Side hustles are literally the talk of the town on the internet and many blogs these days. Everyone is no doubt either taking up a side hustle, encouraging others to follow suit, or teaching others about how they can get started. As a result, I’ve even been heavily motivated to start side hustling, again. Go figure 🙂
I say again because I’ve done my fair share of side hustling in the past. Years ago I could never find a full-time job so I picked up several gigs and opportunities to earn a side income from my basic part-time job that just wasn’t cutting it.
Even though I wasn’t as savvy with personal finance and saving back then as I am now, my side hustle income helped me pay for plenty of expenses, bills, and even vacations. Here is how to find the right side hustle for you, plus some side hustle ideas.
Table of Contents
Paving the Way Toward Financial Freedom and Success
Side hustles are great because they allow you to earn money outside of your regular job and possibly turn your hustle into a full-time job. When you side hustle you are in control of your success and how much you earn, not your boss or anyone else.
Side hustle income can help you pay down debt, add to your retirement fund, save for a new car or a home down payment and so much more. It’s a good way to achieve financial stability sooner. But when you’re just starting out, establishing your ideal side hustle can be the simplest process and the most difficult at the same time.
It’s often difficult to get started and carry on when there are bumps in the road, but once you find your niche and your stride making money on the side becomes simpler and simpler. Here are a few ways to help determine the right side hustle for you.
What Are Your Hobbies and Skills? What Do You Enjoy Doing?
The easiest way to determine the perfect side hustle is to brainstorm a list of hobbies that you enjoy doing along with the skills you have. Nothing is worse than trying to earn money doing something you hate or aren’t even good at.
For instance, if everyone you know is making money by selling homemade products and crafts on Etsy, then, by all means, create an online store. There are plenty of side hustle ideas to earn money both online and offline. Whether you love baking, cleaning, crafting, writing, babysitting, shopping, photography, or graphic design, you can certainly transform your skills into a profitable side hustle.
My side hustle of choice is freelance writing and digital marketing. It’s something I love to do, and I could never get tired of doing it.
Related: Debt Mindset Series: The Power of a Side Hustle
Identify Clients and Leads
In order to make money from your hustle, you’ll need to find people to pay you for your services. Creating a list of potential clients and a strategy of how you will reach them is the best way to decide if your side hustle will be profitable or not. First, you’ll need to create a profile of your ideal client. Who are they? How old are they? Why do they need or want your service? How can you make their lives easier? Etc.
Developing a strategy to reach your ideal client is just as important. Using word-of-mouth referrals, creating flyers, starting a blog, joining an industry network, and using digital and print advertisements are all great ways to find new clients. Sometimes you will find success by utilizing just one of those techniques while other times you will have to utilize many to find clients.
Determine how Much Time You Have
From the planning and gathering of resources to the execution of your side hustle and perfecting your services, setting aside the proper amount of time is necessary in order to succeed. I personally like to set aside 10-15 hours per week to work on building up my freelance writing hustle.
Just like working a regular day job, side hustling takes time and most times you need to put in several hours each week in order to build your hustle up from the ground and make it successful. Sometimes you may not even earn any money right way which brings me to my next point.
Related: How to Find the Energy to Side Hustle
Consider How You May Have to Work for Free
This goes back to the idea of doing something that you love to make money on the side. It’s important to be passionate about your side hustle because when starting out, sometimes you won’t get paid.
If you are trying to build your clientele and generate a list of client reviews you may have to ‘pay your dues’ in a sense and provide some of your services for free while building up relationships with others. If you’re happy to do what you do anyway, this shouldn’t be a major issue as long as it’s only temporary. Even though you may have to do a project or two for free at first, you should always be focusing on what you can gain and how you can build your side hustle even if it’s not a monetary gain initially.
Taking on a project for free can give you experience, material for your portfolio, references and industry contacts, and even open up the door for paid work.
Side hustling is an investment of your time and skills and it can either be a success or a failure. The key is to take your time finding something you would enjoy doing for profit even through thick and thin times. Only then will you find the right side hustle for you.
Side Hustle Ideas
Now that we’ve gone over how to pick the right side hustle for you, let’s talk about a few side hustle ideas that you can get started with.
Blogging
Blogging was how I got my start into freelance writing and turning my side hustle into a full-time business. Now, blogging may not make you money right away. But with hard work, and a little persistence, you can create a side (or even full-time) income from your blog.
Here is my blog post on how to start your own blog. And, to make more money from your blog, you can:
- Create your own products and services (like I’ve done here).
- Sign up for affiliate programs.
- Write sponsored posts.
- & more!
There are so many ways to earn money from your blog. You just have to find what fits you best.
Freelance Writing
Freelance writing started as a side hustle for me, and is now my full-time business. You don’t have to turn your side hustle into your full-time gig, but if you want to, the opportunity is there.
Here is how to get started with freelance writing.
Surveys
Surveys won’t make you rich, but they are an easy side hustle to get started with. Here are a few of my favorite survey sites:
Airbnb
Have a spare bedroom, basement, or even RV just sitting around? You can host your place on Airbnb. To get started, you just need to list your property and start booking people. Airbnb can turn into a full-time gig if you have enough space (or are in a prime area), but it’s also great for some extra cash too. Plus, you don’t really have to do much besides keeping your home clean and managing the bookings.
Finding The Right Side Hustle For You
As you can see, there are a ton of different side hustle ideas to choose from. The key is to choose something that you feel passionate about and can stick to in order to earn extra cash.
Have you ever tried a side hustle before? How did you get started? What do you enjoy doing that could turn into a profitable side hustle?
Your Income is Abundant. Ready For Side Hustle Success?
There is lots of extra money to be made. Sign up for the free Side Hustle Success online workshop so you can learn how to find the right profitable side hustle for you.
believeinabudget says
I have been side hustling for years! I think I have tried everything under the sun. The great thing with side hustling is I really have the freedom to figure out what I like doing and what I don’t like doing. My most successful side hustle was dog walking and pet sitting. My biggest fail was trying to donate plasma, ha!
Chonce says
Side hustling can be very flexible if you open yourself up to different opportunities. I thought about donating plasma but chose not to for several reasons, the main one being I didn’t want to be tired and drained for the rest of the day haha. That would just cut out time to get more work dont elsewhere.
Christina @ Embracing Simple says
Great post, Chonce! It’s funny, until I started reading personal finance blogs, I had never heard of a side hustle before. I have been side hustling for years and years and didn’t even know what it was called! I remember even being in 5th grade and making flyers to put in mailboxes in our neighborhood to promote my babysitting business. Turns out I’ve always been a “hustler’ 🙂
Chonce says
Same here! I feel like I always did a lot of side gigs but never really officially gave it a name. Now that I’m hearing all this stuff about side hustles I’m realizing that it’s really all the same, and there’s no secret strategy or miracle potion to get started and find success with it. Oh and I remember my lemonade stand and the garage sales I organized at my mom’s house back in the day. Sounds like we were both young hustlers!
Jason @ TheButlerJournal.com says
I’ve had so many side hustles over the years its not even funny. I’ve sold candy, CDs, calendars and shirts. My current side hustle is selling things on eBay. It is doing great right now.
Chonce says
I’ve sold items on Craigslist and even Amazon before, but never Ebay. Ebay definitely sounds more professional and fast paced with all those bidders and multiple listings for the same product. I’m happy your finding success with it though, sounds fun!
Tonya@Budget and the Beach says
oh gosh I have SO many side hustles it would take too long to name them all. Most happened organically, or by asking a friend if they needed help. I keep building up my skills (like right now I’m trying photography/videography so there will be some working for free, but as soon as I’m comfortable I’ll charge. You can never have enough plan b’s. 🙂
Chonce says
I agree, plan B’s and doing some trial and error are very necessary when you’re trying to find new side hustle opportunities. Photography always sounded so fun to me and I know a few people who make good side income and even full time income from it.
Jessica @ Settle Your Finances says
This is a very helpful post! I used to sell stuff on ebay all the time and I made a pretty good profit. Lately, I’ve been trying to figure out a way to make a little extra cash for my student loans without too much of a time investment. Although I could probably implement some better time management techniques to better utilize my time and work on a side hustle.
Chonce says
Same here. I’d like my next side hustle to fund my student loan payment or car payment entirely, or heck even both each month. Time is a big factor though, so I’ve made space in my schedule to dedicate more time to my side hustles.
DC @ Young Adult Money says
Great directions on how to find the right side hustle. I would add that there is value with sticking things out until a side hustle “works” but there is also value in moving on. I did some Excel/Spreadsheet consulting and it was fun and worked out well for a while, but blogging has been more profitable (and easier) so I devote more time to that now.
Chonce says
That’s a good point. Sometimes it’s tricky to decide on whether you should stick to your side hustle or move on to something else and there is some risk involved if you quit too early, but I’d say stick to what you know best and actually like doing and don’t force it. But I’m glad to hear blogging has been very profitable for you. It’s exciting when you get to make money doing something you love!
Kay@LifeStyleVoices says
Great tips! You’re a gifted writer, Chonce. I have no worries about your future at it! 🙂
Chonce says
Thanks for the support Kay! Means a lot 🙂
C@thesingledollar says
I never called it this til I hit the PF blogosphere, but I’ve always side hustled — anything from a few hundred dollars in babysitting a year, to $10,000 or so from working in the theater while I was in grad school. I think what I’ve found over the years is that the best side hustles for me are ones that require minimal ramp-up time; I want to be able to make money right away and not wait until I’ve learned what to do. I also don’t have a lot of energy to hustle to find new clients (not while I have a full-time job demanding most of my attention.) I can make a couple of calls or write a couple of emails, but I definitely prefer side work that comes to me rather than the other way around.
Chonce says
Same here, I felt like I always unofficially side hustled before there was an actually a term for it. And time is a big factor when it comes to side hustling. I like to do a little bit of both when it comes to investing my time and learning how to master something new along with picking up quick and easy jobs that don’t require a ton of time and effort to make money
Christine says
I’ve never side hustled before but it sparked my interest after reading about it on PF blogs 🙂 I’ve offered my digital marketing services to friends with small businesses and helped other peeps develop budgets. It’s a great change up from my regular day job!
Chonce says
That’s great Christine! Glad to see you finding success with side hustling 🙂 It’s not so bad is it?
Karen says
It’s funny, I’ve had my part-time job for several years now, but I never thought of it as a “side hustle” until I started reading about them on a pf blogs. I decided to become a group exercise instructor because I was looking for a way to step out of my comfort zone, and boy did I ever! I would consider it to be on the list of hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my life. A few people at work ask me why do I do it even though I have a steady full-time job making somewhat decent money. For me, it’s because I absolutely enjoy doing it and if worse case scenario, something did happen to my full-time job, I would still have my side hustle to generate a bit of income and keep me busy while I looked for another job.
Chonce says
That actually sounds like a really fun side hustle. It was probably challenging in the beginning no doubt, but I’d love to get paid to exercise since I need to work on getting fit and making more money. I coach my son’s preschool basketball team now and it’s great exercise, but unfortunately I’m just a volunteer. I do get free and discounted programs at the facility though so that’s always a plus. Thanks for stopping by!