What’s your weekend saying?

Are you planning to sleep in and lay low? Maybe some speed dating and brunching? Planning to try a new wine and catch up on Empire?

Or are you planing to start an empire?

Because any of those can happen this weekend.

If you often think about “starting your own business one day” then you should know—truth moment—“one day” isn’t coming. There is no “one day” on the calendar. No notification is going to pop up on your phone and tell you that today is the day that you start your business.

It just ain’t gonna happen.

You might think that because you’re really busy with your life right now that you’ll make time—one day—for your dream. The idea of starting an entire business right now just seems crazy with everything else that you have going on.

I get it. It sounds like a lot.

But there is one much less intimidating thing you can do that will help you snatch up your entrepreneurial dream. A venture you can kick off in just one weekend—between brunches. Real talk, you probably already have one but just aren’t giving it the attention it needs.

I mean…you do have a side hustle, right? Because if not, you’re late to the function.

If you have a full-time commitment already (job, kids, school) then a side hustle is the perfect entry into business. You don’t need to quit your job, you don’t need to take out thousands of dollars in loans, and you won’t have enough people watching you that you’ll need to fear “messing up”. It really is a low-risk way to start a business in your spare time.

Spare time you might have this weekend, perhaps?

But, can you really get started in just one weekend? Yep! Completely doable. Here are three steps you can take this weekend that will take you from “one day” to “today”.

Decide what your side hustle should be

You probably already know what you want your side hustle to be. The phrase “side hustle” might even bring something specific to your mind. It might be something you studied in college, or it might be something you’ve been doing longer than that but just couldn’t find a practical way to pursue. Either way, it’s probably something you love.

When you’re deciding on a side hustle, don’t make a choice based solely how much money it can make you. Think about how many people need it and would realistically pay for it. Think about how useful it would be to a specific group of people. Think about what options those people already have and how you can offer them something better. Really think about how you’re going to bring something great to the table.

With that said…

Ask people what they think you’re best at

It’ll be a lot easier for your life if your side hustle is something that you’re actually good at (in fact, the only prerequisite in Side Hustle Business School is already being good at your craft).

If people already come to you for a particular skill or service—maybe you’re the organized friend who always plans the group trip or you give the best relationship advice or your workout tips make summer bodies out of winter bodies—this might be a sign that this would be a good side hustle for you.

As you start to build a brand around your side hustle, you’ll want people to be able to vouch for your skills. This is going to be harder to do if you have no success stories that show how good you are at your side hustle. It’s going to be much harder if none of the people closest to you can say anything good about your ability to do this well. Tip: those people are going to be doing a lot of your early word-of-mouth marketing, so they’re a great place to start when deciding what your side hustle should be.

Learn what you need to do to see success in your side hustle

Do you know how to build or brand a new platform? Do you know who your target audience is or how you’re going to reach them? Take a free test drive of Side Hustle Business School to help you get started. Or, if you don’t want help getting started, go start talking to some people in your target audience about what you want to provide for them and how you can create a better solution for them.

If you need to get better at your craft, do that—you should always work on your craft. But, if the only thing that’s stopping you is not having any idea how to turn an idea into a money, then commit to investing the time to learning what your first steps are and how to dominate them. Hint: the first step is probably not setting up an LLC.

Chances are that if you put some real time and effort into this, you’ll be able to turn your side hustle into a business—if you want to. In just one weekend (just a few hours, in all honesty), you can start building your empire without losing a wink of sleep or missing a single mimosa.

I’ll see you after brunch!

Naya the Creative

Writing since December 2016 · 3 stories contributed