Today’s post is from my friend Erik, who runs the blog The Mastermind Within, where he writes about personal finance, self-improvement, and entrepreneurship. Erik and I have been friends for a few years now, and we actually meet up pretty regularly to bounce ideas off each other and figure out our plans to grow our businesses and live life a little differently. What I really admire about Erik is how hardworking he is – the man knows how to hustle!
In this guest post, Erik goes over how he’s made nearly $60,000 of extra income over the past few years and gives you ideas on how you can use your skills to do the same. There’s some good information in this post, so it’s worth reading. Take it away Erik!
How would your life change if you could increase your income by $10,000 a year through side hustles?
Making an extra $10,000 a year through side hustling could make a significant impact on your finances. You could pay down debt, go on an extra vacation or two, or save more for retirement.
One way I’ve gotten to $10,000 in extra side income is by using my existing knowledge and skills to create value for other businesses and myself.
Hi, my name is Erik. Like the owner of this website and blog, I’m an avid side hustler and am always looking to make a little extra money on the side of my day job.
Something which differentiates me and Kevin is my focus on using my existing skills to make more money.
I’m always in awe of Kevin’s side hustle reports, and Kevin does an amazing job with his side gigs, credit card hacking, and other side hustles.
However, if you aren’t super excited about delivering food, or charging scooters for extra income, then hopefully this post will give you some ideas on how you can use your existing knowledge to create 5 figures of side income for yourself.
The rest of this post is a discussion on how you can leverage your existing skills to create side income, and some side hustle ideas for you to implement this year.
How to Create $10,000 of Side Income
Over the last 4 years, I’ve made nearly $60,000 on the side of my day job.
My main hustles are:
- renting out rooms in my house
- using my knowledge of statistics to secure hourly contracts
- using my web design skills to help new businesses with their websites
While this isn’t a life-changing amount of money, it has certainly added up over time and allowed me to pay down debt and build savings.
Over time, I’ve added skills and knowledge, and now I’ve been able to monetize these skills.
This success didn’t happen overnight, but over a few years, I’ve created multiple side hustle income streams.
Using Existing Skills to Make Money
For me and my side hustles, I’ve used existing skills to help others with their businesses or personal situations.
House hacking requires a little more investment up front with the purchase of a house. However, by being willing to manage tenants and make necessary repairs and fixes in my house, this has led to a successful result.
For my statistical consulting side hustle, I’ve been able to use my degree in Mathematics to help perform biostatistics for dog doctors. Since I was open to new opportunities, I wasn’t afraid to jump into this lucrative side hustle when asked by an old co-worker.
Finally, over the last few years, I’ve been learning more and more about web design. Now, I’ve built up a portfolio and have helped about 10 people with their blogs and websites.
These hustles are the result of being resourceful and being open to helping others with their work.
Many people want to do amazing things with their money and time, but don’t have the skills to do it.
If you can connect your skills to other people’s outcomes, you’ll be in a great spot to start making extra money.
Side Hustles You Could Start with Existing Skills
What are some of your skills? What do you enjoy doing with your time? Do you have any side hustle ideas to leverage your existing skills?
Maybe you don’t have a college degree, or you don’t have any serious certifications.
This is perfectly okay! You can still learn and grow over time to build your side income to 5 figures over time.
Maybe you do have a college degree and some serious certifications. With this prior knowledge, now it’s time to think about how you can monetize your skills and life experience.
Coming Up With the Right Side Hustle for You
When thinking about the right side hustle for you, it’s important to think about your goals and passions.
Life is short, and if you aren’t doing what you want with your time, then what are you doing?
In my opinion, the best side hustle is providing value to another person or company and doing what you want with your free time outside of your day job.
There are a number of possibilities to choose the best side hustle. The best side hustle might be the one that makes a ton of money. Maybe it’s one that brings new opportunities and helps you in your day job. Perhaps it’s one that brings passive income and allows you to retire early!
Really though, the best side hustle comes back to doing what you enjoy – without necessarily caring about the profit potential of the endeavor.
What do you love doing?
Start by answering this question, and move on from there.
Connect Your Passion with Profits
After you understand where your passion lies, you can start to think about opportunities which can leverage your existing skills.
Back to what I shared above, I enjoy building and designing websites for myself and for others. An obvious connection between my passion for designing websites and making money is to design websites for others.
The next step would be to get out, network, and secure some projects.
When I started out with my web design freelancing work, I wasn’t the most confident person, so I took on a job for free.
Starting off, it’s probably okay to do work for free, but once you have a solid portfolio, you need to charge what you are worth.
Now that I have a growing portfolio of websites I’ve worked on, I’ve been able to raise my rates and also secure more jobs through word of mouth and displaying my previous work.
You are the prize and you are a premium product.
This example applies to me and my life, but my hope is this example gets the wheels turning in your brain for you and your life.
If you need some more side hustle ideas, the next section has a number of ideas for you to think about for your side hustles.
Existing Skills Side Hustle Ideas
There are thousands of ways to make money in this world.
Here, I’m going to list a number of skills and interests which can be monetized. Maybe one of these will fall in line with your skills and you can start to work to monetize your life.
- Skill: Mathematics
- With knowledge of math, you could tutor students or help companies with analysis.
- Skill: Handiness
- If you are handy, you could custom build things for others, or help friends with repair projects for pay.
- Skill: Medicine
- If you are a nurse or someone in the medical field, you could pick up hours at a short-staffed clinic.
- Skill: Bookkeeping
- Many small businesses are looking for bookkeeping help.
- Skill: Merchanting
- Do you have an eye for arbitrage? Going to thrift stores and flipping products could result in a lucrative side hustle.
- Skill: Social Media
- If you have a knack for growing social media accounts, you could help small businesses implement social media campaigns.
- Skill: Strength
- You could help people move their stuff when moving houses or apartments.
- Skill: Graphic Design
- If you are a graphic designer, so many businesses and side projects need logos and other graphics for branding and marketing campaigns.
- Skill: Writing
- Writers and editors are in demand as many businesses need content creation online.
- Skill: Web Design
- Having an online presence is so critical in the modern age, and having a nice looking website is so important for individuals and businesses.
- Skill: Yard Work
- Doing landscaping, mowing lawns, or shoveling could result in a few hundred extra dollars
- Skill: Resume Help
- You could help people who are clueless about how their resumes should be set up.
- Skill: Video and Audio Production
- Video and audio quality is so important for businesses looking to attract views and listens online.
These are a number of ideas which I just came up with while sitting here writing this post.
I’m sure that there are thousands of other ideas which you could do and achieve by brainstorming and thinking about how you can connect your passion to profits.
Make 5 Figures on the Side and Achieve Your Financial Goals
Achieving your financial goals is possible through two options: saving more money or making more money.
I prefer making more money by providing value to others, and that’s why I hustle.
Maybe you don’t have the skills you need to monetize your life and make an extra $10,000 on the side this year. But over time, you can work towards your goals and achieve whatever you want in life.
Humans overestimate what they can do in a day, but underestimate what they can do in a year.
How many hours do you think it will take to add the necessary skills to be able to monetize? 50? 100? 200? If you work 30 minutes a day for the next 100 days, you’ll reach your goal and have your idea, product, or service ready to go. Working more time each day, you can get to your goal faster.
And if you do have the skills to monetize today, TAKE ACTION! No one ever got rich without taking action.
Hopefully, this post has inspired you to get out and start hustling and given you a number of ideas to improve your side hustle game.
Thank you for reading.
Erik runs the site, The Mastermind Within, where he talks about how you can increase your income, improve as an individual, and reach your goals and dreams. Self-improvement and personal finance are the main topics of his blog, but he also shares his side hustle tips to inspire Millennials and hustlers.
More Recommended Ebike/Scooters
Check out these other ebikes/scooters I've had the chance to do a review for:
- GEN3 Outcross Bike – The GEN3 Outcross is a solid, affordable fat tire ebike that does a good job of doing what I need it to do. It works great for city riding, giving me a smooth ride in all conditions. It’s works really well as a winter ebike since the fat tires give it good traction over snow and ice. Check out my GEN3 Outcross Review.
- Himiway Escape Bike – The Himiway Escape is an interesting bike for anyone looking for a moped-style ebike. If you’re a gig economy worker, the Himiway Escape is particularly interesting and it’s possible to think of it as an investment, especially if you can opt to do deliveries with the Himiway versus using a car. It’s not cheap, but you can definitely make your money back when you compare the mileage you’ll put on your car versus using an ebike. Check out my Himiway Escape Bike Review.
- Espin Sport Bike – The Espin Sport is a good ebike for someone who is looking for an ebike that feels and rides more like a regular bike. There are many ebikes that are really only bikes in name. In reality, they’re basically electric mopeds. The Espin Sport, by contrast, is a bike you could probably ride without the battery and you’d feel like you’re just riding a regular bike. Check out my Espin Sport Review.
- Varla Eagle One Scooter – The Varla Eagle One is an excellent scooter that can make sense for a lot of people. It can work as a primary mode of transportation. You can use it to work on gig economy apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. And it can also be a recreational vehicle if you’d prefer to use it for that. Check out my Varla Eagle One Review.
- Fucare H3 Scooter – The Fucare H3 is a fun scooter and I’ve enjoyed testing it out. For a daily commuter or quick trips or errands, the Fucare H3 is probably the scooter I’ll use. It’s portable and easy to maneuver, so it’s just easier to take on the road when I need it. Check out my Fucare H3 Scooter Review.
More Recommended Investing App Bonuses
For additional investing app bonuses, be sure to check out the ones below:
- M1 Finance ($10) – This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $10 for opening an account. Check out my M1 Finance Referral Bonus – Step-By-Step Guide.
- SoFi Invest ($25) – SoFi Invest is an easy brokerage account bonus that you can earn with just a few minutes of work. Use my SoFi Invest referral link, fund your SoFi Invest brokerage account with $100 and you’ll get $25 of free stock. I also have a step-by-step guide for the SoFi Invest referral bonus.
- Moomoo (5 free stocks) – Moomoo is a free investing app currently offering 5 free stocks (usually worth around $75-$100) if you open an account using a referral link and deposit $2,000. Read my Moomoo referral bonus guide for more information.
- Webull (5 free stocks) – Webull also gives you 5 free stock valued between $3-$3,000 each if you open an account using my referral link. Here’s a guide I wrote about how to earn your free stocks using Webull.
- Robinhood (1 free stock) – Robinhood gives you a free stock valued between $2.50-$225 if you open an account using my referral link.
- Public (1 free stock) - Public gives you a free stock valued between $3-$70 if you open an account using my referral link.
More Recommended Bank Account Bonuses
If you’re looking for more easy bank bonuses, check out the below options. These bonuses are all easy to earn and have no fees or minimum balance requirements to worry about.
- Chime ($100) - Chime is a free bank account that offers a referral bonus if you use a referral link and complete a direct deposit of $200 or more. In practice, any ACH transfer into this account triggers the bonus. This bonus is easy to earn and posts instantly, so you’ll know if you met the requirements as soon as you move money into the account. I wrote a step-by-step guide on how to earn your Chime referral bonus that I recommend you check out.
- Upgrade ($100) – Upgrade is a free checking account that’s currently offering a $100 referral bonus if you open an account and complete three debit card transactions. These bonus terms are easy to meet, so it’s well worth doing this bonus as soon as you can. Importantly, this bonus says that it’s now scheduled to end on October 31, 2022. As long as you get your account opened before October 31st, you should be eligible. Here’s a post I wrote with more details: Upgrade $100 Referral Bonus – Step By Step Directions.
- SoFi Money ($350) – SoFi Money is a free checking account from SoFi. They’re currently offering a $25 referral bonus if you open a SoFi account with a referral link and deposit $10. You can also make an additional $300 as well if you complete a direct deposit. This is a good bank that is also 100% free, so you won’t have to worry about managing this account. Here’s a post I wrote with instructions on how to earn your SoFi Money bonus: SoFi Money Referral Bonus: Step By Step Guide.
- Fifth Third Bank ($250) – This offer is limited to customers in the following states: Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, West Virginia, and South Carolina. If you don’t live in one of those states, you won’t be able to open an account online but you can still open an account in-branch if you happen to be visiting a city that has a branch. This is a fairly easy bank bonus to earn, especially since there are plenty of data points showing what will trigger the direct deposit requirement. In addition, you can open the Fifth Third Momentum Checking bank account, which comes with no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements. Read my guide on this bonus here.
- Current ($50) – Current is a free fintech bank that’s offering new users a $50 referral bonus after signing up for an account using a referral link.Current is an easy bonus to earn and also gives you access to three savings accounts that pay you 4% interest on up to $2,000. That means you can put away up to $6,000 earning 4% interest. That’s very good and makes Current an account I recommend to everyone. Check out my step-by-step guide on how to earn your Current Bank bonus.
- OnJuno ($100) – OnJuno is a fintech/neobank that is currently offering a $100 referral bonus if you open an account using a referral link and complete a direct deposit of $250 or more. The account has no fees or minimum balance requirements. Even better, the bonus posts immediately after you meet the requirements. If you can meet the direct deposit requirements, OnJuno is an easy bank bonus that’s worth snagging. Check out my OnJuno referral bonus guide here.
- Varo ($50) – Varo is a free fintech banking app similar to Chime or Current. It’s currently offering a $50 bonus to new users that open a new Varo account with a referral link. The bonus for this bank is very easy to meet, all you need to do is spend $20 within 30 days of opening your Varo account. Check out my step-by-step guide to learn how to earn this bonus.
- Fairwinds Credit Union ($100) – Fairwinds Credit Union is offering a referral bonus for users that sign up using a referral link. Fairwinds has no fees or minimum balance, so this is a particularly easy bonus to earn. Since this is a smaller credit union, my gut instinct tells me this offer won’t be around long, so if you’re in a position to meet the bonus requirements, grab this bonus before it’s gone. Here is my step-by-step guide on how to earn your Fairwinds Credit Union bonus.
- Novo Bank ($40) - Novo bank is a free business checking account that’s currently offering a $40 bonus if you open a Novo business checking account using a referral link. In addition to being a good bank bonus, Novo is also a good business checking account. It has no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements and operates a good app and website. Indeed, it’s the business checking account I currently use for this blog. Check out my post on how to easily open a Novo account.
- Spiral ($50) – Spiral is a fintech bank that's currently offering new customers a $50 signup bonus after opening a free checking account with them. The Spiral referral bonus is especially good because it's a free checking account and doesn't require a direct deposit to earn the bonus. Here is my step-by-step guide on how to earn your Spiral Bank bonus.
- One Finance ($50) – One Finance is a fintech bank that’s currently offering a $50 signup bonus if you open an account using a One Finance referral link and have a direct deposit of $250 or more. This is a completely free bank account with no minimum balance requirement, so if you can meet the requirements, it’s worth doing. Check out my One Finance referral bonus guide here.
- Albert ($150) – If you can manage to do a real direct deposit, Albert is an easy account you can use to earn a referral bonus. Here’s a review about Albert I wrote. And here’s a step-by-step guide on how to earn your Albert referral bonus.
- Netspend ($20 + 5% Interest Savings Account) – Netspend is a company that provides 5% interest savings accounts. If you sign up using my referral link, you’ll get a $20 signup bonus once you make your first deposit into your Netspend account of $40 or more. That means you get a 5% interest savings account and a free $20 to start! Make sure to check out my in-depth guide on how to set up these accounts.
Kevin is an attorney and the blogger behind Financial Panther, a blog about personal finance, travel hacking, and side hustling using the gig economy. He paid off $87,000 worth of student loans in just 2.5 years by choosing not to live like a big shot lawyer.
Kevin is passionate about earning money using the gig economy and you can see all the ways he makes extra income every month in his side hustle reports.
Kevin is also big on using the latest fintech apps to improve his finances. Some of Kevin's favorite fintech apps include:
- SoFi Money. A really good checking account with absolutely no fees. You'll get a $25 referral bonus if you open a SoFi Money account with a referral link, and an additional $300 if you complete a direct deposit.
- Upgrade Bank. Upgrade is a free checking account that’s currently offering a $100 referral bonus if you open an account and complete three debit card transactions. These bonus terms are easy to meet, so it’s well worth doing this bonus as soon as you can. Note that it’s now scheduled to end on October 31, 2022.
- Novo Bank. Novo bank is a free business checking account that’s currently offering a $40 bonus if you open a Novo business checking account using a referral link. It’s the business checking account I currently use for this blog.
- M1 Finance. This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $10 for opening an account.
- Personal Capital. One of best free apps you can use to monitor your portfolio and track your net worth. This is one of the apps I use to track my financial accounts.
Feel free to send Kevin a message here.
Thanks for the opportunity to write this post! Hopefully it inspires your readers to take action and crush their financial goals this year!!
Thanks for the post man! You got good info for people. Also, you’re the one helping me out since I’m such a slacker.
Great post Erik!
I’ve found over the years that taking things I was already doing, and was already proficient at, and leveraging those things into side hustle income was always key. At my day job I had to become proficient in web design, so when I started out making money online I started doing some minimal design for other bloggers/ebay sellers/etc to make extra income. It started small and by word of mouth, but eventually I made a website for that side hustle and was making several thousand per year by doing design for others.
I also became pretty proficient in creating and setting up websites due to my own publishing ventures. I saw that as an opportunity to make money as well, so I started charging others to help them setup their own websites, optimize them for SEO, optimize the site setup/etc. This was a nice add-on for my web design business.
I also made side income by doing something I was relatively good at, writing. I started my website, and found ways to monetize my site from the outset. I maximized my strengths, learned new things on the fly, and over time became pretty proficient at the blogging game, and now make enough from the site that I could probably go full time if I wanted to.
With all those things I took my existing knowledge, strengths and skills, and leveraged them to make a nice side income. In areas where I didn’t know as much I did my best to learn all that I could, and to a huge degree I’m still learning new things every day.
So I agree completely, if you leverage your existing skills, take the time required to learn new things (instead of wasting time on TV/games/social media), you can make a nice side income – some of which might become a full time income some day.
Right on Peter! I admittedly waste way too much time on Netflix…
There is a lot of great info in this article. I think learning to leverage the experience we already have in our field, can lead to making the most money. But there is an element in learning new skills to open up additional possibilities.
I’ve been a PHP developer for 15+ years and have extensive knowledge in using WordPress and Drupal. I could, in theory, pursue side gigs that support my skillset, but I’m not sure I am willing to sacrifice that time right now.
My current focus is trying to increase the traffic of my blog and eventually bring in some income. I’ve spent massive amounts of time over the first two months of launching, and I am making progress. But the blogging sphere is incredibly competitive int he PF community.
The key with blogging, like anything, is to just keep pushing forward. There’s basically a lot of layers of any creative or business endeavor. You’ve got a big percentage that are willing to talk about it. A smaller percentage that will actually get started and do something. An even smaller percentage that stick it out. And then an even smaller percentage that will stick it out longer.
Nice post! I read your blog too and I’ve always admired that you had such an early start to building side hustles.
Erik is pretty baller. He’s still in his 20s and is a property owner and business owner. Not too shabby.
Great post! The side hustling with statistics is a cool idea. I’m over to check out more about it on your blog. Very interested as this is something I think I would enjoy. Yes – I’m a nerd :-),
Hi! I just wanted to thank you again. It turned out I made 300 off sellin junk in my house on OfferUp in February. I was also inspired to start a small online business selling worksheets to teachers . You planted a seed in my mind and it is blossoming.
I really appreciate it and I will be a loyal follower of this blog!
Awesome job with selling that junk. Honestly, I bet all of us have $1000 worth of stuff in our house that we literally would not notice if it was gone. I’m in a bit of spring cleaning mode myself as well.