4 Side Hustle Opportunities Every Entrepreneur Should Know
July 13, 2020
Secondary income is something many people strive to achieve by one means or another, but they often fall short of finding something sustainable.
Securing a main source of income is one thing, but finding a reliable secondary source of revenue is a completely different ballgame. Adding additional responsibilities to your already busy lifestyle might not seem possible when you consider what expendable time you have left over for another project.
Well, we are here to tell you that not all secondary income streams require you to work full- or even part-time hours as you would in a brick-and-mortar establishment.
The key is managing and owning digital properties, the type that will allow you to set your own hours, work from anywhere in the world, and provide you the freedom to keep your main source of income without sacrificing your enjoyable lifestyle. You could even purchase a cash-generating business from our marketplace and skip the start-up time by acquiring something that is already established.
In this article, we have compiled a list of side hustle income streams you could manage today without leaving behind your current place of employment. So, let’s find out what these exciting opportunities are.
1. Blogging
Do you have a passion for writing about everyday items? Perhaps you like to give reviews for products you’ve recently purchased. Well, guess what? You can make a side income out of blogging and writing about things you already enjoy using.
There are so many possibilities in generating a secondary source of income from blogging, and if you are curious how you can actually make money from simply writing articles about the things you love, here are three examples of how you can monetize your work and start producing a sweet side income:
Advertising
Advertising in the world of digital properties has grown leaps and bounds from just a few years ago. Now, with so many networks available to choose from, the opportunities you have for experimenting with advertisements on your blog are endless.
From those banner ads you see at the top of most web pages to the sidebar advertisements geared toward your traffic’s last search query, placing advertisements on your site in a clean, subtle manner is an awesome opportunity to gain income from simply publishing content you already enjoy producing.
Amazon Associates
If you have been keeping up at all with the current trends in generating revenue through Amazon’s Associates program, you may have heard about the recent change in commissions for Amazon affiliates.
While a huge hit to the Amazon affiliate community, this change also created a new era for those who are not looking to make millions through Amazon’s program. If the goal is to create a side source of income, producing content you have a passion for can be a great side hustle, particularly considering you make a commission from any product your audience purchases from Amazon and not just the product you linked to within your content.
Affiliate Marketing
Not too keen on writing thousands of words about products you enjoy but still wishing you could make a side income like those Instagrammers you see marketing various products on their profiles? Then, affiliate marketing might be a great side income opportunity for you to consider.
If you enjoy marketing products more than the actual work required to design, invest, and manage the logistics of maintaining those products, affiliate marketing offers a great performance-based side income stream. You make a commission on the traffic you send to various affiliate programs that convert into sales. Not a bad means of producing a secondary income stream when you consider the time required to get started with this type of business model.
But if blogging and generating income through advertisements doesn’t excite you, and marketing other people’s products is not something you find interesting, what other options do you have for generating an additional income stream?
2. Selling Physical Products
Are you more interested in selling physical products but are wondering if this is even a possibility as a source of side income? Well, you might be surprised. In providing the largest curated marketplace for buying and selling digital properties, we’ve met countless owners who have acquired or sold off their physical product-based assets.
Depending on the number of products and how well the logistics are optimized, many eCommerce owners have told us how amazing these types of monetization can be when automated within their own business model. So, what are some of the passive opportunities available for those looking to sell physical products as a side hustle?
Amazon FBA
If you have spent any time researching the sweat equity required to maintain an Amazon FBA business model, you might be wondering how this opportunity even made it on this list.
This is why purchasing an established FBA asset from our marketplace is an exceptional opportunity for those looking to generate a side income without the risk of investing in something that hasn’t been proven yet. We are constantly vetting new Amazon FBA businesses whose owners claim to only work one to five hours per week maintaining the asset.
Acquiring an established FBA business from our marketplace means that all the logistics have been systemized for you, the pay-per-click (PPC) ad campaigns have already been established, and now all you have to do is monitor your sales and restock the inventory if the process hasn’t already been automated.
Amazon Merch
Despite everyone knowing of Amazon and its enormous international network, few people realize they could generate a nice side hustle through no product development at all.
Amazon Merch enables you to design products (a majority of which are T-shirts) and simply get paid for the designs you upload. No worrying about physical product inventory and logistics. Effortlessly upload graphic designs to your account, and when someone purchases a product with your design, all of which is handled by Amazon, you get a commission for the sale.
Dropshipping
Dropshipping is when a retailer does not keep goods in stock but instead transfers its customers’ orders and shipment details to either the manufacturer, another retailer, or a wholesaler, who then ships the goods directly to the customer.
This is a great opportunity for those looking to produce a side income, as most of the workload is front loaded (as with many of the other options mentioned in this article).
When you purchase a well-optimized dropshipping asset from our marketplace, the seller will often have an exclusive deal with their manufacturer, limiting the risk of competition entering your niche and creating yet another great monetization opportunity for those looking to generate a side income without the risk of starting something from scratch.
Amazon FBM
Similar to dropshipping, Amazon fulfilled by merchant (FBM) is a process in which you market products found on Amazon’s platform within your own content, and when a customer makes a purchase, their payment and shipping details are dispatched to Amazon.
What makes Amazon FBM a great opportunity for those looking to generate a passive side hustle is that all the products you are marketing and selling are on a fixed-price online marketplace alongside Amazon’s regular offerings.
eCommerce
Most of the side hustle opportunities mentioned above could technically fall into this same category, but one factor that does stand out with traditional eCommerce business models is that you are not relying on third-party platforms such as Amazon to generate revenue.
Traditional eCommerce businesses offer much more flexibility over FBA models, including more control over where you spend your marketing efforts, how your logistics are being handled (and why we suggest using a 3PL service to make this model as passive as possible), and the multiple platforms at your disposal outside of Amazon you can reach your target audience on.
Having more flexibility in the work required to maintain your side income also offers the best option for those looking to maintain their current work schedule.
Subscription
Subscription services that offer products, such as monthly box sets, gift bags, and other fan-based items, provide a great means to generate a side income with little effort. When you purchase a subscription business, the seller will most likely already have an established site that is generating consistent subscribers, automated logistics that send your subscribers their products, and email campaigns designed to keep those subscribers engaged in your network.
This type of business model is great for those really looking for something that requires minimal effort to maintain based on the structure most owners of this model have included within their assets. When you acquire this type of side income opportunity, not only will you have an automated passive income stream, but you could focus on scaling the business’s marketing efforts to gain a nice return on investment (ROI), already knowing from the seller what has worked in the past.
But if selling physical products does not match your business goals when it comes to generating a passive side income, what other options are available?
3. Selling Digital Products
If handling the logistics and management of physical inventory doesn’t suit your interests, you might want to consider selling digital products as your means to yielding a steady side income. The best part about selling your own digital products is that once you have established your target audience, you can focus on marketing your product rather than publishing new content on a consistent basis like you would with blogging or affiliate marketing.
Digital Products
Digital products are a great way to generate a source of side income, as you can choose to produce this content yourself or market other companies’ digital products, such as training courses and podcasts. Yup, that’s right. With the current quarantine measures in place around the world, podcasts have become a great way to captivate your target audience with content beyond the written word.
Most podcasts are free. However, you could manage a business that leverages a subscription-based podcast that offers more features, detailed guides, and other content not available to free podcast subscribers. Digital products offer many opportunities for those willing to think outside the box, and purchasing an established digital product asset from our marketplace that requires minimal work ensures you can maintain your current employment status.
Info Products
Similar to the lucrative opportunities traditional digital products offer those searching to generate a side income, info products offer those who enjoy teaching others what they have learned a great chance to bring in some extra cash.
Have experience playing a specific instrument? You could create an info product course teaching others how to play that same instrument while collecting revenue from multiple customers, all from that one course you published.
Not sure if you are skilled enough to train others in a subject? No problem. When you purchase an established info product business from our marketplace, you can choose to outsource the content to others within the space who have more knowledge in that particular niche. Once you’ve established a system for producing, publishing, and marketing your content, you can once again focus on scaling the asset, or you could simply keep it as a great side hustle that requires little effort to maintain.
What if you are not looking for a side project that requires you to produce training courses or to sell physical or digital products but still want the freedom to generate recurring revenue from an established subscriber base? This is where offering an online service shines.
4. Offering an Online Service
This might sound confusing at first since most of the side hustle opportunities mentioned in the article could be considered an online service. However, what we consider an online service is anything that solves a problem for a customer without the exchange of any physical or digital products. Rather, an online service could consist of software as a service (SaaS) or lead generation services.
SaaS
In the modern world, it’s safe to say that everyone with a smartphone has at least one app they couldn’t live without. Offering a SaaS is a great opportunity to produce a side hustle, as most of the work occurs when developing the solution for your subscribers.
When you purchase an established revenue-generating SaaS from our marketplace, even without having any programming knowledge, you could have a consistent side hustle that doesn’t require much sweat equity to maintain.
Conclusion
There are endless advantages to managing a side hustle in the digital property space, including location independence, the opportunity to set your own hours, and the chance at turning your side hustle into a full-fledged primary source of income and leaving your 9-to-5 cubicle behind.
No matter what your business goals may be or how many expendable hours you have to dedicate to a side hustle in the online space, chances are this guide will give you a much needed head start in discovering which of these options match your goals. This is not an exhaustive list detailing every single side hustle opportunity available online, but we hope this list will give you an idea of the possibilities that are out there.
Ready to take the next step in securing your own side hustle by acquiring an already established, cash-generating machine?
Set up a call with one of our business advisors today. They can match you with the perfect side project that strengthens your primary source of income while maintaining the lifestyle you enjoy.
