The Art of the Side Hustle

You will see this pop up every now and then within the FIRE community, and that is how can people earn extra money. A lot of the time people talk about what Side Hustles they have to get this extra money, the idea being you can increase your income, boost your savings rate and really pump it into your investments to bring that FIRE date closer.

There is still differing opinions on the ideas of side hustles within the community as well. A large portion of the crowd will say that it is basically not worth the time, you would be better off just improving your employability to increase your salary and make extra money that way. For the most part, I do agree with this logic, and I think first and foremost that people should focus on their primary employment and get the most out of that income stream.

But sometimes you may reach your income ceiling, and it is not likely to grow outside of inflation. This could cause you to look for other ways to make extra money, so a side hustle might grow out of this. Other times, you may start a side hustle as a passion project, you enjoy doing the work and the money generated is just a bonus. Also, with this approach, there is a potential for your side hustle to grow enough to replace your primary income stream.

The most important thing that needs to be taken into consideration in my opinion is how will if affect your free time. You may already have limited free time available, and if you go and take on a side hustle project it may eat into this valuable time that you need to have a balanced life.

So what are some actual ideas for a side hustle? Well I was recently reading “The $1,000 Project” by Canna Campbell and it had a very extensive list of income generating ideas that you can do on the side. Obviously not all of these will suit everyone, but there should be at least a couple that everyone could potentially adopt if they were looking at making some extra money.

Money Creation Ideas

Sell Unwanted Items

This is a great one as it allows you to declutter your life and rid yourself of items you no longer use. Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree and eBay are great ways to be able to offload some of your items that others still may find value in. Once you have finished with all of your unnecessary items, you may be able to help out friends and family do the same thing, taking a small commission of course.

Dog Walk

If you need to exercise regularly, then why not get paid to do it? A lot of people do not have time to walk their dogs (supposedly) so will be more than happy to pay someone else to take it on.

House-Sit

While everyone else is regularly going on holiday for weeks at a time while you are diligently saving for your future. Why not offer your services to look after their houses while they are away? It can be interesting to see a new part of your own city and see what it is like to live in a different area.

Babysit

Some people love to spend time with kids (not personally my thing, but other people definitely love it), so why not get paid to do it. Not to mention, if you are doing it Friday or Saturday night, it will stop you going out yourself, so not only will you be saving money by not going out, you will actually be earning money playing around with some kids for a few hours.

Do Tutoring

There are so many parents out there who want their parents to excel at pretty much everything, whether it be a musical instrument, language, sport, academics. By passing on your own knowledge you can help build their confidence and self-worth and it can be rewarding to watch them learn under your tutelage.

Take on Weekend Work

Find a second job that doesn’t clash with your normal working hours. Work in a café, restaurant or at special events.

Photography

Develop and sell your photography skills, for events, for art and even for commercial content if you are particularly talented.

Rent rooms out to short-term rental companies

If you are going away for a weekend, why not rent out your place so someone can have a holiday? Or you might be able to have a deal with a friend where you list both your places as short term rentals and stay at each other’s place while one of them is rented out. Just make sure your personal belongings are secure. Or if you have a spare bedroom you may be able to rent out just this room for travellers who are looking to stay somewhere relatively cheap.

Offer experiences to tourists

Do you know lots of secrets about your home town? Or do you have access to a library and able to read up on some history. Maybe you could run tours outside of work hours for tourists.  Or maybe you have a particular skill (like pottery, surfing, art) and you could share this with tourists.

Rent Your Car Out

If you do not use your car much (for example you may have good public transport nearby). Make sure you are sensible and go through a reputable car rental service so that all the necessary checks and insurances are in place.

Start a Rental Business

Are you into fashion? Maybe you can rent out dresses, handbags or other accessories from your own collection to people for special events.

Market Research

These normally pay pretty decent cash in hand, are relatively short and can be interesting experiences if you want to try out new products and listen to other peoples’ perspectives on certain items.

Set Up a Small Business

This will obviously come with a lot of risk, but if you are still working your primary job at least you will still have an income coming in. Talk to people who have set up their own small business and hope to learn from their mistakes.

Join Airtasker

Do you have a knack for assembling flat pack furniture? This is just one of the things that is regularly asked for on Airtasker. People are time poor and willing to pay for just about anything. There will be jobs on there for almost anyone’s capabilities.

Deliver Food

With introduction of all the services for food delivery (UberEATS, Foodora) there is basically endless opportunity to work a couple hours here and there whenever you want to make some extra money.

Do Proofreading Work

Proofreading is great for people who need to be at home, as most of the work can be done online. If you have an eye for detail and excellent grammar and spelling then you can potentially be a great assistance to someone.

Get Paid To Test Apps

Before Apps get into the marketplace they need to be tested for their functionality and user-friendly appeal. Apps can cost a lot of money to build, so developers really value feedback before taking them to the market.

Become an Uber Driver

If you have a car that meets the requirements and don’t mind meeting and talking to strangers then becoming an Uber driver might be for you.

Start a Blog or write for Blogs and Websites

Blogs can take a while to monetise, however, so patience and dedication is required. While you build your own, you could approach other websites and offer to write content for them. Even if they cannot pay you, they should at least allow you to include links to your website so you will be able to build traffic faster.

Make Something

Try anything that can be sold at markets or through online stores like Etsy. Or even Gumtree or Facebook Marketplace. It can be really helpful having a creative outlet and developing a new skill at the same time.

Get some Freelancing Work

If you know how to do graphic design, social or digital media, use photoshop, build websites etc you can pick up freelancing jobs that you can do in your own time at home.

Wash Cars

If you are in a densely populated city, then you might notice that people do not often have room to wash their own cars so they are forced to take them to car wash places and pay. You may be able to provide a service and wash the car for them. Do a letterbox drop in areas where this service would be of value to people.

Conclusion

Overall, there really is a multitude of different things you can do to try and make extra income. It really depends on your own skillset and what you would be willing to do to make extra money. My only advice would be if you do undertake a side hustle, make sure it is something you are passionate about, or at least enjoy doing. It is not easy for any amount of money to justify doing something that makes you miserable. If you enjoy doing it, the work will become a joy to do, and I can guarantee you will complete it at a higher level.

My opinion is that you should still focus on improving your own human capital first and foremost, get the most you can out of your current job, or look for opportunities for promotion or working at different companies for more money. Seek further education if it will help allow you to reach these higher paying roles.