Photo courtesy Mohamed Hassan on Pixabay.
A side hustle is a piece of work that you get paid for in addition to doing your main job. If you feel that you are not earning enough in your main career you can try a side-hustle to increase your income and earn money for the things that you always wish to purchase. It is always a challenge to find a side hustle that matches your interest and time. Some of the side hustles that can help you earn money are-
1) Become a virtual assistant-
A virtual assistant job can be done remotely. Virtual assistants provide support to their employer by answering emails, organizing files, coordinating schedules, making travel arrangements, and performing administrative tasks so that their employer can focus on other important things in their job.
A person should have good written and verbal communication skills and efficient time management and organizational skills to really benefit the client. Knowledge of phone and video conferencing and cloud-based communication technologies is important. The more you lessen the stress of the clients the more they will rely on you. Since this is a remote job you must have a computer with a high-speed internet connection, a printer, and a copier/scanner.
2) Manage Social Media account of small businesses-
There are many small businesses that maintain social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and need a social media manager. They don’t have the time and expertise to post on these social media platforms. You can contact these small local businesses and offer them your services for a monthly fee.
3) Create courses online-
When you are well versed in topics which the others would like to learn then you can teach the same online. There are online platforms like Udemy and Coursera where you can connect with the students.
Udemy is a platform that allows instructors to build online courses on their favorite topics. Using Udemy’s course development tools the person can upload videos, ZIP files, and PowerPoint presentations. Students take Udemy courses to improve their job-related skills. The courses can be across many categories like business, arts, health, and fitness, language, and music.
4) Start a blog-
Blogging can be a good side hustle. If you can write on a subject you are passionate about it can earn you a good income. A blog can be on fashion, food, travel, music, fitness, lifestyle, sports, personal finance, politics, parenting, business, movies, news, and many other interesting topics.
It is not very costly to start a blog but it will take a few months for it to become successful and earn money. There are a number of ways in which a blogger can monetize their blog. It could be through advertisements, affiliate marketing, selling eBooks, selling digital courses and products, and sponsorships. Blogging can easily fit with your work schedule as you can always time when the blog will go live.
5) Create YouTube content-
Similar to blogging you can create YouTube content and your income will grow with the increasing number of viewers. The thing you would have to take care of is to create valuable content so that the audience enjoys the videos. You can make videos on topics like entertainment, food, gaming, beauty and fashion, music, sports, science and technology, travel. There are a number of ways you can earn from YouTube-like monetization through Google Adsense, affiliate marketing, or sponsored videos for companies.
6) Write an eBook-
It has become easy to publish a book nowadays. You don’t have to run behind the publishers and face lots of rejections. An eBook can be published with just the click of a button. You can publish the book for free on Amazon. The cover design for the book and formatting can also be done with some practice. The book would be distributed around the world and can be a source of passive income. Amazon pays a royalty of 70% if the price of the eBook is above $0.99. Publishing an eBook has become simple but it takes time to find an audience for your book. You can promote the book through social media and book discounting sites like Bookbub and Book Gorilla.
7) Freelance Writing-
If you have good writing skills you can become a freelance writer and earn some extra money. Write in a niche in which you have some expertise. Have a profile on LinkedIn and create a website. After this, you can pitch your work with your profile to various companies and publications.
Another way is to register on freelance sites like Upwork, Guru, PeoplePerHour and create profiles with some of your work. Freelance sites can become a good source of income. The benefit of becoming a freelance writer is that you can choose the working hours and need not commute as you can work from home.
8) Proofreading-
Proofreading involves reviewing a piece of article or writing to ensure it is free of spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors. There are other things that a proofreader tries to spot like the sentences appearing twice or date missing from a document. Companies hire proofreaders to ensure that their documents are free from errors otherwise it will reflect poorly on their business. Most of the proofreading nowadays gets done on computers so knowledge of editing software and spreadsheets proves useful. Proofreaders can also look for work on freelance platforms like Freelancer and Upwork.
9) Take Paid surveys-
Taking surveys doesn’t pay too much but can be an option if you have time. Online survey sites like Swagbucks, InboxDollars, MyPoints require consumers and survey-takers to complete their questionnaires and give honest feedback to market research companies. The opinion of consumers helps companies create better products and services. In exchange for taking surveys, people can earn rewards and the survey sites offer a variety of options to cash out the rewards.
10) Build websites for clients-
Being a part-time web designer can be a good side hustle. If you ever think of starting even a small business, you need to have a sufficient amount of capital, but for designing websites there is no upfront cost involved and you can work at your own pace. The two main requirements are a computer and high-speed internet. You may need software to help design and code websites. Most of the tools however are low on cost. The work timings can be flexible and you have to build trust with the clients by responding to their emails and correspondence in a reasonable time. The other services you can sell to your clients include, optimizing websites for SEO, writing web content and setting up social media accounts.
11) Peer to Peer lending-
Peer-to-Peer lending connects borrowers to lenders. Bank deposits nowadays offer a very low rate of interest. The lending process is considered safe if you lend through RBI-certified NBFC. The loan tenure in P2P lending can be from 6 to 36 months and the rate of interest varies from 10% to 36%. This is way above the bank interest rates. A person can spread his investments across a number of borrowers so that he is not affected much in case one of the borrowers’ defaults. Some of the P2P lending platforms in India are; Faircent, Lendenclub, OMLP2P, Cashkumar, i2ifunding, Lendbox, and Rupeecircle.
12) Transcribing-
Transcribing is to make a written copy of the audio recording. Transcription is one of the most popular work from home options due to its flexibility. There are a number of transcription companies and the rates vary from $12 to $30 per hour. The companies are TranscribeMe, SpeakWrite, GMR Transcription, CastingWords, Scribie, Speechpad, and Go Transcript.
13) Start a Dropshipping business-
Dropshipping is selling items on a website without holding any inventory. You contact the manufacturers and distributors who ship the product to the customers. A good thing about dropshipping is that you don’t have to have to hold inventory or keep a space to hold inventory. You can decide on the products you want to sell and find reputed distributors. Advertise your products using social media and provide good service.
When you decide to start a side hustle ensure that it does not interfere with your main 9-5 job. Sometimes you may have to do an extra shift in your main job, so see to it that the side hustle is easy to reschedule.
You work for long hours in your job and are left with little energy to do anything else. Other than this you have to devote time to your family and friends. Choose the side hustle that you are passionate about so that you would enjoy the work and not feel it as a burden draining away from your energy. Always choose a side hustle that can be scaled up in the future and can become your main business.
Also read- 9 best Freelancing Websites to find work.