Have a Side Gig? Wanna Make More Money?

Having a successful side hustle is more than just knowing about your niche. It’s a set of measured steps to help you secure clients, keep your rates competitive, master your craft and maintain a funnel of potential clients. So there’s always someone who can use your skills should you need to bump up your income.

In 2017, freelancers contributed $1 trillion to the American economy, and with more than 57 million freelancers, that’s an average of $17,544 per freelancer. Imagine adding that to your annual income by working a healthy side hustle. Maximizing your skillset is crucial to landing side projects that make you more money. Here’s a short list of other ways to increase your side gig income.

5) Passion and Why

Knowing what you are passionate about and, more importantly, why you want to work a side hustle is the first step in figuring out just what your side gig should be. Do you have a passion for graphic design? Do you constantly critique ways you could improve a website either visually or analytically? Do you find yourself fixing typos or improving grammar in your head? Anything you have in your skillset can be a lucrative side hustle if you know where and how to start.

Knowing your “why” is also critical to long-term success. Why do you want to start a side hustle? What’s your motivation? What are you looking to gain from the experience? Do you want to help family, become a notable subject matter expert, or increase your knowledge and experience and earn a little money doing it? Whatever your why, put it down on paper and revisit it often.

4) Taxes

No one likes to talk about taxes, but if you have a side hustle that earns you more than $600 in a given calendar year, you’ll need to know a bit about taxes. The self-employment tax rate for the US is around 15%. You get taxed 7.5% as an employer and 7.5% as an employee. Because most side gig income is considered self-employment income, you get taxed as both an employer and an employee.

Setting this income aside can negate any taxes you may owe at the end of the year. Even if you have earned income credits to claim or a marriage credit, set aside your taxes ahead of time. Doing so will keep you from owing taxes and can mean a bigger payout come tax season.

3) Gone for Good

Not everyone wants to turn their side gig into a full-time income. Some want to eventually dedicate time to building a business from their side hustle. Don’t make the mistake of killing your 6-12 and think that a transition is easy when considering quitting your 9-5. Being able to ax your day job takes time and careful planning to do it successfully without dipping into your financial reserves.

If you’re set on transitioning to full-time freelance work, talk to a financial planner to see where you need to start. Building a business doesn’t happen overnight; your success will also take considerable planning and careful execution.

2) Package Deal

Sometimes getting more money out of your side hustle means helping fellow freelancers. Suppose you’re a content creator, for instance, and you know someone great at graphic design and someone who’s a whiz at website coding. In that case, you can create a package deal for new businesses that will get them all three services for a nice flat fee. Split that fee three ways, and everyone wins.

It also doesn’t hurt that two other people promote your business while you do the same for them. By bundling your services together, you create an excellent, robust service package that looks very professional and tempting. This can be an easy sell to someone on a budget looking to get their website up and running and looking nice.

1) The Ultimate How-To

Once you’ve got some experience and great testimonials to prove you know what you’re talking about, consider helping out fresh freelancers by writing a smooth, helpful How-To article.

These can be specified as part of your process or, more general, dealing with freelancing as a broader topic. The goal should be the same; helping those who want to know how to do what you do just as profitably or even more.

The best thing you can do for them, and yourself, is give them a hand up. Teach a man to fish and all that.

No matter where you are on your side hustle journey, everyone’s goals usually center around one of two areas; making more money or helping others. When you’re doing great, you typically get to do both of these fairly regularly. Suppose you’re just starting out, follow freelancers who do what you’d like to do, learn from them, buy their courses, read their books, and sign up for their newsletters. Before you know it, you’ll be smashing those dollar signs just like the people you follow.

Financial Solution Plan