Surviving in the world today with a single source of income can be draining, especially when that source of income is not enough to cover your expenses. Therefore, it is essential to have a side hustle or gig, as it is commonly called. If you are interested in knowing about side hustles, you can start today. Then this article is for you. Enjoy!
Before I talk about the side hustles you can start today, let’s quickly have a run-through of what a side hustle is about.
Table of Contents
What is a side hustle?
A side hustle can be classified as a job done along with the main job; it is often done to help sustain one’s income. Unlike the main job, a side hustle might not be formal, and it can be in the form of a business or activities that help generate extra income for people. A side hustle can also be referred to as a side gig or side job.
The importance of side hustles
- It is an extra source of income
- Side hustles enhance skill development; through side hustles, you can be exposed to learning skills you did not know beforehand.
- It can be used as a backup plan in case of job loss; side hustles can help sustain the employee till they get another job.
- Side hustles can expose you to understand your strengths and weaknesses.
Disadvantages
- Side hustles can cause distractions at work; workers who cannot plan and manage time well might find it challenging to separate side gigs from work.
- The pay might be small; It requires skills, time, and experience to get well paid.
- It affects work-life balance. Side gigs can make you work all day; you will be required to switch from your main job to your side hustle daily, which in the long run can affect you. However, not all side hustles are done daily.
- Side hustles can confuse career choice
Now that the definition of a side hustle, its importance, and its disadvantages have been clearly defined, let’s get straight into the top eight side hustles you can start today.
Top 8 Side Hustles You Can Start Today
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Food Business/Small-scale Agribusiness
As an employee looking at the best side hustle to help keep you sustained before you get your monthly pay, you can start a food or small-scale agribusiness. This is one of the most profitable businesses you can think of; humans can’t do without food, so you do not have to worry too much about who to sell to. All you need is to research the type of food/agribusiness you want to go into. Then, you can decide to sell raw food items, farm fresh vegetables & fruits, or cooked meals.
You can also decide to start agribusiness from scratch by farming food crops or animal husbandry. All these are listed under the food and agribusiness sector. First, however, you must ensure you have what it takes to start this business.
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Beauty & Cosmetics/Hairdressing Business
The beauty/cosmetic industry is one of the booming industries in the world. We all want to take good care of ourselves, and that is where beauty needs to come in. this is one of the most profitable side hustles you can start today. Another exciting thing about this side hustle is that it does not require much capital when starting. With a few tools and hairdressing skills, you can create and eventually introduce cosmetics sales later.
- E-book Publishing
Selling ebooks is also one of the most sustainable side hustles you can start today. You can self-publish books online and sell them on different platforms for cool cash. For this side hustle, you will be required to have background knowledge of writing, copywriting, editing, and publishing. This will help you know how to sell the right ebook to the right audience. You can sell your ebooks on platforms like; Amazon kdp, CreateSpace, iBooks, IngramSpark, and Inkshares.
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Freelancing
One exciting thing about this type of side hustle is that it is a broad field; you can do thousands of things under freelancing that will serve as an additional source of income for you. Just as the name sounds, freelancing is working on online platforms from any location you are comfortable with. You can be at home or outside your home and freelance. One interesting thing about freelancing is that it is about selling skill(s) that you have digitally. For example, you can be a journalist at work and still work as a journalist for a client on a freelancing platform.
There are many freelancing platforms you can sign up on to sell your skills and start earning money. The most famous ones include Upwork, Fiverr, PeoplePerHour, Freelancer.com, etc. Freelancing is one of the side hustles you can start today that will not cost you much.
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Blogging
Blogging has been recognized several times as one of the most profitable side hustles you can start today. Besides the fact that it does not require too much money invested in starting, blogging can also be done efficiently; it will not affect your working schedule if adequately planned. Before you begin blogging, you must know about content writing, research, copywriting, digital marketing, SEO, and website publishing. Blogging requires time before the profits start to come in, one of the most important things you need to learn as a blog owner is how to properly infuse advertising in your blog so that you can earn money from posting adverts on your blogs.
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Content creation
Content can be books, movie scripts, videos, pictures, graphics, music, voice-over, artworks, etc., or any creative work done by people. Content creation is one of the creative side hustles you can start today; all you need is to understand the kind of content that interests you and get started. Like other side hustles, content creation also requires you to learn the skill you want to start selling. You will need a mobile phone and personal computer/laptop to make sales as a content creator properly.
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Engage in Influencers Marketing
To engage in influencers marketing you must be a Social media influencers. Their primary responsibility is to market products or services to clients. Before one can be recognized as a social media influencer, there is the need for experience in content creation, digital marketing, and many audiences on social media platforms. To become a social media influencer, you will need many followers on any social media channels; Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, or LinkedIn.
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Vlogging
Vlogging can seem like the video-content version of blogging. As blogging requires you to have written content, vlogging requires you to have video content. The most popular platform you can be a vlogger on is YouTube, but you can also vlog on Facebook and Instagram through the Live feature. There are many niches in vlogging, and you need to pick whichever appeals to you, get your tools, and start. Skills needed to start vlogging include content creation, script writing, video editing, voice-over skills, copywriting, and digital marketing. Vlogging is one of the most profitable side hustles you can start today.
Factors to Consider before choosing a side hustle
Before you make a move to start a side hustle today, check out the factors you must consider below.
- Time available
- Cost of investment
- Work policy: some companies do not allow workers to run side gigs
- Passion for the side hustle
- Flexibility and ability to adapt to new skills and working procedures
- Your ability to plan, manage time, and schedule tasks.
- The availability of tools required
Final Thoughts
Starting a side hustle is not arduous; all that is required is a proper knowledge of the things needed and identifying the side gig you are interested in venturing into. To make this process less stressful, I have listed the eight top side hustles you can start today. I also added some necessary information about the importance of a side hustle, its disadvantages, and the factors you need to consider before you start a side hustle. Then, ensure you go through them properly before making a move.
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