“Resourceful bunch”: 61% of Australian entrepreneurs run their business as a side hustle

More than 60% of Australian entrepreneurs are running their business as a side hustle alongside their full-time job to supplement their main income, according to a comprehensive study by domain registrar and web hosting platform GoDaddy. 

The study, which was conducted by GoDaddy’s international research initiative, Venture Forward, used data from 315,000 Australian online microbusinesses – businesses with fewer than 10 employees –  to understand the economic contribution microbusinesses make to the Australian economy.

According to GoDaddy’s Venture Forward data, the microbusiness community has flourished in Australia since the pandemic, with 52% of microbusinesses set up after 2020; 39% employing at least one other person; and 40% expecting to employ one other person in the next 12 months.

Almost a third (29%) said their venture cost as little as $500 to start and 56% spend less than 10 hours a week running their venture, while 19% are making more than $2,500 per month.

Sixty-three percent of full-time entrepreneurs reported a monthly turnover of at least $5,000 and almost 22% said their businesses generate more than $25,000 a month or $300,000 a year.

At least 22% of Australian entrepreneurs said they work more than 40 hours a week on their business and 47% said they experience a high level of stress. 

However, long hours beat working for someone else according to the majority of those in the study, with 64% saying life is better after becoming an entrepreneur.

Aussie small businesses are a “resourceful bunch”

Genevieve Lehunt-Alderman is the founder and director of Sunday Agency PR, a specialist mini-PR agency that focuses on connecting Australian small businesses with the media, and host of the Good Times Great Brands podcast. 

She uses the GoDaddy platform to run her business, including domain hosting and email hosting. 

Genevieve Lehunt-Alderman, founder and director of Sunday Agency PR. Source: Supplied.

“Having worked closely with many small businesses for years, I think this data really reflects the ‘roll up your sleeves’ attitudes of Australians and especially small business owners,” she told SmartCompany.  

“We are a resourceful bunch and the (under) $500 investment is a testament to that. Australian entrepreneurs are also realistic and particularly since COVID, measured in their risk-taking. 

“Starting a small business on the side of a full-time career really is the safest way to explore a passion that you may have, without the risk of going all-in financially in the early stages.

Starting a business from your phone

After reading the report conducted by GoDaddy, Aisling Cunningham, who launched Lula Eye Mask with her sister Margaret over three years ago, says she was happy to read that so many people were taking the chance on themselves starting businesses. 

“I have been a serial entrepreneur since the late 90s. I’ve had many side hustles and finally have created a successful full-time e-commerce brand,” she told SmartCompany. 

“It is not lost on me every time I use platforms like Shopify, Canva, GoDaddy, how we have such easy ways to start our own business right from our phones. 

Aisling Cunningham and Margaret Cunningham, co-founders of Lula Eye Mask. Source: Supplied.

“You don’t have to be a programmer or a professional graphic designer, you don’t have to have incredible videography or photography skills. 

“In the mid-90s when I launched my first online business it was all very difficult. I think the starting and the creating a business is the fun, easier and exciting part for many. 

“Getting enough eyes on your brand, the marketing, is when it gets more difficult, this is where a business will really grow or fail.”

Cunningham, who has also used GoDaddy on multiple occasions, says she couldn’t agree more with the report’s finding that 64% of founders say that life is better after becoming an entrepreneur. 

“Yes, there is so much blood, sweat and tears – my sister and I work so hard on our brand – but it gives us flexibility with our families and I don’t think I could ever work for anyone now,” she says. 

“It challenges us and expands our minds in so many ways and the rewards are worth all the effort.

The Lula Eye Mask brand was born from a simple idea to introduce self-warming eye masks to Australia, says Cunningham. It’s now grown so much that both Aisling and Margaret work in the business full-time.  

“We are now stocked in over 160 shops throughout Australia and New Zealand and we had sales of over $1.6 million last year,” she says. 

“Our mission is to inspire guilt-free moments of self-care to bring calm and joy to people’s busy lives. We’re working very hard on some new self-care products that we’re excited to launch very soon.”

Inspiring side-hustlers

Founder of New South Wales skincare brand Men Who Scrub Bridie Luke started her ‘self-care experts’ business for men during lockdown 2020 as a side hustle, with all products made in the regional city of Bowral. 

Men Who Scrub founder Bridie Luke. Source: Supplied.

“We have gone from strength to strength,” she tells SmartCompany. 

“We have sugar scrubs, exfoliating soaps, and magnesium products for everyone. We pride ourselves on using Australia’s finest ingredients.”

Luke said she found the GoDaddy report fascinating and inspiring.

“The entrepreneurial world can be pretty lonely so seeing figures like this makes it a little less lonely,” she says. 

“It’s so great to see that there are others out there trying to achieve the same goal and build their own businesses.”