5 Side Hustles To Consider Alongside Blogging

If you have free time and you’re not pursuing any sort of side hustle, maybe it’s time to change things up.

A side hustle is essentially a small business you run on the side while either continuing to work a traditional job, or another main business.

Perhaps blogging is a side hustle for you right now. Nothing wrong with that – it’s a damn good one, and in fact, taking the two-pronged approach and building your business up to the point where it covers your expenses is a great way to quit your job to blog full time.

Sometimes though, you’ll want to pursue even more.

Why Side Hustles Can Be Useful

Side hustles, if taken seriously, can be a great way to quickly generate some extra cash to fund projects for your main business.

Think of it this way – if you’re new or your blog just isn’t making that much money yet, you’re not going to have much additional funds to invest into growing your business.

It’s sort of a catch-22 situation – investing money into growing your business makes you more money, but it requires money to do so.

Many people I fear are either too scared to invest in their business, or simply lack the funds to do so. And the reality is, somebody investing even as little as $100 a month into their business is going to grow drastically quicker than somebody investing nothing.

Side hustles make this a lot easier, so long as you are disciplined enough to actually put your profit to use instead of just pocketing it.

Another thing that’s worth thinking about is the fact that if you’re doing quite well with your blog already, but you’re not quite close enough to quit your job and go at it full time, adding an extra side hustle may tip you over the edge and make it possible. Imagine how much more time you’d be able to spend growing your blog if you didn’t have to work a regular job!

Don’t Spread Yourself Too Thin!

Before we begin, I want to make something very clear. A side hustle is called a side hustle for a reason – it’s supposed to be something you do on the side. It is not your main focus.

The issue with pursuing too many ventures at once is that none of them get the attention they need to really succeed. Spread yourself too thin, and you will fail on all fronts.

Continue to give your blog and your main business all the attention it can get. Spend extra time marketing. Expand some area of your main business. Only when it makes sense should you pursue an extra side hustle.

5 Side Hustles Bloggers Should Consider:

1. Quick Jobs

Starting out with perhaps the most obvious is doing quick little jobs that don’t require any long-term commitments.

Uber, babysitting, and teaching music lessons are all great examples of this. They aren’t particularly hard or time consuming, yet they can be a great way to make a bit of extra cash that WILL add up over long periods of times.

Plus, you can work whatever amount you feel comfortable. Need some quick cash? It’s available to you. Want some extra time to focus on building your blog? Scale it down a bit. It’s all within your control.

This choice is one of my personal favorites because it forces me to get out of the house and actually interact with people in real life. When you are running your entire business from your house, it’s easy to forget that there is an entire world outside of it.

Not to mention, jobs such as babysitting are easy to do alongside your blogging work at times – it’s almost as if you’re getting paid to work on your business!

2. Flipping

Flipping is the act of buying products, and then reselling them for a profit.

While it certainly isn’t the easiest one of these to get started (requiring both upfront capital and product knowledge) the rewards are high and in fact, many people make flipping their full time job.

The good thing about flipping is that you have so many different options. While some people prefer to flip items locally using websites such as Craigslist or Facebook groups, others sell globally on websites such as Amazon or eBay.

While it can certainly be a lot of work sourcing, packaging, and selling, flipping can be an incredibly lucrative side hustle that is practically infinitely scalable if you wish to take it that far.

If you want to maximize your return on time invested, start by flipping items in a particular market. By doing this, you can develop true expertise and intuitively know the fair market price of an item – making it easier to recognize a deal when you see one.

3. Kindle Publishing

What started out as a side hustle for me has turned into an entire business of its own.

I originally started Kindle publishing several years ago to add some products to sell with this business – but once I realized how easy it was to create books on small niche topics and sell them completely passively, I knew this was something I had to focus more time on.

The great thing about Kindle is that it’s one of the most passive platforms out there – once you create your book and optimize the description and keywords, it really will sell on its own assuming there is demand for the topic. Outside marketing isn’t really necessary, as Amazon already has such a huge customer base regularly searching for Kindle books.

There is almost no other platform that is such a passive money making opportunity, so definitely consider Kindle. While it’s not something you’ll make a ton of money with right away, you can count on the steady stream of royalties coming in every month, and that feeling is incredibly satisfying.

If Kindle publishing is something that interests you, I highly recommend checking out my course on Kindle publishing. It’s designed in a way to help you find success without having to spend time marketing your books, so it’s perfect for a side hustler that wants to build up a profitable catalog quickly.

4. Udemy

Another business that’s kind of similar to Kindle publishing is publishing courses on Udemy – the world’s largest course marketplace.

The great thing about this is that it can double as both a side hustle, and an additional branch of your business. The majority of courses I have published cover topics that would appeal to visitors of James McAllister Online (such as blogging, email marketing, and achieving financial independence.)

Although most of my courses are no longer on Udemy, the process was very smooth and straightforward while I was publishing there.

Perhaps you have other topics that you’re interested in though, but don’t have the time to build a huge business around. This was actually my reason for creating a course on lucid dreaming – I loved the topic, I knew a lot about it, but I did not want to create a business around it. Instead, I built what I believe to be the world’s best lucid dreaming course, and have partnered with other blogs and websites who are promoting the course for me as affiliates. It’s a win-win situation!

While Udemy courses do tend to make a bit more than Kindle books, they are also less passive. You as the instructor are expected to respond to student questions promptly and keep content up to date. This doesn’t take a whole lot of time, but it certainly is not ‘set it and forget it’ as Kindle is.

That being said, the same information can be delivered in course format for a higher price than you’d be able to charge for a book. This may make the trade-off worth it for you.

5. Freelance Writing

Last but not least, freelance writing is a fantastic and popular choice for bloggers looking to pursue a side hustle.

After all, if you’re blogging, chances are you’re probably a better writer than most people. Taking up some freelance writing gigs is a great way to make a bit of extra money while building up your writing skills and gaining valuable experience at the same time.

Many people use their blogs as a portfolio of sorts, and if you are able to prove that you are great at what you do, you can charge fantastic rates and earn a ton of money in a relatively short period of time when opportunities arise – especially if you specialize.

Of course, it’s not that easy, but as with anything, your skill level and the amount of money you’ll make will go up over time as you continue to improve and make connections with clients.

If you really don’t want to add any more writing into your life, check out this list of profitable freelance skills to consider!

What’s Your Side Hustle?

These are only a few of many potential side hustle ideas.

If you have pursued a side hustle before, I’d love it if you’d share a bit about it.

And if you haven’t, why not? Which one of these would be the most interesting to you? What’s stopping you from trying one (or all) of them?

These are all things I have done myself at one point or another, so if you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask. I look forward to hearing from you!