You will agree with me that most 9 to 5 jobs don’t pay the bills. Especially if you’re just starting out in your career. When you calculate the cost of rent, food, bills, and transportation, you might realize that you barely have anything left over. A side hustle is a way to make money outside of your 9 to 5 job. Side hustling can allow you to earn that little bit of extra money that can help you achieve your financial goals faster, buy things you need or want, and lower any financial worries.
However, before choosing any side hustle, consider these factors.
- Earning Potential
- Scheduling
- Growth
Now, let’s look at some of the side hustles that can help you achieve your financial goals.
Start A Blog
This is one of the best side hustles you can engage in, but note that it is not an immediately income-producing opportunity. Starting and growing a blog does take time. However, the growth potential of a blog is nearly limitless! So, if you’re looking for a long-term side hustle, this could be it!
Start Dropshipping
Dropshipping allows you to sell a product directly to the customer without having to buy any inventory. Also, you don’t need to have a big startup costs budget, keeping your risk low. The manufacturer not only carries the inventory but also ships it directly to the customer for you. Your main focus should be marketing and customer service. If you have a strong marketing background and want a side hustle that plays to your strength, this is it.
Freelancing
Does your 9 to 5 job pay fluctuate? You might choose to take up freelance gigs. These could be gigs that you create on Fiverr or the occasional freelance project on Upwork. You might create T-shirt mockups for a client, offer copyrighting services, or even manage social media pages. The type of projects you work on could vary drastically. But if you love the variety and switching things up, this side hustle could be perfect for you.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is one of those side jobs that pay well over the long-term. However, you’ll need to go through a learning curve before you can start making money with affiliate marketing. It is not just about finding the right product to sell, but also finding the right brand to partner with. If you chose to be an affiliate marketer for ecommerce stores, your commission will likely be a lot lower than if you were to just dropship them yourself. However, there are tech companies that will pay a hefty price tag to affiliates who bring them new customers.
Launch a Print on Demand Store
If you like to make custom graphics and artwork in your free time, running a print on demand store could be a great side hustle for you.
Print on demand (or POD) allows you to sell your custom artwork on products like t-shirts, bags, phone cases, mugs, and more. The best part about it is that you can create and sell products under your own brand. Also, you can completely automate the logistics of the business by choosing to dropship your print on demand products. This is where you design products, add them to your store, promote them, and take orders from your customers. The orders are fulfilled by the print on demand company that prints your designs onto the products, then ships the items directly to the customer.
Sell Information Products
If you’re looking for good side jobs to make money, selling information products might be the perfect option for you. This side hustle requires some research, invested time, and marketing skills for you to flourish. Are there topics that are really popular right now that you know a lot about? Did you find a popular topic that there is not enough information about? Monetize these opportunities by creating content around it. You can publish books on Amazon or sell courses to start earning.
Focus on niches where people have a huge problem they need to solve. If you’re in the fitness niche, you can create a fitness workout course or a diet plan with a recipes eBook. If people are desperately trying to solve a burning problem, there’s an opportunity to provide value by helping them solve that problem. The content you create can guide them towards a solution.
Become an Instagram Influencer
Be consistent in the type of content you post, how often you post, and when you post. You’ll gain new followers if people know what they can regularly expect from your page. You won’t be able to monetize right away, so invest your time into growing your followers by posting several times a day, every day.
Become a Virtual Assistant
A virtual assistant is an assistant who works in a remote location, as opposed to a company’s office. They can help with tasks such as administration, social media, bookkeeping, and more. As a virtual assistant, you can specialize in countless areas. And there are countless other businesses around the world that rely on virtual assistants to grow and maintain their brands.
When starting this side hustle job, you can find clients on popular websites like Upwork. However, you could start to see better results when you branch out on your own as an independent contractor. Starting up might be a bit harder, as you need to find clients, but you could earn more money this way. You can join popular Facebook groups for businesses or online retailers to offer your services.
Hopefully these give you some good insights into what I think makes a good side hustle. Plus, this list of the best side hustles goes a long way to making things happen.
Read more: 7 Ways to Balance Your Full-Time Job with Your Side Gig
My name is Chigozie Japhet. I am a content writer, and a brand strategist. I like writing, reading, researching and watching football, especially my team, Man United. i believe in working hard, and also in relaxation as all work without play, makes Chigozie a dull boy.
