- Have you ever wondered if you should start a side hustle?
Could you actually make money from it?
And what's really involved?
Today, I'm sharing everything you need to know
about starting a successful and profitable side hustle.
- Shake your money maker.
- And stay tuned until the end,
because I'm gonna share exactly how I transitioned
the business you see today from my side hustle
to my full-time job with an excellent boss.
I don't need this anymore, let's dive in.
My name is Elise Darma, here in my cozy robe
and I'm an elder millennial here to bridge the gap
between the pre-internet world, the corporate world,
and today's digital marketing world.
For me, I started my side hustle back in 2013
after reading the 4-Hour Work Week.
And since then side hustles have only gotten more popular.
- Show me the money.
(shouts excitedly)
- In fact, according to Yahoo News in 2020
just over 25% of people were using
side hustle income to cover their bills.
And in 2021, that number soared to 41% of people.
On top of that, the percentage of people
who were earning $1,500 or more every month
from their side hustle actually doubled from 2020 to 2021.
So it begs the question,
why are side hustles gaining so much traction?
Well first, they're a great way
to supplement a fixed income.
That was the situation I found myself in, in 2013
when I decided to start offering freelancing services
on the side of my day job.
Having that supplemental income was the first time
in my life that I could actually pay off my credit card debt
and start saving money.
So that was huge after being in debt for all my twenties
because of student loans and never really making money,
to be able to almost double my income
because of my side hustle was addicting.
- Wasn't in rehab.
- I continued my side hustle for eight months
alongside my job because I really liked the cash.
Side hustles are also a great way to monetize hobbies.
We all have hobbies.
And for some people that means more
than just watching Netflix, right?
Some people do crafts and some people learn languages.
Side hustles are a great way
to actually monetize those hobbies
or interests that you have outside of your day job.
Side hustles are also a great way
to test a new business idea that you have
without making the full leap into it.
I'm a big fan of security.
I'm not one to ever say, you should quit your job
to go all in on a new business idea.
No, we got bills to pay, right?
So keep that job going for as long as you can,
and on the side, put your great business idea to the test.
And we can't talk about side hustles
without talking about 2020 and the great resignation
as they call it.
That happened because of everyone being at home,
working from home, and you know,
we know what happened in 2020.
Look, I've been working online since 2013,
but what happened in 2020,
I had never seen that before.
All of a sudden Zoom wasn't just some niche tool
that I only used in my industry.
My grandma was using Zoom.
Everyone was using Zoom.
So what we experienced in 2020 was unlike anything
I have seen in my adult years.
2020 introduced to the world remote working,
something that me and my fellow digital nomads
had been enjoying for years.
But now it was here on the grand scale.
Remote working means different things to different people.
For me, it meant working from Bali.
I feel like it's the first day of school
because while I'm up super early and dressed and ready to go
but we're heading to outpost today,
which is the co-working space
where I will be working from for the month.
But in 2020, for most people
it meant they could finally work from home
from their living room, from their dining table,
without any guilt.
They finally didn't have to ask their boss
for permission to work from home.
It was just a given.
We all got used to the comfort of working from home
in our robes right next to little Scouty.
That's a dog name, right?
Scout, Scouty?
Sure, Rover?
I don't have a dog obviously,
but it goes without saying 2020 opened the world up
to the idea of remote working and yes, side hustles.
So what does all this mean for you,
the lovely person watching this video right now?
Where do you begin if you wanna start a side hustle today?
First you gotta identify something that you're good at
or something that you enjoy.
This can be anything.
My student Sarah Peele started selling plants,
cards and DIY kits from her spare bedroom,
starting with zero followers
and eventually grew her business to over $11,000 in income.
The question to ask yourself is,
who can you get what result for right now?
For me, right after I read the 4-Hour Work Week in 2012,
I was in this brainstorming phase
of what business I could create.
And an opportunity kind of fell into my lap.
At the time I was working in a tech incubator
surrounded by startups and I was working
as a social media marketer.
So one day one of these tech founders
came up to me and said,
hey, Elise, I'm looking to hire a marketing rockstar.
Do you know of anyone?
At that moment I knew that needed to put my name forward.
And I did.
And a week later I had signed on my very first client
where I was offering marketing services
for his e-commerce brand.
When I said yes to him as a client,
I knew that I didn't really have
any Instagram marketing experience but I knew social media.
I knew Facebook and Twitter at the time
and I was studying storytelling.
So I knew I could figure it out.
So keep that in mind
when you're considering your side hustle options.
You don't have to be a full expert in that area.
You can look at one area of your life and repurpose it
for another to offer a side hustle.
Saying yes to that first client
meant that I was able to bring in
an extra thousand dollars a month top of my employee salary.
This was huge.
- This is so great, it's so unexpected.
- And over time as I told my network
that I was accepting clients
I started to get more and more.
And nine months later I had four clients
and one client wanted to hire me for two days a week.
So this was the moment that I had to decide.
Was I gonna quit my job to go all in on my business,
or was I gonna say no to that client?
And the decision actually, wasn't that easy.
I thought I'd be ready to quit my job
but I really enjoyed having two streams of income
from my day job and my side hustle.
But eventually I gave my resignation to my boss.
I took on that client and I was off to the races,
running my own business full-time for the first time ever.
So that begs the question.
Should you quit your day job
in order to get your side hustle going?
Well, the definition of a side hustle
is that it's on the side.
So keep your job, keep your current source of income.
And on the side, experiment with this new idea of yours.
I'm a big fan of security.
So while you're doing something experimental
like a side hustle,
ensure that you still have your employee income ready to go
so that you can cover your bills.
Plus you don't wanna create a business
from that place of stress
and wondering how you're gonna pay your bills next month.
So keep your day job going
while you create your side hustle.
And then when it's a proven business
you can go ahead and decide when it's time to quit.
So should you start a side hustle?
Well, the fact that you're still watching this video
shows that you have a high interest in starting one.
So I say, go for it.
In fact, the business that you see me running today
is a result of my side hustle that I started back in 2013.
It's crazy how things evolved.
I went from being a freelancer offering services to clients
to creating a full-time agency,
to then branching off and creating a personal brand
where I became an Instagram educator.
And today I sell digital products and courses online
to my fellow business owners.
So while you're off creating your side hustle
I highly recommend to build a personal brand along the way
that will help support and sell what you're offering
through your side hustle.
So for more on creating a personal brand,
go ahead and check out this next video
that I've got ready for you right here.