3 Simple Steps To Scale Your Business From Side Hustle To Full-Time

Side hustles aren’t new but have become more prevalent income streams for many, especially millennial women. With side hustles essentially becoming the norm, rideshare services, food/grocery delivery, merchandise selling online, and convenience alternatives have paved the way to make extra money.

According to Lending Tree, more than half of young Americans have a side hustle, many driven by inflation. Also, 55% of GenZ and millennials have a side hustle, averaging $1,253 monthly in supplemental income.

Here, Her Agenda lays out three steps with the help of women who have successfully curated a solid transition from side hustle to full-time below.

Melissa Le-Fort, founder of TAG4MYPET, an online pet accessory brand specializing in custom pet ID tags, started her business during the pandemic after losing her job, turning a personal loss into a mission-driven venture.

“My inspiration came from my cat, Brigitte, who went missing without an ID tag and never returned,” she said.

Melissa initially launched on Etsy due to its built-in customer base and low up-front cost.

“I knew this had full-time potential once I saw strong demand and consistently high conversion rates,” she said.

Scaling came with hurdles, from supply chain management to marketing and customer acquisition and balancing financial risk. However, since taking that leap, Melissa said she has scaled her business from a side hustle to a thriving full-time operation, selling on Etsy and Shopify.

“I’ve sold over 40,000 pet ID tags worldwide, including hand-stamped designs,” she said. “My business has also allowed me to give back — supporting over 30 shelters and rescues across Canada.”

Maricel Gentile, chef and owner of Maricel’s Kitchen, quit her successful corporate job in food service in her fifties and started Maricel’s Kitchen, a Culinary Experience Destination in New Jersey. 

“My husband had been telling me I should do Filipino food full-time for a while,” she said. “So that was it, I quit my job – scared and all – and started teaching Filipino cooking classes in the local church.”

Maricel said there have been many challenges such as being a solopreneur, starting cooking classes in the local church, and having them kick her out just before a class as they had a parishioner pass and needed the kitchen for the funeral. The pandemic also played a major part as well.

“Today I have my own restaurant, my own commercial kitchen and a staff,” she said. “We have built a destination for top-quality Filipino and Asian cuisines around bespoke chef table events, cooking classes, and catering.”

“In February 2020, I made the decision to quit my agency job and finally pursue my dream of owning a PR agency,” said T-Aira Jelks, Founder & President at HYPH PR. “The very next day, I found out I was pregnant with my second child. A few short weeks later, the world shut down due to COVID-19.”

T-Aira utilized other agency owners in different industries, joined Slack groups, Facebook groups, and local networking communities targeting business opportunities. She gathered information about saving for taxes, determining whether to be an LLC or S-Corp and information on EINs.

“I knew I wanted to go full-time when working for someone else no longer served me,” she said. “I realized this was something I needed to do — not just for myself, but for my family.”

Finding clients was an initial challenge for T-Aira, as she said she believed larger companies wouldn’t consider a boutique PR agency. Other challenges included managing taxes, balancing life as a young mom of two, and finding the time and energy to deliver results. 

“One piece of advice I often share with other entrepreneurs is that sometimes you have to sacrifice your present for the future you want,” she said.