How Do You Go After a Unique Side Hustle To Start Making Money ASAP?
While a new year has brought a sliver of hope, it’s still tough out there for a lot of people. One-in-four Americans are having trouble paying their bills during the pandemic. With just 39 percent of Americans able to comfortably cover an unexpected expense of $1,000, I can see why.
Bankrate’s January Financial Security Index finds that “fewer than 4 in 10 U.S. adults could absorb the cost of a four-figure car repair or emergency room visit by tapping into savings.” Perhaps it’s not a surprise then that 70% of millennials and Gen Zers said COVID-19 made them reevaluate how they handle their money. While hubby and I are technically Xenialls, we too re-evaluated our finances during the pandemic and put new goals in place.
If you’re looking to start a side hustle to make more money outside of your job while you are out of work or while you’re in school, Martin of Studenomics is here to help! We all can’t be Twitch or YouTube Superstars like Pokimane.
The following post is contributed by Martin of Studenomics, where he tries to make personal finance fun since you have enough to stress about. You can click here to check out the wide range of content on everything from student loans to getting paid to drink coffee.
Are you looking to make some money on your own finally with some sort of a side hustle? There’s a lot of confusing information out there about earning more money. You end up getting lost in the content and you’re not sure of how to start. So you read another blog post and you look for more information. You end up doing nothing because you feel overwhelmed.
We’re going to look at how you can go after a unique side hustle with your limited spare time to make some extra money… There are so many ways to make money yet you don’t know how to get started. I understand the feeling. This is why I want to help you make some money through a unique side hustle so that you don’t put this off any longer. I want you to start by the time you’re done with this article…
How do you get started with a unique income source?
“Anyone can do that.” This is the biggest criticism that you’ll hear about a random or new income source. The truth is that not just anyone can do it. There’s a reason that so few people actually make it happen. If it was so easy to start a business from home, then more people would be doing it. How do you go after a unique side hustle? Here’s the advice that I give to all new students who want to start making some money…
The trick is to focus on one thing and to actually launch.
“It is not that we have too little time to do all the things we need to do , it is that we feel the need to do too many things in the time we have.” — Gary Keller
When did we become so afraid of launching? When did we start to feel the need that we should be working on 20 things at once instead of going all-in on something? Most of us are dabblers and that honestly won’t get you anywhere. Go all-in on one option. You won’t see any results if you jump around from idea to idea. This option is naturally riskier, but that’s okay. Going all in and giving it your best effort will always beat wishing for it or never fully-committing. How do you know what the right idea is?
You don’t. You never will. You can launch a project that makes you rich and you’ll still be wondering what would’ve happened if you worked on that other project. This is just how life works. I don’t know what to tell you. You just have to launch one thing instead of reading about 20 different ideas. You have to focus on bringing one income stream to life. On that note…
Take some risks.
There are no guarantees here. If you want a guaranteed income, then you should get a job. If you want to grow a unique side hustle, you’re going to have to take some risks with either your time or money (or both). What are risks worth taking when trying to create a unique income stream?
- Invest some money into the right equipment. If your tools aren’t the best, then you won’t create the best work. It surprises me how many people are too cheap to buy the right camera or software.
- Create content that makes you feel uncomfortable. Sometimes you have to step outside of your comfort zone with the type of content that you create.
- Spend time on creating quality. Don’t be the kind of person who puts in a half-hearted attempt. That will only leave you frustrated. Take the time to create quality work so that you can be proud of it.
- Spend time working on a project. We all want a guarantee when it comes to working on something, but there are no guarantees when you work on your own projects. Anything can happen. Nothing can happen.
- Spend money on becoming better. You might have to pay for accountability or for specialized knowledge so that you can really understand this side hustle.
Stay consistent and find help along the way.
It’s easy to get discouraged when an annoying co-worker mocks your idea or your friend who’s never tried anything tells you that it won’t work. You have to find ways to stay consistent and to enlist help from those who have done what you want to do. The easiest ways to find help include:
- Join a mastermind. There are many Facebook Groups dedicated to every possible niche out there. You can easily find a group of like-minded folks to bounce ideas off.
- Find inspirational people on social media. Not everyone will mentor you directly. You can learn a lot from observing the right people and watching what they do.
- Look for anyone you may know who has done this before. You may find a friend on Facebook or someone that you know has done something similar and could guide you.
With some accountability, you’ll be forced to be more consistent so that you don’t give up at the first sign of a roadblock. Now it’s time to look after unique side hustles that are worth trying.
What are unique side hustles worth pursuing?
“I can’t figure out what to do for extra money.” — most blog readers. There are many ways to make money. The problem is that we end up chasing 7 different ideas which result in none of them working. The trick is to see one idea through to find out if it’s for you. If you jump around between ideas, you’ll never know what you’re actually capable of.
Here are some simple ideas worth pursuing in your free time…
Start an Airbnb Experience. You can start your own experience that you deliver in-person or online. You essentially offer your own activity online or offline. This one was much more profitable pre-global pandemic, but the good news is that you can apply to host an Experience for when things eventually go back to some sort of normal. What are examples of Airbnb Experiences that you can start?
- Anything that’s food-related.
- Anything unique that you can offer.
- Dance lessons.
- Cooking classes.
The general idea here is that you can turn any interesting or quirky idea into a profitable venture. Become an Instagram Influencer/grow on social media. Have you thought about becoming an Instagram Influencer or doing something on social media? This one may seem silly but there’s plenty of room for more influencers and industry experts. The goal is to find a niche that isn’t too crowded and to position yourself as an expert on a platform. Here are your options for getting started with social media:
- Work on becoming an Instagram influencer.
- Start a YouTube channel.
If you don’t make money directly through your social media channel, you can always turn around and offer freelancing services related to the platform. Offer a freelance service. Freelance work is one of the best ways to make money online. There are many platforms to offer your freelance services on these days. There are also many different services that you could offer for money. Here’s how you can get started with freelancing:
- Look at your skills that could be marketable.
- Check out job boards to see what the rates are like.
- Apply for gigs and advertise your services.
What are job boards to help you get started?
That’s how you can make money through freelancing. The good news is that freelancing can apply to editing videos to becoming a Virtual Assistant. Websites like Fancy Hands makes it easy to find work that you could perform. Anything else that you can think of.
There are many other options for making money with a unique side hustle. You can sell digital printable downloads on Etsy. You can become a consultant for a specific social media platform. You can work your own hours as an independent insurance agent like Chris Lalor of LifeInsuranceShoppingReviews.com. The guy RV’s across America working from wherever he decides to stop. The options are endless as long as you begin now.
Or you could Teach English Online and Earn Money Anywhere! Brit from LifeofBrit is an EFL teacher turned travel blogger traveling the world while working. Check out her guide that shows you how to earn money online and work from anywhere!
The goal from this article is to help you land your first side hustle gig so that you can start making money instead of reading about making money. Good luck with your new venture and let us know in the comments what you plan on trying.
