Got a personal finance problem that you need to solve? Or a goal that seems out of reach? Side Hustles have become a popular solution.
They can help you pay off debts, boost your retirement plan, find better work-life balance or start your own business. But if you want to use side hustles as a solution, you need to match the right gigs for your goals.
Gigs for goals
Why won’t any side hustle do? Because some side gigs are decidedly long-term. They require time to get up and running, but can provide a relatively steady source of income once they do.
That sort of gig is great to fund long-term goals, whether its building your retirement plan or testing out self-employment. But it’s a terrible choice when the problem you’re trying to solve is immediate, like paying next month’s rent.
Others gigs are quick hits. They allow you to earn money, sometimes within hours of signing up. These gigs are great for coming up with cash for short-term emergencies. But they’re often bad choices for the long run because the barrier to entry is nil. And that means competition will always be stiff, which usually means you won’t be able to earn more money with more experience.
So how can you find the right gigs for your goals? Here’s our guide.
Handle emergencies
Emergencies — the expensive car repair that you didn’t expect; the extra $2,000 required to close on your new home; the medical bill that’s about to go to collections — require fast-cash side hustles. These gigs allow you to sign up quickly, get work fast and get paid all within a week.
Fast-cash hustle sites are many of the brand names that you’re well familiar with — Uber, Lyft, Instacart, DoorDash and GrubHub. All of these sites allow fast onboarding and near-immediate offers of work.
However, the reason these sites add people quickly is because they’re notorious for losing people quickly too. Experts estimate that the average Uber or Lyft driver, for instance, lasts less than 6 months. So, while these side gigs are well-suited for handling an immediate need for cash, they’re a poor choice if you can’t attain your financial goal within a year.
Medium-term goals
When the wolf is not quite at the door, but you have a goal that you’d like to achieve in the next year or two — like saving enough for a car downpayment or a nice vacation — there are a host of sites that can have you up and running within a month or two. These include hospitality sites like Qwick and Jitjatjo; teaching opportunities through Outschool; and armchair consulting gigs through Maven, Respondent, UserInterviews and Rare Patient Voice.
Long-term goals & self-employment
Longer-term goals require side gigs that can produce consistent income without burning you out. That’s because whether you’re saving for your kids’ college, your own retirement, or for other big goals like buying a house or paying off your debts, persistence pays.
Even super-savers are unlikely to squirrel away enough for these goals in a year or two. You need a side gig that’s sustainable for five years or more.
The best bet for this type of gig are set-your-own pay platforms, such as Wyzant (tutoring), Rover (dog-sitting), Taskrabbit (household help) and Fiverr (tech help, voice-overs, proof-reading). If you have a room or guest house to rent out, Airbnb can also be a lucrative long-term play.
What all of these platforms do is allow you to set up a profile on the site, explaining what you do, what you charge and why you’re the best choice. They then show your profile to consumers looking for your specific service. As you gain time and experience on these platforms, you build up more reviews and that causes your profile to feature more prominently on the platform. And that send more customers your way.
Indeed, many freelancers say that these platforms can allow them to quit their day jobs and transition into working for themselves.
Getting started
While many of these longer-term side hustle sites pay you promptly for completed work, getting those first few jobs can be a challenge.
That’s because the algorithms that direct people to your profile favor freelancers with multiple positive reviews, thus you’re going to get fewer looks when you’re a newbie. Additionally, consumers ultimately make the final choices, and they tend to favor people with multiple good reviews too.
To counter that, successful freelancers on these sites often say they do a handful of things to get established:
- Offer cut-rate prices until they get their first 10 – 20 positive reviews;
- Advertise their services elsewhere, with a link to their site profile;
- Or have existing customers hire them through these sites to get those pivotal fist reviews on the platform. While this will cost you the site commission, it’s worth it if you need more than friends and family referrals to grow your business.
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