Side hustles continue to boom in the U.S. Almost half of working Americans have a secondary business to bring in extra income. Many entrepreneurs search for ways to make it simple enough to generate passive income. A question some have is if tech can automate a side hustle. The simple answer is yes.
How Does Tech Automate Side Hustles?
A side hustle requires work to reap the rewards. As a result, your time is stretched thin. There are days when you spend more time on administrative tasks than developing products or obtaining new clients.
You lose yourself in the daily grind when you continue down this path. Eventually, you either give up or let the side hustle disintegrate. Artificial intelligence (AI) and automation minimize administrative tasks so you can push your business to the next level.
Examples of Automation
The necessary automation depends on your business. For instance, as an executive coach, you need tools to schedule clients, market your products, and keep your customers informed and happy. Online coaching platforms, like the one from Profi, handle these responsibilities and more. Additionally, the tools are customizable to your needs.
What if your side hustle is dropshipping? Well, you need technology to track inventory, packaging, and delivery. Here, you utilize a warehouse management system (WMS) to automate operations like data delivery. On top of these options, a WMS application is customizable to alert you of any issues.
How to Determine Your Needs
You can apply tech to automate your side hustle without knowing what takes up the most time. List the regular activities related to your entrepreneurial projects. How much of your time is taken up by content generation? How much do you use on manual tasks like sending marketing emails or posting on social media?
Automate the manual jobs if they take most of your time. If not, you’ll continue to fall deeper into them as your business grows. From here, the next step is to find solutions.
Where to Find Automation Tools
There are several technical methods to automate your side hustle. One is an application programming interface (API). It’s a mechanism that enables computers or applications to communicate using sets of protocols. Although you don’t realize it, APIs are part of the regular use of your computer or smartphone.
Websites and applications call on APIs to automate various procedures. For instance, they send confirmation emails or a free eBook when someone signs up for a newsletter. They also schedule online classes if your side hustle is education-related.
Another form of automation is through business applications that consolidate data. A WMS is one example of this program. So are Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications. The former helps track a project from concept to completion. Meanwhile, a CRM application tracks customer interactions, from lead generation to troubleshooting.
How to Apply Automation Tech
There’s a good chance your side hustle doesn’t have the necessary budget to automate everything. Thus, go back to your list of time-suck tasks to determine the first item to be fixed. However, don’t install the first automation package you find on the internet.
Look at applications related to your needs. Additionally, prepare 10-15 questions you need answers for from each vendor. Don’t let them go until you get the information. Disqualify those who don’t respond or won’t research your requests.
Also, don’t go for the most expensive automated solution. In the end, the priciest model isn’t always the best. You experience a negative return on investment if the tool doesn’t meet your needs.
You must start slowly and continue to tweak the processes until they start working for you. You can move to the next solution once you stabilize the first piece of tech. Granted, this might take some time. However, your business won’t slow down as you apply automated tech.
On the contrary, each solution releases more time for you to develop new products and increase your client base. Eventually, you’ll find tech to generate new customers. If you keep going, your side hustle could become your full-time position.
So, don’t give up your search for tech to automate your side hustle. Try different options to obtain the needed results. The goal is to maximize the return on investment so your entrepreneurial venture reaches its bursting point.