5 Tips To Consider When Booking Side Hustle Event Businesses

August 27, 2019

You've probably seen interesting little businesses that people run as a hobby in their spare hours after work or on weekends and you'll most often see them pop up on Facebook or Instagram. Often this is the launching pad for a successful new start-up company.

But occasionally they just stop operating, and could leave you in the lurch. So how can you tell if this is a "side hustle" or not - and is it right for your event?

1. Where did you hear about them? 
Facebook? Instagram? Check their online listing for details about their business. If they don't list their street address and/or phone number, if you Googled them, can you find them on any other social media channels?

The fewer the means of contact, the greater the likelihood they don't do this full-time and the harder it will be to track them down if anything goes wrong.

2. What level of expertise do you need?
Everyone has to start somewhere so a new side hustle operator is unlikely to have the high-level finesse of a professional. And you may not require hard-won expertise! But have they accurately calculated the logistics for your event?

If time is short or the product or service is particularly expensive and/or vital for your event you may not want to risk someone who doesn't do this full-time.

You might want to treat booking a side hustle business as a type of calculated gamble: if it pays off, fantastic, if not, it's not too much money to risk.

3. Can you see samples of their work?
You need to feel confident about your choice of side hustle business operator. If you've found them on Facebook or Instagram, chances are pretty high you can see photos of their product or service. Do they have testimonials or reviews to check what other customers have said to reassure you?

4. They might not have appropriate credentials
When new suppliers are starting out a new side hustle, they have to test how much demand they will have for their products and services.

Therefore, not only are they are unlikely to have invested in essential credentials, they also might not be able to afford the cost or the time to obtain them without warning on an urgent job. 

For example, venues such as Crown Melbourne require event suppliers to have a police check while a number of venues require suppliers to undergo an online induction process and to supply public liability insurance documents. If your side hustle business has't got the documents, you can't use them to deliver your order.

5. They might not have adequate resources
If they work full-time at their real job (and many side-hustle suppliers do), they'll be unable to deliver and collect your item during working hours if those are the times you require.

If you need constant updates on an urgent booking your calls, texts, emails and online messages may go to voicemail or into the ether as they're unlikely to be able to respond in real time. Will this work for you?

You might have selected a side hustle business specifically because they're cheap.

However, without much experience, they may inadvertently undercharge, not knowing what event-related fees are involved in each job. You might save money on the job yet what elements are they failing to include? What shortcuts are they taking?

Enjoyed this? Check out what event-related products you need to book first.

 

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