Sending virtual hugs to everyone out there. We love you!

Five Ways to Keep Sharing Your Side Hustle During a Crisis

One of the greatest benefits of a home-based business is (obviously) the convenience of operating from your home—or anywhere you can be online or connect with your customers. While great for helping you take part in the kids’ school programs or sports or enabling spur-of-the-moment getaways, this advantage of having your own social selling business is now dramatically underscored in the face of COVID-19—and, for us in the Nashville area, in the aftermath of a powerful tornado.

This global pandemic, which may or may not impact the health of our loved ones, will, with near certainty, impact our economic lives over the next few months, at least. That makes the possibility of earning through multiple streams of income more important than ever. Keeping your business going will mean continuing to share your side hustle on social media.

This involves some practical considerations, though. Some in your audience could easily be bothered—from mild annoyance to strongly offended—by your efforts to sell during a crisis. So how can you respectfully and appropriately continue to share during such interesting times? These five tips should help you strike the right tone and keep things moving:

• Acknowledge the crisis respectfully and your desire to stick to as much normality as possible. People love a can-do, self-sufficient attitude. But, if something is amiss, it doesn’t work. There’s a difference between “I don’t mind working from home because that’s why I started a home-based business!” and “My husband has been diagnosed with COVID-19, so it’s a good thing I can work from home.” Now is not the time to boast about your side-hustle when others are at a crossroads for next steps if they’re bound to their homes.
• Emphasize the convenience. Whether people stay in their homes by choice or out of necessity, knowing they can get products they need and want delivered right to their door will be a strong benefit you can’t emphasize too much. Of course, they don’t have to order from you face to face, either.
• Use humor…but not too much. There’s nothing funny about an F4 tornado or a pandemic that could confine people to their homes. But, taking people’s minds off the seriousness of the situation can bring welcome relief and help people put down their guard. A comment like, “We may be out of hand sanitizer but we’ve got plenty of great soap from (company name). Message me if you’re interested in getting some for you and your family,” shouldn’t upset anyone.
• Don’t forget the multiple streams. It can be a big step from offering products or services to offering the opportunity itself, but as long as you’re realizing the benefits from your gig, why not illustrate those benefits for your audience? You never know when someone scrolling Facebook might be wondering how they’ll make ends meet and generate income while stuck at home. You’ve got the answer, so tell people how happy you are to have a home-based business.
• Be optimistic and give hope. You’re a leader and passionate about leading others so take this opportunity to truly help your team members and customers on how to navigate crises in trauma and disaster. Be optimistic and give hope. Keeping a positive outlook can help sustain you when the odds are against you. Your attitude has influence on those you’re leading.

Finally, as an overall consideration, it’s probably wise to post a little less often (about your side hustle) now compared to when things were “normal.” In the end, you should know your audience and what they’re expecting and wanting to see out of your content posts. If you try a post and don’t get any the response you were expecting, don’t automatically assume you’re off target or that you should stop.

Ask yourself these things before you make a post:

1. Will I make someone feel better or worse about themselves?
2. Am I shaming others and their different ways of life?
3. Am I asking people to be perfect?
4. Am I sharing my story to relate and inspire, or am I bragging?
5. Is what I am sharing going to lift others up during this time?
6. When sharing my product, am I inspiring someone to purchase or just asking someone to click and buy?

Remember that you’re doing this for them and not you. As always, be kind. Now, keep washing your hands (for at least 20 seconds) – we’re here for you!

Our Southern Social Team at our most recent Women of Influence Shoot with Hannah Brindley!