This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hey there, side hustlers. Today we're gonna talk about a topic that is close to many parents' hearts. We got lots of parents out there. Shout out to everybody who is raising a kid and also, or raising more than one kid could be, of course, and also trying to deal with all the adult responsibilities of making money and hopefully starting a savings and investing plan and just all the stuff you have to do. So I don't want to add to that.
I want to help you find ways to reduce that by making extra money so that you worry less, basically. That's the whole point of our program, Economic Empowerment. So today we're gonna hear from Amanda in Denver. She is a stay-at-home mom who's eager to launch a side hustle, but the catch, she doesn't have a lot of startup capital to work with. Well, I think that's great, actually, because in case anybody's new, I actually don't encourage you to spend a lot of money on your side hustle or your business.
There's so many different things you can start without spending money. And in fact, that may be better. It allows you to get to market quicker. You feel like there's not a lot of risk. You can change ideas if something isn't working.
And so many of the stories in our archives, six-figure side hustles, multiple six-figures, sometimes even more, they start with almost no money. And it really depends on the kind of business that you start, of course, but that's why I tend to steer people towards those kinds of businesses. So lots of stay-at-home parents are in the same boat. Lots of other people are looking for flexible ways to earn extra money without breaking the bank. So no bank breaking is required.
Let's talk about some low-cost ideas that could be a good fit for Amanda and anybody else out there in similar situations. Detailed question might answer it coming up in just 30 seconds. [Music]
Hey, I'm Amanda, a stay-at-home mom from Denver. A fellow mom in my play group mentioned your podcast and I've been listening ever since. I'm eager to start a side hustle that I can work on during nap times and after the kids are in bed, but I don't have a lot of startup capital to spare.
What are some flexible low-cost side hustle ideas that could work well for someone in my situation? [Music]
Okay, Amanda, let's get down to business. You need to start generating income soon and you've got limited time. I love it. That is a big part of our target market.
People who are busy but want to invest in themselves. Let's focus on some hustles that can bring in money quickly with minimal startup costs. So let's see, what could you do? Well, first of all, I think gig economy stuff. So gig economy like pet setting and you got platforms like Rover or WAG.
You can create a profile, set your own rates, start accepting clients. I've actually known some people who have used these platforms to then build their own business where they operate off platform and end up making a good amount of money. So that has some flexibility but it also does have some constraints to be fair. So another idea is to become a virtual assistant. We just had a question last week about a virtual assistant, a VA who wants to go beyond some basic services and specialize in order to be able to increase her revenue.
And so we talked a good bit about that, but you can sign up for platforms like Time, et cetera, or fancy hands, Upwork, Fiverr, different other ones. Start taking on tasks that fit your schedule. That can also have some flexibility. If you've got a knack for writing, maybe you wanna write content for blogs or businesses in a particular niche. You can find writing gigs on platforms like iWriter, Textbroker, Pro Blogger.
Shout out to Darren Rouse, good friend of mine. He runs Pro Blogger, at least used to. Those sites connect you with clients who need articles, blog posts, product descriptions. It might not be super high pay, just to be clear, but that can help you kind of build a portfolio and eventually pitch to higher paying clients. There's lots of other options as well, right?
So I wanna encourage people to go from starter platforms, again, the gig economy stuff, to something that is higher value where you actually have an idea and you are offering a product or service of your own. So that does take some time. It's probably not gonna happen tomorrow, but it's worth thinking about and working towards. Another thing I haven't talked about a lot here is reselling. We've had many episodes on reselling.
You can, in fact, start buying and reselling stuff tomorrow. And there's lots of different ways to do that, lots of different platforms for that. So those are the things I would think about if I needed to do something right away. And then I might have a different answer if it's, I've got a little bit longer timeframe. So perhaps we'll talk about that with another question.
But Amanda, as I said, cheering you on, I know lots of working parents out there who are trying to invest in themselves in the midst of a busy life. So you have my respect, listeners. You have my respect as well. If you have a question, a comment, www.sidehustleschool.com/questions. Also, we got notes for every episode.
This one's 2,684-2684. New episode tomorrow, new episode the day after that, seven days a week. My name's Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the Onward Project.
