When it comes to making more money and building wealth or even paying off debt, a side hustle has been figured to be a very good option to achieve your goal. The phrase Side Hustle has gained a lot of popularity.

What started as a term referring to making a little extra money outside of a day job has turned into a way of life for many. In fact, according to a 2017 study from Bankrate.com, more than 44 million Americans have a side hustle, which can range from working on freelance projects after hours to driving for ride-sharing companies on the weekends. Here are the talking points in this article.

• Why you need a Side Hustle
• 8 Digital Skills You Can Turn into a New Side Hustle
• Copywriting
• Blog Post Writing
• Social Media Advertising Management
• Search Engine Optimization
• Logo Design
• Video and Image Creation
• Database Setup and Management
• Presentation and Proposal Creation

Read Also: 10 Ideas for a Lucrative Side Hustle

Of the 86 percent of side hustlers who earn extra money from a side job every month, 36 percent make more than $500, the study found. Making ends meet was the main motivation for the majority of side hustlers and may be one of the key reasons you need a side hustle, too.

With the emphasis that exists around a side hustle, it is very important for us to look at some important reasons why you should consider transforming you skill into a side hustle. We will discuss 4 reasons with real-life experiences.

Why you need a Side Hustle

You can use the extra money to pay off debt

Paying off debt is, for many people, among the top reasons you need a side hustle. If you’re paying off debt and don’t feel like you’re making any headway, you may benefit from the extra money you can make with a side hustle.

That’s what Gerald Zingraf decided to do when he was looking at $85,000 worth of student loans. Zingraf, 29, is a product manager for a technology company based in Arlington, Virginia. Although he had always made good money, it wasn’t enough to pay down his debt, cover his living expenses and reach his goal of becoming financially independent by 35. He ran the numbers and they didn’t lie—he needed to make more money.

“I was going to be paying student loans for a long time unless I could supplement my income somehow,” he says.

So between 2015 and 2017, he started not just one, but three companies on the side of his day job. His companies include two e-commerce sites—one that sells healthy office supplies such as standing desks and another that sells baby products. His third company is a subscription box service that provides the “ingredients” (not always food, by the way) for creative date nights for couples. Thanks to these companies, Zingraf was able to pay off his student loans in three years.

Assessing your debt and your financial plan to pay it off could become a reason you need a side hustle.

Having multiple sources of income is empowering

Nick Loper, the creator of the Side Hustle Nation podcast, spends his time interviewing people who earn money outside of their day jobs. His aim, in part, is to show his 60,000-plus followers that there are many ways to make time for a side hustle and numerous reasons why you should start a side hustle.

“Of course, making extra money never goes out of style, and that’s probably what draws most people to create a side hustle,” Loper says. “Other benefits might include learning or practicing new skills, exploring a passion of yours or just empowering yourself to find you have economic value outside of your day job or paycheck.”

When asked about some of the successes his podcast guests have experienced, Loper named several: A man who went from earning $30,000 annually working for a newspaper to $30,000 in a day as a freelance photographer, a man who started a multimillion-dollar company selling used textbooks and a woman who earns up to $5,000 a month teaching people how to bake bread.

Loper believes so many people are starting to focus on increasing their earning potential outside of their primary jobs because multiple sources of income can allow you to be more self-reliant. This may be a reason you need a side hustle.

You can use the extra money to build wealth

If you’re not working to pay off debt, then you may want to find ways to make time for a side hustle simply so you can build wealth faster.

Whether it’s boosting your savings for emergencies or maxing out investment accounts, making extra money can help you reach those financial goals much quicker than if you rely only on your primary career.

This is exactly what Zingraf does with his side companies. What began as a way to make extra money to pay off debt has turned into a vehicle for him to reach financial independence in his 30s, where he’ll have enough income to pay his living expenses for the rest of his life without having to work full time. Zingraf is on track to reach his goal of financial independence in six years by the age of 35.

It could become your full-time job

If you’re looking for reasons you need a side hustle, the internet is full of stories of individuals who started a business on the side because they were passionate about something and then it turned into their full-time job. If making money doing something you love isn’t one of the best reasons why you should start a side hustle, what is?

Chenell Tull, founder of Hustle to Startup, did just that after working for AAA’s e-business department for seven years as a Google Ads and SEO specialist. She had helped her stepfather with his online presence for a marketing company he’d started and shared the experience with her networking group. This helped her secure another client, and soon she was working with three or four clients on the side of her day job.

“I decided I loved this so much that I wanted to leave my day job,” Tull says. “I worked to save up eight months of expenses, which took about one-and-a-half-years.” In June of 2017, Tull quit her job to focus on her business full time.

Loper also turned multiple side hustles into his full-time career. To make extra money, he started his first side hustle in 2006—a comparison shopping site for footwear. He went full time with that project in 2008. In 2013, Loper started the Side Hustle Nation podcast, which became his main focus one year later, and by 2017, he said he was earning $15,000 a month.

Read Also: Become A Star Athlete To Earn Money With Sports

8 Digital Skills You Can Turn into a New Side Hustle

1. Copywriting

Companies have a lot of ambitions to create awesome websites, awesome ads, and great marketing campaigns. But, sometimes, you get to a certain point and you just don’t know what to say.

That’s what you’re here for. If you’re a copywriter as a side hustle, you can pitch your marketing skills and services to plenty of companies. Take a look at their website, and let them know what things you would change (obviously in a friendly way) in terms of on-site copy.

A Compelling copy will increase conversion and website engagement. The same thing goes for ads, print collateral, and more. If you can be an effective voice, this will pay off with huge returns.

2. Blog Post Writing

I’ve found through my own personal research that a lot of companies HAVE blogs (meaning they know it’s important to have one), but they haven’t been updated in 5 months—or they’re publishing short, 300-word posts that get read by nobody.

When I go to a company’s blog page and see the last post is from a year ago, I see dollar signs. This basically means the company either de-prioritized it or that they simply don’t have the marketing skills, time to allocate or didn’t see quick results.

If they de-prioritized it, explain to them why they shouldn’t. What if they don’t have the time, take it off their plate and manage it for them. In case they didn’t see results, explain to them what’s wrong with their past effort and how you could make it better. Try to think through every scenario and offer your expertise as to how you could improve it. This is true in the case of Ryan does a great job of with his content marketing consulting.

3. Social Media Advertising Management

If you’re able to create unique targeted audiences and have a knack for social media advertising, you can go find clients on the side and charge them monthly fees to manage paid social media campaigns on networks like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter for them.

It’d be hugely beneficial to also offer the actual creation of the social media ads, using their existing branding assets, or team up with a graphic designer and split the profits. Social media advertising can be incredibly profitable for businesses, but they don’t necessarily know how to do it effectively without wasting marketing dollars.

4. Search Engine Optimization

Taking blog creation a step further, you can put your SEO marketing skills to good use by offering a whole suite of SEO services.

However, I have to warn you. The SEO freelance space is extremely crowded and companies are getting more and more cynical.

It’s often a hard sell, and even harder if you get a client, because if you don’t understand SEO, you don’t understand how long it takes to see results. From a business owner’s standpoint, if you hire somebody to do SEO, and after a month you see no difference, your logic might tell you it’s not working and you should fire the person (which is an unrealistic expectation).

However, if you’re a good SEO freelancer, you have a portfolio of examples, the ability to set clear expectations for timing, and you have a wide range of services as opposed to just writing articles stuffed with keywords you’ve researched. 

Successful SEO freelancers with strong marketing skills can turn their side hustles into full-time jobs very quickly because it’s a really profitable niche if you can reliably deliver results and get referrals based on your great work.

5. Logo Design

Maybe a company doesn’t want to fully rebrand itself with an expensive agency.

Maybe they’re just starting out and have zero images. Whatever the case is, if you have the marketing skills to create nice, clean, and professional logos, you can easily charge $500 or more for logo design.

Companies know the importance of a logo, and they know it’s a long-term investment. That’s why they are willing to spend and deal with the cost of a professional logo. You can take your marketing skills in the world of design and start a side hustle where all you do is create logos for people and businesses. If word spreads that you did a great job, you’ll get referrals and you’ll kill it.

6. Video and Image Creation

Back to my earlier point—companies know having cool, professional, crisp content is important.

They just don’t know how to do it. You can take great pictures or videos? Then you can definitely turn that marketing skill into a side hustle.

Whether your niche is weddings, events, products, food, or whatever… you can make a killing being a good photographer or videographer on the side. There are several resources online to figure out how to start a photography business quickly.

Another great thing here is that you’ll often be able to shoot on a flexible schedule, meaning it won’t interfere with your full-time job.

7. Database Setup and Management

You could help companies set up databases in MySQL or elsewhere, where they can pull data from themselves. Whether this is capturing data from online forms, or pulling in sales data, it is very valuable to be able to reference and analyze data easily.

If you’ve created databases or helped pull data from one in a full-time role, you can likely use that in a side hustle where you help a company set up and extract information from a database.

It might sound a little boring for someone without a genuine interest in data, but the side income won’t be boring!

Read Also: Make Money As A Computer Technician

8. Presentation and Proposal Creation

In your full-time role, maybe you were an expert at creating presentations for clients. Take this marketing skill, and pitch it to other companies that you suspect have to present things internally or to their clients. Some people have amazing sales and presentation skills, but just don’t know how to make something look great up on a slide.

If you can help them with that part, you can do well for yourself on the side by charging a fee per presentation (higher depending on how long it is). It is especially profitable if you can crank them out quickly.

As you can see, there are ways to turn basically any digital skill into a side hustle with the right combination of creativity and hustle.

The overall theme here is to not feel like what you’re doing in your full-time role isn’t beneficial.

There is somebody out there who needs your marketing skills. Decide on a niche that you want to focus on, get really good at it, build a small portfolio, and do great work to get referrals.