How Having A Side-Gig Can Improve Your Life

But choose wisely

The internet brought new opportunities to people across society, and one of those opportunities has been the ability to earn extra income outside of one’s normal job.

The Covid lockdowns brought many more flooding into the online space, getting to grips with different kinds of software, and aware that their jobs and income are no longer reliable or ‘enough’.

Yet, even before the lockdowns, there have been strong reasons for people to pursue another means of earning.

Joy in all areas of life

You may really love the career path you have chosen, but if you’re not getting a good work-life balance then it can slowly grind you down and cause you to feel resentment towards your job or career. Do you get to pursue the things that you enjoy outside of your income-generating activities? Do you have enough quality time with your family, with enough energy reserved to enjoy it?

Other aspects that can affect the quality of your working life include the people that you work with. This can dramatically affect our enjoyment of our work-life, and carry over into our personal lives, even affecting those we live with.

Commutes are another major issue with work. The extra hours spent travelling to and from work can wear on people over a period of time and can be the cause for questioning one’s career.

For many, commuting has been greatly minimised in the last couple of years due to Covid, but, while it’s been a huge benefit for some, it hasn’t come without other problems. Not everything is set up to be conducted from employees’ home locations. Lack of human contact has worn some down, reducing overall social interactions further.

The sad fact is that, as demonstrated by a poll conducted by Gallup in 2019, 85% of the world’s full-time workers are unhappy with their jobs.

The benefit of the side hustle culture

Finding ways to start an online business or side hustle has helped many to create a line of hope for the possibility of freedom from unhappy work situations.

Everything from dropshipping eCommerce businesses, affiliate marketing, blogging, and freelancing has become popular. And rightly so.

Research has shown how creating a side-gig as a means to earn extra income has had positive consequences on many different levels, from the satisfaction of generating income on effort alone, the impact of having extra income to play with, to the self-esteem that comes with it all.

But finding the right thing is not necessarily easy

If you are looking at other ways to build an income, consider what skills you have that you can use without making a risky upfront investment.

Here are a few paths that you could consider pursuing:

1. Writing

Since you are reading this on Medium, you too may already be writing in this space as a means to generate extra income. If writing lights you up and is sustainable as a daily activity in the long term, then keep going, because it will reap benefits over time.

You can re-purpose your Medium stories onto Vocal Media, and vice versa, to increase your revenue potential. Vocal also hosts regular contests, giving out great cash prizes. Many writers here are also writing on Quora and/or Newsbreak, although these are platforms I haven’t ventured onto myself.

You can pursue advertising your blog, eBook, or ghostwriting services as a freelancer through Fiverr or Upwork. And you can sell articles with full rights on Constant Content.

Or create a self-hosted blog and earn money through Google AdSense.

You can write and publish your own books pretty easily too, via Kindle Direct Publishing and print-on-demand services such as Lulu.

2. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing can be a great way to lead up to making passive sales since you don’t have to create your own sales pages or deal with products or customers. However, you do need a ready audience to market to.

Some affiliate marketing opportunities are free or low cost, while others are priced very high. These will give you great commissions but they don’t come easily. Unless you already have a ready audience on social media, or a big email subscriber list, don’t invest yet in a high ticket affiliate program.

Clickbank is free to register with and has an enormous variety of niches to check out. This would be my recommended way to get started if you have yet to build an audience to market to.

3. Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing requires you to have enough of an audience on social media to be able to leverage for potential clients.

Companies will then pay you to promote their products on your social media, to your thousands of followers.

If this sounds attractive but you don’t yet have the following, then get started now. Audiences can grow fast with the right TikTok videos or Instagram Reels.

4. Amazon Reviews

This is similar to influencer marketing, whereby you pitch companies via Amazon to let you test their products for free and then send people to a link through which you will earn a commission. You would need to register as an Amazon Affiliate, which costs a small monthly fee. Rather than a one-time payment from the company to promote the product, you can potentially keep making passive sales for a long time to come.

5. Dropshipping

Dropshipping is when you design products but someone else makes them, processes payments, and arranges delivery. It can be a simple business to set up but requires work to market. Popular products are mugs and clothing.

There are also a wide variety of sites through which you can conduct your dropshipping business. Some, such as Shopify, will come at a hefty monthly cost, while others are free.

For a bit of fun, I created a free version of a women’s organic, sustainably-produced tee shirt dropshipping business and made a few sales back in the summer of this year. Because it’s free, I have not worried about it sitting quietly until I have more time to spend on it, but it was a fun venture, and I highly recommend giving something like this a go if you enjoy designing.

Closing thoughts

Starting a side-gig isn’t easy.

You need to dedicate time and be persistent. It can take a while to see a good income from it but, when you choose a path wisely, that doesn’t drain your resources — whether time or money — it can reap incredible rewards. Even beyond the financial rewards.

If starting a side-gig is new to you, or you have tried and given up in the past, consider the options laid out in this article and find a way to fit it gently into your life.

I hope this has been of value. Please share any thoughts in the comments.

A shoutout to Kirsty Kendall for this insightful piece of Tiny House living:

Thanks for reading. Subscribe to support me and other writers and get unlimited reading.

More reading from me: