Top Side Hustle Ideas For Making Money

Whether it is to gather and put towards funding your own independent business venture, or simply just to have a little bit more financial freedom to focus on yourself, we all could do with a little more cash on the side. For those looking to maximize their productivity, here are five side hustle ideas for making money and enjoying massive success. 

Start Your Online Side Hustle Here For Under $50

Side Hustles Are Smart

One of the best places to start when thinking of ways to become more productive is by figuring out which of your passions that you can monetize and turn into a valid business, rather than something that you just do as a hobby. This could include anything from writing, to graphic design, to programming, to arts and crafts, and with online e-commerce marketplaces readily available in the modern day, it’s become easier than ever to start building and selling from your own digital storefront corner of the internet. 

5 Simple Smart Side Hustles

1. Sell Online

If you want to make some extra room in your home, you could even kill two birds with one online stone and sell some of your old items on sites such as eBay or Amazon, not only clearing space but also making some extra pocket money. You can also start an MLM company or join an affiliate marketing program for extra passive income. Be an online selling side hustler for extra income without much overhead.

2. Coaching, Teaching, And Tutoring

Talented in a certain field, and have some knowledge that you think might have some worth? Remote consulting and coaching are also growing in popularity on the internet, and some are even doing it as a full-time gig. You might decide to condense some of your knowledge into a teachable course, or maybe even write some guides or e-books on your subject of choice. Or if you are into education, you could become a tutor or join / start an educational franchise.

3. Social Media Marketing Freelancer

Spend tons of time trawling through social media, not achieving anything? Social media doesn’t always have to be a wasteful time sink, providing you use the right platforms. Daisie, for example, a relatively new social media platform that’s aimed at young creatives looking for feedback and collaboration opportunities, is a great way of finding inspiration for your next project. 

4. Plot Your Next Full Time Gig

OK so this isn't technically a side hustle (unless you are working on it while earning full time and/or side gig cash), but it could be lead to a big payout. If you’re looking for your next gig altogether, LinkedIn is a good way of reaching out to different professionals within your field, and getting your name out there in a positive way, rather than through memes (however funny they may be). The more time you spend working on your future career, the more valuable the payoff will be.

5. Invest In Property Or Real Estate Assets

If you have the money, real estate can be a great side hustle to earn plentiful profits and/or passive income through rental properties. If you’re an investor looking for your next successful venture, or perhaps just have some money saved away that you want to put into something worthwhile (rather than leaving it to collect dust in a bank account), you might decide to put into purchasing an investment property. When ran properly as a business and taken seriously (without too much personal attachment) 

Property investment company RWinvest have shown some of the benefits of buying for buy-to-let purchases across the UK in their articles and guides, and state that “ when faced with the decision between unstable investment classes and a fluctuating stock market, the UK’s buy to let property market often comes out on top”. 

Selling The Side Hustle Hard

Rent Out Your Spare Room - Renting out your spare room is a great way to make extra money, even during these tough times. There are plenty of people looking for a cheap room, and if you are willing to be a little bit laid back about rent price, so much the better! It's best for us to help one another out in these difficult times, and this is one great way to do it. Put your ad on Craigslist for a spare room, and encourage everyone in your family and your prospective new roommate to get tested for COVID-19 for safety! 

More Side Hustles To Make More Money

Sell Services On Fiverr - Fiverr is a great way to make money for your quirky skills and talents and you don't even have to leave your home. Fiverr is one of many outsourcing and freelance websites that will pay you for odd jobs and skills you may have, some of which can be done electronically over the internet. Give this simple side hustle a shot to learn and earn while working with diverse customers around the world. 

Walk Dogs - Walking dogs is a great way to help people, make money, and also get exercise. During these times when people don't want to leave their house, you can do it for them. Just make sure you keep your face mask on while walking pets during this side hustle! You will literally be hustling to walk as many dogs as possible to get them their exercise and letting them do their business!

Clean Houses - Nobody wants to clean their house, but you can profit off of that attitude with this side hustle! It is a great thing to do for everyone because the cleaner our houses can be, the more we can stay free of germs and diseases. So help out your neighbor and make more money simultaneously. 

Have Yard Sales - We are all stuck at home more than ever, so what better than to do some bring cleaning? This is a great side hustle because you can clear out your home, help other people get some things they need, and make a quick dollar all at once. 

Sign Up For TaskRabbit - Task Rabbit is an app you can use from your phone that will get you in touch with people that need some small tasks like cleaning and moving done. It is a great way for you to connect with people in need who can't do things like lift heavy things such as senior citizens, or anyone else who is too time-constrained to do simple tasks that need doing. There are some Task Rabbit alternatives as well for more random gigs and side jobs to earn extra money.

Create And Sell On Etsy - Sell things on Etsy.com especially if you're a crafty or artsy person, Etsy can be a great way to share your talents. Whatever crafts you are into, now is the time to do it, especially if you are stuck at home with nothing better to do! Make that birdhouse, do that embroidery, paint coffee mugs, or whatever else you like to do, and post them up on Etsy to see if you can garner customer interest! 

Smart Side Hustle Conclusion

For more specific information on this side hustle investment strategy, as well as some pointers on some of the things to look out for along the way, perhaps start by checking out one of their numerous guides on the matter. 

Now get out there and hustle hard fellow side hustlers! Hustle hard and turn your side hustle into your full time hustle.

How To Track Startup Marketing Campaigns

Building a new lean startup from scratch is no easy task for any founder or CEO. If you are among those founders that have done this, you understand that every process from developing your product to marketing to consumer satisfaction can be tricky. And don't even get us started on the financial aspect of launching, maintaining, and growing a startup business in today's economy. We know how it is running the lean startup lifestyle, including wearing multiple hats and being worn incredibly thin. 

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Running a startup is a warzone with landmines to avoid everywhere and fires to put out constantly, even when it comes to the marketing department. Even marketing best practices can be potential PR crisis in the current climate. And now with rising prices and cut ad spend during a recession, marketing budgets are getting reduced really fast.

So how can startups track important details when they are working on the big picture issues and fixing frequent problems?

Startup Measurements And Mistakes

Startups function a lot differently from an already established company when it comes to marketing, advertising, and branding. The types of marketing strategies utilized, the way they are conducted, and how the results are measured all differ. This can be difficult to record and analyze properly for lean startups, where founders and employees where multiple hats and everyone is stretched on time while avoiding burnout. Sometimes freelancers are hired from around the world, in person or remotely, for short periods of time. 

There is always a lot going on in a startup company so it's easy for founders or employees to drop the ball on some of the basics. So tracking the right analytics and marketing measurements often gets lost in the shuffle for many lean startups.

Tracking Time

If you can't track your lean startup marketing results, how do you know what's working and what needs adjusting?

When setting up your lean startup business, you need to ask yourself some serious questions: 

- Do I know and understand what my small business’s Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are? 

- How much understanding do I possess about the startup processes? 

- How do I measure a small business's marketing success? 

There are different startup metrics to consider, but let's focus on the important ones for measuring success.

Startup Marketing Campaign Metrics And KPIs 

To ensure a startup business runs at an optimal level, there are many metrics and KPIs that need to be taken into account. Simply put, your business metrics are, by definition, the various means of measurement used to acquire accurate information about different business processes. 

The key metrics for SMB marketing campaigns can be used to: 

- Give you performance data like the number of people reached and conversions recorded by such campaigns. 

- Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the SME campaign. 

- Know what marketing campaign yields the most results. 

With the information obtained, you can easily track the success or failure of all the strategies that the startup uses with KPI or OKR. The right software will help your startup business measure success accurately.

Having said that, let us examine some of the key metrics startups can use to track the success of their marketing campaigns. 

1. Marketing Return On Investment (ROI) 

In measuring the success of your startup's marketing efforts, you have to consider marketing ROI. Marketing ROI refers to the return on investment that is made from any marketing campaign. 

When you know the marketing return on investment, it becomes easy for you to determine whether the marketing strategy is a success or not for an SME or LLC startup. It is also a good way of comparing marketing campaigns to determine which was the most effective. One way to test multiple campaigns for success is through A/B testing. 

Marketing Return on Investment for startups can take different forms and they include: 

ROI On Social Media Ads 

In the digital world that we live and do business in today, social media plays a vital role. It is not just a tool that is used for social interaction, but can also be used to market products and services that are being offered by a startup. 

If social media ads are one of the marketing strategies that you employ for your startup, then one key metric of measuring success is ROI on social media ads. To achieve this, you have to carefully analyze how much is spent to run these ads and compare it to the return on sales it brings to the startup. 

For example, let's say you spend $200 on social media ads on Facebook. If that ad gets 500 clicks with 10% conversion rate, that means 50 people are buying your product. If that product is sold at $10, total sales recorded will be $500. You ROI on $200 spent for that ad is $500. You are making $2.50 on each $1 you invest into social media ads, which is a 250% profit. A better way to measure ROI is to also look at the payback period. This is particularly useful in subscription based services or products that drive repeat purchases like a social media marketing tool or CRM.

ROI On SEO And Content Marketing 

A common marketing strategy among many businesses, both small and large, is SEO and Content Marketing. 

SEO is Search Engine Optimization and refers to all the efforts put in place to rank high (the goal is always to be on the first page) on search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, Baidu, Yandex, DuckDuckGo, and YouTube. These efforts can include web optimization, content optimization, and keyword placement in articles, among others. 

Content marketing, on the other hand, refers to the act of using content to attract leads and sales. This type of content is usually written to inform prospects and existing customers about a particular product or service offered by a startup. The end goal is so that after reading information on the startups website or elsewhere on the web, users can engage with the startup through a call to action provided in the content. 

If you use SEO or content marketing for your startup, then you can also measure the return on investment this marketing effort is bringing to the startup. 

ROI On Paid SEM 

Search Engine Marketing is a combination of search engine optimization and paid search ads. The aim of this marketing campaign is to draw more customers to your startup while still retaining existing ones. 

Paid SEM with Google Ads (formerly AdWords) or cheaper Bing Ads makes it possible for people who are searching specific keywords relating to your startup to find you. To drive sales using paid SEM, the focus is on choosing the right keywords to connect your startup to its customers.Utilizing a paid service to find the right keywords can save you time and marketing efforts. While you can do this yourself, it can be quite labor intensive; this job can be outsourced with a dramatic ROI in sales when done properly. You have to be strategic and experienced when bidding on keywords and analyzing ad conversion rate to optimize your PPC ad results while reducing costs.

In measuring the ROI on paid SEM, you have to look at its impact on the ranking of your startup in organic search results. You also have to pay attention to how many new customers are finding and engaging with your startup online. The higher the number of new customers your startup records from organic searches, the more effective paying someone to conduct keyword research and SEM is. 

Paid ads help rank you higher quickly and temporarily, but are not organic search results in nature. Once you stop paying for the ads, your ranking will dissolve, although the extra website traffic and potential subscribers you gained from the ads could help your website's long-term organic results indirectly. Organic search results through SEO tend to have long lasting rankings once you get to the first page of Google or other top search engines. 

ROI On Traditional Media Ads 

Traditional media ads include television, print, radio, billboards, flyers, direct mailers, kiosks, banners, etc, and they can still be used by startups to market their products and services to prospects. However, it is important to mention that tracking the ROI on traditional media ads and its effectiveness can be very difficult. 

To determine the success of traditional means of advertising, you can conduct a brand survey asking people how they heard about your business. You can also pay attention to social media mentions immediately when the campaign is launched or promoted on traditional media to know what people are saying about it. Make sure your applications are working to get accurate data.

2. Increase Or Decrease In Sales 

Sales metrics are data points for measuring the performance of a startup. These metrics help to track a business' performance based on its goals and identifies the strengths and weaknesses of such performance. 

This metric of measuring marketing efforts is vital and must be treated as such. Sales metrics are typically measured over days, weeks, months, and yearly can tell you whether or not customers are interested in your products or services. 

Some examples of essential sales metrics include: 

Opportunity-To-Win Ratio: 

Sometimes referred to as win rate, this ratio is used to measure the success of sales recorded when there is an opportunity. This is particularly useful for B2B startups and businesses. 

Average Deal Size: 

Average deal size, as it relates to business sales, gives you an idea of how much you are making on an average per deal. It is difficult to increase sales without knowing your average deal size. 

Churn Rate Of Customers: 

Churn rate refers to how good you are at keeping existing clients. Churn rate is a good sales metric because how well you can retain customers determines how much sale you can make over a specific period. This is particularly useful in cases where repeat purchases are expected such as subscription based businesses. Always remember that it is a lot cheaper to retain existing customers than it is to acquire new ones!

3. Conversion Rate 

Conversion rate, as a key metric for measuring the success of your startup's success, refers to the total number of visitors who have carried out certain tasks on your business website and blog. When there is a high conversion rate compared to what was previously recorded, that's an indication of a successful marketing campaign. 

In determining conversion rate, several factors must be considered such as the number of visits, interactions per visit, and the value per visit. The best way to boost conversion rates are to add clear calls-to-action and design smart landing pages.

Startup Success Metrics Conclusion 

Running a lean startup is no easy feat in this day and age. We deal with it everyday and sometimes during the Lean Startup Life it is hard to see the forest through the trees. Luckily there are numerous metrics used to monitor the success of your startups with new analytics tools. The few startups success measurement metrics outlined above will serve you well to ensure your startup retains or acquires the new potential to reach greater heights.