How to Start a Side Hustle: Two Basic Tools to Start Earning Money from Your Passion

This is the seventh post in my How to Start a Side Hustle series. 

I get a lot of questions from ladies who want to begin selling products or services on the side to supplement their current income or start working for themselves full-time. The first thing I tell people is that it largely depends on what you want to sell. What is your passion and how can you earn money from sharing it with others? What’s your side hustle sweet spot? I have been working for myself a little over two years now and I found my sweet spot through selling both products (books, ebooks, online training programs) and services (speaking, coaching) in my business.

My last post was about how I’m using the technology of iPhone apps to support my ideal life, especially my business. In this post, I wanted to share the two basic tools that have been essential for me in starting a side hustle that turned into a full-time business based around my passion, expertise and lifestyle.

A Simple Website

These days, it’s really hard to market a business – even a side business – without having some type of online presence. What I’ve found is that with all the resources available to us now, it’s possible to do this cheaply and easily using a simple blog as your website. A lot of people still mistakenly believe that you need both a website AND a blog for your business, but just remember that a blog IS a website!

 

If you don’t have a professional blog to promote your side hustle yet, I highly recommend you check out my popular training program, The Blogging School. I created the Blogging School to show you, step-by-step, how to create your professional blog, build your personal brand online and become known as a leader in your industry. In this self-paced course, you will learn how to align your blog with your personal brand and use your blog to advance your career or promote your business. This comprehensive course includes 4 in-depth training modules in video format, covering branding, content, traffic and monetization with step-by-step tutorials, worksheets, templates and resources to help you build a successful blog!

A Paypal Account

The reason I have a Paypal account is so I can collect money from people who want to use their credit cards to pay me for my products or services. Paypal allows you to invoice your clients and put “buy now” buttons for your website that are connected to your account. There are a number of other cool stuff it can do too, like facilitate monthly billing, payment plans and e-check payments from your customers. You can also integrate it with other tools like E-Junkie to sell digital products.

I love the flexibility of Paypal, but my favorite part of using the service is the instant gratification factor. When you purchase anything from me online, the money goes directly into my Paypal account that same day, ready for me to spend or transfer to my main bank account.

If you want to be able to sell your products or services online, you will need a way to collect money, no way around it. All you need to get started is a credit card or bank account to route the money through. Go to the Paypal website to get started. It’s free to sign up! Paypal makes their money by charging a small fee for each transaction.

So there you go – get a Paypal account and a website and you’re already ahead of the game. I know these two basic tools may sound very simple and in the duh! category, but it’s amazing how many folks still do not have websites or “buy now” buttons so they can get paid for doing what they love. I’ve worked with many enthusiastic coaching clients who want to talk about all these big ideas to launch their business, but I see my role as being the one to talk them down off the visionary ledge for a moment to get into the practical nuts and bolts. People often make the process of earning money more complicated than it has to be. In my experience, it’s best to take care of the basics, and THEN move on to the more complex strategies to move your hustle forward.

Are you using these basic tools effectively to promote your own passion-based business? How have they helped you start or grow your side hustle?

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