So, you have an itching side-project idea but struggling to justify if you should work on it. Here is a comprehensive guide that should help decide if you should green-light that idea or not.

1. How passionate are you about the side‐project subject?

·       Rate from 1‐10. (8 or above is Green)

·       Will I have a lot of fun building it?

2. Why exactly are you building this side‐project?

·       To get known as a Maker? 

·       To make more money? 

·       To quit my job now? 

·       To grow a business and hire people? 

·       To solve my own problem/need?

·       To learn a new skill?

·       To potentially help my existing projects?

·       To form a contingency plan for my current project? 

·       To build something of value that can help people?

3. Will you use your own side‐project? 

4. Opportunity costs?

·       Why don't I improve my existing projects with this time?

·       Am I procrastinating on a bigger, more important project?

·       Have I considering ridding of a side‐project I am less passionate about, to make space for this new one?

5. Will your side‐project solve a real problem?

·       Does my idea solve an easy or difficult problem?

·       Have I researched if there are already solutions to my problem?

·       Are there still pain‐points in the industry?

·       How light can I test and validate that my idea is actually solving a problem? 

·       Are people willing to pay for my product or service?

6. Is the side‐project market progressive?

·       Will my idea be relevant in 1,2,3,5,10 years? 

·       What does my gut say?

·       Have I spent an hour in Google Trends?

7. Competition

·       No competition = bad.

·       Ton of competition = ok.

·       Ton of competition but not much within my niche = good. Can I target a niche within the broader industry?

·       Do I know how big this industry is?

·       How big are the social media followings of my competitors?

8. Are you able to build everything?

·       Do I have time to build this side‐project while you are working on your main project or day job?

·       How much do I need to outsourcing?

·       Do I have savings to outsource?

·       Without outsourcing, can I launch at lighter version of this side‐project idea to validate outsourcing?

9. Who is creating content and how often?

·       Am I building a community? 

·       Am I building a standalone tool? 

·       Does my side‐project promise timely content? 

·       Does my side‐project need moderation? 

·       Can I walk away from the idea for a day, week, month, year?

10. Are you fit for the hustle?

·       Am I mentally strong enough for the inevitable dip? 

·       Am I in it for the short or long game?