5 Tips for Starting a Successful Side Hustle

Source: silkword on Freeimages.com 

Do you know that starting a successful side hustle is not rocket science? Although there are many variables at play but what matters the most is the entrepreneurial spirit in you to succeed. Obviously, there are challenges and obstacles which you’ll face if you’re holding down a full-time day job and running a side hustle business concurrently; but the benefits that will accrue to you in terms of time and financial freedom are immeasurable in the long run.

 

I’m going to walk you through my top 5 tips and secrets which you’ve to consider if you hope to start a side hustle business and earn money online. You’ve to treat these points as sacrosanct if your goal is to solve problems and pain points in the marketplace while making money online as an entrepreneur.

 

Tip #1: Be an Expert on Something

 

Without mincing words, I want you to know that majority of people always want to identify with an expert to lead them on a topic they are interested in. Are you in personal development or personal finance niches? Then become a go-to expert in your niche and you’ll have followers, fans base or list members who will be interested in what you are doing.

 

The only time any group of people may remotely identify with a novice or newbie on any topic is when he is doing a case study that will benefit his followers as well. In this case, his followers may want to see the outcome of starting a business or anything similar and possibly learn from it.

 

Personally, I love business case studies because it teaches a lot about what to do and what not to succeed. My first major task before pursuing any specific niche market is to always work on my expertise status. I’ll immerse myself on the subject matter by reading books, taking online courses or enrolling in coaching programs related to my field.

 

The idea is to learn, know enough and be able to demonstrate reasonable knowledge on a topic above mediocrity which will invariably help me to shine as a thought leader who people will be willing to follow.

 

As soon as you conduct market research on your target topic to confirm the feasibility of your side hustle idea, your next step should be on how to become an expert on the topic which you’re interested in. The easiest way to get started is to create a blog around a niche and start publishing content for your target audience to engage with while digging deep by constant reading and learning.

 

By engaging with your blog readers, you’ll be able to draw patterns and conclusions from your interactions with them and their responses. And from the comments and questions they will be asking, you can gauge their expectations therefrom. It will also help you to know what topic ideas to focus on when writing blog posts. This will give you a sense of direction.

 

Tip #2: Build an Audience

 

Your target audience is the set of people who are continually interested in your topic and are willing to engage with you through your publications. If you don’t have a raving audience to bank on, it means you don’t have reliable and profitable niche market to start a side hustle business in the first place. Or you’ve not built an expert status strong enough to grab people’s attention in your target niche market.

 

Like I mentioned earlier, the best ways to build an audience around a topic is to start a blog and build an email list of subscribers. If you can get 100 subscribers on your list, you can be confident that you’ll be able to scale up over time. You cannot be an expert or authority on a subject without followers to toot your horn. This is why you cannot underrate this point if you’re striving to start a successful side hustle business.

 

Tip #3: Be Generous with Content

 

Starting a side hustle is mainly about solving pain points in the marketplace by providing solutions as applicable. There are many ways to use content in this regard. You can create videos, write ebooks, publish high-quality blog posts on a subject, and so on.

 

If you’re a side hustler, what is important to you is to make a compelling first impression before your readers cum solution seekers as the go-to guy or gal in your field. You may not be the very best but you’ve to be among the best in the target niche market. By being generous with superior and unique content, you can draw in your prospects and leads into your sales funnel and then take it up from there.

 

For example, if you’ve a premium side hustle guide on how to make money online, you can create a free ebook on this topic and give it away to your readers to download. In the free PDF ebook, you’ll have the best opportunity to include links to the landing page of a premium course you want to promote and sell to your target market.

 

As a matter of fact, there is nothing complicated about starting a successful side hustle if you’re an expert on a subject and you’re able to create content consistently to wow your readers, solve their pain points and also build credibility and trust with them.

 

You’re aware that people buy from who they know, like and trust. The only way for you to quickly achieve this goal is to engage with your audience through content as a proof of your worth on the subject matter before selling any product or service to them.

 

For a lot of niche markets, I’ve been able to neatly repackage pieces of content which I’ve already published online on a topic for free, add more value and then sell it for tidy sum of money. What I did was to add new content, subtopics and repackage it for its money’s worth.

 

Your prospects don’t really care about repackaged free content being sold to them if what you’re selling will solve their problems in one place instead of dissipating valuable time gleaning pieces of information here and there on the internet. Gone are the days when you can deceive your readers with incomplete information and coercing them to click a link to learn more.

 

Tip #4: Own an Online Platform

 

While it’s good to use Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc, to create online presence using a combination of SEO (search engine optimization) and social media marketing tactics, owning an online platform such as building a website or creating a blog is better. It will help you in personal branding drive as well as building credibility and trust with your target audience over time.

 

The smartest thing you can do is to create YouTube channel, post or publish content on LinkedIn or create a Facebook page and use these media to funnel targeted traffic to your blog for lead nurturing. This way, you’ll be able to control what happens in your business and not be at the mercy of third-party algorithms.

 

But you’ve to understand that creating an online platform of your own will involve time and money investments. Also, you’ve to develop digital skills to manage your website effectively. Otherwise, you’ll be spending lots of money to hire freelancers by outsourcing tasks which you cannot execute.

 

Tip #5: Create a System for Consistent Online Marketing

 

If you want to be top of mind to your target customers or clients, you’ve to integrate a system that will allow you to consistently promote your brand, product or service to your target audience through online marketing.

 

You can achieve this feat by using two-pronged strategies of blogging and content marketing.

 

You can also take it a step further by integrating automation tools such as email marketing software that will help you to build a list of highly targeted leads and customers. If you’ve been online for any length of time, you’ll agree with me that the World Wide Web is a marketplace of survival of the fittest.

 

And the only way you can really survive as an online business owner or entrepreneur is by being ahead of the crowd in thought leadership, digital marketing strategies, content marketing and email marketing.

 

Do you want to start a successful side hustle with ease and make money online. You can download my side hustle playbook for free to discover strategies, tactics, methods, secrets and tips to build an email list of subscribers, start a blog and make money. It’s a complete lowdown of what it takes to quit your day job, start a side hustle business and achieve financial freedom in record time.