How to Create a Successful Side Hustle during COVID

Are you considering adopting a side hustle during COVID? Read our article on how our expert guest turned her side hustle into her main hustle.

Whether it’s launching your own business or getting a part-time job, starting a side hustle during COVID might be a great way to increase your income. However, it might be challenging while balancing your full-time job and life. Taking the leap of faith to turn your side hustle into your main hustle might be even harder. This week on our Instagram Live at 5, we hosted Jessica Moorhouse to share her success story on how her side hustle became her primary career.

What are the benefits of adopting a side hustle during COVID?

Side hustles are beneficial for multiple reasons. They might allow you to pursue your passion alongside your full-time job, bring an additional source of income and provide a safety net. Even though most people perceive having a full-time job as financial safety, not having an additional source of income might be a greater risk. If you don’t have any investments that bring regular cash inflow, having a side hustle can become your safety net in case your full-time gig doesn’t work out as planned. Launching your own side hustle instead of getting a second job might be even better because it gives you full control of how much you can earn.

In addition to their financial benefits, side hustles also enhance your career opportunities. If your full-time position has a glass ceiling or lacks your interest, taking on and growing a side hustle might be a great way to explore other job opportunities before making a big career change.

What are some of the challenges of having a side hustle?

The beginning period of a side hustle may bring you no income. However, it’s all about experimenting and developing your passion to learn from your experiences. Working and growing your business for free might be more beneficial for your side hustle’s growth than paying for seminars and workshops. Instead of seeing it as work without pay, you can consider it as an investment in yourself.

If you are thinking of starting your own business as a side hustle, it might be challenging to step out of your comfort zone. In this step, the fear of failure might prevent you from taking action. However, this might prevent you from reaching potential success. Jessica shared how she was more shocked to see her business grow than to not see it fail. Once realizing her potential and breaking that mindset, she was able to grow her business into her full-time job.

When is a good time to adopt a side hustle?

Anytime! It’s never a bad time to challenge yourself and get additional income. Adopting a side hustle during COVID might even be a greater strategy as change is the only constant during the pandemic. Anyone can also benefit from changing their mindset at this time. Jessica shared how she learned the importance of consistently challenging herself to grow after she faced uncertainties and achieved success as she worked through them. Adopting a growth mentality highly contributed to turning her side hustle into her full-time job.

How can you make the best out of a side hustle?

• Sometimes pride can get in the way of serving our financial needs. However, there is no shame in earning money and being able to pay your bills. It’s more important to get additional income than let your feelings get in the way of taking on certain side jobs.
• Your side hustle doesn’t have to be something you only see as a source of income. Choosing a side hustle to follow your passions might motivate you more than one you might not enjoy.
• When your side job is starting to earn money, set your price based on your experience and skill level instead of settling for the bare minimum. Negotiating at a higher price gives you more flexibility and growth opportunities than starting lower.
• Building connections is fundamental to grow your business. Investing time in building relationships is as important as investing time and money into improving your marketing. Building connections are not just about getting new clients, it’s also about learning from other people’s experiences. If you don’t have experience in the field, asking someone with experience’s opinion might highly benefit you.
• Your competition can be your next collaboration. If you are unsure of your pricing, having uncomfortable conversations on what others in the industry charge can highly benefit you and the industry. If you or a competitor is charging less than average for the same service, it’s better for them to increase their pricing than everyone reducing prices to compete.
• It takes time to figure out how to build and grow a business. Also, the learning never stops. Jessica shared how she still feels like she needs to know way more to grow her business.

Our biggest takeaway:

Take the risk to start something new. Adopting a side hustle during COVID might especially be a good opportunity as you may have more time during isolation. You miss 100% of the chances you don’t take! So, turning this self-isolating period from a stressful time into a time for opportunity might be what you need. Whether you are unemployed or have reduced income, adopting a side hustle might be a good opportunity to build your financial fortress!

We hope you enjoyed reading our blog about ‘Millennials and COVID’! Check the full live chat here. You can find our live chats and more of the latest financial news on our News Blog. Stay tuned to learn more tips on a new topic each week on our Instagram Live at 5 on Instagram! Aside from our live chats, we post daily financial updates on social media!