A side hustle is a way of earning money and pursuing a passion, on the side of your day job. It can be hugely rewarding both financially and emotionally, but where do you start?
Well, If you haven’t found the perfect side hustle yet then this post is for you, and if you prefer to watch and listen than reading, then I have added the accompanying YouTube video too.
We are going to look at what a side hustle is and then go over 5 big reasons that creating content and a YouTube side hustle could be the perfect opportunity for you!
Stay tuned to the end where I will reveal how even a shy, busy, monotone voiced numpty like me makes a good second income just from YouTube.
Let’s jump straight into it, and if you want the video then check it out using the image above.
What Is A Side Hustle?
A side hustle is something we often do outside of our day job. Sometimes by necessity as there are little things like bills to pay and maybe the boss man doesn’t give us a salary high enough to cover them, and sometimes it’s to pay for the nicer things in life, like travelling the world or buying shiny things (ooooh shiny). But there’s actually more to it than just a fatter wallet stuffed full of cash (shake wallet) and I am going to reveal that now.
Reasons To Start A YouTube Side Hustle
People often are focused solely on how to make money, and how can I do it from home? What they don’t think about are the other benefits of becoming a YouTuber. Yes, there are some! Some huge ones have the potential to completely transform your life. Let’s go over some of the biggest reasons people start a YouTube side hustle.
Pursue Your Passion
Look, you may never have told your friends, or shared with your family, but now is the time to be proud about your passion for knitting underpants, dressing up as a superhero, or even sharing your knowledge of Korean TV series where everyday people compete for prize money or risk losing their lives.
Or, just maybe it’s something a little more normal than that.
You like to read books, make decorations, bake cakes, teach people to sing, train dogs, write blogs, take photos, or just about anything.
You see it’s surprising how easy it is to monetize your passion and hobby. To find a way of pursuing something that really interests you and actually make money from it.
There are thousands of channels doing this on YouTube. Some show their face in full glory, and some stay behind the scenes and take the gentler approach. You have so many options to share your passion and build an audience of like-minded people.
Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life – Mark Twain
Flexibility
I get it, between getting ready, getting the kids ready, screaming and shouting til they get their lazy asses out of the house and to school, a full gruelling day at work, only to then have to clean up, prepare food, do the kids homework, get them to bed and then repeat in a few hours time like some kind of haunting groundhog day. Where on earth do you have time for a YouTube side hustle?
First, take a deep breath.
Second, listen, as I truly mean this. You can do it. I promise you.
You see in the past I’ve had side hustles where I created websites for people, I bought and sold physical goods on Amazon, I’ve done all kinds of random things, and they were all time consuming and had to be done at set times. I had deadlines.
They were really hard to balance around my family and day job and other commitments.
Luckily a YouTube side hustle isn’t like that.
It’s far more flexible.
You can make progress anytime you get 5 minutes in your day. On your lunch break, research or start scripting a video, got an hour at the weekend, whip the phone out and record a video. Got 15 minutes at the end of the day, open up Canva and create some thumbnails.
What I am saying is that YouTube is fluid. There are a lot of tasks that you can tick off your todo list as and when you get the time. Yes, YouTube does reward consistency, but as you get into your rhythm you get better and faster at these things. Many people batch process their content where they record multiple videos at once and make the most of their time.
Low Startup Costs
There are people making thousands on YouTube every month and in a moment I will explain how. Lots of them started with nothing more than a laptop and webcam, or even just a phone. Yes as you grow you can invest in lighting, audio and video equipment, but really you can start with the basics.
There aren’t many businesses that let you do that and this is why YouTube is so accessible. If you want to see what I started with then I’ve put all the details on this page.
Long Term Potential
Look let’s be honest with each other. Are you going to create 5 videos, set the world alight, and in the blink of an eye you have fame, fortune and the world on a plate. Hell no.
But YouTube is jam-packed full of opportunities. What starts as a side hustle and hobby today, could be your full-time gig and business later. You could have studios, employees, customers, and real fulfillment by teaching something you are passionate about every day. Would that be worth the hard work, would the be worth pushing your comfort zone?
Some of you have jobs you hate, or don’t have jobs at all. Youtube isn’t like a job where you trade your time for money, because they don’t pay an hourly rate. Initially, you are working for free whilst you hone your craft and build an audience. But long term, YouTube can scale much faster and bigger than your career and the rewards would be beyond what you could imagine.
YouTube is a genuine platform to build a business of your own.
Help Others
This is one of my favourites and one of the reasons I love creating YouTube content. Sure money is nice, and I will explain more in 1 minute how you can earn on YouTube, but by helping others you get true fulfilment.
I cannot emphasise enough how satisfying it is when one person reaches out and says “thankyou” for creating a video, that helped them, solved their problem or inspired them to make a change in their own life. Seriously, how often do you get to make an impact on people in that way? It’s incredibly rewarding and humbling.
And the thing with YouTube is that your videos are shown 24/7 to people from all over the world. This isn’t like helping your neighbour push-start their broken-down car and getting a high five, this is powerful. Someone somewhere in the world watched a video you created, and it helped them in some way. Absolutely one of my favourite things about YouTube.
As John C Maxwell said, “If you want to improve your world, then focus your attention on helping others”.
How To Make Money On YouTube
I promised at the end I would explain how you can make money on YouTube even as a beginner. Now, most people assume that you have to keep creating content until you reach YouTubes lofty monetisation targets (4000 hours watched & 1000 subscribers!).
When that happens you get to run adverts and YouTube pays you each month, and that’s awesome. Real passive income and a great way to reward content creators. But you’ve got to qualify first and that takes a while.
But there is one strategy you can do from day 1 and that’s called affiliate marketing.
This is a really simple process, where you recommend products and services, and if someone clicks on your unique affiliate link and buys that product, you earn a commission. Now in some cases that can be a few cents, and in other cases, it can be thousands of dollars.
It’s how I earn the majority of my side hustle income on YouTube and when you do it in the right way people don’t mind clicking your link, they see you are genuine, they trust you and they are happy for you to earn a little money as it doesn’t cost them any more than if they just went straight to the seller themselves.
If you want to learn more about this strategy and earn some money with your own YouTube side hustle then read this post, and if you are looking for some powerful yet FREE training then go check it out.