Turning a side hustle into a full-time business that covers all your expenses is a dream come true. Maybe you started it to earn a little extra cash while putting a valuable skill to good use. But now that things are going well, you’re starting to feel like it’s time to take the next step and grow.

But when you expand too quickly, you’re going to set yourself right back to square one within a few months. You’re also a lot more likely to fall into debt along the way. The thing is, what was once a passion project that ensured you had a bit of cash leftover each week is now the biggest financial drain you’ve ever had.

There are ways to avoid this. If you want to grow your side hustle without getting ahead of yourself, you just need to be a bit more careful about the process.

Offer a Referral Program

A referral program allows you to ask your previous customers to endorse your business to friends and family. If they do, they’ll get a reward they can use the next time they shop with you, which can be something like a discount on a future purchase, or even a free gift, but either way, it’s an incentive they’ll be interested in going after.

You can also provide them with a code to tell their friends about, and if a new customer comes to the checkout and quotes this code, you know where the referral source.   To be extra sure that your new customers will be interested in buying from you, make sure the referral reward is extended to them as well.

Not only does this save time on chasing down new leads, but it makes use of the powerful word of mouth marketing every business is after.

Rent a Small Warehouse

If your side hustle is going to grow, you’re going to need more space! Whether you’re extending your product offerings or you need somewhere safe and secure to keep your work equipment, it’s best to look into taking it out of your house and finding a dedicated space.

To prevent the cost of this from growing too high, however, you’ll still want to keep things small. As such, for the time being, you only want to consider getting a small warehouse space for rent, rather than investing in a whole office space or a more traditional warehouse you don’t have the stock or money for. You can then use this new little warehouse space in whatever way suits you (as long as your contract permits, of course).

Growing a side hustle can be fun, but it should also be something you invest time in. You don’t want to get ahead of yourself, since that’s when the costly mistakes start to occur. Go slow and be purposeful in the way you approach your side hustle growth.