How to Start a Side Hustle That Pays Fast

How to Start a Side Hustle That Pays Fast Its now been over 4 years since the recession hit, and youve probably felt some effect of it by now. You might be in a job just because you need something to pay the bills.   Or maybe you enjoy the job youre doing, but youre working at a pay rate that doesnt meet all your needs. Youd like to make more money but that means either moving to another job (good luck) or getting a second one. And jumping into a side hustle isnt as easy as it sounds.   You have to take the time to look.   And you struggle inside with whether taking on more work will burn you out. But bills have to be paid, and insanity is just doing the same thing over and over again. The good thing is, theres a way to do a side hustle without the drawbacks of burning yourself out or taking all of your free time.   And Im here to show you howguaranteed (see end). How College Taught Me to Side Hustle College was a great atmosphere for learning how to side hustle.   Every semester was a mystery as to what my schedule would look like, so finding a flexible job was CRUCIAL. One semester I might have classes in the morning M/W/F then the next semester I was spread all over T/Th. So instead of trying to find a new job every semester that fit my schedule best, I looked for several side hustle jobs. And I found this kind of work in spades.   I worked in promotion for Dell, Microsoft, and Livescribe.   I played with the survey sites.   I freelanced articles for EHow.   I did consulting, training, and even demoed a machine that made icecream from bananas. The point is Ive been there, done that, and still do some from time to time. Lets get started. The First Step: Whats Your Motivation? Not all side hustles are built the same.   Your motivations may be completely different from my motivations. So some side hustles may work better for you than they might for me. For example, maybe you just need a little bit of extra work to pay off an unexpected car repair.   Getting another part time job only to quit after a few months isnt the best idea. Or maybe you want to develop a skill so you can eventually move to a different job or career.   Delivering pizzas on the weekend probably wont help you much there either. Starting to see why understanding your motivation is key. Step Two: Find the Type of Side Hustle You Want There are three types of side hustles I typically see in the job market. 1. Weekend/PT Job 2. Freelancing 3. A Side Business Online Depending on your motivation you might focus on a different type of side hustle. For example, if you are really looking for something long term that allows you to pursue your passion, an online side business makes a lot of sense.   It will take more time to build and start making money, but in the long run will make you happy. If you need some money right away to help pay for your familys Christmas gifts, then you might look elsewhere. Step Three:   Where to Look For the Side Hustle That Fits YOU So you have an idea of what you are looking for in a side hustle, now you just need help finding it. Here are a few popular choices based on the three types I listed above. Side Hustles For the Weekend Part Time Warrior  1. Promotion Agencies This is probably one of my favorites in the bunch, and an area most people dont know about.   Promotion agencies are great because they will tend to pay fairly well, upwards of $20 or more an hour, for jobs that have you working 4-5 hours on a Saturday or Sunday. Its a great win/win for the employee and the agency.   The promotion agencies want their staff in the stores when they are busiest, which typically are the weekends.   The employee only has to give up a few hours of their weekend and comes home with a couple $100 each month in return. Also these tend to be project based so you get to work on a variety of products and can space out how often you want to take on additional projects.   If you just want to work leading up to the holidays you can.   If you want to work a few weekends every month, you can do that too. Promotion Agencies You Can Check Out: Mosaic Experiential Marketing, Sales, Merchandising Marketstar Experiential Marketing, Sales, Events Integer Retail Branding, Promotion The Marketing Arm Promotion Agency 2.   Pizza Delivery I have known several people who have picked up some extra dough delivering pizzas. Many pizza places are always looking for weekend drivers to fill in for their busy times.   And tips on the weekends are usually better as well. Do some research and see which pizza shops pay best, how they compensate for gas and wear on your vehicle, and what your hours might be. If driving soothes your soul, than this might be a good choice. 3.   Mystery Shopping Who wouldnt want to get paid to shop?   Not only that, you often get to keep merchandise from the stores you visit. The challenge however is finding the agencies that hire mystery shoppers. Also, it might be helpful to know that there is actually more work to it then you might think.   The agencies that pay you are doing it because they want DETAILS.   That means after the fun of visiting the shop and being your own private detective, youll have to come back home and write a decent report on what you experienced. So dont be surprised if they screen you for your writing abilities, attention to detail, and ability to describe events clearly. Mystery Shopping Agencies to Check Out: A Closer Look Restaurants, Hotels Management Consulting Group Restaurant, Hotels, Fast Food Pacific Research Group Retail Side Hustles For Freelancers 1.   Craigslist Yes, the same place you go to sell your old sofas also turns out to be a great place to find freelance work. Under the jobs section there are a few areas you can try, such as part-time, marketing, general labor, and admin/office. But, they also have a place specifically for Gigs. These can range from doing computer based work such as graphic design, social media, and seo, to more general work like writing, casting, and photography. 2. Elance Elance is a job posting site that is built for freelancers.   Employers have to pay a fee to get started on Elance, so the jobs are real and the employers have a sense of urgency to hire you quickly. The categories of jobs listed range from IT to Admin Support.   It should be fairly easy to pick up a job if you have some basic skills with a computer, marketing, or writing. A good thing to be aware of on Elance is that you will end up competing on projects.   So its not easy to charge whatever you feel like.   Theres going to be an Elance economy in effect where certain projects tend to go for certain rates. So to stand out, make sure your profile looks nice and that you can link to some of the work youve done. 3. Freelance Switch If you Google freelance sites, youll find plenty of results on the topic, but if you ask me you really only need one.   Freelance Switch. This is the ultimate resource for everything freelance, even the jobs themselves. To be fair, to apply for the jobs you do need a subscription which is $7 a month.   But this is a good thing. The jobs here are quality.   Sony, Comcast, EA, and other big name companies use this site to post their freelance work. Having a name like that on your resume isnt bad, right? Also, some of the writing gigs pay $75 an article. So you arent working hours for pennies here. Finally, this is aimed for serious freelancers so its expected that if you sign up for the subscription, you are going to take the time to apply for the jobs listed in order to make a return on your investment. Side Hustles For the Online Business Folk Now despite what the headline says, this isnt a quick way to make some extra cash. The reason being, that it just takes time to set up a site, generate traffic, create a product, market the productyou get the point. Sorry, if youre looking for a way to get rich quick, I cant help you. Still, this is an excellent option for those who are motivated to work on something they have a passion for and can wait to get money down the road. There are already remarkable courses and lessons on how to do develop this path, so Im not going to try and replicate it quickly right here. If you are serious about starting your own site, and want to learn how to monetize it, I suggest you take Corbett Barrs course Start a Blog That Matters. Still Cant Find A Side Hustle?   Ill Help You I understand, looking for work is tough, even if it is a side job.   So if you still cant find something that works for you, Ill personally help find a gig for you. Heres what you do. 1. Post a comment below describing the type of side hustle you are looking for and what your interests and skills are. 2. Subscribe to our email updates above (this will let me know you are serious and are open to the advice Ill give). Best of luck, Im interested to hear your thoughts. image courtesy of scottkellum