If you are here now, it likely means you already know the importance of finding a side hustle to make some extra cash. A side hustle can increase your financial independence and security in today’s harsh global economy.
In many cases, relying solely on one income stream can make it hard to meet most of your financial needs. In the face of increasing inflation, wages and salaries are no longer enough to cater to basic personal and family needs these days. Hence, it will always be worth it if one looks for a side hustle to complement one’s earnings.
A side hustle also gives you the satisfaction of putting your passion to work. Most 9-to-5 jobs require you to do mundane activities throughout the entire year but finding a side hustle puts your unique passions and productivity to work. This can give you an added sense of self-fulfillment.
However, finding the right side hustle can be quite difficult. Some challenges need to be overcome. This article aims to offer you simple step-by-step tips on finding the right side hustle for you and begin making some cool extra cash.
Factors to Consider When Finding a Side Hustle
Finding a side hustle is not as easy as it looks but it requires looking into your abilities and analyzing the side hustle if it is something you can do. While many people enter a new side hustle because other people are succeeding in it, it is important first to start with what you can already do or what you are passionate about.
Here are the factors to consider when finding a new side hustle.
1. What skillset do you already have?
It would be best if you considered the skillsets you already have when finding a new side hustle. This will ensure you have a much easier journey along the way.
For example, suppose you have a native aptitude for writing or you find out that constructing sentences comes naturally to you. In that case, you might want to consider a new side hustle that takes this into account, instead of opting for something you are completely new to. Many people all over the world are now putting their experience in childcare into getting nanny jobs to make extra income.
2. How relevant is the side hustle?
Side hustle relevance is another thing to consider, especially in 2024 when artificial intelligence is on the rampage. Reflect on the long-term relevance of your side job and find ways you can make it more relevant in the changing years.
Many side hustle skills have been affected by new technology but many others are yet untouched. For example, you can still sell products online or do dropshipping as a viable side hustle. You can also leverage the new tech in any side hustle you want and find ways to keep it relevant despite the increase in the versatility of artificial intelligence.
3. Cost of starting the side hustle
There are both free and paid side hustle opportunities but it is better to start with a free side hustle opportunity particularly if you are on a budget. If the cost of starting a side hustle is too high for you to afford, you don’t have to give up. Rather, look for free or cheaper alternatives.
You may need to purchase courses for a new side hustle skill or pay a registration fee with a platform that allows you to start with your new side hustle. However, options like freelancing, affiliate marketing, dropshipping, programming, etc, do not generally require you to pay any money before rendering your unique services.
Whether free or paid, some side hustle opportunities may require you to pass some assessment checks, e.g., nanny background checks in the case of finding reliable nanny jobs as a side hustle. However, the efforts and/or money you put into finding your side hustle will be worth it in the end.
4. How much time do you need to commit?
Building any side hustle requires some time investment and you have to bear this in mind and plan appropriately. A side hustle might mean that you already have a main job you want to supplement, or it is something that can allow you to take up another job if you choose to or have the opportunity to do so.
In cases where your main job takes a lot of your time, you need to plan more carefully when pursuing your side hustle. For example, starting a side hustle as a medical professional requires you to plan your time to the last minute if you want to succeed in your side hustle.
Easy Ways to Find Your Side Hustle Now
After giving a thought to the important factors discussed above, it is time to begin finding your side hustle now. Here are some great ways to find a side hustle that adds extra cash to your wallet.
1. Search online
The first place you want to check when looking for a hustle or a side hustle opportunity is the internet, which is why you may be reading this post in the first place. There are a lot of amazing side hustle opportunities available on the internet if you know how to find them.
The internet has also made remote side jobs available to anyone who has the required skills and experience. After developing your skills to a good extent, you might want to hop in the search for relevant side jobs. Keyword phrases like “jobs near me”, “writing jobs near me”, and “remote [side job type]” can fetch you several side job opportunities relevant to your field which you can choose from.
You will also find useful websites that regularly and promptly post remote job offers which can make it easier for you to find and apply for a side job opportunity as soon as it is available.
2. Ask a friend close to you
Asking a friend can help you find side hustle opportunities easily. A friend who has some experience with side hustle can show you easier channels to find a new side hustle for you.
They can also open your eyes to other potential side hustle ideas you can try, in addition to what you currently do. They may also have experiences of other people who have succeeded in different side hustle categories further motivating you to carry on with your chase for a side hustle.
3. Talk to people in your side hustle area
Connecting with people who are ahead of you in the side hustle of your choice can help you find ways to avoid common mistakes, overcome challenges, and increase your chances of succeeding at a much earlier time. They may be willing to share their experience with you to help you succeed too.
There are many avenues for finding side hustle professionals; while you can find someone you already know around, you can also search for industry or side hustle professionals on the internet who are willing to share their principles of success with others.
Once you have seen the challenges and problems, you can better plan for them and increase your chances of achieving success in them.
10 Side Hustle Opportunities For You
Having seen the important factors as well as easy ways to find a side hustle opportunity, here are some side hustle recommendations you can consider. Use this list as a guide to what you might like and not necessarily as the final decision to hold on to.
These will include both online and offline side hustle streams you can consider today.
1. Start a blog
If you have a flare for writing and sharing information, starting a blog is a great side hustle to consider. It allows you to put your thoughts down in well-optimized formats that people would find interesting and valuable.
Starting a blog might also require you to have some basic technical web knowledge to give your site a good and user-friendly design, in addition to your valuable content.
Making money from a blog generally involves integrating advertisement, affiliate marketing, or SEO-related services into your site. As your traffic increases, the above enables you to make a lot of passive income from your site.
2. Start a YouTube channel
Starting a Vlog can be a source of extra income once can establish it. And if you have a knack for making, editing videos, and acting, a YouTube channel can be a viable side hustle for you.
First, you need to determine the kind of content you’d like to create. The secret to making great content is in doing the things you love to do.
Also, you can re-upload free-to-share videos to your channel to gather views and followers. And as your views increase on YouTube, you can monetize your channel to earn passive income from your video uploads.
3. Freelancing
Freelancing typically involves offering a service to someone on a temporary ‘gig’ basis. Once you complete a job, the contract ends, and then have to wait for another opportunity or take up gigs from someone else.
Freelancing can involve any service like writing, coding, editing, drawing, or just any skill that could be monetized in a freelancing platform. Popular freelancing platforms for these skills include Fiverr and Upwork.
Whether you have the skills or not, once you find a skill area you are passionate about, you can begin learning it to make your
4. Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing involves marketing products within your content after agreeing with the vendors that you would get a percentage off every purchase made through your influence. This can be through links within your blog post or attached to a YouTube video on your channel.
Affiliate marketing gives you another avenue to earn money from traffic to your video or text content. And it is a side hustle you can turn to in 2024 or beyond.
If you don’t have a blog or a video channel, there are still ways you can still practice affiliate marketing. By leveraging free platforms like Medium, Substack, Quora, etc, you can create content that provides valuable information to your audience and embed affiliate links into them.
Other affiliate marketplaces include Leadpages, ConvertKit, ClickBank, and ShareASale. This helps you affiliate links to several products you can choose from.
If you’re a content creator, course educator, or influencer working in the world of e-commerce, the Shopify Affiliate Program might be a great side income stream for you.
5. Selling digital products
Digital products are files you can easily share, or upload in a downloadable format for other users’ consumption. This includes information documents, video tutorials, software, audio lessons, or any services that give value to other people.
The steps in selling digital products involve identifying a service or information need, creating a digital product that provides a solution to that need, and then putting it out there for interested buyers to purchase.
The benefit of selling digital products is that once a copy is produced, you can sell it to many people without the need to create another one.
6. Rent out your home or spare room
If you have heard of Airbnb, do you know you can do something similar with your free room spaces? Airbnb is popular for linking homeowners to visitors where homeowners can earn money by renting out free rooms in their apartments.
If you have a large home or some rooms that are not currently being put to use, you can make some passive side income by renting out these rooms to visitors. To make it easier, try listing your home or spare rooms for short-term rentals on platforms like Airbnb, Vrbo, Agoda, and Plum Guide (UK only). These make the process of listing your home or room space easier and efficient.
You might need to revamp the rooms to make them more comfortable to travelers, thereby increasing your potential for higher profits.
7. Participate in paid online surveys
Participating in paid online surveys is another way to earn passive income while you continue with your main job. Companies and market researchers are always looking for ways to know what people think of their products and services. They utilize this information to improve the quality of their products or services.
By being a paid online surveyor, you can offer genuine responses and earn extra cash by simply doing so. Websites like Branded Surveys, Swagbucks, and Survey Junkie lists paid surveys you can respond to and get paid.
8. Be an app tester
Similar to market researchers and production companies, app developers and software companies also seek people who can test their products to ensure that there are no bugs or undetected errors when using their products. This is where being a paid app tester comes in.
By reducing glitches in their software, these companies can increase their profits. So, you should see yourself as meeting a need by testing their apps/software.
While the amount paid may differ for each provider or platform, some competitive app-testing gigs can offer up to $100 for a 60-minute test which is enough money for the time spent. To find an app, website, or software testing gigs, sites like UserTesting, UTest, Userlytics, UserCrowd, and Enroll are a great place to check.
9. Be a transcriber or translator
Many organizations want careful documentation of videos and audio reports of their meetings or legal proceedings to be converted to text. But while software that can automatically transcribe such content now exists, sometimes the services of a transcriber cannot be replaced.
A transcriber or translator listens to the voice or video and carefully re-writes the speeches into text. After which, they send it back to the organization that requested it and get paid after rendering the service. One benefit of this side gig is that you don’t need to be physically present to land the gigs.
To find transcriber gigs, check out freelancer sites like Rev, TranscribeMe, and GoTranscript for transcription side hustle opportunities.
10. Dropshipping
With dropshipping, you can make money selling products you don’t actually own or produce online. It works by taking different people’s orders for products that they like and then making the order with their money after they have paid for the product, logistics, and profit.
Dropshipping is a great side hustle business-oriented individuals can venture in until they can establish their shop or warehouse.
Final words
Having a side hustle is important for several reasons. It gives you an extra source of passive income, builds your sense of self-fulfillment, as well as gives you more financial freedom/security.
We have seen some important factors to consider when finding a new side hustle and how to go about doing so. You can easily find a new side hustle by searching online, asking friends, and seeking information from individuals who have excelled in your side hustle field.
Lastly, we saw some side hustle ideas you can explore. Remember there are more side hustle ideas to try; these only act as a guide while the earlier tips help you decide which side hustle you would ultimately choose.
In what ways have you found a new side hustle before? Share with us in the comments section below.
