If you’re currently working on a side hustle that you love, you may be considering leaving your career and taking your business full-time. However, how can you know when it’s the right time for it? After all, this is such a big decision to make – you will want to make sure that it’s the right one. To help you, here are five key areas to consider.

1. The Test Run Worked

First of all, one of the biggest signs that it’s time for you to take your passion full-time is that it’s actually working! Initially, when you get started with your side hustle, it can feel like a bit of a trial run. You will probably be giving it your all, but it’s not like it’s your full-time thing in the beginning, so you have more room for error and freedom to be creative. You can also work out things like fine-tuning your products, getting the right food packaging, and seeing how customers react to what you’re creating. So when things are actually working out, it’s a good sign for you.

2. You’re Having a Great Time

Next, it’s great for you to find out if you actually still love doing it! Whether it’s cooking or painting or consulting or anything else – you may have loved it when you did it sporadically, but now that you’re doing it on a regular basis, it’s a great idea to see if you actually enjoy doing it!

3. You’re Making Money

One of the biggest tellers here will always be your ability to make money. If you’re not making a dime yet, you may want to wait it out. But if you are actually making money then it’s a great sign. Better yet, if you’re actually making enough to replace your current salary and have all of your personal bills and business expenses paid, that’s an even better sign!

4. The Teething Problems Are Ironed Out

Another really positive point for you to take note of is that all of the little teething problems we experience in business seem to be ironed out (for now). There will always be more to come, but they’re often most shocking in the beginning. As you learn to navigate everything, it all feels a lot easier. But at this point, if you have things running like a well-oiled machine, it’s definitely a good sign that you could be ready to go full-time in the business you’re passionate about.

5. You’re Running Out of Time

Finally, you may find that you’re also running out of time in the day! When you’re working full-time hours and then you’re spending your mornings, evenings, and weekends working on your side hustle, it’s also a sign that you could be ready to take things full-time. Again, as long as the other points are all kicking off for you (particularly the financial side of things), you might be able to buy back your time by quitting your job and going full-time with your creative business. If this is where you’re at, good luck – it will be worth it!

Photo by Daniel Thomas on Unsplash