How to Turn Your Side Hustle Into a Full Business While Working a 9-to-5, From 3 Founders Who Did It These founders built legitimate businesses in their off-hours. And they all did it differently.
By Amanda Breen
This story appears in the March 2024 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »
For many people, the ultimate dream is to start a side hustle, and then build it into a full-blown business. According to Bankrate, "more than one in five (22 percent) Gen Zers and 25 percent of millennials want to make their side hustle their main source of income." But that's no easy task. Building a business in your spare time usually means you have no more spare time, so it's crucial to really care about the work you're doing, and for the people in your life to support your long-term goals. But apart from those things, there numerous routes to achieving your end goal. Here, we spoke to three founders who made this journey, and got their top insights on how they made it work.
Tactic No. 1: Find a partner in another industry.
If you have marketable skills, but you aren't sure how to spin them into a business, try teaming up with someone from an entirely different industry. Together, you could pinpoint opportunities for innovation.
That's what Gene Caballero did. Back in 2012, he worked in sales at a Fortune 500 company, and started talking with a childhood friend who'd built a landscaping business. They came up with an idea — a platform to connect homeowners with lawn care professionals. Caballero would run sales, while his friend navigated the industry.
They called their company GreenPal. "We devoted countless hours to cold-calling vendors to join our platform," Caballero says. "We even set up a kiosk in the mall." At last, in 2017, GreenPal started making consistent income, and in 2021, surpassed what Caballero made at his full-time job. Now, in peak season, earnings exceed $3 million a month. "Hold onto your primary job as long as possible," Caballero advises. "It's the financial backbone for your side hustle during those early, uncertain days."
Tactic No. 2: Treat your day job like industry research.
If you're working a full-time job, you have an inside look at how your industry operates — and its unmet needs. Plus, you already have connections.
International trade specialist Wendy Wang realized this when she was working for a textiles company and noticed something strange: "The covers for outdoor furniture available in the market were either exorbitantly priced or subpar quality," she says. She wondered why that was — and whether she could make high-quality covers at lower costs. "I did in-depth research to understand the nuances of the market, and spent a considerable amount of time sourcing high-quality materials," she says. "Then I set up an e-commerce platform to facilitate easy transactions." She called the brand F&J Outdoors, and it launched in 2018.
About a year in, the business started generating monthly income. Two years in, it surpassed her salary from her day job, so she quit. Now, she says, F&J Outdoors makes a monthly average of $66,000 in revenue.
Tactic No. 3: Create something you wish existed.
A person identifies a need in their own life, creates a solution, and then turns it into a business. It's maybe the most tried-and-true business origin story — and also a great kickoff for a side hustle.
Publicist Blake Geffen discovered this when she was planning her wedding in 2017. She wanted high-end accessories, but didn't want to splurge on expensive pieces she'd wear once. "That's when I realized there was a hugely untapped market for borrowed luxury accessories," she says. She told her soon-to-be husband about her idea, and the newlyweds spent their honeymoon fleshing out a business plan.
Geffen returned to her day job, but continued developing the idea for what would become Vivrelle. "On weekends, we were pitching potential investors and garnering relationships with vendors and partners to help us create a website, help with marketing, etc.," she says. They launched with a modest goal of 50 subscribers in the first month, but "far surpassed" that. Since then, they've raised more than $60 million.
