According to the Bankrate side hustle survey, 43% of full-time workers in America have a side hustle, conducted in May 2019. And the side hustle workforce is only going to expand.
Mostly 9 to 5 jobs only cover living expenses, and in under-developed countries, full-time jobs aren’t enough to cover the living expenses. People tend to side hustles to complement their full-time earnings. Alexandrea Ravenelle, an assistant professor of Sociology at UNC, states that there is a general perception that although income increases but living expenses rise even faster.
People start side hustles for all sorts of reasons, and popular ones are to make ends meet, pay off debt, build savings, pursue their passion, and gain time & location freedom. Some seek empowerment through multiple income streams, while others look for financial stability/security.
If you are interested in earning extra monthly income, the following five side hustles are a good start to test the waters.
Virtual Assistant
Virtual assistants provide administrative services to companies from remote locations. They operate as independent contractors. Services include operations, clerical tasks, book-keeping, appointment scheduling, data entry, customer support, social media management, content creation, etc.
Remote work is regarded as the new normal since the pandemic as more & more companies are willing to offer remote work opportunities to their employees, and the demand for virtual assistants is also rising. Despite working from a remote location, they have access to necessary business documents and internal communication channels. People that have in-house job experiences are more likely to become virtual assistants.
Job marketplaces like Upwork and Fiverr can be a good start to finding virtual assistant jobs. But you are more likely to be successful in finding clients on your own. Do some research on the kind of companies you want to work for, connect with the people already working there, and pitch yourself with a solid resume or portfolio.
Blogging
If you have a writer’s soul and want to explore your passion for this craft, then blogging is your best bet. You can write about anything from career, raising kids, and healthy eating to fashion and technology. It’s a great way to share your interests and connect with like-minded people.
But how do you make money as a blogger? Blogging takes time to earn money. The key is to build an audience sharing the same interests as yours, which you can monetize by selling relevant digital or physical products. Once you have established yourself as a thought-leader in your chosen niche, you can offer courses, consultations, or members-only content to earn money.
Affiliate marketing, running ads, and writing sponsored blog posts are other ways to make money. Blogging and eCommerce complement each other. This combination lets you leverage your traffic to generate sales. You can divert your blog traffic to an online store where you sell digital or physical products.
Blogging also helps career growth by making you stand out from the crowd. Based on the quality of your content, you can easily get noticed by people as an expert. Businesses might reach out to you for consultancy, and recruiters may offer you a position at their company.
Influencer Marketing
The avenues to make money are abundant over the internet. One needs an eye to identify the people’s problems and provide a solution creatively to make money.
One such approach is to do influencer marketing. It is a type of social media marketing to build a personal brand and monetize your audience. If you don’t want to be the front face, you can even build a social profile around a hobby or an interest like pets, calligraphy, or photography. Building social media profile around your lifestyle can attract brand collaborations bringing home money.
You can monetize your audience on social media platforms with sponsored posts, become a brand ambassador, co-create products, affiliate marketing, and sell a product on your website.
Dropshipping
For those interested in establishing an eCommerce business, dropshipping is one of the promising business models. As a drop shipper, you don’t need to handle the physical products. A third-party supplier prepares the product and ships the same to your customer on your behalf. It is an incredible side gig for people with limited budgets and is scalable.
To get started with drop shipping; find the product you want to sell, and choose a dropshipping service provider to prepare and ship your chosen product. Build an online store and market your products to the target audience.
When a customer makes a purchase at your store, the order is sent to the dropshipping supplier to be processed and fulfilled. Thus, you are saved from keeping stock, packing, and shipping a physical product.
Consultation Services
If you are an expert in your field and want to make extra money doing what you already know, then you can start consulting services. There are people and companies willing to leverage your experience. You just need to make yourself visible as a consultant. This is where you let others benefit from your hard-earned lessons to avoid failures in their journeys.
Consultation is literally like putting your experience to use and gaining extra money. You can start by offering a consultation related to your current job duties. If you are already working as a human resource person you can start by offering HR consultation to a small business. You can become a social media consultant if you are already working as a full-time social media strategist for a company. Also, if you have successfully launched a product or personal brand in the past, you can offer this experience as well in the form of consultation services.
More than desire, it almost feels a necessity to earn money aside from a 9-5 to meet the high cost of living. Even if you are good at your job, saving money never goes out of style.
Earn extra monthly income with these 5 side hustles or read this blog post to find more ideas to make money.
