Factors To Consider When Choosing A Side Hustle

To be clear, we don't mean what is your favorite hobby. When trying to make some extra money, it's best to pick a side hustle that can contribute in some way to your income stream. If you like knitting but don't have any friends or acquaintances who knit, then it might not be worth your time and resources to start a knitting business just because you enjoy the activity itself.

Think about what you're good at, and assess whether that's something you could use as a side hustle. If, for instance, you enjoy being outdoors and are an expert gardener, consider starting up a gardening business where people pay for your services or buy your homegrown produce.

If nothing else comes up as an option that can be transformed into a side hustle, think about things you'd be willing to learn more about if it meant making money on the side. 

While it can take time and effort to learn new skills or hone current ones (and those efforts may only result in minimal income), it is possible that the experience alone will lead to other opportunities in the future—or even get you another job with more pay down the road!

Is it a good fit with what you do now?

To make things easier, your new side hustle should have some overlap with the work you do in your main career. It might be good to explore additional income opportunities within the same industry or field. 

For example, if you're a small business owner who specializes in hardware and software installation services, you might want to consider offering maintenance and troubleshooting services as well. 

By doing so, you'll be able to take advantage of your existing knowledge and skills while also making your primary client base happy by expanding the suite of products or services they can purchase from you.

Another good way to find related side hustles is by looking at complementary activities within a similar industry or field. For example, if you're a graphic designer for an architectural firm that specializes in commercial building projects, it might be a good idea for you to use your free time to look for freelance opportunities related to residential architecture—a lifelong dream of yours that's not adequately addressed by the projects assigned through your current job. 

You will already have experience working with design tools such as Adobe Illustrator and SketchUp Pro since those are used by all types of architects; this means that getting started on these types of jobs shouldn't take long either!

Does it fulfill an important need in your community?

A worthwhile side hustle should fulfill an important need in your community. For example, a dog-walking service could be an important way to give busy pet owners the peace of mind that comes with knowing their dogs are getting regular exercise. On the other hand, selling goat cheese might not fulfill an important need in your community.

Is there potential for growth?

As with any side hustle, it’s always worth considering whether your work could become a full-time job. While this might not happen for every side hustle, there are several reasons why aiming for a potential career might not be such a bad idea:

• You might want to continue this work after the pandemic ends. If you’re going to stay in your job anyway, it’s worth considering whether your hobby could feasibly become more than that.
  
  
• You might want to grow this into a full-time business and sell services or products by yourself. Remember that if you already have an existing business, you don't need another one — and if you do decide to start one up, later on, make sure it doesn't distract from your main focus or involve doing unnecessary busywork.
  
  
• You might want to expand so that other people can help out or join in too. For example, if you're teaching online classes about something like photography then there's no limit as long as people keep signing up (and paying). 
  
  This option is also great because it means more money coming in from each individual person which offsets some costs associated with having them on board (like taxes). And finally -- it gives everyone involved an opportunity to network within their industries while working alongside each other!

Choosing the right side hustle is about finding one that works for you.

When choosing the right side hustle, it's important to find one that works for you. As with full-time employment and other investments of time, energy, and money, your side hustle is much more likely to be successful if you genuinely like doing it!

You also need to consider how the side hustle fits in with your current job or business. Is there a way to integrate them? Can you sell something through your current business that complements what you're already doing? 

For example, if you're running a small landscaping business serving residential customers in an affluent suburb, maybe adding lawn mowers or weed whackers from brands like Black & Decker could be a good move. Or maybe even gift cards to the local hardware store so customers can make needed repairs themselves.

Finally, ask yourself: "Is this something I can grow?" This applies whether you're making things by hand at home or freelancing on Upwork. When starting out with any new endeavor—whether it's learning how to code or restoring vintage motorcycles—identifying ways that the project has room for growth is critical. Maybe selling custom-made leather jackets will get old after a while; but in addition to selling refurbished Harleys, perhaps there's an opportunity here to start offering motorcycle tours of famous American highways (Route 66 anyone?).