Want To Start a Side Hustle? 3 Crucial Steps To Succeed and Build Wealth
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Josephine Nesbit
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Want to earn some extra cash? Some people are making six figures from side hustles they run from their cell phones, but experts say you need to take three critical steps if you want to be successful.
Step One: Figure out what you can monetize. Kathy Kristof, whose blog has reviewed over 500 different side gigs, told CNBC Make It that you must question how to monetize your interests, skills or resources.
You can design and sell your own products, earn some cash by delivering food or rent out your home by listing it on a platform like Airbnb. Unless your side hustle is passive, your earnings will also be directly tied to the number of hours you work. For example, renting out your home is much more passive and takes less time than being a delivery driver. Fully passive income side hustles take more time to get off the ground, CNBC Make It noted.
“There are other ways to [earn] that aren’t just trading your time directly for money,” Cody Berman, who co-runs an online course called Gold City Ventures, explained to CNBC Make It. “If you build a digital product that does really well, like a killer blog post or YouTube video or podcast episode … you can put the work in once [and get] paid in perpetuity.”
Step Two: Decide if you, or a platform, should run the business. Kristof says you should ask yourself how much of your business do you want to do alone.
You can build and manage the business yourself or use a popular platform to help quickly launch your business and connect you to the right customers. However, there’s usually a catch.
Running a business yourself is typically much more profitable, but it takes time to start generating income. Many platforms, such as the dog-walking app Rover, get a cut of every transaction. Rover keeps 20% of each dog walk. You’ll also need to learn the platform’s search algorithm, which could change at any moment.
Step Three: Test it. The most important part of starting a side hustle is starting it, Berman said.
Most people fail before they even begin. You can test your products by asking friends and family to use your services, providing honest feedback, and leaving positive reviews online, Kristof said.
According to a study by Zippia, nearly half of Americans had a side hustle at the start of 2023. Over half of those with a side hustle brought in less than $500 per month, but the gig economy is growing. The percentage of side hustlers earning more than $1,500 per month grew from 5% up to 15% between 2020 and 2021.
Growing a business is the biggest challenge side hustlers face, Zippia noted, followed by dealing with limited time, having the right idea to move forward with, having motivation and understanding the technology involved.
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