Having an active side hustle business is always great for your financial and personal future. In 2022, we are probably in the initial stages of a complete transformation of work being remote. So alongside your day job, if you can upskill yourself and dedicate time and efforts for an independent and flexible life, why not try it?
However, among a massive pool of online businesses, you need to choose side hustle ideas that you could do without investing a lot of initial capital and your entire time. So to satisfy the criteria of starting a side hustle business without too much risk involved, choose what you would love doing even when you’re exhausted. An ideal side hustle shouldn’t feel like work for individuals.
This blog will discuss the top ten side hustle ideas you can pick alongside your full-time job, and we shall also take you through how you can start your online side business. So, without any further wait, let’s dive into the best side hustle business ideas in 2022.
Table of Contents
Affiliate Marketing as a Side Hustle
You have probably already heard about affiliate marketing. It is one of the most popular side businesses of modern times because it doesn’t require any upfront investments or minimal costs to start. Individuals involved in affiliate marketing earn money by recommending their partner’s products or services. The affiliate marketing industry is expected to rise above INR 6 lakh crore by the end of 2022, and that’s staggering growth.
Undoubtedly, this business is an ideal side hustle idea, thanks to its low entry barrier and immense flexibility. There are probably hundreds of niches to select from in affiliate marketing, making it one of the most diverse online income sources.
On average, affiliate marketers make INR 60 lakh per annum. Some experienced professionals with high-level expertise and good personal brand affiliates earn up to INR one lakh per day!
It should be noted that affiliate income is totally based on individual performance. It depends on a variety of aspects like the number of clicks, leads or sales produced.
Note – Affiliate marketing is immensely profitable for popular people with a huge social media following. No doubt why affiliate marketing is currently the most common monetisation method for content creators, bloggers, and influencers who have already established their own brand in the market. So if you want to get started with affiliate marketing and wish to scale it successfully, focus on building your personal brand in the target niche first. Once you have a considerable number of followers, you can directly start big.
Blogging as a Side Hustle
We live in a digital world, where people learn, earn, shop and probably do everything else on the internet. If you have expertise in a particular niche or you know a lot about something, consider blogging.
By the end of 2021, more than 600 million blogs were present on the web. Now you may understand why blogging is the most popular side hustle business idea globally and why people do it passionately.
In addition to providing a platform for creative minds, blogging also helps businesses build a community online. The monetisation potential of blogging is constantly growing too. If we go with an average, active bloggers make somewhere around INR 30 lakh per year. As with every other side hustle, you would need to put a lot of strategic efforts and time during the beginning.
Anyone wishing to be a blogger can ace their side hustle by following these steps:
- Choose the right niche: Pick a subject/topic you love writing about and has a good search volume on the internet.
- Set up your blog: You can use available CMS platforms like WordPress or a website builder to create a blog. You can also develop your own website if you have the skills and can put enough time into it.
- Start creating content: Preplan your writing tone and voice. Search for relevant SEO keywords, use the ones with high search volume currently, and write informative and educational blogs.
- Promote your writing: Start sharing your work on your social channels. In this way, you can find your first few readers, and if they like your work, they would also spread the word to a broader audience.
- Monetise your blog: After creating quality content consistently, register for a Google AdSense partnership once you have a decent following for your blog. You can also go for other monetisation methods like promoting other brands through your content and charging them.
Become a Social Media Influencer
If you use social media, you already know what influencers do. If you don’t, influencers are public figures with a huge social media following, and their content reflects expertise over a certain niche. Influencers can be industry experts – fitness, lifestyle, business, beauty and more, content creators, or media celebrities with a remarkable social media presence.
Numerous businesses often collaborate with social media influencers because they have the potential to affect people’s buying decisions.
So the core idea of influencer marketing is to make money from paid collaborations and promotions/advertisements which they do through their content.
The average earnings of an influencer vary between INR 20 lakh and INR 70 lakh per annum.
Sell Courses Online as a Side Hustle
Training people on a certain skill online is trending and as one of the best ways to make decent money in 2022. Modern students and professionals want to learn not only to monetise the skills but also to experience diverse upskilling from their homes.
Numerous online platforms like Udemy, Skillshare, and Coursera facilitate educators to host their courses online. The other option is to create your own e-learning website, brand yourself online and sell your courses.
The approximate annual earnings of an online educator in 2021 were INR 40 lakh on average. There is no limit to how much you can sell your info products, and it entirely depends on your brand creation, marketing and how do you engage with your potential customers.
Offer Virtual Assistance
Virtual assistants are remote contractors who perform various tasks that otherwise a secretary would do. A virtual assistant can be asked to write content, data entry, manage customers, be active support for customers, book-keeping, and more.
Virtual assistants are generally paid per hour, and the rates vary in different industries. The average per hour charges of virtual assistants are INR 800 per hour, and the average income of a virtual assistant is INR 20 lakh per annum.
The only prerequisite of this job is to be excellent in communication, have hands-on experience in basic technology, and have multitasking abilities.
Become a Content Writer or a Copywriter
If you are passionate about writing and reading, content writing can be a great side hustle business idea for you in 2022. Combine your excellent writing skills with persuasion and marketing aspects to become a copywriter. Those who are curious in general and love learning about new things will find it interesting to write and publish about them. The best thing about content is it’s required by every industry and organisation for building, branding, marketing and everything that comes in between.
You can do both serve business with both content writing and copywriting online. Even though the earnings vary between the two services, the average annual income at the end is approximately $52,000 per annum.
If you’re smart enough to manage your business optimally, it’s comfortably possible to merge writing with affiliate marketing and online coaching, in this way you can earn much more.
Start a Dropshipping Business
Dropshipping refers to a business model in which you resell products online without dealing with inventory management and shipping in any way. Dropshipping is one of the most popular online businesses that you can start as a side hustle in 2022, thanks to its low investment requirements.
To select the products you can start dropshipping online:
- Identify and analyse what’s in demand currently
- Research on valuable items that have limited sellers but a good market. Example – Imported handicrafts
- Study the trends and consumer behaviour
Be a YouTuber or Streamer
Video content consumption has exponentially increased in the last 8-10 years globally. So producing educational, entertaining, informational or other type of videos on platforms like Youtube or Twitch can be a great side hustle business for you in 2022.
Researches are predicting a CAGR of 21 percent annually for the video streaming market between 2021 and 2028 . Businesses are consistently investing more into video content and hence the industry is opening up with loads of monetisation options.
Video content creators on Youtube, Twitch and other platforms get paid for multiple things. It can ad revenues, brand collaborations, donations and sponsorships. Additionally, selling your customised merchandise can be a great business strategy if you have a large following.
The average returns or income in the video streaming business depends on the size of the audience and ways of monetisation. Approximately a channel with one million subscribers on YouTube can earn up to INR 30 lakh per annum.
Perform SEO and Social Media Marketing for Small Businesses
If you love to help people bring their ideas to reality, this online side hustle can be a great fit for you. In case you don’t know – SEO refers to search engine optimisation, which basically refers to optimising your website for ranking well on search engine results (SERPs).
If you are an SEO and social media manager at a small organisation, your skills can really help the business to grow organically by driving more relevant traffic towards your website and social channels.
An SEO and social media manager can make around INR 20 lakh per year on average. SEO manager is usually responsible for managing the CMS, planning content calendar, auditing, and delivering the SEO optimised content.
Online Consulting Services as a Side Hustle
If a professional has expertise in a very specific niche (for example – Instagram growth), consulting services can be a great side hustle business option for them. Undoubtedly, the profits in consulting are incredibly high as the demand is huge.
The earnings of an online consultant vary as per the industries served. The average earning is approximately INR 40 lakh per year.
A consultant is supposed to be aware of everything that’s happening around his expertise niche, and they should be able to solve business problems. Building your personal brand online and being an expert in a niche you’ve been working for long gives you the much-needed boost to run a successful consultancy business.
Summing Up
Remember that a side hustle never implies you should quit your day job straightaway. Financial security should be your priority, and it all depends on your commitment, approach and consistency with which you are working.
Make sure you don’t suffer in your personal life due to your professional fantasies and commitments.
Extra time and effort are always needed to execute your side hustle business plans. We hope the ideas discussed in this blog will be useful for you, and you will successfully start your dream business very soon.
