A lot of people now have a side hustle in addition to their day job. This is usually to earn some extra cash to supplement their income. Read about how to find your side hustle and earn more than your 9-to-5 salary and build a financial cushion.
To find the right side hustle for you, you need to know what you’re good at, why you need a side hustle, and how much time you have.
What are you good at?
The most important thing when starting a side hustle is to choose the one you are good at, enjoy doing, and can make you money.
You will be more motivated to run a side hustle if it's something that you're good at. I mean how frustrating would it be to have to figure out a whole bunch of stuff for the first time?
Instead, you can work on something that you enjoy and focus on customers to make it worth your time.
Where can you start? To help you come up with ideas, think about when people come to you, and for what tasks people trust you or want an opinion from you.
Does your boss run to you for a last-minute task to type in data from a spreadsheet? Do your workmates approach you when they can’t log in to the company portal?
Here are a few skills that can help you how to choose a side hustle.
👉Identifying product-market fit
It helps to understand the characteristics of a target market and know the difference. Knowing the difference between the blue ocean and red ocean strategy can make all the difference.
The blue ocean strategy involves starting a business in a new market. Ideally, this strategy is in the simultaneous pursuit of both value and cost.
On the other hand, the red ocean strategy is when you choose to compete in a saturated market.
The process of product research will help you find out if a product idea is valid. You get a clearer picture if it’s going to be successful or not.
👉Sales
Skills in sales focuses is understanding the psychology of your target consumers. It is the ability to understand how people make decisions.
It is a skill that will help you persuade buyers that your product is valuable.
👉Direct response-copywriting
A skill in direct response copywriting lets you drive your readers to take action. This is likely an action where they spend money on your business 😉.
Content writing is meant to educate or entertain while copywriting is designed to generate sales.
Here are the different forms of writing:
- Creative writing
- Journalism
- Technical writing
- Copywriting
👉Photography
Photography skills help you get high-quality images. This way, you can hook potential buyers better. With good photos, you have a better chance to catch the viewer’s interest.
It’s a great way to improve your visibility online. And better online visibility means better income opportunities. Content with images can get up to 40% more shares than content without.
This skill involves knowing how to “stage” a product. This way, your buyers can imagine owning your product. Now you can show a potential buyer how your product looks on them.
👉Videography
Videography skills involve video editing and post-production. Videos are great for explaining your product or service.
Instagram Reels let you create short videos to invite your potential buyers. It is pretty engaging towards an audience and offers reach and discoverability. It can help you grow your audience for your brand —fast.
Tiktok has also been getting a lot of attention. Videos on Tiktok thrives on casual and quirky videos. With the new update, businesses can take advantage of TikTok’s ad opportunities too.
👉Web development
Skills in web development involves some know-how on creation, construction, and upkeep of websites and web applications.
Web design, web programming, and database management may also be part of it.
A great website can make all the difference in how potential buyers view a brand. An eye-catching and easy-to-use website can potentially turn site visitors into paying customers.
👉Network
Skills in building networks allow you to cultivate relationships with others in the business. When you have this kind of skill, you can easily connect with the right people in the industry.
One of the ways to do build a network is with the help of LinkedIn. You can go to your schools page or use a filter to find the kind of people in the industry you want to learn about.
Having a great network makes it easy to find better opportunities. If you are dropshipping, you can easily discover the right suppliers. This will make sure the items you are selling meets your buyers’ expectations.
👉Paid Ads and SEO
SEO skills help improve your site to increase its visibility. On the other hand, paid ads like Google Ads and even Facebook ads let you meet good-fit customers and widen your reach.
Knowing how to use SEO and Ads to your advantage is a pretty neat skill. This skill helps give your products a boost and show up at the tome of search results.
You can save money at the same time because you won’t be wasting money bidding on poorly made ads.
Sure you can get someone to do stuff for you. Knowing how to do this yourself will let you know if your money is used well on an ad or if extra steps are needed.
Why do you need a side hustle?
Why do you need a side hustle? Well obviously, to make more money (duh). Okay, but how much more money?
Finding out the “why” can help you set your goal. When you put a bullseye on a target income, it makes it easier to succeed because you know what to expect.
Are you looking to make $1000 a day? Or are a looking for extra shopping money as a stay at home mom?
Looking for money to pay off $100,000 of student loans is not the same as making extra money for your trip to Mexico.
The end goal will filter out a lot of side hustle ideas and help you find the perfect one.
How much time do you have?
The next thing to consider in how to come up with a side hustle is how much time you have.
If you are looking for a side hustle for a kid, you have to consider that you might only have around a couple of hours a day while moms can never work on a fixed schedule.
Make sure your side hustle can help you reach your financial goals. It's important to consider the scope and objective of that extra work. It might be too much on your limited time and energy and you’ll end up quitting.
You can make a lot of progress on a side hustle in just a few weeks. This is as long as you schedule time for it to make real money.
Schedule at least 30 minutes to one hour per day— or more — if you're in a rush to get started. You can do more when you're not too busy with anything else.
Just taking the time to start —even just a little bit— is vital so that your side hustle actually happens.
Side Hustle Ideas
There are more and more people who are merging different ways of earning supplemental incomes and monetizing their passions. If you are on the road to finding your side hustle check this list 👇
1. Dropshipping
With an eCommerce business like dropshipping, instead of warehousing inventory, you’ll be purchasing products from third-party suppliers as your customers make orders.
Dropshipping is a type of retail fulfillment method for online stores.
You have the option to get into branded dropshipping or choose a private label product and build your brand.
- To start a dropshipping business, you have to choose a niche where you can get the most income.
- You can create a website where you can list your products as well as promote your business.
- It also helps to pick a platform where you can start selling your products.
- Lastly, you would have to find a good supplier you can trust.
Dropshipping won’t be too challenging with the right skills. Learn some web development, SEO, photography, and graphic design to help you build your brand.
2.Transcription
Side hustle in transcription usually involves listening to audio files and writing them down.
You need patience and good typing skills if you want to succeed without having any experience at all.
Here are a few of the best platforms to find transcription jobs:
General transcriptionists as well as experienced transcriptionists will always be in demand. Simply maintain attention to detail.
3. Data entry
Data entry is pretty similar to transcription jobs. It is one of the easier side hustle ideas that isn’t too much of a mental burden. You just need to know how to type and use a computer.
You can find data entry jobs on these websites:
You'd probably be reading documents and typing the contents into another file. Expect tasks such as typing the contents of a PDF or image file into a Word or Google Doc.
You may also be required to move data from one spreadsheet to another.
4. Blogging
Blogging provides the potential for you to make up to $500 a day.
You can make money by promoting brands and their products. You can also earn through writing sponsored posts and affiliate marketing.
Learn about SEO to get more internet users to your website. Find a niche to blog about and write about it regularly. You get a better chance of attracting a loyal audience.
Here are a few topics you can write about:
- Self-help posts
- How-to posts
- Review posts
5. Proofreader
Proofread documents for grammar, punctuation, and accuracy. This can even be done from any location offline and on your own working hours.
This side hustle can also help you transform yourself into a better writer. It does not necessitate a large amount of equipment or tools.
Remember to read the document aloud so you can also “hear” if it “sounds” right. As a proofreader you ensure that the written content is error-free.
When reviewing documents and materials, you look for:
- Grammatical
- Spelling
- Punctuation
- Formatting
- Accuracy
- Check if the work followed project expectations (spacing, font style, font size, etc)
Proofreading It is a life skill that can be used in any industry and doesn’t need you to have a degree in English or any special certification.
6. Sell stock photos
Being a photographer may can make you some money by selling photos to stock websites.
Taking high-quality photos and sell them on stock photography websites can help you make money through royalties.
Here’s an earnings breakdown on Shutterstock 👇
Once you've completed the initial work and uploaded the images you can upload more than 1,000 high-quality photos per month. With that you could earn $100-$150 per month from your photos.
All you need is a good camera. You can even take stunning photographs with your smartphone.
7. Translator
If you are bilingual then you can make money by providing accurate translation for machine-translated articles, documents, or communication.
Take a look at these jobs on TranslatorsCafe 👇
You can find job listings on Upwork, Fiverr, or Freelancer. Many of these sites don’t ask for formal qualifications. Clients might still ask you for a sample translation so they can check your proficiency.
Working as an online translator allows you to provide translation services from the comfort of your own home.
8. Graphic Designer
As a graphic designer, you can make as much as $25-$50 hourly.
You don’t even need technical skills anymore because you can use a free web design tool like Canva.
Also, there are already free graphic design courses and losts of content creators you can learn important tips from. Here’s one important tip from Creatopy 👇
You can also work on this on a flexible schedule which can be quite convenient especially if your work schedule keeps changing.
9. Sell Ebooks
Anyone with expert knowledge in a specific subject can write an ebook to share their ideas with the rest of the world.
You can even hire a ghostwriter or even sell journal books where you don’t have to spin words.
Once you've established yourself in the ebook market, it can easily become a self-running business through page reads and Kindle sales. This is how the majority of ebook authors make their money.
10. Invest your money
To invest in the stock market is a long-term investment. It could take a long time to grow your money.
However, you also have the option to invest in royalties or crowdfunded real estate,
If you are looking to make a lot of money, investing in royalty income can provide long-term returns. It is relatively resistant to changes in the equity and bond markets.
Crowdfunding, on the other hand, uses the Internet and social media platforms to reach a large number of potential investors.
How to start a side hustle
Starting a side hustle and building your self-employed income while still having the safety and security of your day job is the best way to eventually become your own boss.
Building a profitable side hustle with a limited amount of time outside of your day job is going to be challenging. It requires ruthless prioritization, a psychological shift in how you view what's most important in your life.
You need to have a willingness to be very creative and scrappy on a daily basis.
Here are a few of the things you need to remember:
- Find the determination. Your side hustle will begin to consume many hours per week that you would otherwise spend with friends and family. Your full-time job already consumes the majority of your time each day, and your side hustle will require you to bleed whatever energy is left.
Make a serious assessment of whether or not you are willing to make sacrifices to achieve this goal.
- Identify your skills and interests. Like what we’ve talked about at the beginning of this post, you need to get into something you’re good at and love.
Make sure you are fully-equipped in your money-making journey. If you love taking photos, sell them to stock websites. If you love to write, start a blog!
- Value customer feedback. Getting into the business within your hobby doesn’t mean you should be blind to reality. Validate your business with customers.
Is the niche really worth it? Are you going to get customers?
- Stand out. One of the reasons why it is useful to have a skill in SEO and paid ads is for you to stand out from your competitors. How do you make people choose you and your product instead of someone else?
Consider your pricing, sales tactics, and higher profit margins. Provide unmatched customer service, outstanding product features, and build strategic relationships to differentiate your brand from the competition.
- Set Goals. Be realistic with your goals. Accept the fact that you won’t make it big on your first try and first few months. Regardless, you still need to set your goals.
This will help you work harder but at the same to not susceptible to being discouraged. You won’t jump into bad decisions (like quitting your job) but will think it through multiple times.
Finding your side hustle can start today!
In the end, the best way to start a side hustle, is to just START. Planning is good. But it’s useless until you take action. Think of how to find your side hustle and jump right in!
To ensure you get off to a good start, seek out all tips and information for newbies. Start educating yourself if there are free or low-cost guides and resources available. This way, that you can focus on becoming successful faster rather than making common beginner mistakes.
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