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Choosing the right side hustle idea to explore starts with taking stock of your skills and interests. Your side hustle won’t take as much time as a full-time day job, but since it will claim some of your spare time, it should be something you genuinely like doing.
Read on for tips on how to choose a good side hustle idea for you, and five suggestions for projects that might fit your talents.
Identify your skills and areas of interest
The perfect side hustle is something that you enjoy doing and have some existing skill or knowledge in. Since this isn’t just a side job, a good side hustle idea is about more than your earning potential.
Are there hobbies or interests you could see yourself dedicating more time to and using to make extra money? Is there a skill you’ve developed through work or some other project that you could potentially use part-time for extra income?
Be thoughtful about what you’re comfortable with turning into a potential side gig. If you love baking, but think that running a micro-bakery would take the fun out of it for you, it may not be a great side hustle idea. Instead, you could focus on monetizing just one part of your hobby, like baking cookies, so that you still have parts of the hobby that are just for you.
After you’ve brainstormed a few side hustle ideas, do some initial research on whether it makes financial sense and who your potential followers or customers will be.
Is this a financially viable side hustle?
If you’re thinking of turning a passion project into a side hustle, consider whether there are people ready to pay for your product. Test the waters by researching similar businesses and tallying up your anticipated costs and earnings. Based on the time and money you’ll invest into the side hustle, is it worth what you’ll get out of it?
Who is the target audience for this side hustle?
You’ll find it easier to promote and build a brand for your side hustle if you know who your potential customers are. Do some research in your niche and develop an understanding of your audience’s:
Age range
Expected price range for your product
Familiarity with products like yours
Favorite brands
Interests and values
Online browsing and social media habits
Purchasing habits
See if there are small business owners and entrepreneurs in the same space, which is a sign that there’s high demand for what you’re doing. Pairing some preliminary research with an evaluation of your own interests and bandwidth will help you outline what type of side hustle is best for you to explore.
5 side hustle ideas to try
You can turn just about any project into a side hustle if you have an engaged audience. But there are some common paths you can take by expanding on your current skill set.
To get you started, here are five side hustle ideas to consider, based on your experience and interests.
1. Share your writing
There are many ways to share your personal writing with an audience. No matter what type of writing you do, you can easily create a blog or email newsletter for your work. You can even consider releasing e-books, if your writing would fit the format.
For example, a fiction or poetry writer can share short stories in any of the formats above. But if you’re a writer who simply has an interest in a specific topic, like pop culture or reading, you can become a blogger or newsletter writer and share your findings or thoughts on those topics.
If you have expertise in a particular subject, like personal finance, you can share short-form advice in a blog and newsletter and release long-form e-books on the topic. That could be as simple as a collection of your existing budgeting advice or a new project, like a workbook that walks someone through good money management techniques.
With a large enough audience, you can earn extra cash from your blog or newsletter with affiliate marketing, paywall some of your content, and sell your e-books in an online store.
2. Create physical products
Do you have a hobby that involves making a physical item with your hands, like baking, embroidery, or pottery? These hobbies naturally lend themselves to a side hustle, because you can sell your work in person or online. Even if you don’t make a physical product, custom merch options can help you turn design ideas into mugs, T-shirts, and other goods for an online business.
Rather than set up a store on a third-party platform, create your own online store so that you have more control over your products and can start building a brand. Squarespace’s ecommerce websites have tools and integrations that make it easy to buy shipping labels, track orders, handle customer service, and promote your products.
If you have an existing brand with a following or have your own digital art, add an online store to your website to earn passive income from custom products featuring your logo or artwork. With a print on demand partner, you just upload your images, choose your products, and they take care of production, inventory, and shipping.
3. Make digital products
You don’t have to create physical items to make a side hustle out of your hobby. In addition to e-books, you can start a side hustle sharing graphic design templates, stock photos, image presets, or even audio clips.
Creatives who make digital art, for example, can sell digital reproductions of their work. Or, you could apply your design skills to creating resume templates. A photographer can license some photos out as stock photos or sell photo editing presets to followers and peers who want to create similar images. You can also host a podcast on your website or license out audio clips.
You can sell digital products from an online shop page on your website. The process will be very similar to selling physical products, but you won’t need to worry about shipping or pickup options.
4. Teach a class or course
If you have expertise or professional experience in a specific topic, you can make a side hustle out of sharing that knowledge and experience with others. Assuming you’re comfortable in front of a camera, try recording and sharing an online course or class on your area of expertise.
Classes are one-off lessons or workshops, like a bodyweight strength training class or a workshop focusing on a single yoga pose. Courses include multiple classes that build on each other to reach an end goal, like learning the basics of playing guitar.
You can teach live, record and upload classes, or both. Once you’re ready to charge for a class or course, you can create a Member Site on your website to protect the content for paid members.
5. Offer your services
Experts who aren’t necessarily comfortable with teaching a class or course can still turn their expertise into a side hustle. Instead of teaching into a camera, you can share your advice on a one-on-one basis as a coach, consultant, or service provider.
For example, an editor can offer consulting appointments or proofreading to writers, or a hobby photographer can sell photoshoot packages. To manage appointments and invoices, add a scheduling management tool to your website so that anyone who’s interested can easily book an appointment and pay you for your work.
Think through the ideas above and make your own list, then decide which you could start exploring in your free time. Once you’ve chosen an idea, learn how to launch a side hustle.