This Tactic Will Help You Grow Your Side Hustle into a Full-Time Business

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• April 23, 2014
• By Michelle Evans
• 15 Comments

Have you ever dreamed of starting a side hustle and growing it into a full-time business? Your motivation may be to escape a boring job, or you may have a yearning to create greater impact in the world. Or, you may want more flexibility and control in your life.

Whatever your reason, it all starts with creating and growing a real, sustainable business.

But how?

One way to accelerate your growth is to start or join a mastermind.

Benefit from the win-win synergy of the group

At the core, a mastermind is a community. It’s an intentional way to surround yourself with other supportive, butt-kicking business builders. A mastermind is focused on helping each individual in the group set and reach their goals for their business and life.

Napoleon Hill wrote about masterminds in his classic book Think and Grow Rich. The essence of his book is that when you bring multiple minds together around a goal or problem, you create an “invisible intangible force… likened to a master mind.”

This synergy is a win-win for all involved.

Take your idea from “what if” to “when”

Most of us are not surrounded by people building businesses, so it may seem strange — scary even — to think about taking your passion or side hustle full-time. When you actively seek out and participate in the self-employed community, it can make the whole idea less weird and help take your idea from a ‘“what if” to a “when.”

Let’s be honest. Building your own business and selling your product or service is tough when you’re first starting out. It takes a lot of time, energy and facing fear. Without a close-knit, supportive mastermind, it’s easy to get stuck in the “what-if” phase. (Click here to tweet this thought.)

There are fears: Am I doing the right thing? Am I good enough? Will anyone want this? Does this even matter?

There are business basics: taxes, websites, monetization, billing and even managing email.

There is technology: autoresponders, opt-in forms, payment systems and affiliate management.

It can be overwhelming to figure out how to get started.

Imagine instead that you have a group of four or five people in your mastermind who are also walking this journey with you. These people all know you, your skills, your goals and dreams. They know what it’s like to juggle competing priorities, fears and business logistics.

Everyone in the group is experiencing wins and losses, learning a ton and sharing back with the group. Suddenly failure isn’t so scary because you have a safe place to share your experience. You know others in your group have overcome failures in the past.

Find the right mastermind for your biz

Masterminds can be organized in whatever structures work best for you and your group and depend on your overall goal, proximity to one another and time availability. Some of the most common types out there include:

• Paid
• Unpaid
• In-person
• Virtual
• Combination (in person/virtual)
• Community-driven
• Leader-led (typically paid)

If you join a formal mastermind with a leader, you’ll pay for that person’s experience and leadership. There are many types of paid masterminds run by incredible business leaders, coaches and organizations. This is a great option if you want formal structure and someone to mentor the group and handle the logistics. Many paid masterminds also include some sort of individual training or coaching.

You can also start an unpaid mastermind on your own at any time. Typically, members of the group run unpaid masterminds, and everyone rotates the leadership and logistics roles. This is a powerful way to go if you’re motivated to connect and engage with people who are also building businesses of their own.

Get started with the following questions

Whether you decide to join a leader-led mastermind or set up your own group, think about the experience that would be most valuable in building your business. Some worthwhile questions to ask include:

• What types of people do you want to connect with?
• What are your own goals for this group?
• Are you looking for mentorship or training from someone who has already done what you’re doing?
• Do you need to learn a new skill?
• How often are you committed to meeting with the group (weekly, biweekly, monthly)?
• What types of structures and commitments are you looking to give/receive from the group?

A mastermind can be an incredible accelerator for connection, business building and personal growth. Investing in yourself and your mastermind will give all of you a huge advantage in learning and get you closer to making your dreams a reality.

Who will be in your mastermind?

Michelle L. Evans is a business and lifestyle coach and host of the Breaking Free podcast on iTunes. Grab her free report, “Breaking Free Blueprint, 9 ways to use what you already know to escape your cubicle for good.”

Brazen powers real-time, online events for leading organizations around the world. Our lifestyle and career blog, Brazen Life, offers fun and edgy ideas for ambitious professionals navigating the changing world of work.