7 Helpful Tips on Starting Your Side Hustle in 2023

Ready to become financially independent in 2023? Consider starting a side hustle now. Here are 7 actionable tips to start your side hustle in 2023.

Starting a side hustle
Side hustle; Source:

A side hustle is often something you do that earns you additional money outside your employment job.

In 2022, 45 per cent of Americans had a side hustle, spending over 13 hours per week on their side hustles. The global gig economy was predicted to be worth 455 billion by the end of 2022. Many of these developments were fast-tracked by the pandemic. People realised the importance of starting up the side hustles they have always talked about.

Having only one stream of income is oftentimes dangerous. This is why business gurus have always advocated for multiple streams of income, or at least an added stream of income. Starting up a side hustle can give you good financial leverage in times of financial crises at your workplace, as well as a sense of satisfaction that you are doing something you love doing.

Starting a side hustle can come with its own problems, one of which is related to being unable to manage time between your side hustle and your employment job. Another is, most people end up quitting altogether after they have tried to start their side hustle but without any success. In 2022 or earlier, if you have attempted starting your side hustle or you were only contemplating it, 2023 is your best time to start your side hustle, and there are many helpful things you need to know.

Most popular side hustles in 2022

A look at the trends of side hustles in the most recent years will show us which side hustle areas are most lucrative and/or easy to start. This can also inform your choice of the side hustle you can start in 2023. The table below shows a statistical list of some of the most popular side hustles in 2022.

Online and social media16.6%
Ridesharing and delivery15.6%
Online shop13.4%
Freelancing13.4%
Selling crafts and designs7.8%
Market research7.2%
Software and IT7.1%

Social and online media was the side hustle with the highest proportion of people in 2022. Being a Youtuber or an influencer gives a potential earning of $10,000 a month. Aside from its lucrativeness, online and social media has monumental stats because it is also very easy to start.

Many people have been unsuccessful with their side hustles not because the side hustle does not have the potential to be lucrative or successful. The major reasons are related to a lack of motivation or lack of the required skills in growing and up-scaling the side hustle as a high-paying business.

It is possible to grow your side hustle into a business that can elevate your financial status and give you a good chance to be among the richest individuals in your locality and around the world.

How to find the best side hustle ideas for you

There are many factors to consider when choosing a side hustle to start. Carefully putting these factors into consideration will help you find the best side hustle ideas for you.

1. Time

How much time do you have for your side hustle? How much time can you dedicate to your side hustle per day? Some side hustles are time-demanding and might require you to be physically present whenever you want to engage in them. A good example is selling crafts or owning a physical shop. You may need to leave your main job to attend to this side hustle. In contrast, online-based side hustles do not require you to be physically present.

For you to be successful in your side hustle, you must be able to give the required time to your side hustle. If you eventually decide to start up a side hustle that requires much time, this is where time discipline comes in, so you can efficiently manage time between your side hustle and your other vocation(s).

2. Money

This is the level of lucrativeness that a side hustle gives you when compared to your desired income from side hustles. Based on statistics, as already mentioned, YouTubers and influencers can potentially earn up to $10,000 per month working with several brands and clients. This might influence a lot of people to go into that niche.

However, it is important to note that you can equally earn as much from just about any other niche you venture into. It’s just a matter of time, and you should be willing to start somewhere even though small. Overall, 56.4% of side hustlers make less than $500 per month, and only 15% earn more than $1,500 per month. With time, you can join the league of side hustlers who earn very lucrative amounts per month.

3. Passion

Passion is the first and most important factor you should consider in choosing the side hustle to start. That means you need to have or develop an inner love sense of love for the side hustle. Even if you are venturing into it simply because of the lucrativeness, your passion must need be built and sustained for that side hustle. This is because starting a side hustle does not often kick off so quickly. Only your passion will be able to keep you going if things do not go as expected after starting up your side hustle.

Which side hustle should you start?

Considering all I have said about the side hustle trends in 2022, and the factors to consider in choosing a side hustle, what side hustle do you think of starting at this point? I can attest that the decision is not an easy one particularly if you have never thought about it before. Because this post is aimed at providing you with helpful tips on how to start a side hustle in the new year, I am going to attempt to walk with you as you choose your side hustle.

First of all, you should discard the mindset of choosing a side hustle simply because someone else is earning so much from it. Your passion, that is, something you would love to do, should be your first criterion. Your passion is your strongest motivation.

What do you enjoy doing? If you are to do something voluntarily without anyone paying you for it, what would it be? I, personally, started this blog some years ago with the intention of scaling it up and growing other ventures from it. So far, I have come quite close. But that is not to deny that there were no downtimes, there were and still are.

The following are considered some of the best side hustles one can start in 2022;

  1. Dropshipping.
  2. Taking online surveys.
  3. Starting a blog.
  4. Becoming a social media manager.
  5. Proofreading.
  6. Virtual Assistant.
  7. Creating an online course.
  8. Online tutoring and teaching English.
  9. Starting an e-commerce store.

Dropshipping, for example, is a side hustle that involves purchasing and shipping products for interested buyers. You discover new trade channels customers will love, maybe based on the affordability or quality, and you decide to render the services of purchasing products for your clients who might have also paid for your service alongside the cost price of the product. It is a very smart way of earning a side income, and thankfully, you don’t need any degree in marketing or business to do it. There are also lucrative alternatives to dropshipping you could try out.

Talk of others like starting a blog, taking online surveys, becoming a social media manager, and proofreading. You can be paid to proofread works or take surveys online. Many clients are in search of people with the required skill set and ability to carry out these tasks.

It is easy to start up an e-commerce store on Shopify, particularly if you do not have the resources to build an e-commerce platform from the scratch.

Just about anything (e.g, being a car dent repairer during periods of inactivity from your main job) can be your side hustle; it doesn’t have to be these ones listed here. You only need to be able to sustain your passion to keep it going till it becomes fully established.

Benefits of starting a side hustle

Starting a side hustle has the following benefits:

  1. It can be a good alternative source of income that can help supplement your disposable income, living expenses, and for savings. You can afford to pay for a few extras of life from your side income.
  2. Income from your side hustle can help offset debts or drastically reduce your need to borrow.
  3. Disposable income means you can afford to pay for luxury items, and/or to gift money to friends and family comfortably.
  4. It gradually puts you on the path to becoming your own boss, and a boss for others in the future. All things being equal, when your side hustle eventually kicks off on a grand scale, you can be able to earn enough to employ more people to work for you.

While you don’t have to stop your main job when starting your side hustle, you can eventually grow it big enough to make it easier for you to resign from work and pursue your passion project or side hustle. In the next section, we will see some helpful tips on starting a side hustle in 2023.

Helpful tips on starting a side hustle

Starting a side hustle can be a difficult thing to do without the right guidance. These helpful tips will guide you on what you need to know and do to start your side hustle.

1. Define the long-term plan for your side hustle

From the word go, you should define the long-term plan for your side hustle. This entails outlining the goals and objectives you have for this project and how you want to achieve them.

For example, if you want to start a blog as your side hustle, you need to ask yourself what you want it to look like, what type of content you want to create and how you want it to impact your audience and everyone. This clear picture will help you make interventions that will help you actualize those goals.

2. Create a business plan

Creating a business plan is one area many side hustlers fail to take into account. This is not the time to be unserious with your side hustle, and you must take it as a potential full-time business idea once your feet have become firm.

According to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), creating a business plan may involve you establishing the following:

  • A company description.
  • Your products and services.
  • An executive summary.
  • A market analysis.
  • Strategy and implementation plans.
  • Organization and management team.
  • A financial plan and projections.

These may require some technical know-how but in actual sense, it is not something you cannot handle. Creating a business plan enables you to adequately monetize your side hustle.

Even when you have made your initial business plans, remember that they are not cast in stone and can change with time as you grow in the side hustle.

3. Obtain professional financial advice

Starting and running some kind of side hustle may require the services of a professional financial adviser. A financial adviser will help analyse and forecast your side hustle to ensure that everything is in place to make you earn the most from your hustle.

You may need to acquire financial advice related to bookkeeping and funds management, especially in the early stages of starting your side hustle. Good bookkeeping makes it possible to get financial assistance from investors and philanthropists when your side hustle picks up well enough to become the viable business idea you have always dreamt of.

4. Make feasible plans to fund your side hustle

Starting a new side hustle does not guarantee an automatic pick-up of the project. The early periods may require you to spend time and money more than how much you get back in return. This is why you need to make a feasible plan to fund your side hustle until it has become established.

Starting a side hustle requires you to invest some funds from your other income sources until it picks up to sustain itself. These are periods of sacrifice; make feasible plans to fund your side hustle during this period.

Self-funding is and should always be your first resort but when your side hustle has attained some growth, you might need some additional sources of funds.

If you are working other jobs, set out a proportion of your income to develop your side hustle. If you have no money at hand, that should not discourage you from pursuing your side hustle. Feel free to use free or inexpensive resources until you are capable of paying.

Other sources of funding for your side hustle include the following:

  • Family and friends.
  • Angel investors.
  • Bank loans.
  • Crowdfunding.

Concerning these additional sources of funding, it is important to note that well-prepared financial records would be required to prove that your business is viable and worthy of sponsorship or receiving support. Bank loans would attract interest and you would be required to pay crowdfunding platform fees when raising funds via crowdfunding.

Lastly, though sourcing funds from family and friends does not accrue any interest, you should be careful not to ruin your relationship with your family members and friends. They may not take any legal or physical actions against you but do your best to value the funds you receive from family and friends as though they came from some external agency.

5. Learn time management

When you take up a side hustle, it is expected that you would not have as much time as you previously had. This is where time management comes in. It can be very difficult to manage time for your different endeavours without one time encroaching into another. From personal experience, there is really no true formula for everyone. You just have to understand yourself and how you work with time.

For example, you may set aside 3-4 hours for your side hustle every day; could be daytime or nighttime depending on your regular work schedule.

Sometimes, you would encroach beyond the time allocated for your side hustle, probably because you have some more important issues to attend to. First, you should try not to make it so obvious to your employer and fellow employees if you are working at a company. And very importantly, you should plan to make up for the time spent on your other vocation(s).

6. Learn to work remotely

Remote jobs have taken over a large proportion of jobs today. Many million people have their side hustles as remote jobs, freelancing gigs, etc.

Previously, not everyone was comfortable working online or remotely. Many people were used to the traditional methods of work, but things have changed now. Thanks to the pandemic which facilitated the shift towards the work-from-home economy.

If you still struggle with working over remote distances, begin to develop yourself now. Core areas to develop include developing computer technology skills and how to navigate inside program applications, and communication skills, including personal and business communication.

7. Build your social media brand

Social media marketing is one of the most popular side hustles today. It is a side hustle in itself for some people. However, if your side hustle involves something else other than being a social media influencer or marketer, for example, drop-shipping, you still need to promote your own brand on social media.

If you can afford to pay influencers to help you boost your reach on social media, fine, but at the initial startup phase, you might need to do so yourself. I’d recommend creating a Twitter for your personal brand or business and growing your followers over time. These will help boost your brand visibility when your social presence has become massive.

Conclusion

Starting a side hustle is an interesting adventure filled with ups and downs, but it is something you will never regret doing. This may be the first time starting a side hustle, or you may have tried your hands into some things in the past. These tips in this post will help you achieve success in your side hustle.

I hope you remember what that means; you get additional sources of income, and your side hustle can make you buoyant enough to be your own boss and even employ others.

These tips will be helpful in starting your side hustle. Choose what you are passionate about, or develop your passion towards what you choose. Don’t be ashamed to start small, but dream big. Grow your side hustle into a business, and you will find yourself on your path to financial freedom and independence.

I am a medical doctor, a seasoned writer and passionate blogger. Thanks to many years of trials, failure, and near successes. I am the founder of Knowseeker and our content are geared towards enlightening and making you a better and happier audience.

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