Times are tough. I talked with a recruiter friend the other day and there are >40 people in my field in our local job market that he knows that are looking for work. And those are just the ones that he knows.
Build something for yourself. It’s basic prepping. Build your side hustle. Multiple streams of income.
In this episode I will share tips on how to discover and develop your side hustle niche.
Listen on your fave Podcast app:
Thriving The Future Podcast on iTunes/Apple Podcast
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Side Hustle vs. Solopreneur
“Side Hustle” is such a messy term nowadays. People are using it for everything from selling things on Etsy to having a second job at an Amazon warehouse.
Solopreneur seems to be taking root, especially on Twitter. I will stick with “Side Hustle” in this episode because it looks better in SEO/Google searches.
Now is the time to develop your Side Hustle
This year I am concentrating on side hustles. Several reasons – one is that “oops” email, but there many more reasons. I need something that will generate consistent passive income to make up for any loss in pay.
In addition, as I discussed in Ep. 128 with Andy Hickman, I feel like I am running out of time. I would rather spend my time working on something that matters to me, my family, and builds assets instead of working on a project and then getting that “oops – thank for your work (but no thanks)” email and getting rolled off or let go/downsized/fired at the end.
Enough on the problem. Let’s talk about Solutions:
How to find your side hustle niche
Let’s talk about YOUR side hustle.
Are you having difficulty finding your side hustle niche?
- What are you good at?
- You know stuff. You may not think it is much, but there is someone out there who will pay (or pay attention) for that knowledge.
Remember – Guys on YouTube are getting hundreds of views from sharpening knives or using a scythe. This week I saw a post on permies where a guy took a scythe blade that was mangled by a lawn mower and he fixed it. All are skills that can be taught or sold as a side hustle, or as sales of knives and scythes.
Grant Payne takes pruned and trimmed pieces of plants and rejects from the big box store and grows them out into full plants and sells them.
Anything like that can drive into a side hustle.
Even better – you can tell someone how to do a skill step by step and they will often PAY YOU to do it for them.
Try it. Talk about your skill in your community. Offer to show someone how you do it. Make a proof of concept web page, YouTube page, or use FB Marketplace. Sell your service or your product/what you make. Or sell your knowledge and skill.
My Side Hustle Success Story:
Last week I sold over $350 in trees. How did I do it?
I put some trees on FB marketplace.
Plus I talked about Permaculture design in a local community group. One of our friends asked me to evaluate their land. We walked the land. I gave my opinion. I didn’t talk about selling them trees at all. They said they wanted some nut trees. I scribbled an ugly permaculture design.
They decided to buy the trees from me. We planted 26 trees on their property this weekend in a community event. I provided (sold) the trees, and we as a community provided the labor.
Using Flippa as a Side Hustle Idea Generator
As I shared in Ep. 118 – How to Build a Side Hustle by Buying a Mini-business or a Pre-made Website, I have been buying websites off of Flippa and creating side hustles.
In addition to side hustles that are out there, you can use Flippa as an idea generator.
Get on Flippa. Check out the current listings. But, even more importantly, check out the listings that have recently sold.
The prepper site BunkerBasics.com sold not long ago for $1,100.
You could buy a website like this, build one similar, or use it as an idea for a niche.
This is my usual process and checklist for evaluating a website:
- Is the site within my niche or in an adjacent niche?
- Is the site in my price range? Most that I have bought are starter sites that are $100-200.
- They must be created in WordPress.
- Do I have a vision for them:
- Do I buy the site, build the audience, and then generate affiliate income?
- Will I resell the site?
- Do I think that I can make the site better?
I usually brainstorm 10-15 article topics that I would write for each site as a proof of concept to support my decision.
In addition, after I lost the auction on two sites, or they exceeded my price range, I created similar sites in the same market. One was a prepper site, and the other was a guitar pedal site. (Both are still in development).
Guitar Pedals is not your Side Hustle niche!
You might say: “Why would you choose guitar pedals? Guitar pedals are not in your niche!”
As a side note: I am a guitar player and a hobbyist musician. Back in the Before Time (before Covid) I would play guitar at coffee shops or small shows. I didn’t have a band, so I would use a looper to play a guitar part, lock it into the looper, and then play over the top of it. That way I could play a lead guitar part over a rhythm part. At one point I had an elaborate pedalboard and even a guitar synth to create synth and organ parts with my guitar.
When I was looking at websites to buy I saw a guitar pedal site for sale on Flippa. The seller’s stats on income on the site didn’t add up (more on that in another episode or video) and we could not reach an agreement on price, so I didn’t buy it. But as part of the process I saw what he was doing on Instagram and how the guitar pedal community was using Instagram.
We are in a guitar pedal Golden Age, with many boutique guitar pedals being created and built by US companies. Looking at this I thought the usual “I can do better than this guy. I could create a new site and put my own spin on it.” Bingo – there is a new niche.
I created a site – GuitarPedalMania.com. Since I didn’t buy the site on Flippa, the only thing I will need to invest is TIME.
Tips to Get Started in Affiliate Marketing
You started your new website and you want to get those juicy affiliate marketing dollars with Home Depot, Guitar Center, etc. But these will check your traffic and social media followers and will not approve you until you have substantial traffic. You will likely need to start as an Amazon affiliate until you get more traffic. (I will cover how oi build your Instagram and social media audience from scratch in a future episode).
Form relationships: I get more affiliate dollars from Permies and Permaculture Apprentice than Amazon.
Do you have a side hustle and you need another set of eyes to look at it? DM me on Twitter or email me and I can consult for you. (Set up Calendar for appointments).
GrowNutTrees.com
Elderberry, pecan seedlings, hazelnut seedlings, and red mulberry seedlings. Order now at GrowNutTrees.com.
Buying from our Kansas homestead, with nut trees grown and adapted to the Midwest, will make them much more likely to be successful on your homestead or in your yard.
Check out the Companion Planting Guide on All Garden Advice. Grow Your own Food. We can help you start. With tips and ideas on gardening, food forests, and permaculture.
Gear that I use and recommend: Meadow Creature Broadfork 14. I have used this to turn over sod for new Milpa garden beds, and even hand dug swales with it. Bulletproof.
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Check out the NEW 2024 Homesteading Bundle from Permies, which has 35 e-books, courses, videos.
What I really liked:
- The Backyard Forest Garden e-book
- Agroforestry
- Restoration Agriculture: Designing Your Perennial Farm presentation from Permaculture Voices by Mark Shepard
- Permaculture Thorns, A Book About Trying to Build Permaculture Community, by Paul Wheaton.
- Plus 2 books by Nicole Sauce.
