Selina Bieber is the Regional Director at GoDaddy
If you’re looking for ideas to consider earning some money while you study or to help boost your income, having a side hustle can be a great way to get started.
There are many jobs you can do from your home in your spare time – often, needing not much more than a computer and an internet connection.
Here are six side hustles ideas you can consider:
1. Digital media
Some of the side hustle ideas in this area include building and designing WordPress websites; managing social media accounts; capturing and editing video content for brands to put on YouTube; search engine optimisation; and digital campaign management. You can look for gigs on local and international platforms like Niche Market, People per hour, and No Sweat, as well as promote yourself directly to your contacts or through your own website.
2. Writing
If you have good writing and language skills, there are a variety of ways to put them to use in a side hustle. Some opportunities include: translation, proofreading, copywriting , and writing CVs or LinkedIn profiles. You can also offer your writing services to established agencies or to smaller businesses who may not be able to afford the cost of a traditional agency. Sign up for a platform like Upwork to make it easier for potential clients to find you and showcase your skillset.
3. Online teacher
If you’re an expert in a subject and are willing to teach others, you can offer online seminars and classes. During the pandemic, many people are looking for online tutoring and courses in areas ranging from social media to yoga to personal finance. There are plugins tools on platforms like WordPress, to help you get started. Or you can put together a series of video lectures and other materials to be hosted on an eLearning site like Udemy. Another popular option is teaching people from other countries English as a foreign language. To get started, you’ll need to complete an accredited TEFL Course.
4. Second-hand trader
If you have a good commercial instinct, trading second-hand goods can be lucrative. You can buy and sell goods like furniture or electronics, or you can focus on specialist areas like retro videogames, rare books, antiques, photography or art. You can sell through local classifieds and auction sites like bidorbuy ,OLX , and Gumtree , or international platforms like eBay if you want to go global.
5. App developer
This can a great option if you’re studying towards a technology qualification or already work in the tech sector and have skills to build new apps.. Skills such as software engineering, coding, user interface design and quality assurance are in high demand in the offshore and local markets. You can look for work and promote yourself on a platform like Hire a Programmer.
6. Virtual assistant
Are you organised, personable and hardworking? Then this might be the right side hustle for you. A virtual assistant is a person who helps someone else to accomplish something virtually rather than going to their physical workspace – a perfect fit for these times of physical distancing. You can help people manage their diaries, run their admin, manage their email lists, run their social media accounts, and more.
Yolandi Erasmus, founder of My Go 2 Girl, is an example of a South African businessperson who has grown a virtual assistant side hustle into a full-time business. “We make anything virtually possible, except your cup of tea,” she says. “I can work from anywhere and I can work whenever I want.”
Your website – a home for your side hustle
While you can promote yourself through third-party sites like gig platforms, eLearning portals and classified sites, it’s also worth setting up your own website to help promote your side hustle directly to potential customers and provide ways to easily contact you to learn more about your products and services.
