There are many ways to increase our income. Some prefer to invest in the stock market for passive income, and others would work on a side hustle. There is no right and wrong way. Each has its pros and cons. This article will be a series of articles that will discuss mainly on starting a side hustle.
Let's admit it, we all have that one big idea that we believe will change the world. Some of us may have more than one. I personally have quite a few and at least one of it has become a small side hustle for myself. I was lucky because I took action on the idea. And the results are showing that I am on the right track.
Have you taken the action for your big idea?
Many of us would not dare to take action because we have been told that to start something, we need to have Ringgit first. (And for those that did, chances are, it didn't work out.)
This thought came from the saying that "It takes money to make money" but it is not real. Do you know the origin of the saying? It was to by a comedian for a play as a joke! And yet, many of us actually choose to believe that it is true.
And because of this saying, there are a lot of "starting a business" guide on the internet would tell you that you would need a business plan prepared by a professional first because that's the way it should be. In the business plan, you will put in a lot of information. You would find out that you need a lot of Ringgit to start because you will need to rent/buy an office (not forgetting the furniture and all related office items), registered the company, print name card, etc. according to your business plan.
I am sorry to tell you that this is all BS. It is on the internet to makes you believe that it is real so that you would engage the professional to write a business plan for you. What happened in the end? You will pay a certain amount of Ringgit to the professional even before you start.
You don't need a business plan to start. You need an idea to take action on. With the power call internet, it has become so easy to take action without breaking the bank. I started mine with 0 (zero) Ringgit.
But I have so many ideas. Which one should I focus on?
It is easy to feel overwhelmed because we are not sure which idea we should focus on. It was the same as mine and in my opinion, the best way is to focus on an idea that came about from our own needs.
In early 2020, I was looking for ways to find the right companies to invest. I was particularly intrigued by the idea of dividend growth investing where we invest in companies that pay out increasing dividends on yearly basis. This concept leads to the creation of the US Dividend Champions List and many similar lists have been created for a few other countries. Unfortunately (or should I says, fortunately), there is no such list in Malaysia yet (at least I don't know). So, I took the time to start researching the market and after a few months, I have established basic criteria and more than 30+ companies are able to meet these criteria.
With some help from my partner, we work out the concept into "The Malaysia Dividend Champions List" and we start promoting it to the world. It takes a while for it to start moving (people signing up) but things have been steady now. All these are done without using a single Ringgit to start but it does take a lot of our time.
Our own story for "The Malaysia Dividend Champions List" is just one of the side hustle that was started without putting in a lot of money. Some started without any Ringgit and yes, it can be done.
So, if you have an idea that you wish to test if it is workable, you can try to pitch the idea to your relatives and friends. Most of the time, you will not get real feedback because they don't want to hurt your feelings. To counter this, tell them how much you are charging for it and ask if they will sign up right there and then and become your first customer. When real Ringgit is involved, you will get their true feedback. If they rejected your idea, don't be dismayed. Use the feedback to improve your product/services or the reason to stop and focus on the next idea.
If there is at least one who signs up, you already have a winner. You have validated your idea.
Side note - even when you didn't confirm your idea, it is okay to move on to the second stage to build up your idea.
Check our Part 2 of our Side Hustle Series here.
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