Are you struggling finding the money for a side hustle? A side hustle not only takes time but also money. So not having the money to start a side hustle, such as an online business, for example, is a common reason not to start one. An online business is a good side hustle because you can start fairly cheaply. Get started here with the free video series. But if you’re hesitating due to lack of funds this is the post for you.
When I started learning about affiliate marketing – the online business model which lets you earn by selling other people’s products, I had no money! Not having money to run a business properly is a major disadvantage. It held me back for years because I tried to do everything on the cheap. My training was cheap, my advertising was cheap. Because of the corners I had to cut, it didn’t really work out for me for a long time. So it’s recommended when starting an online business to at least have some money to invest in:
- Training – arguably the most important investment is in your education (from which all other things come)
- Tools – website, landing page software and an email autoresponder.
- Marketing – Arguably the most important factor for getting traction with an online business
Spending
But if money is holding you back from even starting a side hustle. Here’s a few ways to find more money you didn’t even know you had! While many people want out of their corporate careers or 9 to 5 jobs, very few are prepared to put in the work that makes it possible. One of those things you can do is to start living below your means.
While that doesn’t sound sexy, it’s one of the fastest ways to free up money you can use for a side hustle. Have a look at your lifestyle. Are you spending money you could be saving? What kind of things are you subscribed to? Typically most westerners have a few subscriptions such as Netflix, Sky or even Disney entertainment packages which cost them between $10-$100 a month.
Go through your monthly direct debits and you may find other wastage too such as gym membership, TV licence, magazine subscriptions. While some things are more necessary than others, you should be able to find a couple of things you could do without. Don’t just cancel these memberships and leave it at that. Set up those same amounts to be automatically paid into your savings account. That way, you’re already living to those expenses and you won’t miss the extra money.
You can’t measure something you’re unaware of. So spending some time listing your weekly expenses will make you more aware of your spending. Write down and account for every single penny/cent spent throughout the week. You’ll be bringing the light of awareness to something which is often overlooked. You’ll be amazed at the money you fritter away on things you don’t need.
Finding The Money For A Side Hustle – Saving
Most people live to their means which is why they never have money left over for opportunities, such as an online business. The rich know to Pay Themselves First and it’s one of the fundamental principles talked about in the book The Richest Man In Babylon, by George Samuel Clason. So what does it mean to pay yourself first?
Paying yourself first is a major principle of the wealthy. Most people pay all their bills and if anything is left they spend it on themselves. The rich pay themselves first into a savings account (a percentage of their wage) before they do anything else. This money accrues in their savings account month after month and starts to gather interest.
Two things occur when you make this a habit of your own: you learn to live on less (and develop discipline). You know you could spend that money on a trinket, or on going out or whatever. So it takes some discipline NOT to do that. However, if you treat your own savings payment as just another bill, it’s fairly easy to set up an automated payment into your savings account and forget about it.
Instead of that money being spent, it starts to grow. The compound interest on your money will grow over time, too. This is a long term strategy for building wealth. But over a year you will find you actually have some capital for an online business, or a side hustle of some kind.
Finding The Money For A Side Hustle – Apps
There’s a huge array of apps available which can help you do this too. Instead of living to your means, spending everything you earn, you set up an app which automatically transfers money out of your account into savings or investments. I have two apps on my phone which do this: Trading 212 and Moneybox. I highly recommend finding an app in your country which does this and of course do your research to make sure it’s legit! Moneybox is only available in the UK, so I believe. But it’s an app which takes the change from your payments and rounds up to the nearest pound. This pocket change is then automatically added to your Moneybox funds at the end of the week.
Finding The Money For A Side Hustle – Selling Property
The irony of the situation is that if you’re looking for a side hustle, you don’t have much money! A lot of people look to the internet for another means of earning. But you must understand that to build an online business up you’ll need some advertising budget. If not, and you’re going the organic route, you’ll need to spend a huge amount of time online creating content.
The fastest way to build an online business is through using paid marketing. So having some money for this is a no-brainer. It’s much more difficult building up traffic organically. Get started here.
So, what else can you do to find the money for a side hustle? Some have put their houses up for mortgage, or sold a car to release equity for an online business. But if you don’t have these resources in the first place, you might need another income first! Side hustles such as driving an Uber, or working another job in the evenings are an option for some. See also my blog post on portfolio income.
Cheaper Routes To An Online Side Hustle – Organic Marketing
Much of the budget you’ll need in building an online business is advertising. But there’s many ways to advertise. Another option for an online side hustle is to go the organic route. Many online business owners have succeeded with the organic route without spending a dime on advertising. But you can expect a much longer journey and you’ll need to get creative with your content building plan. YouTube channels and blogs are an example of this.
To get organic traffic, bloggers and YouTuber’s create and upload content to their platforms. Over time, more and more content is created and people are drawn to the content organically – through the search engines and social media accounts.
This starts off slow and over time, (if successful), a blogger or YouTuber can create a massive following. They use this following to monetise their channel somehow – usually either through affiliate marketing or advertising. If you have a personal interest in something unique, that might be your best opportunity for an organic online business.
Checkout these videos for more information on getting started with an online business.
