In today’s world, the pursuit of financial freedom and stability often leads many of us to explore different ways to earn more income. Whether it is to save for a vacation, pay off debt, or gain financial freedom, the concept of a side hustle has become increasingly popular in the 21st century. A side hustle isn’t just a way to make your daily ends meet, it is more than that.
In this write-up, we will explore some interesting ideas for you to earn more. In this journey, we will look at some creative and practical strategies to help your earnings, unleash your ideas, and pave the way toward a successful future. From leveraging your skills to moving to new territories, there is a side hustle for your interests, abilities, and goals.
What is a side hustle?
A side hustle is an additional job that a person undertakes in addition to their already existing primary job to support their income. A side job may be done out of necessity when a person’s income from the main job is insufficient to support them. This type of job can be full-time, part-time, contract, or freelance work. In today’s world, a side job can be beneficial.
A side hustle is about grabbing opportunities, pursuing your passions, and unlocking your growth potential. Whether you are a student wanting to earn some extra moneyor a full-time employee looking for additional ways to earn, this write-up will provide you with various ways in which you can earn as a side hustle. This guide will help you, regardless of your background.
Here is why you need a side hustle
A survey conducted by Bankrate showed that 39% of the people in America have a side hustle. It’s impressive that even though America is much ahead in development and economy, 39% of Americans earn by side hustle. If you have not started a side hustle, you must have some questions in your mind regarding side hustles like how to find one, whether it is effective, etc.
Those are some valid questions, but if you want to increase your income, you need to get started. If you don’t start, your debt and financial problems will keep piling up. Soon, your goal of having financial freedom will become a distant dream. There is nothing worse than not having enough money to enjoy life. Following are some reasons you need to start a side hustle.
- Extra income
It doesn’t matter what your financial goals are; extra income always helps. There are so many things in life that will eat your money, like education, groceries, transportation, etc. With what you earn today, it will take you decades to make your goals a reality. There is a reason why 39% of Americans have a side hustle. Because of a side hustle, they are reaping benefits.
If you choose one of the side hustles, you can start earning extra money besides your job. You could start earning 3,000, 5,000, 15,000, or more every month. That money has the power to pay off your debts, contribute to your plans, and give you financial freedom. Isn’t that amazing?
- Proper use of free time
One of the obstacles you might have is a lack of time on your hands. It’s understandable that because of work, family, personal commitments, etc., people don’t have much time. But in most cases, people do have time for side hustles. For instance, an average person spends at least 3.5 hours on social media. If you invested just one or two hours of that time in a side hustle, you would see positive changes and improvements in your financial life.
If you commit 1.5 hours of your free time daily for a month—that’s 45 hours—you can earn a good sum of money. Make an aim to commit at least two or three hours daily for a side hustle and see how those hours help you in unimaginable ways. Students nowadays do just that and can sustain themselves because of the time they commit to a side hustle.
Besides these two reasons, there are many other reasons and benefits such as growing skills, getting experience, expanding professional network, building confidence, etc.
Side hustle ideas for you
If you have decided to have a side hustle, then it’s a great decision. Side hustles are a good way to boost your income, plus they enable you to explore business ideas with little to no time commitments. There are a good number of opportunities available, both in person and online. Here, you may find a side hustle to suit your tastes and needs. Following are some ideas.
- Freelancing
Freelancing is doing specific work for clients without committing to a full-time job.Many people have tried and tested freelancing. Many students today do freelancing. It is a good and effective way to earn extra money. Freelancing is so good and easy that we gave it the first spot. Freelancers work on projects for one or more clients. You can do this in your spare time.
As a freelancer, you can work and offer your services as a writer, graphic designer, editor, website developer, etc. There are many options available for freelancing today. You can make your profiles on freelancing sites like Upwork, Fiverr, and Freelancer.com. Showcase your skills, get clients, work on projects in your spare time, and earn.
- Blogging
If you like writing, consider starting a blog focusing on a genre that interests you. Today, there are many types of blogging, like food blogs, travelblogs, health and fitness blogs, personal blogs, etc. People earn large sums of money by blogging, and you can do the same. Write, attract traffic, and monetize your blogs with ads, affiliate sales, or links to earn money.
Medium is a writing platform with 100 million users. Medium pays its writers through the Medium Partner Program. You can either write for yourself or for various publications. It’s a free writing site, you won’t be charged for anything. If you want, you can get a Medium monthly or yearly membership. Make your profileand start writing your heart out.
Another site is WordPress, it is also a better option where you can make your own site, but it will cost you. You will need to buy a domain and build a blog website using a WordPress hosting service or other services like Wix or Squarespace. You can also make money on WordPress by advertising different products, using guest posting, etc. Besides these, there are other sites too.
- YouTube channel
YouTube is a wonderful platform to make money in your spare time. You can make money by uploading videos about anything, following YouTube guidelines. The site is free to use, and you can monetize your videos once you get 1,000 subscribers and an average of over 4,000 video views every year. It will take some time to get all of it, but it’s possible to earn thousands or more.
YouTube is free to join. You can upload unlimited videos without any cost. You can make videos for free on your smartphone with a good camera and video editing apps like iMovie, Loom, etc. To grow your channel, you can select low-cost YouTube ads and share videos on social media platforms and on your blog. Many people have turned their channel into a profit.
Make your channel and come up with ideas for your videos. You can choose a particular genre for your channel for posting videos about travel, food, fitness, beauty, sports, games, etc. For instance, you can make vlogs about any animal pet, like a dog or cat, you have. Make good, engaging videos with them and post them on your channel. Build your audience and earn.
- Social media creator
We live in the era of social media. No one can ignore the power and reach that social media platforms have. Social media content takes many forms, and you can make cash if you know how to create it. Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, etc., have millions and billions of active users. With their creator program, you can monetize your content.
It’s a no-cost way of making money. All the social media platforms are free to join. Platforms let you upload unlimited content in the form of photos, videos, writing, etc. Most of the platforms today provide video-creating tools. What you need is a profile on social media platforms and a smartphone with a camera, and you have all you need to make money.
- Photography
If you’re good at photography, then this is for you. For any event, photographers are in high demand. You just need a good camera to capture the moment in the form of photos and videos. You can showcase your photography skills and expertise to others on photography websites like 500px, Flickr, Unsplash, Pexels, Shutterstock, etc. There are many other good websites.
When searching to figure out how to set your prices, don’t begin by setting too high prices and not too low either. As you get clients and projects, you can increase your pricing. If needed, you can even get your friends, family, and relatives to pose to get some shots for your website. People need photos and videos all year, use your skills and talent to make money.
- Sell products
If you’re a crafty person, you can easily sell your products online. If you are good at designing birthday and anniversary cards, jewelry, painting, crafting handmade goods, etc., you can use your passion and earn cash by selling them online in your spare time. In this era, online business is booming, and you can use it to your advantage. You need to believe in your work and passion.
You can sell your crafty products on websites like Amazon FBA, Etsy, Square, Shopify, etc. We are all familiar with Amazon. Etsy is pretty easy to use.Make your profile on Etsy and list your products there. The site charges you $0.20 for each listing you make. But it’s worth it, as people trust Etsy. You can also promote your products on social media platforms.
- Rent out your property
Ifyou have a spare room or a property, you need to consider to renting it. It is hard to find places to live today as prices are so high that even a place of 1BHK is not affordable. You can benefit from this, it’s wiser to put a spare room or a property on rent than to do nothing about it. By renting your spare room or property, you can earn money monthly without doing anything.
Consider platforms like Magicbricks, PropertyWala, Quikr, Nestaway, Airbnb, HomeAway, etc. Make your profiles on a platform you find suitable, list and post pictures of your spare room or property, and select a proper price per month based on the measurement and furniture of the place. Be careful when choosing a tenant, as they will live in your spare place.
Conclusion:
In today’s fast-paced, busy world, everyone wants to have financial freedom, which leads them to turn to other ways to make money. This other way to make money is known as a side hustle. A side hustle is an additional job to your main job. People do side hustles to earn more money and meet their needs. Whether for bills, plans, etc., people do side hustles for various reasons.
In this write-up, we explored some interesting and good ways to earn money according to diverse interests, abilities, and needs. From freelancing and blogging to creating engaging content on social media platforms, the ways to earn money are limited by our imagination. There are many ways to earn supplementary income, and you can do it because of passion.
If you have decided to start a side hustle, know that you are taking a small step toward your financial stability and freedom. With opportunities available online and in person, there is sure to be a side hustle that meets your needs and passions. Whether you are crafting handmade products and goods, capturing moments through photography, or renting out your property, the road to financial freedom begins with a small step.