How To Run A Successful Side Hustle
Friday, October 07, 2022This is a collaborative post, but all opinions are my own
For some, side hustles are a way of life. They help you through the tough times by making ends meet, but do you know how to run a successful side hustle? For an 18-year-old, I manage a full-time job, blog and multiple side hustle quite well. Through lockdown, I had time to grow my businesses and live off of them while I was furloughed. I am going to show you how to find the right side hustle for you, and how to build it into something successful.
Choose The Right Side Hustle For You
Side hustles can be time-consuming, but they shouldn't be your main focus. Ideally, you want a side hustle that can earn you money while you're doing your full-time job, meeting friends and even sleeping. I've created a list of side hustles that you could try to start you off with ideas!
When deciding what side hustle to start, you need to think about what you have access to. If you've got creative skills, setting up an Etsy page to sell your artwork would be great. If you have gardening tools, you could try to offer landscaping or gardening services. Side hustles are meant to be little jobs you do alongside your normal job, so you don't want to choose anything that will take up too much of your time. Here are some things you should think about when choosing your side hustle:
- Do you have the tools for the side hustle? - Don't set up a cake business if you don't have the piping tips and skills to hand
- Are you passionate about the side hustle? - You don't want to pick something that you'll find boring as you won't put in your full effort
- Do you have the time for the side hustle? - While most side hustles take 20 minutes a day, some need a little more care and time to complete
- Do you have the money to invest in your hustle? - Like most things, a side hustle may require a little start-up capital
- Have you done your research? - Anything you choose needs to have research. You need to know your competition, pricing, where to get deals etc
Once you've chosen your side hustle and decided it's the right route for you, you'll need to build up your business. Every hustle is different. Not all side hustles will become successful in the same way. It's hard to define what success means for a hustle, as there are so many out there! Here are some general tips for creating a successful side hustle.
Use Social Media To Your Advantage
Money Twitter is an amazing place to be. There are so many accounts on there which are promoting their hustles and giving motivational advice to others. If you want your side hustle to be successful, make sure you're using social media to motivate you to continue. If you're being inspired by other people's success, you'll want to be better and work harder. You could even set up your own social media account to document your journey.
Social media is also beneficial to those who are running a business style hustle. If you're filling in surveys or doing group studies, social media won't benefit your hustle. If you've got a blog, Etsy business or a service to offer, creating a social media account will help you to promote it, possibly increasing your sales.
When it comes to your side hustle, social media posts won't always be enough. It might not be relevant to what you're doing. Why not instead consider other methods to get your side hustle big? For instance, why not consider a website so you can get some help from an SEO agency? This way, people can find your hustle through search engines, and you can make extra through other methods, such as paid ads. Embrace the various forms of marketing that are available! It's important to look into SEO if you have a website.
Be Passionate About Your Hustle
If you don't like your hustle, you won't put in the time or effort to keep it going. I love selling on eBay, blogging and filling in surveys on the train, so it means I want to work hard and make money from them. You need to enjoy what you do because hustles are side jobs. Yes, you may be making extra money to make ends meet, but hustles can also allow you to dive into your dream job without quitting your secure, full-time one. Why choose something you're going to hate, especially if you already dislike your full-time one?
Choose something you're excited about, that way, you'll be happier to work on it at 8pm when you get home from work. If you've always wanted to make fudge, try to set up a business at home or sell at local markets. If you like hosting, rent rooms of your house with breakfast services. Hustles are a chance for you to try out something new. Most of them have low start-up costs, so you won't be out of pocket if it goes wrong.
Stay connected
If, like most people, you use digital technology to take care of the administrative aspects of your work, then your ability to do things like responding to emails, get in touch with other team members, or even accept some payments might be affected by whether or not you’re able to connect to the internet where you are. To that end, it’s always a good idea to carry a portable wifi hotspot with you so that, regardless of where you might be, you’re able to find a connection. Of course, it costs money to keep it running, so you will only want to use it when you’re not able to find a decent connection near you. You might also want to look at tech like a card swiper for your phone to make it easier to accept multiple forms of payment regardless of where you are. Others use invoices to simply receive the payment after they have provided their services or products, too.Invest Time Into Your Hustle
Every week, schedule some time to work on your project. Whether you put aside 30 minutes a day or a whole weekend, you will need to have some time allocated to setting up your business. Lots of side hustles can be automated, so make sure you've scheduled time in to automate things. You don't need to put in a lot of time, but you should work on your hustle for at least an hour a week.
For me, I run an eBay business. Every Saturday, I will list everything I need to. The listing runs for a week, so I don't have to do anything else until the following weekend. I still answer my messages during the week. As for blogging, I try to automate everything on a Sunday and write during my lunch break, so that I can balance it with my full-time job. Finding what works for you time-wise is important for making your hustle successful. A lack of time will mean that your hustle may not take off. Too much time and you'll be pushing aside other priorities.
Make Sure It Doesn't Take Over Your Life
As much as you can enjoy your hustle and want to put every spare minute into it, make sure it doesn't consume your life. A hustle shouldn't mean you have no spare time, and you should only work in the time you've allocated for it. Occasionally, you can do a bit extra, especially if you get lots of orders or don't have plans. Make sure you're not cancelling things, being late for appointments or forgetting to do things just to work on a hustle.
A hustle is there to help you make a better life for yourself and do something you enjoy. It shouldn't become an extra burden because you're not getting anything else done. If you find yourself cancelling plans too often, not doing important tasks or even being late for work, you need to take a step back from your hustle. Your hustle can still be successful, even if you're not working on it daily. Plus, if you're working on it all the time, it's no longer a side hustle, and you could reach burn out.
Side hustles are a way of life for some people. I'd recommend every to have a side hustle, especially as it's another income source. The world is unpredictable, so who knows when you might become dependant on it. I love creating new ones and finding out how successful they could be. While it's easy to be consumed by making money on the side, make sure you're not forgetting the things that matter. What side hustles do you run, and are they successful? I'd love to know what you do to make money on the side!
Looking for more side hustle & business content?
Hi there! I'm Emily, and welcome to my little corner of the internet. You can find me preaching sustainability, hustling hard or working on my endless to do list! Together, we can make a productive, happy lifestyle!
4 comments
This is a great post Em! I am looking to start a side hustle again soon. I've done a handful of things throughout the years so I'm looking for something new and exciting. Thanks for sharing x
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These are some great tips! I began my small business in November selling knitted goodies (Gemz Crafts) because I love to knit and people were showing love for them too. So I decided to go for it, it is still small and I am trying to gain sales and a following but I love it and I know the success will come soon 😁
ReplyDeleteSide hustles are definitely great options for some people! I don't really have one as all my income comes through various streams via my blog. I don't think I'd be able to keep up with a side hustle!
ReplyDeleteThanks for these great tips on how to successful have a side hustle. It's hard to find one that balances your passion with not taking up too much of your time. But you're right that side hustles need to make sense to you - just because other people say that their side hustle makes them a lot of money with hardly any work doesn't mean it's a good idea for you to do. Thanks for the informative post!
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