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Unlike a side job, your side hustle shouldn’t be one of your main sources of income at the start. But as your project grows, it’s natural to think about ways to earn some extra money for the spare time and investment you’ve put into your work.
A great side hustle gives you flexibility to decide how much you earn and when it’s time to grow. With tools for selling digital and physical products, setting up gated content and sponsorship opportunities, and charging for your services or knowledge, there are plenty of ways to turn your project into a steady stream of extra income at your own pace.
Who can earn money from a side hustle?
As long as you have an interested customer base, you can make money from your side project while working on it part-time. If your earnings grow enough over time, you can look at your budget and consider whether it’s possible to make it your full-time job.
That means that you get to decide how you earn your money and how much you ultimately want to earn. With a following that’s interested in your side hustle ideas and a strategy for marketing or making new work, you have a chance to keep earning.
6 ways to make money from a side hustle
There are many ways to start monetizing your work. That applies whether you make digital products or physical items. Here are are a few possible methods you can explore for your side project:
Start an online store: You can sell physical products and digital products, like videos, in an ecommerce store on your website. With a Squarespace Commerce plan, you can manage your inventory, add product photos and descriptions, and manage fulfillment.
Sell custom merch: Start earning passive income by selling custom products using a print on demand service. You upload your own art or a logo and choose products for your store like clothing or mugs. Then, the custom merch partner makes, stores, and ships everything for you.
Charge for access: Set up a paywalled section of your website where you can share exclusive gated content. You can use this to post bonus content like a video showing how you make one of your products, recipes or newsletters, and podcast extras.
Sell your services: Add a scheduling system to your website if your side hustle is something you can share with clients one-on-one, like coaching. With Acuity Scheduling, you can create appointment types and custom intake forms. Then you can send and manage invoices.
Teach classes: Share your unique skills by filming and sharing one-off classes or a complete course of multiple classes. You can sell class videos in your online store or put access in the gated section of your website.
Sponsored content or ads: If you have a loyal following, you can earn income with brand partners, affiliate marketing, or advertising. These posts don’t have to be inauthentic. Choose partners that you and your audience care about, so everyone benefits.
How much money can you make from a side hustle?
Your earning potential is a mix of the amount of time and effort you can invest in your project and whether there’s high demand for what you’re offering. The more time you can spend on creating and promoting your work, the more likely you are to build and grow a customer base. Some people can eventually turn their side hustle into a full-time small business.
The income you’re able to make also depends on what you’re selling. Someone can charge much more for preparing your taxes than they can when selling a t-shirt, for example. Similarly, someone with a bigger following or with fewer competitors might be able to charge more for a more sought-after or quality product. Do some research into your niche to get a sense of what’s possible and what you’d like to work toward.
When and how to scale your side business
It’s best to start a new project slowly and scale over time to avoid overcommitting yourself or trying to make and promote too many things at once. But once you’ve established yourself with one type of product or service and started to get a steady stream of customers, it could be time to find ways to grow.
Before you try to scale, make sure that you have the time and financial resources to dedicate to growing a new side of your business. You don’t want your original side hustle to suffer when your focus shifts.
How you scale depends on your specific business and target audience. Have your customers expressed an interest in any other projects from you? Is there a natural next step you have in mind? You can start small here too. A fitness instructor selling recorded classes could start teaching live, for example. Or a baker selling cookies could add bread to their product offerings.
Once you know how you want to earn extra cash from your side hustle, it’s time to promote your launch on social media and beyond.