I’ve received a lot of advice throughout my life, but there are always those key nuggets of wisdom that stick with me above all others. One such nugget: Never put all your eggs in one basket — from relationships to investments to career moves. It’s always good to have more than one thing going when it comes to your professional brand-building and your streams of income. But how do you spread your wings when you’re already spread a bit too thin with the main gig?
Here are three quick and easy gigs to bring in a little extra cash without major time commitment or full-time stress:
Teach short courses: If you have experience or certifications, are good with people, can communicate well, and seek to offer valuable knowledge, teach a course. It doesn’t have to be a part-time professor position or a substitute gig for school children. It could be virtual courses offered for a fee, tutoring sessions for fellow grad or law school students or even via social marketplaces like Skillshare. It can take less than 24 hours out of your week and add extra money to your pockets, all while sharing insights and skills you could do blindfolded anyway.
Consult: This doesn’t have to be a drawn out business-plan endeavor. If you’re good at—and love— giving advice, how about charging for it? Take on one or two clients for one hour per week based on your level of expertise, especially if you’re savvy in marketing, branding and technology. You don’t have to be the executor, but you can be the brains behind facilitating or nurturing the plan. Again, this is something that comes as second nature and is already a passion, so why not monetize it?
Write an e-book: There are some e-book authors making six-figure profits, and while that may not be the case for every author, any extra money in your pocket for a product that requires very little overhead sounds good to me. Research the best programs and tools to create one, market it via your social media outlets and sell it via Eventbrite, Paypal or other Web commerce venues. It doesn’t have to be a 50-chapter, epic tome, so start small and see where it goes.
Any professional in any industry can try one of the above to bring in some extra dough and expand their brand even further.
Have you tried any of these side hustles? What were the pros and cons? #SoundOff and hit me up on Twitter @JPHazelwood.