SAVE FOR A DOWN PAYMENT: THE SIDE HUSTLE

In our last article, we discussed ways to cut your costs. Have you seen a difference yet? Today, we will discuss ways to make more money. The side hustle is truly the best way to store away cash but it is imperative that you do one thing. You must store it away, every dollar you make. The money needs to go into a second bank account. In the next article we will talk about putting this money into an account where it will grow exponentially. But for the moment, prepare to open a second bank account to save all the money you are going to make in your side hustle.

THINGS TO CONSIDER BEFORE YOU START YOUR SEARCH

1. Look for flexibility: You don’t want to feel overly tied down to the side hustle but at the same time you need something you can commit to following through with. Look for jobs that allow you to say no to working when you need time-off. The side hustle needs to feel more of a benefit than a burden.

2. Make sure you can manage it: Don’t take on too many hours when you first start, unless you know for sure you can handle it. Take on 1-2 shifts a week, or 10-15 hours. Any more and you may feel overwhelmed and exhausted, harming your life with your family and your primary job. Just make sure you can actually handle the work load that you seek out.

3. Be flexible: Once you get into a job, feel it out. Be flexible if the boss asks you to do something outside your original job description or they ask you to work different hours than originally agreed. Don’t let them take advantage of you, but also feel out the changes and see if they work for you.

4. Consider jobs that help you develop your skills: We all have areas in our life where we could do better. Maybe it is customer service, or leadership or patience. Looks for jobs where you can work on those skills that can benefit you in your primary job.

5. Location, Location, Location: Always consider location. The further away from home or your current job, the less likely you will want to continue working. Gas and wear and tear on the car also eat into your income when you drive further away. Find a job that is convenient to your current lifestyle. Don’t drive too far out of the way.

6. Beware of online scams: Beware of online scams: There are many online scams out there. If you have to pay anything for a new job, forget about it. If every address you have on file is a PO BOX, forget about it. Always research the company before you accept a job. Google will give you heaps of intel on the shady companies out there.

START YOUR SEARCH

Now you are ready to start searching for the perfect side hustle. And don’t limit yourself. Start by writing a list of all the things you love to do, all the things you are good at and all the things you would like to work on improving. If you are in Sales, you might want to work somewhere that requires you to interact a lot with people, where you can make new contacts. If you are an accountant during the day, you might want to take on some bookkeeping in the evening. If you love playing golf, you can work in a golf store in the evenings and on weekends. The key is figure out what you like and find something in that field.

Airbnb: If you have an extra room, consider renting it out on Airbnb. It might seem scary and weird at first, but if you love to host people at your home, you will be a great Airbnb host. Go to Airbnb.com to find great tips on how to market your home and how to feel secure having strangers in your home.

Arena/Sporting Events/Convention Centers: Love to watch concerts, baseball games or attend conventions? All of your local complexes have part time work for servers, cleanup, setup, take down and security. Look up the venue's website for available jobs.

Babysitter/Childcare: if you already stay at home, it is pretty easy to add 1-2 extra children. Ask your friends that are mothers, or market yourself on Craigslist. Research your local permit laws. If a full day is too much, offer to do before and after school care, or even just weekends and evenings when the parents want to get out or work late.

Banquet Help: Hotels, Special Event locations, and Convention Centers regularly have banquet events. They often use temporary, part time employees to serve the function. Hours are flexible and they have day, night and weekend shifts.

Bartender: Flexible schedule and a great way to meet people. The restaurant industry is always hiring people. And don’t worry about knowing how to make a cocktail. They often will train you if you have a great personality.

Blogger: Websites are always looking for people to write for them. Search the internet for blogging opportunities. Some only pay $10 and others a lot more. The more you write, the more you will earn more cash.

Bookkeeping: Bookkeeping can be a very lucrative and long term job if you have prior experience in accounting and bookkeeping. Knowledge of Quickbooks is almost always a requirement. You can take a class in Quickbooks online in a few hours. Most of the work can be done at home with some minor trips to pick-up and drop off paperwork.

Call Center: Customer service centers and telemarketing centers are always in need of people to work in the evening and weekends. If you have a good voice and a patient disposition, you will be excellent working at a call center.

Caterer: Catering companies are always looking for people to help serve the crowd and transport materials and food. Events are often in the evening and weekends. Look online at indeed.com for job opportunities.

Comedian: If you are remotely funny, try auditioning or sign up for open mic night. Take a class in improv and try your luck. You never know, you might be the next Jerry Seinfeld.

Craft Creator: If you like creating crafts, then you should try to sell them. Etsy is one of the biggest online sites for selling crafts. Also, look at selling your crafts at festivals, farmers markets, and local fairs. Do what you love for your side gig.

Craigstlist: Take a look at the “gigs” section of Craigslist. You might find something different and unusual that sparks your interest. Once again, beware of scams.

Data Entry: Data entry jobs can often be done remotely and are paid based on the job. Other jobs are done onsite but can be done in the evening and weekends. If you type fast and you have a good computer, telecommuting data entry might be good for you. Beware of scans in this field. Always double check the company online.

Dog walking/Dog sitting: For those available during the day, daytime workers are always looking for a safe, reliable and loving person to walk their dogs while they are at work. These same people like to go on vacation without their dogs and often need someone to watch their dogs for the weekend. Put up sign in your neighborhood and at the dog park to market yourself. Sign up with DogVacay, Rover or Wag.

Ebay Reseller: I can only think of "The 40 Year Virgin" when I think about this, but this is a very flexible job. Focus on things you know well. Buy low and sell high.

Fitness Instructors: Your local gym is always hiring. If you love Yoga, look at getting trained to teach. If you love your Zumba class, look at getting trained to teach. You will get a great work out, often get a free gym membership and you will get paid for something you love.

Food Demonstrator: At the grocery store, they hire part time people to offer up a tray of samples and they often have food demonstrations for new recipes. If you like to cook and chat with people, this is nice part time gig. Beware of the double dippers!

Graphic Designers: If you know how to use Adobe Illustrator with ease, you have conquered 90% of the requirements of this job. Look at Fiverr.com and Taskrabbit.com to market your skills.

Grocery Store Cashier: Your local grocery store is always hiring. You will start in the bagging and stocking sections but you can work your way up to a cashier in no time. Grocery stores are open late and have alot of night and weekend shifts. (Target, Walmart, etc are also good options)

Grocery Store Delivery: Publix, Shipt and Instacart are hiring for grocery store delivery people. You shop the list, buy the groceries and deliver the goods to the client’s house. You can take the jobs you want and work the hours you want, 7 days a week. They get paid an hourly wage plus tips.

Handyman: If you are good around the house fixing stuff, look at Taskrabbit.com, Handy.com or Mrhandyman.com. People will advertise jobs in your area with a price and if you can do the job, you can get hired for the gig.

Hotel Front Desk Clerk: Hotels need people with good customer service and a warm personality. Evening and weekend shifts are pretty common. No hotel experience is required.

Music Teacher: If you know how to play an instrument very well, you can offer music lessons. Market yourself at your children's school, church, the music store and on Craigslist.

Musical Performer: If you love music and you can get the nerve up to play in front of a crowd, look at auditioning at one of your local bars or restaurants. More and more restaurants are bringing in musicians to entertain on nights and weekends.

Office Cleaner: Office building janitorial companies are looking for reliable, honest, office cleaners to work in the evening when the office closes. And it is a little easier than cleaning hotels and homes. Hopefully, you won't have to pick up any dirty clothes.

Online Teacher: Udemy.com is also a great place to earn extra money and teach. They offer pre-taped and live webinars about everything. If you know something about something, you can be a teacher too. They have a great website for helping you create a course and market your course.

Pet Groomer: Your local pet store is often hiring for new groomers. It requires a class to be licensed, but once you are licensed, you can spend your weekends taking care of fido and fifi.

Personal Assistant: Go to Taskrabbit.com for personal assistant jobs in your area. They are quick one time gigs that you can pick up when you are free. Other options are Upwork, Flexjobs and VirtualAssistants.com.

Real Estate Agent: The best real estate agents work full time including nights and weekends, but you can make some extra cash as a part time real estate agent. The job requires you to take a two-three week class based on your state, pass a state exam, work under a broker and invest some money into startup costs for your Realtor membership, signs and business cards, but within six months of hard work and some training, you should make your first commission and recoup your costs. From there it is all profit.

Restaurant Work: Waiters/Waitresses, Host/Hostess, Cook/Line Cook - Restaurants are always hiring and they often will accept applicants with no restaurant experience. College students are a common trend in the restaurant industry who have no experience. A great personality and some smarts will get you far. Look for a busy restaurant during the week if you plan to work a week day shift. There is no point in working 6 hours for only $30 in tips.

Retail Store: The mall is usually open until 9pm and weekends. Find a store where you normally shop so that you have genuine love the products you sell. Just remember not to shop when you work. And if you can’t control yourself, don’t work at the mall.

Security Guard: Unfortunately, most security guard positions are very sleepy, long nights, but based on your day job, this might be right up your alley. Hotels, shopping centers, and office complexes are just some of the locations that might have “safer” security positions.

Seasonal Tax Preparer: Companies such as H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt will train you to prepare tax returns. The job is seasonal in Jan-May when they load up with personnel. H&R Block is the 1# seasonal employer in the United States.

Sell Your Photos: Shutterstock, iStock and Getty Images pay you each time your photos are chosen. Take a look at their websites on how to sell your photos.

Test User: You can get paid up to $10 per test to try various new products at Usertesting.com. Just make sure you never have to pay to test anything. They should be paying you.

Tutor: If you know a lot about certain subjects, especially in high school subjects, you can offer your tutoring skills after work and on weekends. Princeton Review, Jobs-to-Careers and Indeed all have tutoring jobs available. You can also market yourself at schools and online.

Translator: If you know a second language, companies will pay you to sit on the phone with them and translate. Other positions require you to translate written documents. Even though computer programs can translate words these days, companies hire translators to ensure dialects and accuracy of the programs. Look at Indeed.com for telecommuting translator positions.

Wedding Photographer/Videographer: If you love photography and have the equipment, couples are always looking for a way to save money at their wedding. Start offering your services to friends to build a portfolio. Market yourself on Facebook and Instagram using wedding photography hastags.

Uber/Lyft: The hours are very flexible and pay well in the evenings, weekends and holiday weekends. This is best for people that do not drive a leased car, for people that live in a populated area and for people that have a clean, four door, car that gets good mileage.

UPS: UPS is always looking for part-time drivers for weekends. With the growth of Amazon’s two day delivery, they are working late and all weekend. They also have shifts in the warehouse to load the trucks in 2nd and 3rd shifts.

OTHER IDEAS ON HOW TO FIND SOME MONEY

Ask for overtime. You never know what your boss will say.

If you have anything with tags on them at home, take it back to the store. Even if it is a store credit, it is better than nothing.

Spare change: We all have it all over the house. Always use full dollars and throw your chain into piggie bank every night. At year end, take it to the bank. And don’t drop it at those easy tellers at the grocery store. They are highway robbery!

Recycle: Ask your friends and family to save their cans and bottles. Ask your neighbors to put their cans in a plastic bag and leave them on their front porch each week. You can still make some nice change by recycling.

If you have a truck: Offer to move stuff for people. Work with small furniture companies to move furniture bought at their store. Usually it is only one or two pieces. Place an ad on Craigslist.

Live near a farm: During picking season, farms need a lot of help and they hire a lot of part time pickers.

Sell stuff: Go through every closet, garage, and nook in your house and pile up what you have not used in the last two years. Do you have a sentimental attachment to it? If not, sell it. You can do a simple garage sale with lots of bright signs in your neighborhood. Or you can try to sell the bigger items on Craigslist or Letgo. For designer items, consider selling them on Tradesy.

Coolworks.com: For outdoor enthusiasts, this website had alot of jobs for summer, temp jobs and part time jobs in ski areas, resorts and farms.

One last caution: Beware of multi-level marketing programs, think Pampered Chef, Chloe and Isabel, Stella and Dot, LuLaRoe, Avon, and Mary Kay. Even though they claim you are your own boss and you work your own hours, this is still a sales job. And not only is it a job, but it actually requires you to invest money in their products to start up your inventory. The company makes money before you even make a dime. More often than not, you will never make back that money, and if you do, it will take a very long time. In the meantime, you are forced to burden your friends and family, begging them to buy stuff from you that they really don’t want or need. And when they stop buying the well starts to dry up or your start bugging their friends to buy you wares. People don’t need more junk. Encourage your friends and family to save money, instead of obligatorily buying more stuff from you. If you really have the $500-$5,000 dollars to spend, invest it wisely. MLM programs are a little like playing the lottery. Some do win, but most do not.

And one last reminder, just in case I haven’t said it enough… SAVE EVERY DOLLAR YOU MAKE. This money is not to be used in emergencies or to buy a new iphone when you break it. YOU MUST, YOU MUST, YOU MUST SAVE IT.