Welcome to day 8 of Blogmas! Today we’ll be looking at how to find and start a side hustle.
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a side hustle is:
a piece of work or a job that you get paid for doing in addition to doing your main job.
Cambridge Dictionary
It seems more and more people are starting a side hustle alongside working their full or part-time job and making that successful leap to entrepreneurship. The beauty of side hustles is that they are usually flexible, done from home and can be incorporated into your current hobbies or passions. It could also be an extension of your main job to either develop your skills or create a freelance portfolio or a way of testing out a new career path. And of course, you could have more than one side hustle – they are a great way of creating a diverse career and income, especially during unsettled times.
Tips to find your ideal side hustle
Unsure of where to start? Here are some of my top tips to find your ideal side hustle:
- Consider your skill set
What particular skills could you offer? What do you have experience or expertise in? Is there anything you could extend to a side hustle?
- Think about your hobbies and passions
What do you enjoy doing in your spare time? Do you have a passion for crafts or writing? If you could do anything as a career or in your day-to-day life what would you do?
- What is your unique selling point?
If you’ve read my post on 10 Steps to Create a Personal Brand you will know that your unique selling point (or USP) is YOU! It’s your personality, attention to detail, forward-thinking attitude, customer service and/or reliability. It’s what you can offer that no one else can.
Side hustle ideas
Ok so you’ve got an idea of what you could offer and what makes you and your experiences unique. Here are 35 ideas for side hustles to get you started:
- Interior design/decorator
- Tutoring or coaching
- Personal trainer
- Franchise consultant – For example The Body Shop at Home or Avon
- Wellbeing or life coach
- Create an online course
- Dog walking or grooming
- Sell your products online – You can sell physical or digital products on platforms like Etsy
- Refurbish furniture
- Babysitting/Nanny
- Start a blog
- Party planning
- Catering
- Photographer
- Real estate – renovations, flipping houses, renting out property or room or running a holiday home
- Handyman {or woman!}
- Digital products
- Delivery driver
- Local tour guide
- Graphic or web design
- Writing – freelance, ghost-writer, editing
- Social media management
- YouTube
- Write and publish an eBook
- Mystery shopping
- Cleaning
- Home organisation
- Teach a language or an interpreter
- Personal shopper
- Affiliate marketing
- Extra in a movie/programme
- Marketing focus groups
- House sitter
- Virtual Assistant
- Create a smartphone app
Where to start?
You’ve thought about your skills and passions and have an idea for a potential side hustle. What next? Here are a few things to consider and get you started:
- How much time can you commit?
Most side hustles take commitment and consistency and can, initially at least, take up a lot of time. If you are working a full or part-time job and/or have family or children to care for you need to consider when you can work on your side hustle without impacting negatively on your day-to-day life. How much time will your side hustle take? Is it something you could do in the evenings or weekends? Draw up a draft schedule to see how you can balance your jobs as well as leaving time for yourself, family and friends.
- What do you need to get started?
Do you need to create stock? Will you need specific tools or equipment? Do you need to create a website or social media account?
- Is there a financial commitment?
Stock costs, website subscription, insurance, accountancy package – it’s easy for costs to add up either as an initial investment or on a monthly or annual basis. Make sure you tot up the potential costs to ensure your side hustle is worth the outlay; noting some side hustles can take time to create a decent income {for example YouTube or affiliate marketing etc.}
- Market research
Is your side hustle something people need? Chances are you can put your own unique spin on something but conducting a bit of market research is a great way of testing the waters to see what uptake may be like. Creating a simple questionnaire in Google Forms is a great way to circulate and collate market research.
- Finding your ideal clients/customers
You have your product or idea. You know it’s something people are interested. So how do you find potential clients or customers? Take some time to think about who your ideal client/customer would be – What age range are they? What do they like to do? Where do they hang out online? How will they interact with you {via your blog, Instagram account, in person or in print?}
- Consider a strategic plan/goals
I’ve always found it helpful to create a simple strategic plan of action and set of goals. To put it simply a strategic plan considers where you are, where you want to be and how you can get there. Setting short, medium and {if you can} long-term goals {even if these change} is also a great start to thinking how you’d like to progress your side hustle or the initial steps you need to take.
Ellie x
Business Health and Home 