Starting Your Side Hustle: Best Ways You Can Make Extra Money From Home

It’s no secret that making money is a necessary evil. The cost of living continues to creep up on us, and the standard 9-to-5 job just isn’t cutting it anymore. More than 40% of Millennials are freelance workers or gig economy participants, according to the Pew Research Center. That means they either sell their services through an intermediary (like an online marketplace) or directly to consumers via an e-commerce site. If you want to join them, consider starting a side hustle. These smaller jobs from home are perfect for keeping your day job while still generating some cash on the side. You may not be able to quit your day job tomorrow and live off your side hustle alone—but it can be one way to ease into that transition over time. 

Make Money From Home: How to Start a Side Hustle

Before you dive into your side hustle, make sure you do your homework. That means finding out more about your market and potential customers:

Who are they? How old are they?

What are their interests?

Where do they gather online?

What do you know about your target audience?

What are their habits?

Where do they spend their money?

For example, if you want to start an online business in the health and wellness niche, you’d want to know what health and wellness issues your customers are facing and how they go about solving those issues. If you want to sell your art online, you’d want to know what your customers are looking for and why they’d want to buy it. 

Research your market

When you’re ready to start researching your market, there are several different ways to go about it. You can dig into Google Keyword Planner, use tools like SEMrush or SpyFu, or check out Pinterest or Instagram to see what kinds of topics or products are trending. You can also head to Amazon and check out the bestselling books or products in your niche to see what’s already out there. You can even talk to people in your real life: Ask family, friends, and co-workers what kinds of products or services they would like to see on the market. You can also dive into forums and online communities to see what people are excited about and what they’d like to see more of in their lives. 

Write and publish an eBook

If you’re an expert in your field, sharing your expertise in an eBook is a great way to make extra income from home. You can publish it on your website or blog, sell it on your e-commerce site, or pitch it to an existing online publishing company like Amazon Kindle, Barnes, and Noble, or iBooks. You can also use a service like Book In A Box to help you write, publish and sell your eBook. If you are thinking of creating an eBook as a side hustle, keep in mind that it can cost you anywhere from $50 to $500 or more to publish one, depending on your topic, length, and level of editing. 

Create and sell an online course

If you have a skill or expertise you can teach via video or audio, you can create and sell an online course. You can publish it on your site, sell it on a marketplace like Udemy or Skillshare, or pitch it to an existing online learning platform like Coursera, Lynda, or Creative Live. To get started, you’d want to create a framework for your course, decide on your pricing, and create an outline or outline for each lesson. If you’re thinking of creating an online course as a side hustle, keep in mind that it could cost you anywhere from $500 to $5,000 or more to create and publish your course, depending on your topic, length, and level of editing. 

Write and publish a blog post or e-book

If you have expertise in your field, you can also share it in blog posts or e-books. Like with an eBook, you can either publish it on your website or blog, sell it on your e-commerce site, or pitch it to an existing online publishing company like Amazon Kindle, Barnes, and Noble, or iBooks. You can also use a service like Book In A Box to help you write, publish and sell your eBook. If you’re thinking of writing blog posts or e-books as a side hustle, keep in mind that it takes time to build an audience and see any return on your investment. 

Create and sell art, crafts, or merchandise

If you have creative skills, you can turn them into merchandise, like sewing, knitting, painting, pottery, or other crafts, and you can sell your creations online. You can also sell art online, too, whether it’s your paintings, drawings, sculptures or other artwork, or prints of work by other artists. You can sell your creations on your website or e-commerce site, or use a service like Etsy, Zazzle, or Redbubble to get your work in front of more customers. If you are thinking of creating and selling art, crafts, or merchandise as a side hustle, keep in mind that it could cost you anywhere from $50 to $500 or more to get your supplies up and running. Plus, you must have the patience to create enough work to sell and be willing to price it competitively enough to make a profit. 

How To Network Market: 5 Steps That Will Get You Started

Sell your expertise

If you have expertise in your field, you can share it with others and charge for your advice or consultation services. This can be as simple as setting up a profile on a site like Upwork or Fiverr, or as extensive as building your website or bringing on clients through a booking site like YouWorkForThem. If you’re thinking of selling your expertise as a side hustle, keep in mind that you’ll need to set clear hours, have a schedule and be ready to turn away clients if you’re booked. 

Bottom line

When you’re ready to start your side hustle, remember to start small. Don’t try to take on too many tasks at once, or bite off more than you can chew. Once you figure out the ropes of your chosen side hustle, you can always look to expand your offerings in the future.

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