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During one of my Side Hustle Pow Wow a couple weeks ago, someone was struggling because she was not sure what type of business to start. Let’s call her Laura. Laura knew that she wanted to be creative but everything she researched seemed more like hobbies. For example, she liked to bake, but did not want to turn it into a business. Laura also knew that she loved research and helping people.
Based on her interests, we started discussing ideas. I told her about this cupcake decorating class that I attended for my birthday. It’s a great example of combining someone’s love for creativity (and baking) with this idea of helping people. The business model is essentially teaching people how to decorate baked goods.
And yep I felt like a total artist when the class was over. 🙂
So why a cupcake decorating business?
The idea is to find things you love and think of new ways to pair them together. If you like baking cupcakes, you don’t have to become just a cupcake baker, you can teach people how to bake, or how to decorate. Think outside the, ahem, cupcake a bit and explore new ways to put two things together that you care about. Then once you have an idea, get a group of folks together and do it.
- If you want to teach people, invite 5 of your closest friends over to your house and do it.
- If you want to do coaching/consulting calls, offer 5 free slots to folks.
- If you want to sell a product, try to make a little mockup of it and get it out there.
The idea is to start small, get the thing out there and tweak it as you go along.
Laura may run her first cupcake decorating class with 5 people and decide that she doesn’t want to teach it. She might decide to teach cookie decorating or may decide that she loves to bake, but only cookies. She might even decide that she doesn’t want to teach live classes, she just wants to create a video series teaching people how to bake.
Clarity comes from action. The more you do in pursuit of your dream, the clearer everything will become. (tweet that)
And remember that figuring out what you don't like to do is just as important as learning what you love to do.
So as you try new things, write down the things that you love AND the things that make you want to pull your hair out. Then make sure those things that make your super excited are included in whatever business you create.
Great article. I really like the steps you have…I too have learned that it’s not just about figuring out that you like something (like cupcakes) but how you want to use it. I love fitness but realized I’m more into making a product than providing 1×1 training, which is the most obvious thing to do in fitness. So, I’m working on building it and love it!
Yes Markita! That is so great that you have discovered that. Like for me, I love technology but I am beginning to realize that I love teaching it and empowering folks to do it themselves moreso than doing it for people. So I’m really happy to hear about your clarity too! Yay! 🙂 Keep on dreaming girl!