designs at Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Market on the weekends. By the time she graduated in 2023, Kiana not only achieved a 90+ ATAR, but also scaled her business to six figures in total revenue. Kiana was faced with a choice: pursue a Bachelor of Business degree at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, or take Kiana Mei Designs full time. Her decision was made when, post graduation, she got a taste of focusing on her business six days a week.
“That’s when I realised it was a viable business. It was one of the really defining moments and why I chose to defer my university course and focus on this instead,” says Kiana. “Starting my own business full time straight after high school is just the most perfect decision that I’ve made for myself.”
How It’s Going
Since deferring her degree, Kiana Mei Designs has continued to flourish. But that’s not the only business Kiana has in her sights. “I have also created a social enterprise, the Next Generation Entrepreneur Hub. It came from my own experiences of starting young in business. I want to give the next generation of entrepreneurs the kind of opportunities I had,” says Kiana.
“My three other brands in the works include a collaborative retail apparel brand that I'm working on with my younger brother and a car accessories brand for females. Then finally, I've got Billboard Backpak, which is an online only ecommerce brand.” Between all of her businesses, Kiana says she is now on track to make a million dollar turnover within the next five years.
Kiana’s Best Business Tips
Don’t Wait For Perfect
“I’ll often hear from my friends, family and other younger people that they really want to start a business. It’s all about just starting somewhere; it never has to be perfect. Always keep chipping at things, and growing, and working on it, and having that mindset of improvement. Just keep going from there and [you’ll] get better and better.”
Be Savvy With Your Money
“The biggest thing that I did was keeping my overheads low and having my profit margins high. For me, that was selling at the markets, where they charged less than a hundred dollars [for a stall] and I was doing everything myself so I didn’t have any staff costs.”
Balance Your Time
“I try to understand there needs to be a balance between me-time and hustling. I try to retain that balance of what I’ll usually do – go to the gym or dance and read books. And yes, I love that hustle and grind and getting things done, but at the same time, doing all that is impossible if I don't take care of myself and give that time for me to have that balance as well.”
Know Your Target Market
“Do your market research on [your] product and on the profit margin to ensure that you’re not wasting your time. A lot of people might have an idea and then just put it out there, but they’ve missed the step of market research. Then, maybe their product doesn’t sell, or maybe there’s certain elements to it that could be improved on, and they haven’t been able to get that feedback before actually officially launching.”
Learn From the Highs and Lows
“Be consistent with whatever you’re working on and don’t give up, even if something’s hard. I think starting a business is always a learning journey and there’s going to be ups and downs, but learning from each experience and just taking whatever you can from each step of it is very important.”
Share Your Brand Story
“Business is highly competitive; you really need to stand out these days, and I think your story is really what will get people over the line. [Think about] what your business represents and how you want to put it forward to the public so that it has this meaning; that’s going to get you more sales.”
Kiana’s Essential Products
- Tapt Lite Digital Business Card: “I have the Tapt business card, which is a digital business card that has my details on it. Customers can tap their phone on the card and I find that the turnover of people clicking the link on their phone is a lot higher.”
- Square 2nd Generation Contactless EFTPOS Card Reader White: “Ever since my first market, I’ve always used my Square reader to take card payments. It’s such a lifesaver; it’s inexpensive and super easy to charge, set up and use.”
- Avery 18UP Inkjet Laser Rectangle Labels Gloss White 10 Sheet: “It’s so easy to print these labels off at home with my printer. I use them on the back of my artworks to include my website and story behind my business for customers to read.”
- J.Burrows Stick-It Notes 76x76mm Assorted Ultra 5 Pack: “These bright and colourful sticky notes are great for my ideas wall, as I use them to organise and categorise based on what I am currently working on and what I need to do next.”
SEE ALSO: Small Business Success Stories With Blackwood Collective
Balancing the Hustle
Running a side business, whether it’s in its burgeoning stages or taking off into a full-time gig, is no mean feat. And, when it’s a job tied to your dreams of turning your unique skill into an income stream, you’ll want to give it your all. But be wary of burnout – when it’s just you, it can be hard to set boundaries or recognise when you’re worn out. According to Mental Health First Aid Australia, 61 per cent of Australians report experiencing burnout so take steps to implement regular self-care practices (eating well, exercising, socialising outside of work), set clear boundaries on the start and end of your day, and book in regular leave.
