How to Choose Your Side Hustle

 Have you ever thought about picking up a side hustle? Honestly, who isn’t? With remote work becoming more readily available, the world is at your fingertips many people are turning to side hustles to make a little extra cash these days. With what feels like a million options to choose from, everyone from college students to retirees can see the appeal of a side hustle, but how do you decide which side hustle is right for them? Below you’ll find our thoughts on how to decide on and get started with the best side-hustle option for you! 

What Makes a Good Side Hustle: Though Tik Tok stars and Instagram influencers alike will convince you that just about anything could make you a millionaire, in reality, most side hustles will remain a way to make small amounts of extra money to either subsidize your income or have a little bit of extra savings and that’s perfectly okay! That being said, a good side hustle should be something that you enjoy doing. The side hustle you choose should challenge you, and it likely will, but it’s not your job and it doesn’t have to feel like work. 

How to Figure Out the Right Side Hustle for You:
Before getting started, consider checking out a few resources to get a well-rounded sense of all of the side hustles out there. Try this easy e-book that goes into details on the top 30 side hustles for beginners. Once you’ve narrowed down your areas of interest, here are the top things you should keep in mind: 

The Costs: 

1. Budget: Some side hustles, like retail arbitrage, take an initial financial investment to get started. Think about how much you are able and willing to invest (there are lots of side hustles that take very little or no money to get started). One great thing about side hustles is that you can progressively increase once you get started.
2. Effort: As I mentioned before, many people make a living online trying to sell “get rich quick” side hustles. However, effort is one of the number one things to consider when you want to get started with a new project. If you only have two hours a week to commit to something, it’s likely not going to make you a millionaire (but never say never!). Think realistically about how much time and energy you will have to put into a side-hustle
3. Skill: There are lots of side hustles that you can get started with that require little to no skill, however, some (and often those that are more financially rewarding) do require a certain level of skill. For example, say you want to start flipping houses. There is a whole myriad of knowledge and skills that would be vital to have before you got started. Think about the skills you have or the ones you’d be interested in developing and start from there.  
4. Risk: Risk is always something you want to take into consideration when getting started with a new side hustle. Some can be very low risk, like taking online surveys and affiliate marketing, however, other side-hustles like day trading might have more risk associated.  

 
The Benefits: 

1. ROI [Return on investment]: When you are just starting out, it can take some time to learn how to measure your ROI. However, once you have a little experience, it can become relatively clear how much money you will make in exchange for your investment, time, or effort. For example, when you are just starting out, have your own car, and like to drive, starting as an Uber Eats driver might be a high ROI hustle. However, if you don’t have a car or don’t like driving, then picking up Uber Eats might be a relatively low ROI for you
2. Scalability: Scalability is the amount of growth you can expect from your chosen side hustle (some side hustles will stay just that, but others have the potential to grow into full-scale businesses) Though most side hustles might not make you a millionaire, it is not uncommon for a side hustle to turn into a full-time, lifelong career. If this is something that sounds appealing to you, then scalability might play a big factor in which gig you choose. 
3. Sustainability: Is this something you can do forever (or at least into the foreseeable future)? Though side hustles are flexible and can be set aside if life gets in the way, it’s smart to think through how long you can reasonably maintain the level of cost associated with your chosen gig.
4. Passive vs. Active:  Active side hustles are ones that involve trading time, services, or goods. Things like furniture flipping, blog writing, and pet sitting are all possible “active” side hustles.  Passive side hustles, alternatively, are ways of making money that often involve a great deal of initial set-up work, but eventually, make money with little to no involvement. This includes things like stock investments, affiliate marketing, and REITs, to name a few.  

Now that you know what to think about when choosing a side-hustle, all there is left to do is choose! Pick something, do some research, and jump in. If the first option doesn’t work out, then I encourage you to think about trying again. Side hustles are meant to be fun, so don’t worry so much about failing and think more about how excited you are to get started! Interested in picking up virtual assistant work as a side hustle? check out our blog post “Five Thing I Wish I’d Known Before Getting Started”. ​