The right side hustle tips are ESSENTIAL to turning your part-time gig into a profitable, sustainable venture while avoiding the frustration and burnout that are all too common.
How do I know?
I’ve had some kind of side hustle my entire adult life. One way or another, I was always doing something to try to make extra money outside of my normal 40-hour-a-week job.
I wish I could say that everything I tried and/or did was nothing but successful. But, unfortunately, that’s not the case.
Some of my efforts made me A LOT of money and even eventually turned into a new career. But, that wasn’t the case with everything.
Some of my efforts made me hardly any money at all. In fact, they actually cost me more money than I made. I believe if a side hustle is losing you money, it’s actually called a hobby? But, that’s neither here nor there.
The point is, through the years, I’ve learned a thing or two. So, I decided it was time to sit down and write out all the side hustle tips I could think of to help you create a sustainable moonlighting opportunity that brings in some extra money without killing you in the process.
RELATED PODCAST: Nick Loper’s Side Hustle Nation Interview
1. Think Long Term
A lot of times, people look for side hustles that will make a quick buck, fast. The problem with those is that you don’t really control how much you’re getting paid.
And that can lead to having to devote some serious effort in order to make good money.
Take ride sharing as an example. You could start working for Lyft or Uber in a few days if you’ve got a decent vehicle and a good driving record.
But, you don’t get to pick how much you’re charging per ride. They set that rate for you. Yeah, your rate might increase over time if you get good ratings or depending on tips.
I talked to one of my Lyft drivers, and he told me he was putting in about 80-hour weeks just to make a decent living.
A better approach is to think of things you can do that will allow you to make more and more money over time WHILE working less and less.
Typically, all of those are things that take a decent amount of skill. So, think things like:
- Web Design
- Web Development
- Video Editing
- Data Analytics
- SEO
- Virtual Assistant
If you don’t have those skills, those side jobs might not sound awesome. Especially if you need cash NOW. But, trust me, this is one of those side hustle tips that will pay off if you decide to invest a little bit up front.
It’s okay if it takes some time to develop your side hustle. There’s more growth potential for the types of jobs that don’t bring in a lot of cash at first. Think of it like an investment.
It doesn’t mean you can’t make money right away. In fact, one of my next side hustle tips will tell you to…
2. Monetize Right Away
Of all the side hustle tips I’ve got for you, this is the most important. You should try to make money AS SOON AS POSSIBLE even if you’re developing a skill that you’re not super confident with
One of the main things I tell folks who are trying to become web designers is to go out and find someone that needs a website and build it for them. Don’t spend months going through course after course until you feel like you’re ready.
Learn WHILE you’re working on a real world project.
BUT, don’t just do it for free. You might not be able to charge a lot. Heck you might not be able to ask for money at all. You might have to do an exchange of some type.
But, for sure, for sure don’t wait until you “feel” like a professional to start charging.
Here’s one of those side hustle tips that applies to all of life: you never really feel like a professional.
There will never come a point where you’re learning a skill that you feel like, “cool, I’ve got this down to a science and I deserve a lot of money for what I know!”
So, don’t wait.
Sure, people will pay you more the more skill you have. But, honestly, people are willing to pay if it gives them time back in their day even if that means they don’t have to go and learn how to do the thing you’re learning how to do.
So, don’t sit on your new skills for too long before you start asking for money.
3. Have a North Star
A lot of side hustle tips tend to focus on the money making aspect of things. But, I’ve found that there’s two sides to the side hustle equation: the financial side AND the lifestyle side. You have to have a balance of both in order for it to be sustainable.
If you’re not careful with your side hustle it will quickly get away from you. You’ll start spending way too much time working. And, pretty soon, all that extra money you’re making won’t mean anything because you don’t have time to enjoy it.
So, you need to set some guard rails to keep things from getting out of whack.
For this, I like to start with what I want my life to look like. I call it my North Star.
I didn’t start my side hustle to make the maximum amount of money possible. I started it so I could have a little bit extra spending money. Maybe pay off my mortgage a bit sooner or go on a nicer vacation.
So, ask yourself 3 questions
FIRST: How much extra money do I “really” need to make?
Notice, I didn’t say “how much extra money would I “LIKE” to make? There’s no end to that. It reminds me of the time someone asked John D. Rockefeller how much money was “enough.” His response, “Just a little bit more.”
Look at your finances. Figure out your margin and figure out where you’d like to be or need to be and let that be the goal.
SECOND: How much time would I like to spend on this every week?
The second question needs to focus on how much time you’re willing to give up for your side hustle.
One of the best side hustle tips but not a lot of people are talking about is that in this world, there’s no such thing as finished.
There’s always something else to do.
- A new client to call
- An email to respond to
- An SOP to create
You will come to the point that you either fall asleep working OR you put your foot down and say, “I have to stop.”
So, decide how much you’d like to work before that point gets here.
Sure, there will be projects that you’ve got to work extra to meet a deadline. But, something is off if that becomes the norm.
4. Make Sure Everyone is On Board
This is one of those side hustle tips that might be more for folks that have families BUT really it’s for anyone that has any kind of responsibility connected to a relationship.
- Friend
- Brother
- Sister
- Girlfriend
- Boyfriend
Whoever it is that might wonder where you were if you didn’t call for weeks. You need to make sure they’re on board with what your doing OR AT MINIMUM know what’s going on.
A quiet killer of side hustles is our responsibilities to the people closest to us.
Listen, any decent side hustle will have seasons where a lot of time and effort is required of you. And, even though you might like to think that you can do everything all the time for everybody, you can’t.
You have finite resources just like everybody else.
So, create a game plan for the people that you’re held responsible for. Figure out who’s going to pick up the slack when things get busy. Or decide which things don’t really need to be done at all.
Whatever you do, don’t take in all the other side hustle tips and skip over this one. It might possibly save your marriage or at the very least help you avoid an argument or two.
5. Don’t Forget to Save for Taxes
I’ve had so many conversations with people that started little side hustles and didn’t think much of saving for taxes. But, the end of the year came around and it turned out they owed A LOT to the government. Money they weren’t ready to give away.
That’s why one of the most important side hustle tips I can give you is to start setting aside money for taxes from the very beginning.
I did an entire podcast on how to do your taxes as a freelancer. But, listen, I’m not a tax professional and I’m really only vaguely familiar with the U.S. tax system. So, the best thing to do is talk to somebody that’s certified in your neck of the woulds
For myself, I put aside about 30% of everything I make for taxes. That keeps me safe when it’s time to submit a tax payment.
6. Treat Your Side Hustle Like Your Boss
This is another one of those side hustle tips you don’t hear a lot. But, you should never pay yourself the full amount of what you get paid from a project or gig.
Why is that?
Well, projects don’t tend to pop up consistently often times in side hustles. So, one month you’ll have a lot of work and another month you’ll have next to nothing.
But, what happens is you start to depend on that money a little bit the longer you’re in business. You can see how that might be a bad scenario, right?
You start to sweat a little bit during the months things slow down because your cashflow just dropped out.
One way to avoid that is to treat your side hustle like it’s your boss and you are it’s employee.
A boss doesn’t pay an employee 100% of the profit from money that comes in. No. They set a little bit aside, budget some here and there AND THEN they give the employee a salary based on what makes sense for the business.
This will make those dips in activity a lot less painful. So, how do you do it?
How to Figure Out Your Side Hustle Salary
Look back and figure out your average monthly income once you’ve been going for about 6 months. Take out 30% for taxes then take out some more for the business. Try to be somewhere around 50% total of what you’re setting aside.
Then give yourself the other half as a salary.
I know that doesn’t sound fun. Like you’ve got this money. You should be able to spend it for whatever you want. But, trust me, this will save you in the long run.
Then over time if your average monthly income goes up you can talk to your boss about getting a raise 😉
7. Find Help Before You Think You Need It
Of all the side hustle tips I’m giving you today, this is the one I need to hear the most MYSELF.
I’ve never been good at figuring out how to hire people to help me. Mainly because I always justify being able to do it myself.
But, truthfully, you’ve got to start thinking about how to bring other people on to help you if you want to grow your side hustle substantially.
This is where our last side hustle tip comes in handy. Because, hopefully, after some time you’ll have some cushion to be able to pay somebody before you feel like the cash flow justifies it.
Don’t wait too long before you decide to bring someone on to help you out. Realize that it’s going to take some time to get them trained and get a system down.
In fact, I know a lot of people that had to go through a few iterations of people before they figured out how to make it work.
One of my favorite books on the topic is “The E-Myth Revisited.” The whole idea is that when you own a business you’ve got to go from Practitioner to Manager to Leader.
Figure out how to get out of doing the daily work so you can focus on growing your side hustle as soon as you can.
8. Don’t Be Afraid to Pick Your Path
You will likely come to a point of growing your side hustle that you come to a crossroad and have to decide to go all in and make it your full-time job OR keep it as a part-time gig.
And, no one knows the right answer for you.
I’ve known people to grow their side hustle to multiple 6 figures AND STILL keep their full-time job. That’s totally cool.
I’ve also known people that had multiple 6 figure full-time jobs but quit to focus on their $70k a year side hustle.
There’s no right answer here.
Obviously, there are a lot of things to think about AND I would definitely encourage you to get some counsel from the people closest to you about the right path to take.
But, here’s my encouragement. Don’t let fear be in the driver seat on this decision. I’m not telling you to throw caution to the wind and quit your job tomorrow.
That’s stupid advice. Make sure you can do it financially without have to claim bankruptcy in a year.
But, if everything looks good and you want to quit your full-time job, then quit.
Or if you love your full-time job and your side hustle is taking to much out of you, scale back the side hustle.
It might take some time before you know the right step. But, even if you take the wrong step, you can always backtrack.
Wrapping Up on Side Hustle Tips
Hear me out. All the side hustle tips in the world won’t mean much UNLESS you go out there and do something about them.
So, don’t just hear these side hustle tips without figuring out how to implement them into your own business. OR if you haven’t started your side hustle yet, what are you waiting for!?
There are so many opportunities out there for you to get started. It pains me every time I chat with somebody that just seems to be perpetually kicking the rocks around the side hustle pond.
You’re going to make mistakes. You’re going to be frustrated and want to quit. BUT, who knows where your side hustle might lead you to.
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