You may want to start a business or grow your existing business but don’t have the capacity to work additional hours. The great news is that you don’t need to work 40+ hours per week to earn a sustainable full-time income. I’ve been working from home for almost 3 years and have always been able to earn a full-time income working part time hours.
Working part-time hours allows me to have better manage work and my home life along with being a parent. In order to do this, you need to set your business up in a certain way and have some non-negotiables.
Stop Working For Free
The sooner you stop working for free, the better your business will be in terms of growth and sustainability. It’s okay to want to help others and do small favors, but you have to draw the line somewhere. When I am communicating with a new client, I am more than willing to submit a trial article to demonstrate my work but I also expect to be compensated for it. Most prospects agree and have no problem paying for an initial assignment to ensure we’d both be a good fit professionally.
The other day, I had to turn down what probably would have been a great client because he didn’t want to pay me to have a 1-2 hour call every week or every other week. I discussed how the call is not something I normally do with clients and it would be extra. He insisted on including the call in the regular rate which was already a little low for me and we just couldn’t see eye to eye on this.
When you’re just getting started in your business, it’s okay to do a few things for free and build up your experience. However, once you get more established, remain firm on your pricing so your business can continue to be profitable.
Increase Your Value
Notices I didn’t say ‘raise your rates’. Raising your rates is a classic recommendation but it doesn’t always work long-term if you can’t increase the value you offer your clients and customers. People won’t be willing to pay you more if you don’t provide enough value to match the price.
Continue to work on gaining and perfecting new skills. Over-deliver in everything you do and most people will have no problem with paying you more so you don’t have to worry about trading time for money with a low hourly rate.
Diversify Your Income Streams
If you want to earn a full-time income working part-time, get a few different income streams going. If you put all your eggs into one basket, your income will drop during a bad month.
To keep earning a full-time income all-year-round, focus on offering different products and services, having tiered offerings that increase at each stage, and explore passive income streams.
Hire Help
In order to scale your business properly so you can work fewer hours, you’ll need to hire some help sooner or later. Start by hiring a virtual assistant (VA) to do one task that will free up time on your end.
From there, you can always add more systems and train your VA to help you reach certain goals. Trust me, having that extra help will do wonders for your schedule and the growth of your business.
Summary
Being able to earn a full-time income working part-time is a privilege but also requires a lot of hard work and effort. You need to plan out your availability maximize your time, and price your services for profit.
Focus on achieving specific results as opposed to just doing busy work. Take advantage of these steps as you work toward growing your income without putting in all the extra hours.
