Most individuals think they need a great concept that no one else has ever had before to start a side business. But the truth is that most of the time, the best ideas are not concealed. You can see them there in front of you in your talents, your daily life, your discussions, and your community.
You don’t have to come up with something new. You need to realize how valuable everything you already know, do, and enjoy is. Chris Guillebeau tells story after tale of regular people who found chances by paying close attention to their own life in The $100 Startup. In Side Hustle, he does the same thing: he shows you how to find basic ideas and make money from them right away.
This post will help you accomplish just that: find real, useful side hustle ideas that are already close to you, even if you don’t know it yet.
Why You Might Be Missing Out on Great Ideas
Let’s get one thing straight: you don’t need to have a million-dollar concept to start a side business. You only need an idea that:
- Fixes a problem
- Brings value
- Can be examined in a short amount of time
- Matches your skills or interests
But we tend to disregard the easy things that people will pay for right now, like news about companies, tech breakthroughs, and influencers making six figures.
A lot of the time, the best idea you have isn’t anything you can find online. It’s something that is already in your life, just waiting for you to realize it.
Step 1: Check Out What People Want from You
The questions people already ask you are some of the best signs of your side hustle potential:
- “Can you help me with this sheet?”
- “You know how to write resumes. Can you look at mine?”
- “Where did you get that?” “Can you help me find one?”
- “Your pictures are great—do you take pictures at events?”
These questions are about trust and how much value you think something has. If individuals already come to you for help in a certain area, that means they would be willing to pay for it or at least tell someone else who would.
Take a few minutes to write down three to five things that people often ask you to help them with. That’s where you should start.
Step 2: Check Your Daily Schedule
The second technique to get ideas for side hustles is to look at your daily life.
- What do you do with your time, even if no one pays you for it?
- What tools or talents do you utilize at work that other people could find useful?
- What jobs or tasks do you like that other people might not?
- What kinds of things do you often read or share?
For instance:
- If you can organize your digital files well, someone else would pay you to do it.
- You may make personalized vacation plans for people who love to plan travels.
- Small businesses might need your help if you’re the one everyone calls when they have IT problems at home.
Chris says in Side Hustle that you should start with what’s already “in motion” in your life instead of trying to come up with something new. A strong base is if you are already doing something well.
Step 3: Find Out What Your Community Needs and What It Doesn’t Have
Not every side job has to be online. Local services can actually be one of the quickest and most dependable ways to make money. Think about:
- Parents who need help picking up their kids after school or getting them to school
- Seniors who need help with errands or IT issues
- Small businesses that need help with design, social media, or administration
- People who own pets and require dog walkers or pet caregivers
- People who own homes and need help with cleaning, organizing, or yard work
Look on sites like Craigslist, Nextdoor, or even Facebook groups for your area. People will post about their true needs, and they usually want someone who is close by and trustworthy.
Take a look around your area. What do people say they don’t like? What services are hard to find? What are other people too busy to do?
Those are all chances.
Step 4: Make a List of All Your Skills, Even the “Unsexy” Ones
People often don’t value their skills since they don’t look showy. But keep in mind that what comes easily to you might be useful to someone else.
Here are some “unsexy” skills that can make you a lot of money:
- Filling out forms
- Typing and formatting papers
- Making presentations in PowerPoint
- Making travel plans or appointments
- Editing or checking for errors
- Taking care of calendars and inboxes
- Researching
- Creating spreadsheets
- Making subtitles for social media
These activities may not sound interesting, but people and businesses pay real money for them, especially on sites like Upwork, Fiverr, and LinkedIn.
And what if you could put a bunch of them together into one offer? You have a service package ready to go.
Step 5: Think About What You Like to Teach or Explain
If you’ve ever passionately explained something to a friend, that’s a sign. Teaching is a great way to start a side business, especially in the U.S., where people are always eager to learn quickly and pay for help.
Do you:
- Teach people how to clean, cook, organize, or decorate?
- Can you explain how to budget, use credit, or save money?
- Help other people learn how to use apps or software?
- Give tips on how to be a good parent, be more productive, or change your mindset?
You can make that a side job by:
- Making phone calls one-on-one
- Selling easy-to-follow manuals or eBooks
- Making short video lessons
- Online group meetings
You don’t have to be a “expert” to help someone; you only need to be a few steps ahead of them.
Step 6: Use Your Skills and Interests to Set Yourself Apart
Combining two things that you are good at but are not related to each other could lead to your most distinctive side job.
For example:
- You love to bake and know how to use Canva, so you sell recipe eBooks with great designs.
- You like working out and are good at writing, so you make training regimens just for you.
- You know how to use social media and have a pet, therefore you help pet brands with their Instagram accounts.
- You like video games and know how to edit video, so you make game highlight reels for streams.
Don’t downplay what happens when you combine your expertise. A lot of the time, your niche is there at that point where demand and uniqueness meet.
Last Piece of Advice: Proof Is Better Than Imagination
The best approach to find out if your idea is worth following through on is: try it out.
Give it to a few people. Get some feedback. Give it a shot at selling it. Ask for a little fee. Check it out.
Don’t waste weeks or months wondering if it will work. In The $100 Startup, most of the entrepreneurs who were highlighted started quickly and then made things better. They didn’t speculate; they tried it out.
You can also do this.
You Already Have Everything You Need
This is what you should remember from this article:
- You don’t need to look harder; you just need to pay more attention.
- Your idea for a side job is probably hiding in:
- The nice things people say about you
- The things you do without even considering
- The abilities you learned on the job before
- The things you do every day at home
- The things people keep asking you
Begin there. Have faith that small chances can lead to large things. Also, keep in mind that not all good ideas emerge from a brainstorm. Sometimes, all you have to do is open your eyes to see what’s already going on.