Build Your First Side Hustle Online : A Step-by-Step Guide
Kickstarting a Side Hustle doesn’t need doses of Procrastination and an “I don’t have time” excuse
It’s all at our fingertips. A few hours of research + coffee, and you’re well on your way to building your first side hustle and making money out of it, or who knows, even making a living out of it.
In fact, the best side Hustle strategies come from implementing them first and seeing how they pan out.
But if you’re not sure where to start or how to use the best resources available online, keep reading.
In this blog, I’ll cover a step-by-step process from choosing a skill to building your side hustle, and to ultimately marketing it successfully.
Let’s begin!
Step 1 : Pick a Skill
Your skill is the core of your Side Hustle.
Learning the right skill will make you money, faster and smarter.
And to pick the right skill, you’ll need to avoid the ones that fall into these categories :
- Out of demand
- Low Market Value
Choosing a skill that’s trending gets you in front of more people, faster. Here are a few to name :
- Writing
- Design
- Code
- No Code
Pick the one that aligns with your interests or something you’d love to try out, even if it’s the first time.
When I first started my first side hustle in July 2022, I almost wasted my first two weeks picking multiple skills and trying my hand at all of them.
Lesson : It cost me my time. Don’t make the same mistake. Pick one skill, no matter what. Once you start hitting your income milestones with your first Side Hustle, chasing other skills is no big deal.
Let’s jump to the next step.
Step 2 : Pick a Resource
You’ve picked a skill in Step 1, now it’s time to learn everything you can about it.
Picking a resource doesn’t necessarily mean you need to go for the paid ones. There is a ton of free knowledge available on YouTube and Google which is more than sufficient to learn your desired skill.
But yes, if you’re confident about the basics and want to propel your learning process, taking paid courses is efficient and effective of doing it.
Here’s what I did when I took up Content Writing as my primary skill :
- Learned everything I could from platforms like YouTube and Google, and websites like Backlinko, Smartblogger and Copyblogger
- Next, I took up paid courses that gave me advanced knowledge of the skill. For this, I used platforms like Udemy and courses launched by SmartBlogger.
Other than YouTube and blogs on Google, check out Skillshare and Coursera for some really great free courses for your skill.
Here’s my tweet of the best YouTube Creators in their respective niches
Let’s move on to the next step.
Step 3 : Choose an Inspiration
Nothing’s better than learning to build your Side Hustle from someone who’s already had success with it.
When I started exploring Notion and its potential, I came across Easlo and his content on Twitter. His journey and content helped me get a clear idea of how to proceed with my Side Hustle.
Once I was confident, I decided to take up his Notion Creator which gave me an in-depth, practical step-by-step guide to making money with Notion.
You can do something similar.
Find someone experienced in your skill and study their journey and content. Once you trust their skills, check out if they’re offering a course — free or paid. Enroll in it and fast-track your Side Hustle journey.
Step 4 : Pick 2 Tools
When I started building my Notion side hustle, Notion and Canva were the only tools I needed to make it work.
Notion — For building templates
Canva — For designing template graphics
Each tool comes with its own learning curve, so the simpler you keep it, the easier it is to manage everything, overall.
Let’s take an example :
Say you’ve chosen to build and sell Canva Templates as a Side Hustle.
The only tool you’ll need to build the templates is Canva itself. That’s it.
Tools alone won’t help you make money. You’ll need platforms to showcase your side hustle. Let’s cover this in the next step.
Step 5 : Build and Launch your Side Hustle
We’ve picked the tools and are ready to build your side hustle. But to launch it online, you’ll need access to specific platforms that’ll display your side hustle products to potential customers.
When I sell Notion Templates, I use platforms like Gumroad, Facebook Groups and Product Hunt to list and launch them.
Similarly, if someone’s selling Canva templates, the best platform to sell them would be Etsy.
Step 6 : Market it Online
You’ve finally launched your Side Hustle. It’s time to market it online to make people aware of it and turn most of them into your customers.
Marketing is crucial if you’re planning to pursue it long-term with high profits. Let’s look at a few options below :
- If you’re sude hustle includes design, video, or image-based content, then the best ones to look into would be Instagram, Pinterest, Tiktok or YouTube
- If it includes written based content, then the best platforms are Twitter, LinkedIn and Medium.
When it comes to marketing your Side Hustle, the best and most effective way is to get it out on your Socials as it has literally billions of people hanging out there.
Conclusion
Building a Side Hustle becomes easier when you have a proven checklist or a roadmap. And I’ve tried my best to give you something similar in this blog.
Once you implement all the step covered here, I’m sure you’ll be making money with your side hustle in no time.
Comment below if you already have a Side Hustle or multiple ones.
PS — If you’re a Writer with a Lust for top-notch writing resources, tools and Marketing skills that’ll make you stand out as a wolf amongst sheeps, check out my Newsletter below 👇🏻
