Why It Is Important To Have A Side Hustle

When Looking back I have been coming up with side hustle ideas since I was around 11 years old. It didn’t have a name all the way back then thought it was just making cash on the side. It just happened to be on the side of school work instead of a normal job.

I wanted to let you all know how important it is to have a side hustle. We all need a bit extra money right? No matter how much we earn in our day to day jobs a little extra always comes in handy. Impromptu meals out with the wife. Little holidays away, Paying off that car finance. A little extra makes a difference in anyone’s life.

What Is A Side Hustle?

So what is a side hustle? Well, a side hustle is any way you can find to make money outside of your normal 9-5 job. You may work a second job in the evenings, Technically a side hustle, You may wash all the neighbor’s cars, Technically a side hustle. These are all ways of making extra money outside of your normal job so, therefore, count as a side hustle.

Most normal people like you and I pay all our bills and rent or mortgage payments and if we are lucky we are left with a small amount each month. Some of us may spend this and some of us may save this amount but all of us would like a little more.

So we start a side hustle. Even if we make an extra £100 a month. Not a great amount when it comes to side hustles. It could make a huge difference in our lives.

How To Find A Side Hustle:

So you want to know now how to find a side hustle. Well, there are two different types of side-hustle. There are the side hustle ideas that require you to leave the house and do extra work. Or you can do a work from home type side hustle. Both of these ways have a number of different options to earn money. It really does depend on your lifestyle and what fits in well with you.

Either of these options is going to require you to use some of your time. You are going to need to work out when to utilize it to get the best use of it.

For example, I work 40 hours a week and have other activities I like to do such as running and playing Xbox. I still have time to write articles for this blog and carry out my various side hustles myself.

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Time Management:

You are going to need some great time management. That is key to finding the right side hustle idea for you. Only you can work out how much time you can devote to your side hustle idea. Once you know that then it makes finding that idea much easier.

I prefer working from home side hustles ideas as I’m more comfortable doing that. I have been outside doing my main job all day so getting outside especially in the winter months doesn’t appeal to me as much as doing my side hustle in the warm with a nice cup of tea.

However, some of you may be stuck in an office 9-5 and want to get out in the evenings and weekends to bring in that extra cash.

Below I am going to list some of my favorite side hustle ideas that I have tried and tested. I hope they inspire you to put in some extra work and make some extra cash outside of that dull day job.

Side Hustle Ideas:

So as I said at the beginning of this article I was doing a side hustle even before I was a teenager. I begged my mother for some money to buy a bucket and sponge. Also armed with a Chamois leather and some shampoo and I went door to door in an affluent area near me offering to wash people’s cars in their driveways.

This was pretty lucrative for me and my friend. We could make £40 on a Saturday morning and this was 30 years ago. (Whoops gave away my age a bit there).

I’m not sure this would work as well today especially in the UK.

Below is a list of some of my favorite side hustle ideas that have made me good money.

Part-Time Job:

Not exactly rocket science eh but having a second job is the easiest way to make extra money. Now after working 40 hours a week or more in some cases the last thing you are going to want to do is to get home change and then off for another 3 or 4-hour shift to return home and go to bed.

This will lead to you jacking it in within a few weeks. You need to work smart.

Look around for jobs that are flexible in the amount of work you put in. Ie the more you work the more you earn. This does give you the choice to work less when you have had a long day or not at all in some cases and you just get paid less.

I would also start my search looking for jobs that require you to work from home. For example, I had a job in the evenings packing flat-pack boxes for a company. They would all arrive flat packed and I would form them into boxes. I would then pack them with the products supplied and then stack them by my front door ready for collection.

The great thing with this was there was no amount that was needed. You just got paid a flat (See what I did there) amount per box packed so if you did only 3 which took about an hour you got paid for 3. If you did 2 hours per evening every evening then you got paid a lot more.

So flexible hours and work from home are the kind of part-time jobs to be searching for as they give you the most flexibility around your normal job and social life.

Matched Betting:

This is my current side hustle and what a great one it is. Do not be put off by the word betting. It is a well researched and calculated double bet to guarantee a profit by taking the bookies free bet deals.

The funny thing is I learned all about Matched Betting on Mumsnet (Dont Ask) Lots of Mothers stuck at home all day were Matched Betting and making Hundreds of pounds per month. This got me intrigued.

The first couple of months after some research I made around £300-400 pure profit. Unfortunately, I spent some of this and this hampered my ability to make more as it takes time for your winnings to come back from the bookies so if you have a large bank you can just move onto the next bets.

I decided to work smarter and do more research into matched bets and matched betting in general.

Profit Accumulator:

I came across a site called Profit accumulator who for a small fee each month gives you access to all the free bets offered by the bookies each day. They also offer step by step guides for people who are not sure how to go about making a profit.

Not only that but there is a dedicated team of professional matched bettors who are there to help. All this runs alongside their great Matched betting forum for beginners and experienced matched bettors alike.

The great thing about matched betting is anyone can do it. You can start with as small an amount of £50 and work your way to over £1000 in a short space of time.

I was making around £300 per month but I didn’t put as much effort in as I could have.

The best thing about it all is Profit Accumulator is offering a free month’s trial. They talk you through your first 2 bookie sign-ups and make sure you make at least £40 profit. If you are not completely satisfied then you just dont continue when your free trial ends.

Take a look at the below link to start making great profit today

Sell Your Skills:

When I started blogging and made this blog I needed to promote it and I did this on Pinterest. If you dont know what Pinterest is then I suggest you go and have a peek. It is essentially a search engine but with images instead of words.

All kinds of creative images are formed into what is known as pins. These links to a website or blog so are kind of a visual link. These can be shared or Repinned.

The issue I had is that I am not overly creative in the visual sense. I needed help and I didn’t want to pay the earth as my blog was new and wasn’t making me money.

Fiverr:

I went to a website called Fiverr.com On this website people who have the skill to share can share it for a fee. A lot of the site is mainly social media and visual website stuff but there are some different kind of skills on there as well.

I needed a set of visually creative pins that I could change colors on and then just add the topic of my blog post too and hey presto, Instant blog branding that was on point. I found the ones I liked and downloaded a package of 20 odd pins for around £4. Bargain.

If you have any creative skills whatsoever then Fiverr is a great place to sell them. The best thing about it is once you have set up and created your digital content to download then your income is completely passive.

Go check it out and see if you have the skills required to sell on Fiverr.

Blogging:

Now this one is a slow burner and if your looking for an instant fix when it comes to a side hustle idea then maybe this is not for you, Believe me when I Say this takes time and hard work but if you have a passion in a particular niche and you love talking about it then starting a blog could be for you.

I started this money blog as I had a background in matched betting and helped a friend earn some extra money. This made me think about all the extra things I did outside the main job that made me extra money and this was when I realized I could help people by creating this blog on how to make and save money.

Now, this can take a year or more of creating great content before you start to make any money at all. You will learn new stuff every day but if you pick your niche as something you are passionate about then it makes it much easier to stay in it for the long haul.

Up And Running:

Once your blog is set up and you are starting to get daily views and maybe even a few email subscribers then you can start to monetize your blog with ads. You can also add affiliate links into your posts and even sell your own products be they actual products or digital ones.

As I said above it can take a year or more for your blog to take off. When it does though it can be a good enough side hustle idea to become your full-time job.

I know a couple of full-time bloggers who are making well over £3000 per month in passive income from their blogs. This in itself could be enough to keep you plugging away for the next year or more.

Park On My Drive:

Now I admit this is one I have tried as of yet. There are a couple of websites around that once you sign up will send people your way who need to park their cars on your drive.

Parking is becoming a bit of a problem especially as our cities grow bigger and bigger. If you live near a railway station or in or around a large city and you have a driveway then there is no doubt you could get paid to rent out your driveway.

If you live anywhere near an arena that is used to host concerts or sporting events then you can make a considerable amount of money per month from renting out your driveway.

Summing Up:

As you can see it is very important to have a side hustle. Not only does it keep you busy which can help with mental health and wellbeing but it can also improve your finances. Some of the side hustle ideas listed above are the more popular side hustles around at the moment but when you start investigating further you will see there are hundreds of side hustles to suit you.

If you have tried any of the above side hustle ideas or had lots of success with a side hustle I haven’t mentioned then feel free to let me know in the comments as I would love to know.