Side Hustle Planner

The ultimate planner for your side hustle - whether you plan to keep it just as a hobby or grow it into the empire you’ve always dreamed of. This comprehensive planner will help you define, structure, analyse and grow your business with so much helpful information and tips along the way. The cover features a stunning print from The Muse Collection, with just a simple ‘plans’ on the cover, perfect for those who want to keep their side hustle plans under wraps.

DEFINE YOUR:

Dream & Purpose, Competitive Advantage, Elevator Pitch, Mini Business Plan, Target Market, Competition & Business Structure

HELPFUL TIPS ON:

Branding, Packaging, Design & Photography Sales & Marketing Advertising, PR & Social Media Production, Manufacturing, Sourcing, Quality Control & Logistics Timelines, Finances, Legals, Scaling & so much more

6.9 x 9 inches (1.4 inch spine) / 175 x 230mm (35mm spine). Premium 90gsm FSC-certified paper. Gold foil stamped printed waterproof linen hard cover, designed to last through many months or years of planning. Forest green elastic and gold ring binder. Foiled full colour tabbed divider pages. Handy document pocket at the front. Packaged in a cello sleeve with gold foil bellyband. Designed in Australia, printed in China.

Side Hustle Planner 2.0

SIDE HUSTLE PLANNER 2.0 PLA005

Wholesale $23.64AUD $28.00NZD $26.00USD RRP $59.95AUD $64.95NZD $59.95USD

1. Defining

Defining your side hustle 5 Idea starters & inspiration 6 SWOT analysis 8

2. Target Market

Analyse Segment Competitors Research Evaluate Example: Zara 13 14 16 16 17 18

3. Getting Started

Naming your business 21 Name ideas 22 Registering your business 23 Email, domains & social media handles 24 Business structures 25 Mini business plan 26 Elevator pitch 28

4. Branding

What is a brand? 31 How to create your brand 32 Website 38 Social media 38 Packaging 39 Advertising 40 Photography 40 Sales & customer service 41 DIYing your branding and collateral 42 Branding tips 44

5. Production

The production process 47 Finding suppliers & outsourcing 48 Logistics, warehousing & fulfillment 50 Shipping 50 Contents

6. Time lines

Managing time lines 53 6 week planner 54 Yearly planner 56 Promotions planner 58

7. Sales & Marketing

How to sell 63 Retail / direct-to-consumer 63

Etsy, eBay & Amazon 64 Website 65 Craft fairs & local markets 66 Pop-up Stores 67 Crowdfunding 68 Brick & Mortar 69 Wholesale 70

Tradeshows 70 Agents / sales representatives 72 Distributors 73 Consignment 73 Dropshipping 74 Licensing 75 Franchising 75 Marketing Advertising 76 77

Advertising project brief 78 Public Relations (PR) 79

PR project brief 80

Press release template

81 Online marketing 82 Social media 83 Website 84 Designing a great website 86 Email marketing 87 Influencers 88 Brand ambassadors 91 Affiliate marketing 91 Speaking gigs & podcasts 92 Hire a professional or DIY? 92 Acquiring customers 93 8. Finances

Pricing

97 Costs of goods 101 Margins & profits 101 Set up costs 102 Taking payments 103 Assets & equipment 103 Raising funds 104 Budgeting 107

Budget template

108 Purchase order template 109 Invoice template 110 Packing list template 111 Line sheet template 112 How to get paid on time 113 Tax 114 Tax returns 115 Accounting 116 Cash flow 118 Expenses Tracker 119

9. Legals

Protecting your IP 123 Regulations 124

Barcodes 124

Safety warnings 125

Insurance

125 Terms & conditions 126 Contracts 126

10. Growth

Scaling 129 Creating systems 131 Raising funds 131 Expanding 131 Training 131 Mentors 132

11. Goals

Setting goals 137 Celebrating your wins 140 Good luck! 140

2 |

Finding suppliers & outsourcing

If you’re a maker and making your products yourself is important to you, then definitely go for it. But if the production side isn’t really your jam, or you want to scale up, it might be time to think about outsourcing your manufacturing. The best place to start is Google and researching suppliers in your local area by gaining samples and quotes from at least three.

Keep it local

Staying local is always a good idea - you’ll be supporting your local industry, you can work closely with your suppliers, lead times will be reduced and shipping time and costs will be kept to a minimum. But you might find as your business and production runs grow you might need to look at outsourcing overseas to bring your production costs down. Or you might find that no one in your country can manufacture your product. If that’s the case, it might be time to source a supplier overseas.

Manufacturing trade shows

Many factories set up booths at manufacturing trade shows and these are a great place to find and meet suppliers, chat to them about your project and see the quality of their products in person.

Some of these shows will happen in your country, but you could also visit some of the bigger trade shows like The Canton Fair in Guangzhou; The Yiwu Commodities Fair in Zhejiang; and the East China Import and Export Commodity Fair in Shanghai.

Ask your tribe

Are you part of a business networking group? Do you have friends in similar industries? Ask them for recommendations and they might be willing to share some of their suppliers.

caution Finding the right manufacturers or factories can take years and a lot of trial and error. You can ask for recommendations from friends in the industry, but be careful about asking sourcing questions as many are not willing to share this information, which they have most likely invested a great deal of time and effort into obtaining.

Alibaba

Alibaba.com is a leading wholesale marketplace for global trade. You can browse millions of products from industry-wide categories and post Request for Quotations (RFQs) and receive price quotes quickly. Alibaba Trade Assurance fully covers your purchases when suppliers do not meet the product quality and delivery schedule specified in the agreed contract. Alibaba also offers an Inspection Service, to make sure your order meet the quality standards specified in your contract.

Best place to find Chinese factories online: Alibaba.com, DHgate.com

Best place to find Indian factories online: Tradeindia.com and globalmarket.com

don ’ t forget

Ask what ISO certifications each factory has to make sure they’re legitimate and visit the factory if you can to ensure they meet quality, safety and ethical standards.

48 | Chapter 5 - Production Aliexpress

Aliexpress.com is owned by Alibaba, but it was built to serve a different market. You won’t find as many manufacturers on AliExpress, but the plus side is that you can place smaller orders, which makes it a good option if you’re starting with limited capital.

You will need to do a bit more digging on AliExpress to find manufacturers. It will require contacting suppliers and seeing if they can manufacture your product for you. The good thing about AliExpress is that you can buy one of lots of different products in your niche before settling on the one that you want to have manufactured.

Government trading agencies

Government Trading Agencies often have lists of factories or suppliers in your industry that might be a good fit. Some Government Agencies will even make an introduction for you.

caution

Factories can be quite specific in their expertise and might be great at creating certain types of products, but not so experienced with others. Be sure to get samples of previous products that are similar to yours before engaging a factory, as many will say they can make it for you, but in reality they may have never created a product like this before and it might not turn out like you expected.

I have not failed, I’ve just found 10,000 ways that don’t work.

- Thomas Edison

don ’ t forget

Always see a pre-production sample that your 100% happy with before committing to a bulk production run and be careful to get every detail on the quote perfect before you make a deposit.

pro tip

Factories in China tend to have high MOQs, so be sure to check these with them first. High MOQs is usually a sign that the factory is a quality one. Ask for a quote for say 1000/2500/5000/10,000 units to see how the pricing compares - you might find you could save a lot by increasing your MOQs.

They might be able to lower their MOQs if you’re willing to pay more per item, but be sure to do your numbers first to ensure you’ll still be making a profit.

Hiring staff

If you’re a service based business, you might be outsourcing tasks to freelance, part-time or full-time staff who can work either in-house or externally. LinkedIn, Seek and other reputable job sites are a great place to post an ad if you’re looking for local talent.

Upwork, Guru, Freelancer.com and Fiverr are great sites where you can post your job and access talent from all over the world, for a very reasonable price - but be sure to vet their previous work, experience and communication skills first.

Chapter 5 - Production | 49 Introducing the long awaited 2nd Edition! Including a fresh new design + added expenses tracker!

Email, domains & social media handles

Securing your domain name and social media handles is super important and something to check off the list as soon as you’ve settled on a business idea and name. Often companies will change or choose their business name depending on what domain and social media handles are available, so it’s definitely worth checking these before you settle on a name.

Once you have your domain you’ll be able to create your email address, like “hello@yoursidehustle.com” - which just looks so much more professional than a Gmail account. You can talk to your domain and hosting company about setting this up if you’re having trouble. “info@” or “yourname@” are also great alternatives for your primary email address. You can also set up “accounts@“ and “sales@“ addresses as well as your business grows (or even to give the impression you’re more than just a one-man-band)!

pro tip It’s a good idea to buy the .com and .com.au/.co.uk/.co.nz domain for your business to avoid it getting snapped up by domain-squatters down the track.

Domain name options:

start - up checklist

Domain/s registered (.com, .com.au, etc) Instagram handle (instagram.com/yoursidehustle or @yoursidehustle) Facebook handle (fb.com/ yoursidehustle or @yoursidehustle) Email/s set up Phone number set up (if required) Business name/company name registered ABN/company number registered Trademark search (check all categories you might want to be selling in) Business structure set up (if required) Bank account set up (if required)

don ’ t forget Shop around when looking at domains - prices can vary a lot from site to site!

pro tip When you register your domain you’ll most likely be prompted to sign up for website hosting as well. While you’ll probably need hosting, it’s best not to commit until you’ve decided on your website platform as many offer hosting as part of their monthly subscription fee, otherwise you’ll be paying twice!

24 | Chapter 3 - Getting Started Business structures

When starting out your side hustle, you’ll need to consider the type of business structure you’ll want your new venture to operate under. Some of the more common structures are as follows:

Sole trader

When starting out, trading as a sole trader is the simplest and easiest structure to adopt. In its simplest, trading as a sole trader just means that you’ll personally be responsible for all aspects of your business including paying for all it’s debts and liabilities. Income will generally be considered your personal income and it’s not necessary to even have a separate bank account for your business. Just remember to register your business name if you’re trading under a name that isn’t your personal name.

Partnership

If you’re starting your side hustle with a friend, you may consider running your business as a partnership. Responsibility and control of your business will be shared jointly by you and your partner and you’ll both be personally liable for the business’s debts and obligations. Because liability of the partnership is shared, you’d want to know your friend pretty well and trust them with the keys to your business before deciding to start a partnership with them but like most things, it’s always best to have a formal partnership agreement in place if this is the structure you choose. In the UK, you can adopt a structure called a Limited Partnership or a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) which essentially operates like a partnership but limits the liability of the partners. An LLP is a separate legal that is required to be registered like a company as discussed below.

Company

Setting up a company for your side hustle means setting up a separate legal entity to run your business. Once registered, your company will be its own separate entity (i.e. its own person) and ownership of the company will be determined by the ownership of the shares issued by the company. Your company can in its own name, incur debts, sue and be sued just like anyone else can. You, likely as its director, will have strict legal obligations and compliance requirements under the relevant corporations laws in your country or state in running the company. Running a company is a bit more complex than trading as a sole trader however, as a company is a separate legal entity, you generally won’t be personally liable for the company’s debts as a director as they belong to the company. Companies are taxed at a company tax rate and like yourself, will also need to lodge its own tax returns each financial year. You’ll need to set up a separate bank account for your company and it’s also handy to have a corporate credit card to pay for your company’s expenses. Common descriptors for a company are Ltd., Pty Ltd (for a private company), Inc. or LLC depending on the country your company is being set up in.

Trust

A trust a more complex structure but basically, a trust is formed where a person (a trustee) holds property (business assets/monies) for the benefit of others (beneficiaries). In other words, the trustee carries out the business on behalf of the beneficiaries. A trustee has certain obligations to act in the best interests of the beneficiaries (hence being called a ‘trust’) but unlike a company, a trust is not a separate legal entity and the trustee is legally liable for the debts incurred by the trust. A trustee can pay for those debts out of the trust’s funds however, if there is a shortfall, the trustee will ultimately be liable.

Remember how a company has limited liability? Yes, a company (with you as its director) can be a trustee of a trust. This is a structure often adopted to achieve the flexibility of income distribution through a trust but with the added benefit of limiting liability through the company trustee. A trust will need to be set up through a trust deed however, if you are thinking of adopting a trust structure for your side hustle, you should seek legal advice and advice from your accountant to see if this will be right for you.

just remember You can change business structures as your business evolves i.e. when you’re just getting started it’s a good idea to start as a sole trader and if things get serious, then register as a company down the track.

Chapter 3 - Getting Started | 25

Promotions planner

jan

1 ne W year ’ s day

1-31 end of season sales

1-31 back to school ( aus )

jan / feb chinese ne W year feb

1-28 end of season sales

14 v a le ntine ’ s day

jan / feb chinese ne W year

mar

mar / apr easter apr

mar / apr easter

may

1 labour day

2nd sunday mother ’ s day jun

1-30 end of season sales

3rd sunday father ’ s day ( us a, uk )

58 | Chapter 6 - Time lines

jul

1-31 end of season sales aug

1-31 back to school ( us , uk )

sep

1st sunday father ’ s day ( aus ) oct

1-7 golden W eek ( china )

31 hallo W een

nov

11 single ’ s day ( china )

4th thursday thanksgiving (usa)

day after thanksgiving black friday

follo W ing monday cyber monday dec

3rd monday free shipping day

25 christmas day

26 bo X ing day (aus, uk)

31 ne W year’s eve

1-31 end of season sales

Chapter 6 - Time lines | 59