Education logo

The Top 5 Profitable Side Income Sources

Add thousands of dollars to your monthly income with these side hustles

By Dolvie N.Published 2 years ago Updated about a year ago 11 min read
1
The Top 5 Profitable Side Income Sources
Photo by Bram Naus on Unsplash

If you've been seeking a means to increase your income while maintaining a full-time job or pursuing other activities, this article will get you started.

Side hustles are essentially lucrative options that you may pursue without spending a significant amount of time on them. And, while many individuals begin earning money through side hustles as a method to supplement their monthly income, it's not uncommon for side hustles to soon become a significant source of income, eventually supplanting your 9-5.

In other words, it's a SUBSTANTIAL hustle.

Therefore, start by perusing the several side hustles highlighted in this write-up. As you read the content, jot down notes and thoughts, and then construct an action plan!

Side hustles are an excellent way to rapidly pay down debt, save for retirement, or alleviate financial stress so you can live your best life. Finally, the finest side hustles are adaptable and successful without requiring a significant time commitment. While many of the side-hustles discussed here may easily extend into a much larger business, they allow you to work as little or as much as you like when you first start.

Thus, let us begin without further ado!

Create Video Tutorials

Individuals are constantly on the lookout for instructional films that demonstrate how to do a task, finish a goal, or learn something new. It makes video courses tremendously profitable, and platforms like YouTube make it quite simple to rapidly establish a channel and create quality traffic (and at little to no cost).

To begin, examine the sort of content you want to develop, specifically what skills or information you have that could be converted into video tutorials. Then, spend some time watching current video lessons in that niche on YouTube to familiarize yourself with the style, tone, and voice employed by experienced makers.

This is also the time to decide on the general structure of your video instructional, such as whether you'll construct an explainer video, a presentation-style video, or possibly a screencast video. The more study you conduct on your industry, the easier it will be to come up with fresh ideas that will attract viewers, so set aside some time to examine popular networks.

Additionally, you'll want to construct a storyboard or narrative for the video. It reduces mistakes and improves the flow of your movie, ensuring that viewers remain focused. Following that, you'll want to invest in some equipment to make professional-looking videos, but you don't have to go all out. You may get started with simply a high-quality microphone and a screen-capture software package such as Snagit or Camtasia, which are both widely used by beginners and pros alike.

If you're interested in learning more about this side hustle, here's an excellent step-by-step tutorial.

Consider the following two YouTube tools that can assist you in getting started quickly and growing with minimal or no effort:

  • Tubebuddy
  • VidIQ

Whichever one you like, they'll be your closest companions on your path to YouTube stardom!

Offer Online Training

In the same way that you may create video lessons based on your expertise and abilities, you can take things a step further by producing online courses and training programs. Students will pay for access to your course, which may be offered in various ways, including via popular course platforms such as Skillshare, Teachable or Thinkific.

I propose the Thinkific platform (which comes with a 30-day free trial). When developing your training content, you can go for video-based courses, text-based lessons, or a combination of the two. The ideal format should be determined by your market and their needs, which means you'll want to spend some time studying your niche, including current courses on your selected subject.

Courses are a multimillion-dollar industry! Individuals earn millions of dollars every year just by delivering basic courses that assist individuals in acquiring new skills. Additionally, your course does not need to be too lengthy. Indeed, students frequently want to study only the processes or components essential to accomplish their objectives. And if you believe you lack the necessary qualifications to build a course, reconsider! Individuals are investing in courses covering virtually every subject imaginable. Therefore, begin by examining your capabilities and interests and generating a few concepts you may later validate.

For instance, you may excel in bookkeeping or possess skills in website design or video production. All of these are valuable skills that others would be willing to pay a premium to acquire.

Tip: While this is one of the most lucrative side-hustles discussed in this article, you can increase your earnings even further by offering chosen students the option of receiving personal assistance or coaching from you for an extra cost.

It is a time-tested strategy for increasing revenue and allows you to tailor the upgrade in several ways, including by offering different tiers. For instance, you might provide coaching for 30 or 60 days, or you could allow students to purchase additional time blocks. Alternatively, you might include a membership component in your course for students to access additional tools and resources for a fee.

You can quickly design a landing page using a platform like Wishpond, Leadpages, or Unbounce and begin selling your consulting or coaching services.

Start A Blog

Select a niche for your blog based on your audience's financial potential, market demand, and professional leverage. By minimizing the quantity of content you develop and outsourcing certain aspects of your content and SEO efforts, you may speed the acquisition of backlinks and the growth of your Domain Authority (DA).

Finally, by using the proper high-end blog monetization strategies at the appropriate point of your site's life cycle, you may quadruple your revenue. Do so by closing only two or three high-end clients rather than hundreds of affiliate sales. These tactics reduce your revenue path and allow you to earn hundreds of dollars with far less traffic.

Finally, as a first step toward building a blog, I recommend that you get web hosting and a WordPress site.

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular and successful side hustles. Unsurprisingly, so many individuals start with this possibility because it's simple to get started and can be automated for genuine passive income once your system is set up.

There are numerous affiliate networks through which you can gain access to in-demand products and services from which you can earn a commission, but the best ones for you will vary depending on the market you're targeting and whether you're promoting digital or physical products.

To earn money with affiliate marketing, you'll also need a blog or website and a newsletter service.

Creating a fast blog (even if it merely has review-style pages that are rarely updated) will help you obtain quality traffic that converts into sales.

Additionally, you'll be able to begin establishing a mailing list of active subscribers who are interested in the items and services you offer by utilizing a newsletter service. It will not only reduce (or eliminate) marketing expenditures but will also enable you to run affiliate-based campaigns to a focused audience.

Note: Although affiliate marketing can be very lucrative, it is also very competitive. This is why I advocate focusing on a specific niche. Concentrate on a single segment of a popular market and then create content pages on a blog that include information such as extensive reviews to assist buyers in their purchasing choice.

Here are a few affiliate networks to get you started, but I recommend conducting a thorough search for affiliate programs relevant to your niche to uncover the finest ones that are not included on a larger network.

  • ClickBank
  • Commission Junction
  • Amazon Associates
  • eBay Partner Network (CJ)

Here’s a list of top high-paying affiliate programs that you can sign up for.

Email Marketing

This is a very effective method of establishing genuine connections with a targeted audience and acquiring prospective loyal consumers for your brand. For any online business owner, an email list is a valuable asset. While social media platforms come and go, your email list will always exist.

These are those who have shown their willingness to receive content from you willingly. They are intrigued by your niche and the services you offer. If managed effectively, an email list may act as a "sales machine." Nonetheless, treat your subscribers as if they were friends or valuable individuals. Maintain a connection with them that is not transactional since this may come off as spam and cause them to unsubscribe from your list. Through all of your emails, you must demonstrate an interest in their development and deliver value.

Many email marketing platforms (autoresponders) offer a free plan that provides all the essentials of automated email marketing. Check out the following suggestions to get started right away:

Become a Freelancer

Freelancing is a great way to make money on the side without having to commit a lot of time to the process. You can simply decide on a service menu, set your pricing and then take on only as many jobs as you have time for each week.

Freelancing comes in many forms, so depending on your skills you’ll be able to build a client base quickly just by creating a profile on sites like Toptal, Fiverr, 99designs, Upwork, PeoplePerHour.

From writing, programming, design to virtual assistants and specialized areas such as legal, translation or mobile development.

Tips: Make sure you only accept jobs that you know you can complete. User feedback is important on freelance sites like Fiverr and Toptal because it helps future clients determine whether you’re reliable. This means that you always want to meet deadlines and if you foresee any issues, you contact your client as quickly as possible. Regular communication is vital in encouraging positive feedback once the project is complete.

Further, make sure you research your market so you are able to set reasonable price points for the various work you offer. You never want to devalue your work or undercut yourself, so spend some time reviewing what other freelancers in your market are charging for similar services.

Dropshipping

Dropshipping allows you to sell a product without having to purchase or store inventory. Further, you can have the manufacturer ship it directly to your customer, eliminating your workload and freeing up your time. in other words, dropshipping offers true automation!

It’s also a low-risk opportunity because products are only shipped out once they are purchased which eliminates the costly (and high-risk) requirement for purchasing inventory upfront as is often necessary in other businesses. You can get started by simply deciding on a niche to sell too, choose a supplier, and then reach new buyers through sales channels like Amazon or Ebay.

Finding your niche is extremely important because it will help you narrow down your focus so you can begin evaluating different available products. While many people earn money through drop shipping by paying attention to current trends and then jumping on them, I recommend focusing most of your attention on evergreen products that will sell year-round which will provide you with a steady income.

Tip: Hot trends are great for quick, short-term wins, but it’s usually best not to base your entire business on these temporary markets. Instead, you should choose evergreen markets that come with consistent demand and repeat customer customers. Resource: If you’re interested in keeping a pulse on current trends, Trendhunter is a useful website.

Top dropshipping site recommendations:

Sell T-Shirts & Other Merchandise

Did you know that you can make money selling t-shirts without ever having to ship inventory or even process a payment yourself? With websites like RedBubble and Threadless, you can create and upload designs and they’ll take care of the rest. You’ll earn a percentage for each item sold and can also choose from a variety of product types to feature your graphic on.

This means that you can sell far more than just t-shirts, but also coffee mugs, mouse pads and even handbags. This is a great side hustle because it doesn’t take a lot of time or effort to launch and you can simply work on new designs in your spare time.

You’ll want to spend some time researching a variety of markets in order to come up with different ideas that are bound to sell. This is often the most time-consuming step but it’s definitely worth it. You can browse websites like Amazon and Etsy to find popular products.

Be sure to take notes on commonly used phrases, lingo and even color schemes that are selling as this information will help you when planning your own designs. And of course, if you’re not a designer you can still get in on the action by simply hiring graphic designers on sites like Fiverr but thankfully with sites like Canva it’s very easy to create graphics for t-shirts, even with zero experience!

Tip: Make sure you design your graphics in 300 dpi and save them in .PNG files with dimensions of 4500x5400. Remember to include free e-commerce solutions, user- generated content, messaging applications, and chat bots in your strategy. Any online shop will benefit from tools like HubSpot's free CRM and email marketing software. Additionally, you can invest in a password manager to assist you in switching between platforms while maintaining security.

Read on more ways to make extra money from home.

courseshow tostudentteacherbook reviewscollegehigh schoolproduct reviewtravellist
1

About the Creator

Dolvie N.

I'm not sure I can write...They won't appreciate it...Hey I'm not creative enough...It's not good enough...

Hush!!!!!

Writing breathes life into our thoughts...Keep Writing!

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.