The Ultimate Guide to Choosing the Right Side Hustle

Let's talk about side hustles! If you spend a lot of time on social media - specifically TikTok - then you will know that side hustles are all the craze at the moment, everyone wants one! Who can blame them?

With the cost of living on the rise, we decided to do some research into the best and worst side hustles out there. We're all trying to make ends meet and a lot of us are willing to try something totally new, but how do you choose which side hustle is right for you? Is there such thing as the perfect side hustle or does it depend on your location and your interests?

In this article, I'll cover food delivery driving, blogging, proofreading, online tutoring, selling your photography and more!

UberEats/Just Eat/ Deliveroo Driver:

If you’re looking to do something on your own terms, this is the side hustle for you. You can work when you want and as much as you want, and there aren’t any restrictions on how long or hard you work each day. If you like to drive around and listen to music then this may be the one for you!

You can also earn more money in this role than other apps—up to $20 per hour in some cases! The downside? It isn't easy money—you'll need a car and a smartphone and lots of freetime to be successful.

Pros:

• Pay depends on how busy the restaurants are in your local area, they also depend on how big the orders are that you recieve. You will get a cut out of the total order fee. The average hourly rate ranges between £7-£14. 

• You can work around your schedule. If you're not into working weekends or nights, this app gives you more flexibility as far as when you work. You don't have to worry about waking up early to drive somewhere, either!

• The companies handle most of the payment processing so there is less chance of getting scammed by outside parties trying to take advantage of the gig economy.

• Most of these companies have HR teams so if something happens they'll help resolve it quickly before any legal issues arise later.

Cons:

The downside to the gig economy is that there's no guarantee of an hourly wage. While it's true that you can earn more than minimum wage, and many drivers are able to make $20/hour or more—you may also get less than minimum wage if you're driving in a low-traffic area.

One way to mitigate this risk is by signing up for multiple services like JustEat and Doordash so you have other options if one service doesn't pay off as well as expected.

Blogging:

This is the perfect side hustle choice if you write with a friendly conversational tone, it is super easy to set up a blog and find your niche! You can also list yourself on platforms such as Upwork and Fiverr to write blogs for others.

You can use your blog to teach others how to do things, document your life, or share your opinions.

Pros:

• Readers will pay for value

• Sense of satisfaction from helping others (great for the ego)

• You can write any about any niche

Cons:

• Lots of time needed to write blogs

• Saturated market so may be hard to become successful

• Without marketing knowledge you may struggle to draw readers to your blogs

Social media influencer:

If you're looking for the medium maintenance side hustle then this is for you. All you need to do is post content on social media that you enjoy using AND get paid for it.

How? A lot of companies have realized the power of social media and are willing to pay top dollar for posts from people with large followings. The downside is that this isn’t an easy business model, so if you want to become a social media influencer, you need to put in some work first. The amount that you get paid is dependant on how many followers that you have, this is the baseline:

• Nano-influencers: 1,000–10,000 followers

• Micro-influencers: 10,000–50,000 followers

• Mid-tier influencers: 50,000–500,000 followers

• Macro-influencers: 500,000–1,000,000 followers

• Mega-influencers: 1,000,000+ followers

Pros:

• Once successful this doesn’t require a lot of work.

• You can work from anywhere.

• This will grow your personal brand/ profile.

• The power of social media is ever evolving.

Cons:

• Requires a lot of work initially to gain the followers

• Pressure to create new content

If you have time on your hands and aren’t afraid of hard work then becoming a social media influencer may be the right side hustle for you!

Proofreading:

This can be done in your spare time and is a fantastic side hustle choice for any literature lovers out there, you'll get paid to correct mistakes and offer feedback on articles and other written pieces. It's perfect for those that want something flexible with the added bonus of doing what they like although you may have to be qualified or have several years experience.

Proofreading is a great side hustle for anyone who loves to read. Proof readers usually correct mistakes and offer feedback on articles, blogs, books and other written pieces. The job is perfect for people who want something flexible with the added bonus of doing what they like although you may have to be qualified or have several years experience in order to do this type of work. You can list yourself on platforms such as Upwork and Fiverr.

Pros:

• This doesn't involve a lot of work as you're not creating the content yourself.

• You can work around your own schedule - to an extent.

• If you are good at English this will be an easy side hustle.

Cons:

• Mentally tiring when looking at large chunks of text for a long time.

• You are responsible for chasing outstanding payments which presents a risk

• Must be highly skilled in English.

Online tutor:

If you are a teacher already and have the experience of dealing with a classroom full of students, then why not capitalize on your knowledge? You can work from anywhere, around your schedule and earn extra income while doing it. If teaching is your thing and you love sharing your knowledge with others then this might be the side hustle for you!

Pros:

• You are your own boss

• You can share your knowledge

• You can work around your schedule

Cons:

• Extra work involved for lesson planning and grading

• Must have thorough knowledge in a subject.

Selling your photography:

You can sell your photos through stock photography websites such as ShutterStock or Getty Images.

The reason this method works so well is because there's a huge demand for stock photography and not enough photographers to fulfill it! So if you have high-quality photos that are relevant to what people want, there will be people willing to pay you for them. This means two things:

1) You can earn money doing something fun (taking pictures);

2) The more popular the website you sell your images on, the more money you can make from each sale - which means even more opportunities for making money with photography!

So how much do these companies buy pictures for? Well it depends on three main factors: The quality of the image itself; how much competition there is in your niche/area; How many people want the kind of image you're offering up right now? 

The average payout for an image is around £1, so you will need a wide range of photos to sell to the website. However, if photography is one of your passions then this shouldn't be a problem.

Pros:

• Earn money doing something fun

• Can travel for photography

• Huge demand for stock images

Cons: (if you are a lover of photography, these may come under your pro list)

• Expensive camera equipment

• There is no set amount for payments of photographs

• You will need to take a lot of photos to earn any real revenue

Selling on Ebay/Etsy:

You can sell anything on these platforms. From ebooks and whitepapers to candles and tshirts there is something on there for everyone.

Ebay, Amazon, Etsy and other platforms are all great places to buy or sell items. You can even find ways to make money from your phone by downloading an app that pays you for getting surveys!

Pros:

• You can set your own prices. This is a no-brainer, but it's worth mentioning because it's the key to making money with side hustles.

• You decide what to sell (and how). It's not like you're being forced into peddling knockoff handbags or questionable supplements—you get to choose what products you want to sell and how much profit you want from each sale.

• Packaging and postage costs are low for most people who use this method of earning extra cash, so if there are any expenses associated with running your business, they'll likely be minimal compared with other ways of earning money through side hustles.

Cons:

• It’s important to keep in mind that transaction fees, customer service, and liability for parcels that go missing in transit are all things that need consideration before jumping into this side hustle. You will be responsible for all of these elements.

• You will also need to pay for packaging and shipping, as well as storage for the items.

Drop Shipping:

Dropshipping is a way to sell products without having to worry about keeping inventory, shipping them or supporting customers. Dropshipping is the easiest way for someone with little or no business experience to start their own online store.

With dropshipping, you become an affiliate of large and well-known companies such as Amazon and Ebay. When someone buys something from your site that you’re promoting via an affiliate link, they will pay the company directly with their credit card — not through you! That means that all of the risk is on them and none on you in case something goes wrong with their purchase.

Pros:

• You can sell anything

• You can choose to sell products when they are trending so that you are always offering something popular.

• You can choose your prices! There's no one telling you that you have to charge what they say or nothing at all. The choice is yours to make, so take advantage of it!

• There isn't much involvement in this process, so you can do this alongside another side hustle. 

• You don't need to worry about storage for stock and packaging etc.

Cons:

• Because there's no physical store front (or even ecommerce platform), transactions aren't as secure as they would be otherwise — meaning that consumers might not always get what they paid for when shopping online despite what may appear on screen after making their purchase decision.

• This is also quite a saturated market at the moment, so if you don’t have any marketing experience or a budget for marketing then you may struggle to promote your products.

Conclusion:

So, what's the takeaway? The side hustle isn't just a way to make some extra cash. It can be a means of finding your passion—and maybe even changing your life. If you're still not sure, try out. You can make money on the side with a side hustle. Side hustles are great because they allow you to work your way up to bigger things in life, like being paid to do exactly what you love doing.

But if you’re a student who is looking for ways to make some cash, you might be wondering which side hustles are going to be the most beneficial for your future.

The answer: all of them!

It is important to keep in mind that not all side hustles will work for everyone, this doesn’t mean that it won't work for you though! Each person has unique skills and interests which mean that what works for someone else might not work for them.

If you are interested in receiving frequent updates about new side hustles that you can try, then follow us on TikTok!