So you're a salesperson looking to start a side hustle for under $1,000? Good for you!
Salespeople are natural fits for side hustles since they have the core skill needed for any new business to succeed - the ability to sell. And I would know. I started my business as a side hustle while doing sales for another software company. Now my side hustle is my full-time job and I earn far more than I could have before (and I was making good money before!).
Before we get into it, let's make sure we're talking about the same thing. A side hustle is a way to make money alongside one's main form of employment or income. This guide will teach you, a salesperson, how to easily start your own software as a service (SaaS) side hustle company with a functioning automated product and recurring revenue stream of your own - all while working full-time for another company (until your side hustle can support you financially). It worked for me, dozens of others, and I'm sure it will work for you too.
There are many reasons why a salesperson would want to start their own side hustle:
Salespeople are often entrepreneurial and opportunistic, meaning they want to create more wealth for themselves.
Salespeople are usually commissioned so can earn more when they put in more effort. The only problem is that when they stop working for their employer, all that past hard-earned commission stops coming in.
If you're grinding on the phones to bring in new customers, wouldn't you want to keep 100% of the company's profit yourself, instead of just 7-10%? (the average commission a software sales rep earns per sale)
Salespeople don't need to hire a salesperson to get started since they are the salesperson.
The upside of building your software as a service side hustle is limited only to your ability to sell. Your revenue will continue to come in each month for as long as your customers subscribe, even if you stop working on it - like passive income.
Now you may be thinking.. how can I start my own software company with less than a $1,000 investment? Don't I need a great side hustle idea, developers, a marketing person, a website, and so many other things?
The answer to those questions is no - you don't. Let's look at each of the questions asked above more closely:
Don't I need a great side hustle idea? No. You just need to pick an existing idea that's proven to work and sell it - which you already know how to do.
Don't I need a developer to build something to sell? No. You can easily white-label another company's SaaS platform as your own without any development work. This means you can take a service that is proven to sell well and slap your logo on it and call it your own, sell it to businesses yourself, and keep all the profit for yourself. When white labeling another service, you simply pay the creator of the software a fee for each license you sell and keep the difference in what your charge your customer.
Don't I need a marketing person? Salespeople are incredibly powerful when starting side hustles so they don't need a marketing person to start. A marketing person can create sales and marketing materials, ads, and websites, but if you pick a service to white label that offers these resources (like Merchynt) you won't need to create them yourself. Just start selling like you already know how to do.
You don't need to come up with the world's next biggest thing to start a successful side hustle. You just need to find a solution to a problem that many businesses have, get infront of business owners, and offer the solution to them at a price they're willing to pay. You're a salesperson.. you already know how selling works!
Sure, you can try to create the next Facebook or sliced bread, but why risk so much money and time on an unproven idea when you can offer businesses something they're already used to spending money on?
So what problem should you try to solve? Think big! What do all business owners need and are willing to spend money on?
All business owners need more customers, always!
Why not help business owners get more customers?! You don't need to know how local marketing works to do this. You just need to know how to sell a software service that can do it for them. By white labeling our local marketing platform as your own you can help small business owners get more customers so they can earn more and live a better life, all while you're growing your own business and brand, earning more, and living a better life.
Merchynt's revolutionary local marketing platform helps thousands of local businesses in over 100 industries show up in more local search results without having to pay for ads and get more 5-star reviews from their customers. Want some proof it works? You can find it here and on our Trustpilot profile, which is rated Excellent.
More than 90% of people go to Google when looking for a local business near them and search for something like, "home cleaning service near me". If you're a home cleaning service you better show up near the top of these results! The same goes for any type of business, whether it be a restaurant, HVAC contractor, painter, retailer, etc!
Our tool helps local businesses show up as close to the top as possible so they can win customers online. Not just on Google, but also on Facebook, Bing, Yelp, TripAdvisor, and about 40 other platforms. This isn't standard search engine optimization (SEO). It's more effective, faster, and cost-efficient for small businesses. The best part is that you can rebrand our SaaS portal as yours with your own logo and color scheme and sell it to businesses as your own service. They will never know about Merchynt and you will keep all the profit. With Merchynt's revolutionary platform, it takes less than 30 minutes to get a small business up and running then you will rarely hear from them since the platform "just works" in the background. We get that this is a side hustle for you and that you may not have the time to help your customers set up their software if they want help, which is why we offer that as a service as well.
All you need to do to have a successful side hustle is focus on selling for 1 hour a day until you're happy with how much recurring revenue you're making each month. Just sell sell sell and we'll take care of the rest.
The Merchynt service is made up of 2 products:
1. Listings - optimizes a business's information online to make sure it ranks well across Google and 40 other platforms. More info at www.merchynt.com/listings
2. Reviews - helps a business get more 5-star reviews on Google, Yelp, and many other platforms which is important because 90% of people will pick a business based on their reviews alone. More info at www.merchynt.com/reviews
Introducing: The Merchynt Side Hustle Launch Initiative!
The Merchynt Side Hustle Launch Initiative is a program that accepts up to 25 entrepreneurial salespeople each year and helps them launch their very own marketing tech SaaS side-hustle for under $1,000.
Merchynt Side Hustle Launch Initiative participants get:
The ability to slap their own logo on a white-labeled version of our platform, which they can sell to small business owners as their own service. (Their customers never know about Merchynt). This enables sales-oriented entrepreneurs to sell a proven-to-work local marketing platform to people without hiring a developer to build their own product.
Sales & marketing materials they can use to scale fast, such as proven-to-work cold calling scripts, 1-sheets, presentations, lead magnets, and more.
1-1 mentoring on how they can go from $0 in revenue to $50k+ in a year, all while staying employed full-time elsewhere.
A list of other affordable and free tools they can use that were helpful to build and scale my side-hustle.
A revenue foundation they can then use to go off and offer additional services or build new software of their own.
Assistance building their own website, branding, billing system, and more!
Because we want to give each participant as much help as possible, participation in this program is limited. Acceptance is determined based on sales experience, industries they've worked in, geographic location, and their other entrepreneurial pursuits. The Merchynt Side Hustle Launch Initiative is an equal opportunity program. To apply, please fill out the form below:
If you're interested in learning more about this program but not yet ready to apply, please email sidehustle@merchynt.com or schedule a time to meet with a side hustle launch expert below. We look forward to hearing from you.
About Merchynt: Merchynt is a cloud-based SaaS service used by thousands of small businesses globally, which helps them show up in more local search results. Merchynt partners with entrepreneurial people to enable them to offer its services under their partners' brands. Learn more at www.merchynt.com or by emailing hello@merchynt.com.