5 Ways to Increase Your Income with a Side Hustle

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Over the past five years, the idea of a side hustle has become much more appealing to people. And while there are plenty of options, getting started can feel intimidating. So where do you even begin?

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What Is a Side Hustle?

According to Indeed.com, “A side hustle is additional employment outside of a person’s full-time job that provides supplemental income. Unlike a part-time job, a side hustle commonly has more freedom and more control over what a person does, when they do it and how much they do it. Often, a person can involve their passions in their side hustle, and some may eventually make their side hustle their primary career.”

We all have different definitions for a side hustle. For some of us, adding an extra $25 to $50 per week is adequate. For others, we want to add thousands of dollars in additional monthly income. But regardless of the dollar amount, a side hustle can yield benefits like:

• Increased flexibility. The beauty of a side hustle is that you’re usually in control of it. You can turn it on or turn it off, scale it up or scale it back. This flexibility makes it the perfect supplement to a more rigid full-time job.
• Healthier finances. By increasing your income, you create more room in your budget to pay down debt, increase savings, start investing, or meet more of your basic monthly living expenses.
• More career options. In many cases, side hustles eventually morph into full-time careers. At the very least, a side hustle gives you more professional opportunities to choose from by expanding your skill set and experience.
• Greater fulfillment. Side hustles are usually bred from passion. The result is greater fulfillment, which produces a healthier work-life balance.

5 Side Hustle Ideas for Scaling Your Income

Starting a side hustle isn’t always easy. This is because it takes work to begin making money. However, the potential is there. Here are several side hustle ideas that could help you increase your income this year.

1. Bookkeeping

If you’re decent with numbers, are naturally organized, and are willing to take a few classes to acquire the skills, bookkeeping could be a great fit for you. There are plenty of clients to choose from, the work is not location-dependent, and you can scale up and down as needed to supplement your primary income.

2. Childcare

Do you enjoy young children? Then consider childcare as a scalable side hustle. Working parents need someone to look after their children and will often pay top dollar for responsible and trustworthy people who are good with kids. Depending on your preference, you may be able to keep kids in your home, or the parents might want you to come to them. Either way, you can create a predictable childcare schedule that fits around your full-time job.

3. Selling on eBay

Did you know that you could make several hundred to several thousand dollars selling items on eBay each month? In fact, there are plenty of entrepreneurs who do it, and it’s a pretty fun and rewarding business.

The key to selling on eBay is having the right product supply. For example, most successful eBay resellers find items at yard sales, estate sales, thrift stores, or by purchasing return pallets from Amazon.

4. Etsy Store

If you’re creative and have a knack for making things, you can start an Etsy store. Etsy is best for selling small, handmade goods that can be easily and inexpensively shipped. The great thing about using Etsy is that you can create your own store and create a loyal base of customers. Plus, the more you sell, the more visibility the platform gives your products.

5. Freelance Writing

Freelance writing has the potential to be a very lucrative side hustle that eventually turns into a full-time business. There’s also ample opportunity here (and also plenty of unique niches to pursue). So whether you want to write blog posts, ebooks, sales copy, emails, or technical manuals, there’s a lot of demand for good content writers.

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Putting It All Together When Preparing for a Side Hustle

There’s an endless supply of freelancing options. So whether you’re looking to launch a service business, flex your creative muscles, or make money online, you have plenty of choices. But before you begin, do your due diligence. Then take action. You’ll undoubtedly gain more from moving than you ever will from sitting still.

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