5 of the Most Popular Side Hustles — And What to Do Instead
As side hustles become more popular — and perhaps necessary — let’s take a look at some of the common options … and what you might consider doing instead.
Blogging
As someone who’s been blogging since 2009, I can say it’s one of my favorite side hustles, and I’ve certainly learned a lot about it during that time.
For one, I’ve found the writing to be a great creative outlet and a powerful medium to reach a wide audience. (Although the podcast has grown much faster.)
But it was a loooooong time before my blog made any real money, and one of the mistakes I made was not having a focus. I would write about whatever came into my head; current events, our travels, our dog, and occasionally I might throw in something about business or marketing.
There was no coherent theme or really any reason for someone to stick around unless they were interested in me personally. In 2013, I narrowed the focus of my writing to be about side businesses, and that’s when the site traffic started to grow.
How to Start a Blog
If you want to start a blog of your own, check out my free 6-part video tutorial series that walks you through:
- 4 reasons to consider blogging as a side hustle.
- Why a “blog” is probably a bad name.
- 8 ways blogs and websites make money.
- How to pick a topic for your blog.
- How to choose a domain name and get your site online.
- How to install WordPress and begin creating.
I had a lot of fun creating the free “how to start a blog” course and hope you enjoy it too!
Greatest Hits
Whether you already have a blog or are looking to start one, here are some of the best blogging-related articles and podcast episodes from the archives:
- Building a Blog to $20k a Month and Beyond
- What Happens When You Post “Epic” Content? My Traffic, Income, and Subscriber Results
- Quora for Bloggers: How to Accelerate Your Authority, Audience Growth, and Traffic
- The $7620 Blog Post (Plus, my First Real Facebook Ads Experiment)
- How to Write Viral Content – Without Actually Writing It
- Blogging vs. Podcasting: A 1-Year Case Study
- The Fastest and Cheapest Way to Build a Great-Looking Website for your Side Hustle Service [Case Study]
The Best Blogging Podcast
I compiled a binge-worthy selection of blogging podcast episodes from The Side Hustle Show into this playlist. I think you’ll like it!
Enjoy!
318: Pinterest Marketing for 2019 and Beyond: How to Get More Traffic
With 250 million active users Pinterest is a social media platform every blogger and business owner should be spending some time on.
I’ve been using the Pinterest tactics shared on this podcast in late 2015 by Rosemarie Groner and they’ve proven to be extremely effective … for a while.
313: Making Money in Your Sleep – By Blogging About Sleep
“Everyone needs it, people tend not to get enough of it – so that’s how the site came about,” said Kieran.
Kieran MacRae is talking about sleep.
The site he started is called TheDozyOwl.co.uk, a UK-based site that Kieran has taken from $0 to $2.5k a month in revenue in its 12 months.
304: The $5k a Month Part-Time Girl Scout Blog
Jodi Carlson has been running her blog LeaderConnectingLeaders.com part-time since 2014 and has slowly built it up to $5-6k a month in revenue.
The earnings come from a combination of mostly digital product sales, as well as advertising, and affiliate relationships.
The surprising thing – to me at least – is that she’s done this in a niche that theoretically doesn’t have any money.
ActiveCampaign Review and Demo: The Best Marketing Automation Tool for You?
Now that I’ve been an ActiveCampaign customer for over a year, I wanted to share a review of my experience so far.
In this post, I’ll go through why I made the change from AWeber, and in-depth look at the pros and cons of Active Campaign.
296: Blogging for Multiple Income Streams – How a Part-Time Blog Became a Diverse Revenue Engine
“I feel like this is the most important project I’ve ever worked on,” Mike said about his blog YoungArchitect.com.
Mike Riscica runs a blog, podcast, and has built a thriving community for young professionals in the architecture field.
283: Your Copy Sucks! Website Reviews from a Professional Copywriter
You’ve got less than 3 seconds to make a first impression online.
Is your website turning would-be customers away without you even knowing it?
Your site and the words you use — your copy — could either be making you money or costing you big time.
282: How to Build a $60k a Year Part-Time Blog
Brett Lindenberg is the founder of FoodTruckEmpire.com. A part-time blog that generates $60k a year with just 15 or so hours a week time investment.
Why did Brett start a blog about the food trucking industry?
“I started the blog at a time in my life when I was looking at just a whole bunch of different business ideas,” Brett said.
279: SEO for Bloggers: The Simple Way to Get More Free Traffic From Google
“Go big or go home, that’s kinda my whole philosophy with SEO,” Matt said.
And his results speak for themselves.
It’s been more than 200 episodes since I last spoke with Matt Giovanisci. Back then, Matt was explaining how he was growing his authority site SwimUniversity.com with epic content and strong SEO.
268: Blogging ROI: From $18 to $100k a Month in 2.5 Years
Could a part-time blog really bring in that kind of cash? Rosemarie swears she only works 20 hours a week!
Yes, The Busy Budgeter is back for her 3rd round on The Side Hustle Show, and it’s a good one.
Since we last spoke, she started posting consistent $100k months from her blog, so of course I had to invite her back to hear what changed.
If you guessed creating her own products and driving paid traffic, you’d be the big winner.