I strive to find inspiration everywhere I can. Movies, books, friends and clients. With the right mentality, you can find inspiration anywhere you look. I’ve written about business lessons we can take from people like Jay-Z and even game creators like the folks behind Grand Theft Auto. For me, taking inspiration from others is one of the fastest ways to develop ourselves and grow.

Today, let’s talk about Drizzy Drake.

His songs tend to emphasize one of my favorite talking points – the hustle. His song 0 to 100 is about making something out of nothing and working hard to get to the top. Between this track and started from the bottom there’s an obvious theme. We can get anywhere no matter where we start. I really believe in this thinking and there are thousands of people who are living proof of it.

As great as 0 to 100 would be, let’s do one better, let’s go from 0 to 1000. That’s right, I want you to go from 0 to $1,000. That is $1,000 per month in extra income.

What would you do with an extra $1000 a month?

Pay off student debt? Buy your niece that iPad she wanted? Indulge in a trip somewhere warm or exotic? Invest in a new business venture? When there’s extra money on the table – the choice is yours.

I want to help you go from 0 to 1000 this because a side hustle is what allowed me to take my first step into entrepreneurship by leaving my job and being able to afford some of life’s greatest luxuries. For me, it all started with a side hustle and over the years, I’ve helped friends and peers create and build side hustles that also generate income to help them live the life they want.

Below you’re going to find some strategies and lessons that I’ve used along the way and some of the inspiration that I’ve taken from the lyrics of Drake. Whatever your motivations, I’m confident that if you take these ideas and implement them in your life, you’ll be able to go from 0 to 1000 real quick…

Let’s get to it.

Figure out Your Goal

Goals will take you farther than dreams. You need to know what you want and how you are going to get it. I want to pay off my car by August. I want to get to Mexico for my friends’ wedding. I want to buy a house. You need to have goals and know why you want to start this journey. Furthermore, your goal should always be S.M.A.R.T. ones, meaning they need to meet the following:

Specific – Your goal must be specific. For example, you want to put aside $5,000 by the end of the year for investing. Boom. There’s your goal, clear as day. You have a set amount and you have a set deadline.

Measureable – The NFL has the combine for potential draftees for a reason. Measurements matter. If you can lift more than the guy before you, you’re ranked higher. You need a way to be able to track your progress. If it’s $5,000 in savings, you need to be at $1,250 in April, $2,500 in June, etc. Measure your goals and track your progress as you go.

Assignable – Who is going to make this happen, in this case it is on you.

Realistic – Making enough money to buy your own island like Richard Branson or getting a six-figure book deal are not realistic goals starting off. It’s fun to dream, but this is not the time for dreaming. This is about setting an attainable, realistic plan that will allow you to move towards 0 to $1,000.

Is the $5,000 goal you set realistic? The more realistic, the more likely it will be successful. Remember, it’s about being realistic, not safe. If you set $2,500 as your goal when you know you can get to $5,000 you are cutting yourself short.

Time-Related – “I want to be making $1,000 per month from my side hustle and save $5,000 by the end of 2015.” That’s the statement you need to make and stick by. Give yourself a deadline or an ultimatum. Achieve the goal by this date.

Make the statement, be specific, write it down, and get to work.

Find a Hustle That You Enjoy

Whatever you choose to make your side hustle gig, if you don’t wake up excited to do it, if it really feels like a chore, you are going to stay at 0. The perfect side hustle should be something you want to do full time, should it grow to that point. We won’t worry about that now but it is something to consider when choosing your side hustle. If you don’t like knitting socks, stay away from knitting socks.

It is hard to think about now, but at one point rapping was purely Drake’s side hustle while he acted and went to school. So really, it was the side hustle to his side hustle. He made $0 doing it when he first started, it was all about the love of the work. Of course Drake’s goal was to get rich from rapping, but in the beginning he was not making a penny from it. Now his net worth is estimated around $55 million, not a bad turn around in less than 10 years.

In rapping Drake saw something that he was good at, something that he was passionate about, and something that had the potential to be lucrative. These are all key for anyone to find the right side hustle. He had nothing to lose and everything to gain just by giving it a shot.

Find Something That People Want

This does not have to be a ground breaking product or discovery. You are not trying to create the new Facebook or Instagram (if you do so in the meantime, that is okay). This is about identifying a need and filling that need. There are tons of people out there making money on the side fixing cars, mowing lawns or selling homemade furniture online. Whatever it may be for you, it doesn’t have to be new and it doesn’t have to be glamorous. I will tell you that I am not great with cars. I like cars, I drive cars, but I am not mechanically inclined and I am okay with that. I have a need for a mechanic, and there are mechanics out there who can help me with what I need.

Maybe there are people already out there doing that same thing (and odds are there will be), a little competition never hurt anyone. The demand is out there, you just need to find it and figure out how to profit. If you want to make something new, you need to create demand. It may be a harder road, but roads are hard for a reason.

Promote Your Business

What is the point of having a great business or side hustle if no one has ever heard of it? Getting your name out there is equally as important as the work you do, these go hand in hand. There is no business without promotion.

While it may seem counterintuitive, the best way to have your product heard, seen or discovered is to give it away for free. In the rap game, rappers will put out mix tapes which are anywhere from EPs to full track albums for free. Nowadays it is a lot easier than it used to be thanks to the internet. Before a then a mixtape was a physical tape one would give away to anyone they could.

Drake put out a couple mixtapes, people enjoyed them and he grew his brand and recognition. He didn’t make any money of the mixtapes up front but what he gained in exposure trumped the upfront investment tenfold. Before long he was no longer Jimmy from Degrassi, he was Drake the rapper.

Using this method will get you in the door a lot easier than making people pay up front. If you want to be a writer, designer, editor, offer to do so on spec. If you have a product, let people test it out. If you’re a musician hand out your mix tape. Whatever you need to do to get your name and your side hustle out there.

Work with the Right People

Nobody gets successful all on their own.

Would Drake be where he is today if he wasn’t signed by Lil’ Wayne? Impossible to say, but it is easy to say that relationship was integral to Drake’s early and continuous success. In Li’l Wayne had a mentor, an investor and a creative partner he could work with. From that partnership, Drake found others with Nicki Minaj and worked with top producers like Birdman, etc. He even had Jay-Z feature on his first album – that is not easy to do.

The people you work with can help you grow not only your business, but they can help you grow as a person. You may not always get along with them – and that’s not the point. The people you work with should be able to be honest with you and vice versa, as long as it’s what is best for business.

Drake and those around him knew that a strong team is better than what any individual can do, working with the right people will take one further than doing it on their own.

How to Make It Happen

To go from 0 to $1,000, changes and sacrifices must be made. Drake skips the parties to make the music to fuel the parties. Maybe he would rather be out with friends, but that’s not what took him to the next level.

Going out costs money, working makes money. The choice is yours.

Staying in and watching Netflix might feel good at the time, but it’s time that can be used more effectively. You are at 0 now because of your current behavior, to get to $1,000 you need change. That’s what a side hustle is all about. It is work, it is work on your own time but it is worth the work and it is worth the time. No one is going to pay you $1,000 a month to watch television and no one is going to pay you $1,000 a month to taste test new Doritos flavours (besides, they sort of perfected it with Nacho Cheese, didn’t they?) and neither of those are good for your actual health.

If you are waiting for the perfect time to start, your way from 0 to 1000 it will never come. The best time is always right now. Who is going to make it further, the person who took the steps to grow from 0 to 1,000 or the person who is okay with staying where they are now?

A player who has taken 1,000 practice shots will be better than the player who has taken 0.
An athlete who has lifted 1,000 times is stronger than the athlete who has lifted 0.
The reader who has read 1,000 books is smarter than the reader who has read 0.
A traveller who has walked 1,000 miles has seen more than the traveller who has walked 0.

Time to take it from 0 to $1,000. Wondering what you can start? Check out my free guide that includes sixty different ideas to get you started. And if you want hustle driven content delivered directly to your inbox, be sure to sign up for my newsletter. Are there any other lessons you’ve taken from music that can be applied to the hustle? I’d love to hear them in the comments below.

Ross Simmonds is a digital strategist and entrepreneur with a passion for technology and communications. He’s the author of Stand Out: A Content Marketing guide for entrepreneurs and writes regularly on his blog about entrepreneurship and marketing. You can find him on Twitter @TheCoolestCool

Figure out Your Goal

Find a Hustle That You Enjoy

Find Something That People Want

Promote Your Business

Work with the Right People

How to Make It Happen

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