Have you ever felt the inspiration for something while working on a different project? Almost as if this other idea is fostering inside your mind, and there is a sudden urge to undertake it alongside your main project. This is not something new. We have all been there, in that dilemma, that whether it is a wise idea to start investing in your side project startup at the moment, whether all the ideas that you are having will bear fruit or become a failure built on wasted dreams and resources?
It has often been encouraged to try out the side project startup without losing sight of your main goal. This makes sense; after all, no one wants to let their inspiration ideas go to waste just because it arrived during a tight schedule. In fact, most of our creative ideas arise when we are not looking for it, and it is worthwhile to venture upon them. Many people have been successful in their endeavors of a side project and we can draw inspiration from them.
However, there have also been many failures whenever any side project startup could not take off in the desired direction, or many shortcomings came up. Sometimes there are factors we do not take into consideration that later on we find out to be very important. In fact, these factors are what will later become the differences between our expectations and reality of side project startups. Some of the major expectations vs reality scenarios are:
TIME MANAGEMENT
Expectation: You will wake up early each day and invest about one to two hours minimum on the side project. You will do something fruitful or achieve some short term goal in this new project. Since this is just starting so you do not hope to achieve too much, but at least you hope to get sufficient work done such that you feel motivated the next day. Even if you do not get to work in the morning, you will work at night.
Reality: You do not wake up as early as promised. Or maybe, you need to do certain morning chores before you could sit down with the side project. Maybe your coffee spilled, or maybe your pet created a mess, or your boss called you early or it was something else. Either way, if you face minor inconvenience right before starting with your work, that necessarily dampens your productivity. You feel that you can work better at night but then after a tiring day of work and household chores after coming back, you would probably feel tired and normal procrastination will lead to an entire day gone without achieving your short term side project goal.
You might end up running from one work to another and not being able to complete either.
To overcome this, time management is the key. You have to plan your day accordingly so that you have sufficient resting time besides your work hours. If you exert too much pressure on yourself with timings, you might find yourself not being productive at all.
Taking rest once in a while motivates you more. Plan your schedule such that you have a break at regular intervals.
STAYING FOCUSSED
Expectation: You will focus on one work at a time. While working on your main project or handling your main clients you will not think about the new startup. On the other hand, when you are working on this side project you will try and focus on that.
Reality: You were getting new ideas while at work, or while working with your main project. You want to incorporate them immediately into your side project and wish you could work on whatever you feel like whenever you want. You feel that you need to work a lot more on your side project if you want that to be a success as well. But you cannot afford to under-perform in your main area of work as well. You get tired with the added mental pressure. Plus, you tend to forget what you had planned to do while working on the other project.
Lack of focus or concentration can affect your work productivity.
The solution to this is to have a pen and notebook ready. It can be like a journal. Try and focus on your work at hand, but in case inspiration ideas occur randomly or while working on your other work, you may note it down in small points. Later on, when you sit down with your side project, you will know how much work is left as you would have a to-do list now. Moreover, you can now focus on your work as you know you won’t forget anything. More tips to stay focused.
Once you note it down, there is no fear of forgetting and now you know you can improve on that idea later on.
INVESTMENTS
Expectations: You will keep the minimum investment as this is just a startup that you are not too sure about. This will be a side project for you so you want to keep your investments low. You might have some people you know or certain contacts to give you the materials you need and the labor force you require. You might not want to involve a lot of professionals at first. But once your project or business sets sail smoothly you will want to make it more professional.
Reality: The lack of professional people would lead to slack in the growth of your project. Nobody is willing to invest monetarily into something that does not provide any security of profit, even if that investor is a “close friend”. Moreover, not taking expert help or not hiring people for a full-time job could lead you to take too much pressure on yourself. Even if you try to do most of the work yourself, there might be shortcomings in certain areas. You may handle your accounts and sales but might need someone for graphic designing jobs. After all, you would require a proper company logo that would stand out. Cutting of budget by non-advertisement will only result in a low level of profit.
Sometimes people might not want to fund you and lack of professionalism in your co-workers can lead to hardships.
To overcome this, you need to contact firms or take expert opinions from professionals who are willing to provide support to small businesses. You may need graphic designing services for various things throughout the project. Draftss can help you! The unlimited graphic design services are meant for the benefit & ease of the businesses.
Taking up side projects is a great opportunity to try something new and create more opportunities for yourself. The most important thing is not to lose faith and not to give up.
