The Weekly Spark #6

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Hello future entrepreneurs, I’ll be following on from my last post, so lets start on some more tactics to build your side hustle once you’ve gained a few followers in your niche.

Tactic 8: Study the Process.

The easiest way to generate side hustle ideas is to study the process of a business. Any business. You don’t even have to know anything about the market they operate in. But a good start is at your own day job. 

What's the flow of doing things? Where do you or your co-workers struggle?

It sounds very basic but believe me. There are a load of companies that just do what they do because it’s what they’ve done all the time. No questions asked.

Yes. It’s as stupid as the previous sentence sounds.

Just sit down and start at the beginning.

1. What’s the first thing in the process you do?

2. Then what…

3. And then?

4. What’s next?

5. What’s the result?

6. And after that?

After you’ve identified the whole process. (I like to use Post-its and just line them up on a wall so the process gets visual). You start again. But this time you ask about the specifics.

1. At stage (X), what happens? Explain it to me, please.

2. What could possibly go wrong here?

3. How long does it take to complete this step?

4. How much does it cost you?

5. Do you use any third-party software or freelancers?

The answers to these questions will provide you with new opportunities. 

And on top of that. It gives you a base to calculate the potential impact of your future solutions and/or fixes. 

So it’s easier to calculate your price when charging for them.

Think of it this way. If you find a cheaper or faster method to get something done, and you’ll improve the process by 1% you could calculate your added value pretty easy. If you do this with 10 steps in the process the 1% improvement compounds 10 times, making the final impact you have even bigger.

Often you can just Google a part of any process to see if there is an easy solution out there. The only thing left is for you to apply it.

Sometimes whole new business models arise from this simple exercise as well.

Anyway that’s all. Until next week, thanks for tuning in, and remember, I’m supporting you.

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