Although not every hobby should be burdened by the need for profitability, most of us have student loans and bills to pay. By our definition of a good side hustle, we are looking to create some kind of return on time invested. That means your side hustle needs to be financially viable and, over the long term, relatively stable—not just a part-time side job.
Most side hustles aren’t profitable right away, since your primary focus is tweaking your product or service and finding how best to reach your first clients or customers. You want to keep costs low in the early stages and work exclusively on “ringing the cash register” or proving out your idea with a sale so you can see what the numbers look like.
What does that mean exactly? Since the start of any project is completely lopsided in terms of time put in and revenue that comes back out, you don’t need to be as concerned with tracking your sweat equity.
But as you make progress and start earning extra money, it’s important to understand how much it costs you, in time or dollars, to get a client, customer, or sale and ultimately turn your effort into profit. If your resulting margins or hourly wages put you in the red, your side hustle may not be sustainable.
Beware of the term “passive income” as most side hustles aren’t fully passive. There will at least be some initial set up work to get your idea off the ground. The level of work can vary greatly from affiliate marketing on the low end to service-based businesses like pet sitting or handmade products on the high end. What you choose depends on how much time and effort you can afford to contribute to your particular side hustle.
An underappreciated benefit of side hustles is that they can act as a sandbox where you learn how to make good money online. Making extra money online is a distinct skill, and since most of us rely on traditional careers to pay the bills, it doesn’t always feel intuitive. Side hustles offer you a way to test small business ideas and practice in public.
And side hustles aren’t just a tool for making side income. Starting a side hustle is a way to teach yourself valuable skills and help yourself grow as a professional and as an entrepreneur. For writers, actors, painters, musicians, and artists of all types, a side hustle can provide artistic independence, professional growth and, eventually, a profitable way to turn your passion into your career. Whether you walk dogs, deliver food, or start selling online, you’re taking the first step on your way to financial freedom.
The amount of extra money you can make from a side hustle depends on a number of factors. While the following ideas are a great place to start, your level of effort, the demand for the work, and the market you’re in can all influence how much side hustle money will land in your bank account. Try:
The steps to starting a side hustle can vary depending on your creative skills, start up costs, and the level of effort for the side hustle you choose. A few basic first steps include:
After an initial investment of time and effort, some ideas can eventually net you a good monthly income. Some of the most profitable side hustle ideas to make extra money include:
The easiest side hustles to start are those that require no specialized skills or upfront costs. While many turn to the gig economy to offer services through sites like TaskRabbit or do rideshare driving, you can just as easily set up a simple website to help you get freelance work or sell your services.
It’s recommended to set aside at least a few hours each week to work on your side hustle. Prioritizing your time and focusing on the most important tasks to grow your business is crucial. With dedication and hard work, you can turn your side hustle into a successful business and make extra money
It's really easy to do. Simply shop via one of their tracked links and you'll get a percentage of what you spend back in the form of cashback.
Whether you are shopping online or in person, if you use a cashback credit card you will get a percentage of the money you spend back in cold, hard cash.
With the Platinum Cashback Everyday Credit Card (APR 30%), you can earn 5% cashback on all spending in the first six months of opening an account (limited to up to £100 cashback), and there's no annual fee to worry about.
With cashback cards and cashback sites, it’s important to remember the idea is to get money back for spending you were going to do anyway – don’t spend more than you can afford, simply so that you earn more cashback!
If you like to have a mooch around the shops and eat out, why not earn some extra cash as a mystery shopper?
Sites like MarketForce will pay you to drop in unannounced to shops and restaurants to rate the experience and will pay you for your feedback
If you can take a decent snap of cityscapes and landmarks, you may be able to flog them to agencies, including Shutterstock, Alamy and 123RF.
Earn Money In Spare TimeYouGov is among the most well-known sites, but it can take years to reach 5,000 points to get £50 in payment.
PopulusLive has fewer available surveys and the payout is limited to £50, but you could get up to £1 for every five minutes doing surveys, meaning you may reach your total quicker than you can on YouGov.
Learn more by reading our fitness reward app challenge, in which we look at how much we could earn using BetterPoints or Sweatcoin.
Websites like TaskRabbit allow people in certain cities to list tasks they need help with such as picking up a parcel or moving home that they are willing to pay for.
For example, if you have a driveway outside your home that you don’t always use, you could rent it out through a site like JustPark.
Your space is more likely to be in demand if you live near a sports stadium, tourist spot, airport or train station.
Sites like OfficeRiders effectively help companies find space in private places for work meetings, events and co-working, while Kitchen2Rent does what it says on the tin.
Sites like OfficeRiders effectively help companies find space in private places for work meetings, events and co-working, while Kitchen2Rent does what it says on the tin.
Sitting on an old mobile handset that you don’t use anymore? Don’t leave it gathering dust at the back of the cupboard, flog it online!
You can sell it yourself on a site like eBay or Gumtree, or use one of the many mobile phone recycling sites to see who will pay you the most for your old phone.
Unfortunately, there are a number of unscrupulous sites that promise big payouts, then try to short-change you once the phone has been sent.
A number of these sites offer cash for old tablets too, so if your old iPad or Kindle is sitting unloved and unused, cash it in too!
All you have to do is enter the barcode from your DVD on sites like MusicMagpie, Zapper and CeX, and the site will give you a price for your DVD.
It's probably a good idea to go down to a sale first, to get an idea of where the best pitches are and pick up some tips on how best to flog your wares!
How often do you reckon you search for something on Google, Amazon, eBay or Yahoo? Most of us search on at least one of these sites fairly regularly.
Enter your search term as usual, and a Qmee result will appear alongside the normal search results. Click on the Qmee result and you’ll pocket a cash reward.
It’s only a few pennies a time, but it can quickly add up. For more details, read Qmee: get paid to search online.
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