For a good number of people, there’s always the question of how they can improve their business or follow their passions to earn some extra cash in order to supplement their income and live the lifestyle they want. The path to success is really different for everyone except that today, there are more people than ever before searching for side hustle ideas.
So, what is a side hustle, is there a definition?
You’ve most likely heard the word hustler before; this could mean someone that has a main job as an employee and a second job where he’s self-employed.
A side hustle doesn’t need to be a complete side business and neither does it have to make loads of money, instead, it’s more about growth as a person and growth of your entrepreneurial creativity, and following your passion without leaving your current employment or necessarily investing all your savings into a venture you’re not so sure of. This is why it’s called a side hustle. It’s more about finding the answer to your financial woes from within and not from the boss.
What Is a Good Side Hustle to Invest in?
This is really simple, you just need to find a hustle that fills a need and dovetails what you do on a regular basis. For example, if your career is in finance your side hustle might as well be filing tax returns for people, so it fills a need and doesn’t pull you so far from your day job.
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Why Start a Side Hustle? – The Benefits
A side hustle offers some financial security and offers you some sense of freedom and all you need for that is an idea, some free time and a drive. Thus, how can you benefit?
a. You Increase Your Savings/Income
For most people this is the most alluring reason, whether you already have a sustainable source of income or you have a passion that could earn you some dough, this extra cash is always welcomed. You can use it to pay any pending loans e.g. your student loan; you can save it up and just enjoy the feeling of freedom of some financial security.
b. Horn Your Skills and Experience
Bring your creativity out to play. Learn new skills e.g. communication seeing that you may now end up having customers or clients whom you will have to serve. You will also learn how to market, brand, and even design your product (even if you will be in the service industry, you will be a brand that will need stellar packaging and branding).
All these and more skills are incredibly useful and the more you horn them during this side hustle process, the more clarity you’ll get as far as your career and goals are concerned. They might also open for you some new avenues you never even imagined!
c. Test the Waters
There’s no better way to test ventures than through a simple side hustle without the full commitment. There’s safety in the fact that you don’t need to fully commit until you’re sure it will work. Whichever side hustle you pick the purpose should be to give you the satisfaction you desired, so if you realize that it isn’t delivering on that, you can simply drop it and pick another one. This is the beauty of side hustles, they’re flexible in nature and don’t require you to invest too much time, finances, or energy in them.
To have a supplementary clue check out some related statistics:
Source: DollarSprout
Is a Part-time Job the Same Thing as a Side Hustle?
A side hustle is all about creating assets for yourself. A side hustle can evolve into something bigger and therefore change your entire life. A part-time job is still a job, only that it earns you some money, in it, you’re still going to be controlled by someone and the pay will be dictated by them. Meanwhile, a side hustle has no limit to the amount of money you can make. So, a part-time job has very few in common with a side hustle.
Before offering you some brilliant side hustle ideas, check first some tips to guide you:
Tips to Guide You on How to Start a Side Hustle
i. Leverage the skills you already have
It can be fun to pursue a wild route that you’ve never tried before, true, but it would be smart to pick on a path you already have skills on. This isn’t to say that you keep doing your regular job outside; it just means that you pick on something that can use your already existing skills.
In case you’re not very sure of the skillset to follow through, create a list of all your strong skills and identify a few or just one that you feel could be the best suit.
ii. Solve a need
Of course, one reason you may be considering side hustle ideas is that you want to pursue your passion, but what if it cannot necessarily be monetized? On the other hand, if you can identify a need within your area and offer solutions, people will pay to alleviate their troubles. With that said, it’s possible to find yourself at an intersection between an unresolved thing and your passion, bingo!
For instance, you can be passionate about organic products you can easily make at home, and then use your marketing skills to sell them. Thus, you have solved a need that people that are looking for organic products have and meanwhile fed your passion.
iii. Create a business plan
You may not be new to how business works, but you’re still going to need a plan. This will enable you to identify who your target audience is, how you can scale in the future, and also, who your competitors are. This information means you will be required to do some research which will help you carve out your niche as you view how feasible your idea truly is.
iv. Brand yourself
As indicated earlier, in order for you or your business to be taken seriously, you have to become a brand. As such, identify what you want to be characterized by; come up with a fitting logo and use fonts that people can identify your brand with. Have a website and social media profiles that reflect who you are and what you stand for.
v. Plan to scale
Why start a side hustle if you don’t plan to grow? Failing to plan is planning to fail, it’s cliché, but it’s more than true. When you start generating more clients you automatically make more sales and this means more work, and then what?
This calls for planning on how you will handle that when the time comes, by automating some processes, and by possibly employing someone to work on your behalf. That may mean eventually identifying a potential location that you can take up to carry out the business and so on. This is purely going to depend on your side hustle idea.
vi. Market and advertise
No matter what side hustle ideas you pick, as long as you’ll be there to make money, then you’re going to need to invest in some marketing and advertising. This usually involves creating relevant content, and taking advantage of the free social media platforms to reach your target audience, may also involve using paid advertising, and many more. These steps are going to be determined by the budget you have, so if you don’t have any budget at all, don’t get discouraged, social media is still free.
vii. Have a future plan
Again, planning is vital for any business. Soon you could be making some good money from your side hustle and may even consider making it a full-time hustle (not necessarily meaning that you immediately quit your regular employment). This may happen eventually, but what’s important now is for you to have a plan for two possibilities, one is when it grows and starts earning you good money, you need to have a plan on how to keep it growing. If, in case it makes you more money than your job, you may have to create a transition plan to being self-employed full-time.
The second possibility is if it doesn’t generate as much money as you anticipate, you can then have a contingency plan like an emergency kit to cushion you and the hustle.
Here Are Some Brilliant Side Hustle Ideas You Can Try Now
Ghostwriting
As a ghostwriter, you’ll be hired to write on various topics, while the credit and ownership go to someone else. You can also be hired by an agency at a considerable retainer or package for your ghostwriting services.
The best part about being a ghostwriter besides the money is the freedom to work from anywhere on the planet. And all you need is a laptop and a good internet connection and you’re good to go. So, if you love writing, this is a great side hustle idea.
Side Hustle Idea: Become an Influencer
An influencer is anyone who influences people’s buying decisions, as an influencer, your work will be content creation, customer engagement, photography (you can hire help if you don’t yet have the skills), speaking in public, etc.
Your revenue streams may be through becoming a brand ambassador, through sponsored social media posts, or doing digital marketing through exposure. If you have a reasonable number of followers, this side hustle idea is an easy path, if you don’t, it’s not a very hard thing to achieve. So, go ahead, pick a niche that you’re passionate about, and just start.
Photography
If you’ve got an eye for aesthetics and love taking pictures, then being a freelance photographer is one of the best side hustle ideas you can consider. But how can you make money? Selling your pictures online through a third-party seller such as Flickr, Shutterstock, who will do all the legwork for you for a commission. Alternatively, you can sell your content to magazines or newspapers looking for topical images, if e.g. you love travelling, then you can take pictures of your destinations and sell them to travel magazines and so on.
Weddings and parties are also another stream of income. You could also create photo books or sell printables.
Sell e-Books
These are simply books that can be downloaded online. Do you have a subject you’re passionate about? Or that you’ve excelled in and would like to share your knowledge for a fee? Well, there you have it – a great side hustle idea. You can write it yourself or hire the services of a ghostwriter to write it for you.
It can be on travel, food, health, romance, or just fiction. You can take advantage of Amazon’s best-seller section to check the winning categories and pick one that suits your interests. The advantage of platforms like Amazon is that you have the potential of reaching a larger audience that might not have known you exist.
To sell your eBooks, you should consider setting up your own website and selling it there directly; this will give you full control of the entire process and earn you some customer information which you can use to promote more books later.
Monetize a Talent
So, what’s your talent?
Here’s a hint, what are you passionate about? Could it be cooking? Designing clothes? Or dancing? The list is quite endless, but the bottom line is that you can easily turn this into profit. E.g. if music is your thing, you probably have guitar-playing skills; you can teach people in your local area and make some easy money through this. Remember to advertise yourself across your social media platforms.
Side Hustle Ideas: Become a Virtual Assistant
Being a virtual assistant is one of the most diverse side hustle ideas available. It can involve writing, scheduling social media posts, responding to emails, and so forth, it’s really going to depend on who you work for. All you may need is your laptop, a phone, and a good internet connection. But you will also need to have these basic skillsets that will come in handy no matter what your tasks will be.
· Communication skills
· A good understanding of all things internet
· Organizational skills
· Great customer service skills
You can make anything from $15 per hour. You can advertise yourself on social media, have a professional page or use platforms such as Fiverr.
Sell Services on Upwork or Fiverr
If you’re a professional graphic designer, research writer, or web developer, or possess similar skills, then you can get paid for your services by getting gigs through platforms such as Upwork or Fiverr. Writing gigs can start from $5, web design at $100, social media managers at $70 going forward, and much more.
You just need to sign up and create impressive profiles because the competition is harsh, once you deliver a stellar job and get a 5 star rating, then you’ll be on your way to earning some good money on the side.
Blogging
This is a side hustle idea that may not make you money immediately, but if you’re consistent in delivering valuable and engaging content on a regular, you’ll be surprised at how much income a blog can bring you. Blogging will require nothing except passion, a commitment of a few hours daily or weekly, and unique niche content. Simply build an irresistible brand and back it up with an inspiring social media presence.
How will you earn money? Through affiliate links, your own products, or sponsored content among others.
Vlogging
This is all about making fun video content on a particular niche and uploading them on YouTube or Vimeo. You can make money on the side by shooting informative, fun, and unique videos on a regular basis. They could be about anything e.g. how-to-video, a-day-in-the-life videos and reviews of products and so much more. Some of the greatest vloggers simply play live games on YouTube and have millions of views.
How does this earn you money?
You can monetize your channel. In YouTube for example, your channel should be around for at least 12 months, have at least 1000 subscribers, and have about 4000 hours of watch time in order to be able to monetize. The money will come through affiliate marketing, sponsored content, selling merchandise as well as Google AdSense where you’ll be paid for ads that are run on your channel. Do you think this is your area? Go ahead.
Tutoring or Offering an Online Course
Are you inclined to academics? This is one of the most lucrative side hustle ideas today. If you like to teach and have the skills, the niche of tutoring is large. Whether it’s kindergarten children or college students, you have a wide variety of options to take advantage of.
You can choose to be an in-person tutor or offer them online. From STEM subjects to arts such as painting, there’s no limit to what you can do as long as you qualify and have the skills. The courses may take you time to put together, however, once you have them, you can use a site like Udemy (they’ll take away 50% of your earnings) or create your own site for this purpose.
Source: ExpertPhotography
Selling on Etsy
If you have a gifted hand for creating beautiful unique crafts, then you can leverage the ready market that Etsy has created. Etsy is the most popular marketplace for unique hand-crafted items on the internet.
You can pick simple but great-quality items to start with, take great pictures and create an Etsy account and launch your side hustle. Learn more about Etsy and how you can maximize the opportunity for sales.
Interior Design
Again, one of the most lucrative side hustles ideas today. This field has great potential for high profit since it’s always in demand, particularly if you’re really good at it. So, how do you start?
If you can create your own website where you can showcase your capabilities, then start already, if you can’t create a website immediately, then leverage on social media e.g. Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook and share examples of what you can do.
The important thing is to be able to reach your target audience, thus use the venues mentioned above to find her and share your content there.
Side Hustle Ideas: Rent Your Car/ Bike
You probably have a car or cars that you don’t use often; could be a sports car, a truck, or a sports bike, renting them out could be a simple way of making some extra cash on the side, the same way Airbnb works. If the car is on a loan, then this would be a great way to help you pay it up! You can do this through the use of platforms such as Turo where you just need to list your car using the app. This is free.
You can then set up your daily price plus rules. Then indicate when your car will be available. The rest is about waiting for a client and the pay.
Delivery Services
Nowadays convenience is the new king of customer service. People want the convenience of easy delivery of food, groceries, medicines, and so on. Delivery services are therefore one of the most in-demand side hustles of our time. Starting a delivery service will require your time, commitment, discipline as well as some good investment. There are several types of delivery services, including van delivery, bicycle delivery, motorbike, and special delivery for temperature-controlled items such as medicines, etc.
You can pick the one that will be most suitable for your budget as well as the local area. You may also do some research on any rules and regulations of delivery in your region.
AirBnB
If you have some free space such as a guest house or boathouse or an RV and wouldn’t mind renting it out for some extra money, then get it prepped and get going. An Airbnb hustle is low cost but with the potential to frequently earn you money. Your own house may also be ideal if you travel a lot and are rarely there. All you need to do is ensure basic requirements like a good bed with pillows, a place to put clothes e.g. closet, clean towels, a fully equipped first aid kit, and some cutlery maybe.
Another key factor to consider is ownership of the space, if you own the property then that’s easy, but if you rent it you should ensure it’s allowed to do this. Finally, when all is set up just sign up to be an Airbnb host and start hosting.
Source: Airbnb
Health and Fitness Trainer
Fitness and health are many people’s concerns and most seek help to stay disciplined in healthy routines. Are you in great physical shape and have a passion for things to do with health and fitness? Do you have the desire to help others as you earn from it? Then this is the hustle for you.
As a trainer you can choose to train in person or do it virtually, both options are pretty lucrative, so you may want to pick the one that will be most convenient for you.
Local Tour Guide
Are you an outdoor kind of person who enjoys culture, history, architecture, or art? Then is your side hustle, just waiting to be explored. You can be a tour guide in your local area and earn money while doing the fun things that you love. Just ensure to do as much research as possible in order to offer correct information and get started.
Drop Shipping
Drop shipping is a growing trend according to Google Trends. Drop shipping is where you sell products but the suppliers package and ship the products instead of you, or simply put, set up an online store and process sales without the inventory. You can create markups and earn without much stress.
All you need for this is a website.
Create an App
You don’t need to be a developer to be able to create an app, the freelance platforms such as Upwork or Fiverr mentioned above have some top of crème developers that can execute the ideas for you and the good thing is they’re quite reasonable when it comes to charges.
To leverage your app, add it to Google Play and the Apps Store. Earning through an app doesn’t necessarily require you to charge for it, so you can offer it for free but allow ads and have premium features that you can charge for. It’s not really so hard.
Invest in Financial Markets
Now, this is a great side hustle idea but may not be your first option especially if you’re not an expert at picking stocks or trading. This side hustle can be tricky in the sense that you can make some really good money or some deep losses. You need to have a sense of how financial instruments work before you venture here.
Source: Vantage FX
Moving Company
People are constantly moving, so this would make for a great side hustle idea. All you need for this is some initial investment e.g. a truck or van. If you don’t have your own, then you may be required to buy one. This will be guided by your budget, the amount you may want to put in for a side hustle, and your target market.
For example, if you want to target big firms or families then a large truck may be necessary, but if you’re looking for the more frequent smaller markets then even a van would suffice. Remember you have to put in place some best practices to ensure your clients’ goods arrive in perfect condition in order to get more referrals.
Uber or Lyft – Driving
You have free evenings and weekends and don’t know what to do with that time? How about you become an Uber or Lyft driver and make some money on the side? The good thing with these two platforms is that when you’re busy and don’t want to drive you can simply turn your availability on or off as needed.
To add some extra benefit, you can leverage the “destination mode” to carry riders in the morning on your way to work and in the evening on your way back. This is one of the most convenient side hustle ideas thanks to technology.
Custom T-shirt Design
Social media today is that gift that keeps offering, there are myriads of creative ideas that people want to explore. You’ve probably seen the “twinning” caption of people wearing identical clothes or t-shirts with identical prints. Why not explore this if you have an artistic inclination?
You can create custom-t-shirt designs or designs that can be printed on caps to match the t-shirts and so on. When the marketing strategies mentioned above are used, this can be a very effective way of making some good money on the side.
Take Home
The more money we make the more problems we get, that’s the famous quote, but it’s really furthest from the truth. For you as a hustler or an aspiring hustler, more money may mean the difference between barely surviving and making enough to give yourself a treat. More money could mean no more student loans.
More money could be the difference between barely getting by and prosperity, between just living and building your life. Therefore as you ponder on what is a good side hustle, have in mind the points mentioned above, without necessarily quitting your job, and consider one of the lucrative side hustle ideas listed here.
