Tag: Side Hustle

Miss San Antonio USA: Beauty Pageants Are Hard Work, Expensive | Entrepreneur

[ad_1]

^{This article originally appeared on Business Insider.}

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Lillian Perez, a 23-year-old pageant contestant in San Antonio. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Whenever I was asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” when I was younger, I always had the same answer: “I want to be Miss Texas.”

I had no idea what I was in for as a kid, but it was something that I just knew I wanted.

I remember attending a Miss Del Rio pageant when I was young, but the first pageant I registered for was the Miss San Antonio Teen USA pageant in 2018. I won in the teen category, and my friend and mentor, Alayah Benavidez, won the Miss San Antonio USA crown that year.

Watching someone I knew win made my pageant dreams feel so much more real. I knew I wanted to be Miss San Antonio USA one day, too.

Later that year I competed again and ended up as a semifinalist in the Miss Texas Teen USA pageant.

Five years later, I graduated from the teen category and registered for the Miss San Antonio USA 2023 pageant.

My training schedule was very intense

^{Perez in the gym. Lillian Perez via BI}

I’m also in school studying kinesiology, I teach classes at a Cyclebar studio part-time, and I participate in research opportunities at my school to further my dream of opening my own gym.

My schedule consisted of 12- to 15-hour days and included work, school, training, hydrating, and sticking to a healthy diet.

After training and competing for a year, I won Miss San Antonio USA in May.

I don’t think people realize how expensive it is

Pageants are very expensive to not only enter but also be competitive.

I had to pay for everything, from my wardrobe to my hair, makeup, and nails. There are also several training courses that you need to take, which cost money. It’s overwhelming and taxing, and it can be frustrating if you don’t know how to approach it.

The Miss San Antonio USA pageant cost me thousands of dollars. The cost pushes you to have a strong work ethic because it’s an investment.

Winning Miss San Antonio USA was just the beginning

^{Perez competing. Select Studios via BI}

Being crowned felt surreal. All my training and dedication culminated in the moment I heard my name called. It was challenging not to tear up when I was crowned as friends and family cheered me on from the audience.

Achieving my dream wasn’t without sacrifice. I had to work more hours at the cycle studio to cover pageant-prep costs, skip social events to ensure I’d stay on track, and adhere to a strict diet and training regimen to maintain my edge.

After the initial wave of emotion following my crowning, I recognized that my journey had just begun.

I keep myself motivated

One of my favorite phrases to use to keep myself motivated is ‘the work continues.’ After I won, I immediately started training for Miss Texas USA 2023, which happened in July.

While training, I was still obligated as Miss San Antonio USA to promote health and wellness on my social-media accounts, as well as the sponsors of the Miss Texas USA pageant.

I also had to continue my fitness and diet regimen until I stepped onstage to face the judges.

Sponsorships helped me with Miss Texas USA

One thing that helped me prepare financially was the Miss San Antonio USA prize package.

It granted me sponsorships, and I also reached out to a couple of local business owners on my own and secured private sponsorships from owners in San Antonio and Houston.

My spring semester ended before Miss Texas USA, so I was able to fully dive in and focus on working more to save up and train more during that school-free eight-week period.

I felt calm when Miss Texas USA finally came

I wasn’t nervous during the pageant because every second onstage is a second that I’m in my element. I know this is what I’m meant to do.

The Miss Texas USA pageant is divided into an offstage interview, an onstage swimsuit performance, and an evening-gown performance. You don’t really have time to be nervous or to be in your head because it’s so fast-paced.

I finished as the second runner-up. That result has motivated me to work harder.

I still have roles to perform

I attend local events and post on social media about how living a disciplined, active lifestyle propels you toward your goals.

One of my personal priorities is to get as many girls to compete in the next pageant as I can. More women should know about the opportunities that come with competing in pageants, even if they want to do it at just a local level.

My participation in pageants has resulted in networking opportunities, including with brands to model for, photographers to work with, and other notable people in the industry.

I’ve made connections that will help me in my career

What’s been thrilling for me is meeting people who are in the physical therapy field because that’s the career field I want to enter.

I’ve also met people who own nonprofit organizations and give me the opportunity to volunteer and engage with the community.

I’ve strengthened my values through my training and grown my work ethic and desire to improve. While I haven’t earned money directly from pageants, which could be used for my dream of owning a gym, the communication and social skills I’ve gained have been priceless in working toward my long-term career goals.

[ad_2]

Katherine Stinson

Source link

November 10, 2023
How Influencers Coupled With Ecommerce Can Impact Your Growth | Entrepreneur

[ad_1]

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

The digital revolution in ecommerce has brought forth numerous innovations, with the role of social media influencers standing out distinctly. These online mavens, each with distinct flair and following, are crafting a new narrative in online marketing. Central to this transformation is social commerce, an innovative strategy that weaves shopping into the tapestry of social media.

Unpacking the phenomenon of social commerce

Social commerce signals a paradigm shift in how consumers experience online shopping platforms. Rather than the traditional browsing and searching, it offers a richer, more engaged shopping journey. Modern consumers, especially those in the millennial and Gen Z demographics, are tightly intertwined with their social media accounts. Platforms like Instagram, TikTok and Facebook aren’t just for entertainment; they serve as lifestyle compasses, guiding users in everything from pop culture to shopping choices.

In this digital landscape, influencers have carved a niche for themselves. Their content, genuine and relatable, shines bright amid the bombardment of traditional advertisements. When these influencers vouch for a product, it’s seen not as a sales pitch but as a sincere recommendation. Augmenting this is the allure of convenience that social commerce brings. The process is incredibly streamlined; one can spot a product on a post or story, swipe or click on it, and be led directly to an online checkout. The entire experience is swift, smooth, and satisfying.

Related: 6 Essential Influencer-Marketing Truths Every E-Commerce Brand Should Know

The inimitable role of influencers

At the core of the social commerce machine are influencers. These individuals, with their varied followings, are more than just digital personalities; they’re pillars of modern marketing. Unlike celebrities who might endorse various products, influencers are selective, ensuring their endorsements often stem from personal experiences and align with their brand. This selective approach, combined with their domain-specific expertise, makes influencers trust magnets.

For instance, a beauty influencer’s tips on skincare are valued because they’re backed by experience, while a tech influencer’s gadget review is awaited for its depth and authenticity. Additionally, influencers prioritize engagement. Their interactions aren’t limited to broadcasting content. They chat, conduct polls, share snippets of their lives, and create a shared digital space with their followers. This two-way communication fosters a bond, a digital kinship that’s deeply valued. Another feather in their cap is their expertise in visual content. In an age where visuals dominate, influencers, with their compelling images, videos and stories, hold their audience’s rapt attention.

Related: 5 Ways to Identify Influencers Worth Your Brand’s Time and Money

Strategic collaborations for mutual growth

The collaboration between brands and influencers is multifaceted. There is sponsored content, where influencers create posts or videos infused with their personal experiences with products. While promoting, they ensure transparency, often tagging these as #ad or #sponsored. Then there’s affiliate marketing, a performance-centric approach where influencers reap rewards based on the sales generated via their unique links.

Some collaborations transcend regular promotions. Think of a renowned beauty influencer launching a limited-edition product line with a major brand. Such initiatives blend the influencer’s personal brand with the product, promising authenticity and unparalleled quality. Beyond these, some brands envision a longer journey with influencers, turning them into brand ambassadors. This deep relationship ensures that the influencer becomes an enduring face and voice for the brand.

Enduring impacts and considerations

The synergy between brands and influencers leads to tangible benefits. Enhanced brand recall, exponential growth in sales and spikes in website traffic are common positive outcomes. On the trust front, influencers act as a bridge, lending their credibility to the brands they endorse. However, like all strategies, this one isn’t without pitfalls. Over-commercialization can dilute an influencer’s authenticity.

Moreover, ensuring that the influencer’s personal brand aligns with the corporate brand is crucial. Then, there’s the challenge of measuring the intangibles. While metrics like clicks, views, and sales are straightforward, quantifying trust or brand perception remains nebulous. It’s also crucial to remember that influencer marketing isn’t an unregulated frontier. Clear guidelines, especially about disclosures, exist, and both brands and influencers must adhere to them to maintain credibility and avoid legal pitfalls.

Related: How Nano Influencers With 1,000 Followers Are Making Big Money and Impact

Conclusion

The convergence of e-commerce with social media influencers creates a dynamic symphony of trust, engagement, and sales. For consumers, it offers a shopping experience that’s rich, trustworthy, and interactive. For brands, it’s a golden ticket to visibility and authenticity in a crowded digital marketplace. Looking ahead, with innovations on the horizon, this partnership promises to redefine the retail landscape further. In a rapidly evolving digital world, the bond between e-commerce platforms and influencers is beneficial and essential. They aren’t just changing the game – they’re crafting a new one for the next generation of online shopping.

[ad_2]

Kartik Jobanputra

Source link

November 9, 2023
I quit my job. I make $1,200 a month by doing one simple thing

[ad_1]

When I retired at age 43, I already had six years of side hustle income saved and was feeling ready to go from W2 to financial freedom! Although I was excited for this next chapter, I definitely felt nervous leaving my traditional 9-to-5 and consistent paychecks.

I spent nine years working on Amazon‘s real estate team, managing warehouse leases for their global specialty division, and had used my earnings to create a thriving real estate portfolio. Over time, I’ve purchased (and still own/manage) dozens of rental properties across Seattle, Milwaukee, Detroit and Des Moines.

Between January and June 2022, my income from these rental properties and flipping real estate nearly matched what I was making at Amazon in the same six-month span ($100,000 at Amazon and $95,000 from my real estate investments). It was then I realized retirement wasn’t too far away and I had the long-term passive income as my safety net, if I needed it. So, I officially retired in late 2022.

Justin Cambra pictured (L). Painted parking sign – stock photo (R).
Justin Cambra/Oleksanr Filon/Getty Images.

Earlier this year, in January, I was on a business trip in Detroit and met up with a friend of mine, who is also a real estate investor. Over coffee, he told me about a platform called Neighbor where you can make a profit by renting out an extra parking space that comes with your property.

I started thinking about all the extra parking available in the duplex I live in and own in Seattle, which was purchased back in 2016.

Once I learned about Neighbor and its high demand for people seeking long-term parking options at affordable rates, I realized there was more than enough parking for me and the other tenants in the building. In fact, the parking lot was adjacent to three other fourplex buildings, which also had excess parking spaces which added up to two-thirds of an acre.

I reached out to the other building owner, who happened to be a real estate investor like me, and he let me purchase his building’s extra parking spaces. From there, it was a no-brainer to list all of these unused parking spaces and turn them into passive income.

When I created my own Neighbor profile, I started with five parking spaces. This took minimal time and effort to set up. Before uploading the additional parking spots, I needed to clear the lot from overgrown weeds.

As I started making money, I used my earnings to pay a landscaping company to clear off the rest of my lot. Now I am able to fit 20-25 cars, RVs, trailers, and boats.

Each space is priced between $125 and $200 a month. As spaces are cleared out —and the lot is at maximum capacity—I will gradually raise the price for the next interested renter.

The area my duplex building is located in is very close to the Seattle-Tacoma airport. Therefore, the majority of my renters are using the platform to park their cars for at least one month or more.

I also have one small pet waste disposal company that parks their truck nightly in my lot. As their business expands so does mine! It is a great win-win setup for us to mutually grow together.

In my first month, I made $232 from my five available spaces. Creating a Neighbor profile and listing my spaces did not incur any upfront costs. Now, as my parking options have more than tripled, my income has gone up accordingly.

However, I do spend approximately $150 a month on landscaping the area to make sure shrubs and other weeds are not infesting the parking lot.

Since expanding my Neighbor profile to 20-25 available spaces, I am making almost $1,200 a month as supplementary income. This extra money goes toward my travels and other just-for-fun expenses. With monthly landscaping costs considered, my gross profit per month from my parking spaces alone is around $1,000.

To keep track of this side hustle income, I have a separate bank account for my monthly earnings. These earnings aren’t needed to cover any monthly expenses. So instead, I plan to grow these savings and use them for a vacation later on.

Since retiring, I have discovered a new passion and this endeavor has lit the entrepreneurial spirit in me.

I am in no rush to build out my portfolio of parking spaces, but I do enjoy sharing my experience of passive income side hustles on social media and encourage others to list the extra space in their garages, basements, driveways, or backyards on Neighbor.

Turning extra space into someone else’s storage is the easiest money I make. I spend no more than 15-30 mins a month on the app and I’m making $1,000 a month. It’s a set it and forget it, no hustle side hustle.

Justin Cambra is a real estate investor.

All views expressed in this article are the author’s own.

Do you have a unique experience or personal story to share? Email the My Turn team at myturn@newsweek.com.

Uncommon Knowledge

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

[ad_2]

Source link

October 29, 2023
5 Critical Lessons I Learned Turning My Side Hustle Into a Million-Dollar Business | Entrepreneur

[ad_1]

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

In 2016, I followed every marketer’s advice and created a funnel that led to an online course. I spent thousands of dollars and worked long hours to make a few hundred dollars.

Around the same time, an entrepreneur asked me to ghostwrite his book, and I convinced him to let me hire a writer and publish it myself. I made $25,000 doing a quarter of the work I’d done creating those online courses.

From that day on, I put my energy into a side hustle that publishes authority-building books for entrepreneurs. Today, Legacy Launch Pad employs a team of writers, designers, and project managers, has published over 50 books, and has brought in seven figures.

But finding the right business was only the first step. Below are five of the greatest lessons I learned.

^{Photo by Legacy Launch Pad}

Do every job yourself before delegating

While it’s intimidating to do everything yourself initially, and delegation is crucial once the business is established, giving the wrong person too much power early on means you don’t have enough. A few years into starting my business, the first team member I hired tried to sabotage the company and sue me. Even though her plan backfired, it made me realize that I’d given her too much control without understanding enough of the details about what she was doing.

Help the right person (or people) for free

Giving your product to an influential person can be a game-changer. Over 70% of our clients have been referrals from a friend who runs a big mastermind because, early on, I surprised him with a book we’d made out of hundreds of newsletters he’d written. He was so excited that he ordered hundreds of copies to give to everyone in his group and began recommending us to all the members.

Don’t post or promote until you know your customer

Social media and podcasts can seem like a waste of time—and it is if you don’t figure out what you want it to do for you. When we got clear about who we serve and what they want, we could make everything we put out there about that. I’d advise any entrepreneur to fill in the sentence, “We serve [types of people] so that they can [whatever it is they’re hiring you for or buying from you].” If you remind yourself of that sentence before you do anything promotional, you and your company will consistently be building authority. After a while, you won’t need to remind yourself of your message because following it will be organic.

Be more exclusive

While not every business can control who uses or hires them, the higher you set your standards for clients, the better those clients will be. When we started, we worked with almost anyone who wanted to hire us. Then we learned that non-entrepreneur clients were the most demanding while our uber-successful entrepreneur clients were the most grateful and easiest to work with. So we started setting qualifications for anyone who wanted to work with us: they either had to be a direct referral from a previous client or go through an application process.

Support the passions of your team members

In this age of side hustles, assuming that your team members are as devoted to your company as you are is unrealistic. Encouraging them to pursue what they’re excited about will make them more enthusiastic about working for you because they won’t feel like their passions are being stifled. If you don’t know what they’re interested in, offer to pay for a class they want to take and see if they want to share whatever they gleaned with you and the rest of the team; it will reinforce whatever they’ve discovered and probably help you learn something new, too.

[ad_2]

Anna David

Source link

October 25, 2023
He Turned His Love of Bargains Into a Side Hustle That Earns $1000’s a Month | Entrepreneur

[ad_1]

David Paxton had a passion for golf but quickly realized how expensive the sport can be, between equipment, apparel, shoes, and greens fees.

So in July 2021, at the height of golf season, he had the idea to launch DailyGolfSteals.com — a website to curate and share the best daily golf deals he could find.

Thanks to Paxton’s hustle and some key strategies, Daily Golf Steals earned over $2,000 in its very first month.

On the latest episode of the Side Hustle Show, Paxton shares how sharing bargains can bring in bucks.

Finding inspiration in an established niche

The world of daily deals and group buying took off ten years ago with the rise of sites like Groupon and LivingSocial.

But while the hype around those big players has died down, the business model remains viable in niches with an engaged audience.

When Paxton discovered HuntingGearDeals.com, run by Camron Stover (featured in Side Hustle Show episode 485), he decided to try the model in golf.

Stover also gave Paxton the confidence to make daily deals work in the golf niche. He saw the potential for steady growth by delivering consistent value to an engaged audience.

This competitive analysis validated the opportunity and accelerated David’s timeline for getting Daily Golf Steals in the green.

Related: The 8 Best Online Side Hustles of 2023

Leveraging Reddit

Paxton focused on one of the largest golf groups, r/golf, with over 800,000+ members.

This subreddit already had an established “deal guy” role posting great golf bargains as a helpful free service to the community.

Paxton eventually took up the mantle of finding the best discounts and steals for this community of golfers. The Reddit audience instantly responded, embracing Daily Golf Steals because the deals were genuinely valuable.

Paxton carefully balanced those first few weeks, sharing a mix of deals — some with direct affiliate links, others as pure “giveaways” without monetization. This mix demonstrated he wasn’t solely there for profit.

Thanks to the instant traction from Reddit, Daily Golf Steals earned thousands of dollars in month one. The power of a pre-built audience cannot be overstated for accelerating new side hustles.

Driving traffic

Clearly, leveraging Reddit for a fast start was a huge win. But Paxton knew he couldn’t rely solely on Reddit long-term. He needed to diversify his traffic sources.

The two primary strategies Daily Golf Steals uses are:

Building an email list

Paxton includes a call-to-action in the footer of every single Reddit post, inviting people to have the deals sent directly to their inbox via email newsletter. This tactic alone nets approximately ten new email subscribers per day. He also captured over 15,000 emails from a contest giveaway by Golf Advisory Council. Paxton contributed gift cards to the prize pool, and in return, got access to all 80,000+ contest entrant emails. By scrubbing the list and only keeping highly engaged people, he added 15,000 targeted new subscribers.

Running Facebook ads

David has invested heavily in Facebook ads since starting Daily Golf Steals. To date, he’s driven roughly 10,000-12,000 email sign-ups via Facebook. His cost per acquisition averages around $1.25-$1.30. He estimates Facebook ads are at least break-even if not slightly profitable.

With a current email list size of 30,000+, David sends out approximately 22 monthly emails. He targets a 40% open rate to ensure his audience remains engaged. To make the high volume affordable, David uses the self-hosted email service Sendy rather than MailChimp or Active Campaign.

Related: I Turned My Passion Into a Nonprofit Side Hustle — Here Are 3 Insights I’ve Learned in the Process.

How he scaled his business

Perhaps one of the biggest challenges with Daily Golf Steals is manually hunting down discounts seven days a week isn’t sustainable in the long term. Burnout is almost inevitable. So, Paxton has taken steps to automate the deal-sourcing process significantly:

He hired a couple of contractors
Paxton brought on students from his college golf team to handle deal finding and email/post formatting. This freed up countless hours Paxton would otherwise spend on daily operations.

He tapped his programming skills
With no Python experience prior, Paxton taught himself to write scripts that compare yesterday’s product catalog and pricing data to today’s updated feeds. This automated analysis flags new markdowns or products, which his contractors can quickly validate as deals to share.

He built templating tools
Paxton built a VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) tool to take a deal’s info and automatically format it for the newsletter, website, Reddit, etc. This saved tons of manual copying and pasting.

Thanks to these efforts, Paxton simplified the daily requirements to just 1-2 hours of his contractors’ time. And it takes Paxton himself only about 3-4 hours per week of oversight at this point.

Multiple revenue streams

Aside from sales on its website, Daily Golf Steals has other moneymakers:

Affiliate commissions
Paxton gets a percentage when site visitors click a deal link and complete a purchase. Commission rates range from 1% to 20%.

Sponsorships
Paxton sells banner/text ads in his daily email newsletter and on Reddit. He looks for brands relevant to the subreddit community and showcases them in a dedicated “Other Links” section below his daily deals list.

As his audience has grown, he can command higher rates. While affiliate marketing remains the core focus, Paxton seeks more ways to diversify revenue. Building a loyal audience gives him options like physical products, coaching, and events down the road.

The Challenges

Although Daily Golf Steals has earned impressive income right out of the gate, it’s still not without challenges. Paxton cites three major difficulties:

Inconsistent revenue – income fluctuates widely day-by-day based on deal quality. Bad weather or low inventory can mean bad days.

Lots of manual work – automation helps, but securing and formatting deals takes a daily, consistent grind. Even with contractors doing most of the heavy lifting, burnout is a risk.

Rejections – the most surprising hurdle was getting rejected by Amazon Associates for not providing enough unique value.

But rather than get discouraged, Paxton persists through the ups and downs.
He’s constantly tweaking his systems to save time and locking in affiliate partners to open up new deals. And as a new dad, he can now manage the business in just 3-4 hours a week.

How to replicate this side hustle

For anyone looking to borrow Paxton’s business model in their niche, here are some key strategies:

Pick your passion – Choose a topic you genuinely enjoy and already spend money on. Your enthusiasm will fuel the hustle.

Start where the audience is – Online forums like Reddit offer instant traffic. Be a value-first member of the community.

Automate relentlessly – Find any way to save time with scripts, tools, or contractors.

Plan beyond affiliate – Commissions are great, but develop diverse income like sponsorships to support yourself.

It takes immense work ethic to make daily deals succeed long term. But the model has profit potential, even as a side hustle. If you can automate a chunk of the busy work and thrill your niche community with outstanding value, the financial rewards may surprise you, too.

[ad_2]

Nick Loper

Source link

October 23, 2023
The 8 Best Online Side Hustles of 2023 | Entrepreneur

[ad_1]

Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.

Side hustles have evolved from making extra cash to become a way of life. Currently, more individuals have side hustles than ever before.

What is a side hustle?

Simply put, “side hustle” is an evolved term for “making extra money” outside a salaried day job or part-time job. For many, it has become a new way of life.

With an online side hustle, you do not have to commute or, for that matter, leave your home at all. Depending on the side hustle of your choice, you just need a working device and a reliable internet connection. This enables you to have complete control of your time and schedule.

Why an online side hustle?

Here are Entrepreneur‘s top four reasons to start an online side hustle ASAP.

Provide yourself with multiple sources of income. Even if your day job provides enough money for your overhead expenses, having a side hustle gives you another income source, which can ultimately be empowering. In truth, you can never have enough money, especially if the extra money is a few hundred dollars per month, and you can do it all online.

Pay off debt. According to CNBC, the average American has about $90,000 in debt. One of the top reasons that people seek out a side hustle is to pay off debt. With one source of income, paying off debt may be very difficult, especially if you have a family to feed and a mortgage to pay for. You can make tremendous headway in cutting down your debt with extra monthly money.

Build wealth. If you have no debt to pay off, or you have finished paying off your debt with your side hustle and now have expendable money, you can put your money to work for you and build wealth. This can mean building an emergency fund, boosting your savings account, or expanding your financial portfolio. With a side hustle, you can reach your financial goals much quicker if you stay disciplined.

Give yourself a creative outlet. Let’s be honest. Regular day jobs are tedious and can be mundane. Finding a side hustle that lets you bring out your creative side while connecting with your passions and making money from it is an overall win. Some people even create a full-time career from their side hustles, driven by their love for what they do.

Having an online side gig has many benefits to it; below are eight online side hustle ideas that we believe to be the best right now in 2023.

1. Take online surveys

One of the most popular and accessible side hustles to invest your time into is taking online surveys on sites like Survey Junkie. You can choose when to take a survey and how long you want to spend doing it. Most surveys will describe the type of survey and approximately how long it will take to complete.

It is not the highest-paying online side hustle, but there is money to be made from it. You can earn anywhere from $1 to $20 per survey. Popular online survey websites that you can check out to start taking online surveys would be InboxDollars and Swagbucks.

2. Start a blog

Starting a blog can be a creative outlet for many writers before a money maker. It is something writers of all experience levels can learn and love to do. Most blogs do not make a lot of money when they are being built, but with consistency and dedication, as you put out a new blog every day, your audience will grow, and so will the cash flow that comes with it.

Bloggers have the potential to make thousands of dollars per month. Blogs can be a passive income opportunity by adding affiliate marketing and advertisements. With an attractive website and valuable content, your blog can gain a lot of traffic, recognition, and extra income (especially if you create an online business for merchandise, following in the footsteps of prominent influencers).

You can create your website on various platforms, including Wix and Squarespace, turning your spare time into a lucrative side hustle.

With the rise of social media platforms and the growing industry of interactive technologies, social media managers are very much in demand. The job of a social media manager entails connecting a target audience with an organization.

Businesses hire social media managers to expand their online presence and brand awareness, increase sales and revenue, and attract business opportunities. Primarily, social media managers create content with heavy marketing strategies to attract potential customers and clients.

This profession can be handled strictly online as a full-time job or side hustle, depending on the social needs of a business.

4. Proofreading

Proofreading is one of the strongest and most popular side hustles in 2022. This job is perfect for those who love freelance writing with solid grammar and language skills. Proofreading is a bit lighter than editing.

Editing is usually performed before proofreading, as editors focus on other text elements. When proofreading, you are explicitly looking for grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors.

Yes, many websites can fulfill this duty on a surface level. Still, with the rise of businesses wanting to expand their online presence, including website launches, blogs, and social media, companies look for freelance writers and proofreaders to ensure quality content.

Sites like Upwork and Fiverr, where you find excellent side hustle opportunities for freelance writing, are also great places to look for good money in proofreading.

The best way to think about proofreading is to get a second pair of eyes on a piece of content.

5. Start an e-commerce store

The industry of ecommerce has been on the rise. Ecommerce stores have many perks like drop shipping, easy-to-use interfaces, digital payment acceptions, no retail storefronts, and 24/7 product availability.

Many platforms, like Shopify and Amazon, provide an online storefront for your ecommerce store and educate you on how to open your online store, manage transactions, build your brand, and more.

Additionally, for more niche markets, you could try Etsy and eBay or even start your ecommerce store with site hosting services like WordPress.

6. Become a virtual assistant

The job of an online virtual assistant can vary from administrative work to bookkeeping. Everyday tasks a virtual assistant can do include scheduling appointments, making phone calls, responding to emails, coordinating travel arrangements, data entry, and more.

If you have good communication skills, customer service experience, and extra time to help new or busy business owners, this can be an easy way to make extra money from home.

7. Create an online course

Do you have an area of expertise, so much so that you can teach others about it? Creating an online course can give you extra money and even passive income.

Online learning platforms such as Udemy, Coursera, and Teachable have transformed the educational world by teaching every skill you can think of, with the potential for certification at the end. These platforms provide opportunities to promote your courses and give a sense of security to their customers.

If you choose not to put your courses on a platform and want to sell them yourself, social media has opened up many doors for you to sell your courses to your followers. This enables you to make passive income: you must create the course and sell it digitally multiple times.

8. Online tutoring and teaching English

The pandemic made it easy for educators to make a lot of money tutoring and teaching English online. Students were not in a classroom, so many needed extra help and were able to receive it virtually from licensed professionals.

Another perk to this side hustle is that teaching English online can be open to individuals all over the globe in different time zones, enabling online tutors to make money at all hours of the day.

Online tutoring may be a good option if you have a niche besides teaching English and can help others practice it.

Also Noteworthy: Offline / In-person Side Hustles

Become an Instacart Shopper

Instacart, the popular meta-app for grocery delivery, exploded in popularity during COVID and their disruption of the space continues today. One of the best online side hustles for 2023 is becoming an Instacart In-store shopper. Shoppers can earn upwards of $50-$75 / hour by shopping and delivering groceries to customers’ homes; plus it’s flexible, easy and can be pretty fun.

The bottom line

Starting an online side hustle has never been easier. Choose a niche you are comfortable with or want to learn more about to expand your horizons and pockets. Carving out a side job and income with your skillset can be especially rewarding, especially if it is doing something you love from the convenience of your home.

For more information on starting an online side hustle, visit us at Entrepreneur — Start, run, and grow your business.

[ad_2]

Entrepreneur Staff

Source link

October 17, 2023
The Opportunities We Unlock As Solopreneurs | Entrepreneur

[ad_1]

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

When Angela Shen sold her food tour business, Savor Seattle, it wasn’t an easy decision—and it involved many tears. After pivoting her business to curated food boxes during the pandemic, Angela wasn’t feeling challenged professionally or personally, so she decided it was time to move on.

But the entrepreneurial drive that made her succeed with Savor Seattle never faded. After trying a corporate job and taking time off to travel, she decided to start something new: Savor the Wild Tours. Her new business offers novel food experiences in Washington’s local wilderness, such as mushroom foraging and oyster shucking.

“You should be a lifetime learner. If you’ve stopped or you feel like, ‘I know enough, I’m a pro at this already,’ that’s no fun,” Angela said. “I’m having way more fun today than I have had in years.”

At Savor Seattle, Angela had a team of 30 to 35 team members creating and running food tours with her. With her new business, she’s a solo entrepreneur and does all the work herself: finding locations, creating itineraries, and leading tours.

When creating a new business, Angela also adopted a new mindset—less focus on success in terms of profits and more on providing quality experiences.

“It won’t be 30,000 [customers] a year like we did before, maybe a couple hundred, maybe even a thousand,” Angela said. “That personal touch and that impact that we have is so much deeper, and it makes me happy. That is a marker of success that never was part of the equation before.”

After owning and working on Savor Seattle for 17 years, Angela felt her identity was intertwined with the identity of the business. With Savor the Wild, she tries to compartmentalize work from her personal life to avoid stress and burnout. As a one-person operation, she’s able to run the tours on her own schedule, allowing her to spend more quality time with her family and work on other business ventures, such as business consulting.

“I was lucky as an entrepreneur to have started a successful business early in my career, so I have this privilege now of not having all of that pressure on me to say my success in life is defined by this one business,” Angela said. “I feel really proud of that, and my kids got to see that, and I think now it’s about showing them and myself that I’m capable of more.”

In addition to Savor the Wild having a similar namesake, Angela maintains Savor Seattle’s values of diversity and inclusion in her new ventures. She makes sure every customer feels welcome at each experience, no matter what they look like or where they come from.

“I don’t really look like your average mushroom forager. Most people I encounter in the woods look very different,” Angela said. “As someone who is of minority background and had to deal with adversity to get to where I’m today, and will continue to deal with it, I want to make it easier for others to come into this space and to do so in a way that feels safe and welcoming.”

When debating big business decisions, other business owners can learn from Angela’s journey, including the following tips:

Stay true to your values. While Savor the Wild offers different experiences from Savor Seattle, both businesses foster a spirit of adventure and inclusion, representing the business owner’s values.

Form valuable partnerships. Throughout her journey, Angela found trustworthy business partners that helped her think through tough business decisions and even connected her with the company that bought Savor Seattle.

Listen to your gut. When debating the sale of Savor Seattle, Angela listened to her hunch, leading her to a fulfilling decision that opened doors to new opportunities.

Listen to the episode below to hear directly from Angela, and subscribe to Behind the Review for more from new business owners and reviewers every Thursday. You can also check out our 2021 episode with Angela.

Available on: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and Soundcloud.

[ad_2]

Emily Washcovick

Source link

October 12, 2023
3 Insights I’ve Learned From Turning My Passion Into a Nonprofit | Entrepreneur

[ad_1]

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

About five years ago, I found myself back at Harvard with some of my fellow MBA grads, engaging in discussions with a very different lens than my 24-year-old self would have had.

The exercise was part of a program a fellow grad and I co-created, in partnership with the university, to bring together alumni seeking to have greater impact and purpose in the second half of their careers.

Research shows 70% of employees say their personal sense of purpose is defined by their work — with Gen Xers holding 61% of leadership roles globally, many seasoned leaders are contemplating how to find deeper meaning within the framework of longer careers and lifespans.

While I can attest that purpose can be found in a corporate job, there are also ways to expand your impact outside of work, such as starting a nonprofit or supporting a social venture. Here are three insights I’ve gained from starting a nonprofit side hustle in the second half of my career.

Related: 5 Compelling Reasons Why Every Entrepreneur Should Consider Starting a Nonprofit Organization

1. Focus on what most speaks to your heart

Back on campus, I was struck by something Thomas DeLong, a renowned Harvard professor, said to our group: “If you don’t know what to do with the back half of your life, run towards the thing that most breaks your heart.”

As fulfilling as our corporate ventures can be, they won’t always solve the societal problems we feel compelled to fix after life has kicked us around a little. If you’re thinking of starting or joining a purpose-led venture, the first step is to identify the cause that most speaks to your heart — for me that was youth mental health.

Getting clear on what fulfills you personally also helps align you professionally with the people who share your passion and drive. Shortly after heeding DeLong’s advice, a fellow grad and I co-founded The Goodness Web together with our spouses. The nonprofit focuses on activating leaders to invest in solutions for youth mental health.

Having senior leaders with varying backgrounds aligned on supporting youth mental health has been a powerful combination that has also brought perspective to my corporate career. The more senior you become at an organization, the more distant you often are from the front lines of action. From editing newsletters to putting together PowerPoint presentations, joining a social venture can be a humble reminder of how much work it takes to complete tasks when you’re not in a position to outsource them.

Considering a staggering 79% of employees report quitting due to inadequate appreciation from their managers, this perspective shift can benefit both your career and your social venture.

Related: Purpose-Driven Companies Grow 3 Times Faster — So Here’s How to Become One Without Sacrificing Profit.

2. Leverage strengths from your ‘second curve’

We often hear about Gen Z and millennials starting values-based ventures, but in many ways, older generations are uniquely positioned to have a social impact. In his book, Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life, Arthur Brooks talks about how the technical skills and functional knowledge we develop to create success in the first half of our careers, change as leaders approach the “second curve.”

While research has shown some skill sets decline as we age, aptitudes such as wisdom, teaching and sharing ideas tend to increase. Leaders wanting to start a social venture in the second half of their careers, should look to leverage these evolved strengths, along with the networks they’ve established over time.

The experience I’ve gained over decades of working in a multi-billion-dollar corporation, for instance, has allowed me the vantage point to see where our nonprofit can strategically invest, scale systems and change initiatives across the youth mental health landscape.

Likewise, the vast network my co-founders and I have built over the years proved critical in establishing our first 100 founding families. The collective power of that network allowed us to grant $6.1 million to youth mental health organizations in our launch year alone. By leveraging our robust life experiences, we can often offer a unique lens into the best way to solve problems, which can accelerate progress at scale.

Related: When It Makes Sense to Turn a Passion Project Into a Nonprofit

3. Be open to expanding your connections

It’s not uncommon for our worlds to get smaller as we age — mobility and travel can become restricted, as can our ability to participate in our communities. A meta-analysis of 277 studies on age-related social changes found friendship networks expand during adolescence and shrink during later adulthood.

When you’re looking to create social impact later in life, however, it’s important to be open to expanding your connections. Reaching out to others who are passionate about your cause is not only the best way to raise necessary funds, but it’s foundational for building a sense of community and a shared vision for your organization.

It can also be helpful to connect with other startup founders and organizations. One of the first things I did when I co-founded my nonprofit was join YPO, a global leadership community, made up of entrepreneurial thinkers who are inspired to make a difference. The sheer force of being around a group of creative and experienced professionals who are driven to have a positive impact has become a great resource and source of inspiration.

Not only can expanding our connections benefit our ventures, but they can also benefit us as we age: Research has shown people who participate in community activities and have a strong sense of social connection have a lower risk of developing mental health issues such as anxiety and depression.

As we become more seasoned in our lives and careers, we have a unique opportunity to share our learnings and leverage our experiences in the service of others. When we do, we not only accelerate the pace of change, but also evolve into better leaders and more fulfilled people.

[ad_2]

Jan Swartz

Source link

October 10, 2023
An ‘Urban Hikes’ Side Hustle Becomes a Lucrative Business | Entrepreneur

[ad_1]

Back in 2018, Lisa Peña heard a podcast about an entrepreneur in San Francisco who ran a business leading hikes across San Francisco. The concept was simple: Instead of taking hikes along nature trails, urban explorers were trekking through alleyways and winding city streets.

“I got that excited feeling that I’ve only had a couple of other times in my life, and I knew that I had to bring urban hiking to Kansas City,” Peña told In Kansas City.

The Kansas City native launched Urban Hikes KC the following year as a side hustle, charging customers $28 to take guided tours with her on foot around the city she loved. Today, that business is a profitable, full-time endeavor that offers ten different hiking routes with a staff of 6 guides. Here’s how she put Urban Hikes KC on the map.

A passion for travel

Like many successful entrepreneurs, Peña took an activity she had a passion for and figured out a way to monetize it. A former Peace Corps volunteer and backpacker, she loved to explore internationally and locally. Peña applied that same curiosity to her hiking business, taking tourists and locals to sights off the beaten trail.

After hearing the podcast interview about UrbanHikerSF, she contacted the company’s founder, Alexandra Kenin, and asked her questions. Peña spent the next year researching routes, establishing a social presence, getting insurance, building a website, and figuring out a payment system.

Starting off as a side hustle

Peña launched her business in 2019 while working for Girl Scouts of NE Kansas & NW Missouri. Her first hike was the Crossroads Westside Urban Hike, which weaves in and out of alleyways in the city’s Arts District.

Photo by Urban Hikes KC

“I started it out as a side hustle,” she told Marketplace. “I didn’t know how much money I was going to earn. I literally was starting from scratch. There was no other urban hiking sector in Kansas City.”

Interest was so great that she added another tour to her business and then another. Soon, she realized she’d have to quit her full-time job if she wanted to scale.”That was a scary leap,” she says.

One of her first moves was upping her price from $28 a head to $38.

Slow burn

Peña concedes that she made no money in the business the first few years. Her expenses included insurance, her guides, and other bills associated with the business and life.

But in the summer of 2020, she started getting more guides and routes, and the business began to boom. “It was a great thing to do during the pandemic since we are mostly outside and can be socially distanced,” Peña told In Kansas City.

By 2021, over one thousand customers took hikes with her company. By 2022, she had so much business she had to hire additional guides and add more routes.

As for profits, she’s doing just fine now. “Finally I am making an income that is a sustaining income,” she said on Marketplace.

What guests can expect

Peña says urban hikers can expect to see a side of Kansas City they’ve never seen, “even in neighborhoods they think they know. We learn about the history and stories of people who made a difference in Kansas City, and see different types of outdoor art, including murals, walk-up hidden stairsteps, bridges, alleyways, and parks.”

[ad_2]

Jonathan Small

Source link

October 9, 2023
Why Starting From The Bottom Is An Asset — Not a Liability | Entrepreneur

[ad_1]

I decided to attend business school out of desperation. One year after graduating from undergrad, I still didn’t have a “real” job and was struggling to define myself.

I saw attending business school as a chance to establish not just a career, but an identity. Unfortunately, I was also flat broke. I couldn’t afford any fancy test prep programs or a tutor who would help me develop the skills needed to ace the GMAT, a standardized test you take when applying to business school.

Instead, I rented a book from the library. There was literally only one book to help me prepare for the GMAT and Google wasn’t really a thing back then. So, I did the best I could with what I had.

Looking back, I believe one reason I did well on the test was that my resources were so limited. I didn’t have the luxury of choosing which route I would take to prepare for the test, there was only one, so I had to make it work.

Fortunately, I did well enough on the GMAT and was accepted into the University at Buffalo MBA program. Months later I’d be surprised to learn that I did better on the GMAT than many of my classmates who spent thousands of dollars on test prep services.

That was the first time I realized the advantage that comes with having limited resources. You know you don’t have much, so you find a way to make it work.

My buddy Darrell Vesterfelt shares a similar mindset, even though our experiences are different. He grew up in a trailer home and didn’t have any real role models in regard to chasing his dreams or living up to his potential.

But instead of giving up, Darrell forged his own path. And as you’ll learn, that path led him to found several multi-million dollar companies including School of Traditional Skills and Good People Digital. He’s also one of the most intelligent, thoughtful and altruistic people I know, so I know you’re going to learn a lot from him by listening to our recent interview on the Launch Your Business podcast.

I’ve shared a few of my key takeaways below.

Your disadvantages can become an advantage

Darrell said something that piqued my interest: Often, what people think it takes to be successful is different from the reality of what it actually takes to be successful. He calls this the “myth of success.”

“The bottom line thing that it takes to be successful is this ability to just not quit and give up. What you have to overcome is actually what sets you up for success.”

The benefits of coming from less-than-ideal circumstances? You have all the soft skills you need to push forward and figure things out. Darrell said that when you’ve overcome something in your past, you have “the ability to understand resilience, the ability to understand the stick-with-it mentality, the ability to understand that you have to make something work when you don’t have all of the answers — or when you don’t have all of the things that you need, or you don’t have the know-how. There’s a lot of advantages that I’ve gained coming from a place of not knowing.”

Unhappiness is a guidepost

Darrell said that for some reason, he was never happy about that status quo. There was an expectation that he – like many of his peers – would graduate from high school, learn a trade, and then work that trade until his body started breaking down in his forties or fifties.

“I think there’s something to be said about being unhappy,” Darrell said. “And I don’t think people will actually change until they realize that they are not where they want to be. They don’t have what they want. And that pain has to become bigger than the pain of change.”

Darrell uses discomfort as a catalyst for change by asking what the discomfort wants to teach him. What is there to learn? Sitting in the discomfort while determined to learn from it will take you much farther than quick fixes that bring temporary ease – but no long-term change.

What to do when you feel like quitting

Despite having built his resilience over the years, Darrell said that he feels like quitting and going back to a normal 9-to-5 on a regular basis. He said that the big surprise here is that this is normal and we should look for the lessons in it.

“I think there’s a myth of leadership where we feel like we don’t know what we’re doing,” Darrell explained. “We feel like we’re struggling. We feel like we want to give up, and we think we’re the only one. And the reality is, everybody feels that way on some level.”

Here are the two ways Darell says you can stay on track, even in the face of uncertainty that makes you want to throw in the towel.

First, know your core values and have a firm grasp of your vision.

Second, have relationships with people who will hold you accountable to that vision. Honest relationships with folks who will call you out are hard to come by – but they’re worth their weight in gold.

What’s next?

Ready to learn more from Darrell?

Visit his website

Follow him LinkedIn

And of course, listen to the full interview below

[ad_2]

Terry Rice

Source link

October 6, 2023
How This Seller Makes $12,000 a Month of Passive Income on Etsy | Entrepreneur

[ad_1]

When Christina Umerez first began drawing pet portraits, she had no idea it would replace her day job and give her the freedom to work just six hours a week.

But that’s precisely what happened. Christina opened up a profitable Etsy shop through hard work and effective strategy, using a combo of print-on-demand, audience targeting, and specific market research.

Today, Christina’s shop generates passive income, requiring her to work only a few hours weekly for business maintenance and fresh designs.

She recently chatted with Pat Flynn on the Smart Passive Income podcast to share how she made it possible.

A pet passion project

Umerez had extra time on her hands when quarantine began, so she started researching side hustles to generate additional income while exploring a new creative outlet. This led to painting pet portraits for her friends. Eventually, the response was so positive that Umerez began selling custom prints on Etsy, the online shop for creative artists.

During the holiday season, Umerez had so many orders that she was overwhelmed and struggled to meet the escalating demand. She knew if she wanted to keep her new business afloat, she needed to pivot.

The print-on-demand solution

Umerez did her research and discovered print-on-demand, the process of outsourcing the printing and shipping of products through an external supplier.

She started implementing this system with her Etsy shop, allowing customers to print custom pet portraits on different products. Umerez immediately saw an increase in profits but still received more orders than she could fulfill. Then, she had an idea that changed everything.

Umerez eliminated the customization and started premaking generic designs (outside of pet portraits) for her customers. She would then send them to her supplier to have them printed and shipped for her, significantly reducing her workload while she continued to generate revenue.

“I remember just sitting there, and I was like, wait, I don’t have to do anything,” she says. “I got an order, and there’s just nothing I have to do. You just have to pay your supplier, but there’s no work.”

Leaving her day job

By switching to print-on-demand and identifying her niche audience, Umerez watched her revenue rise from a consistent $300 to an impressive $12,000 per month. She decided to leave her day job, embracing the freedom and potential her pet portrait shop made possible.

Mastering Etsy

Here’s what Umerez learned about building her business on Etsy.

1. Find your niche. Umerez’s Etsy sales skyrocketed once she discovered her niche market with limited competition and a dedicated, passionate following. She initially tried marketing to ten to 20 different audiences to find the perfect fit. Once Christina pinpointed where she’d have the most success, she expanded into various sub-niches. This led to customers purchasing multiple related products, further increasing her revenue.

2. Pick the right supplier. The first step in establishing a print-on-demand business is finding a supplier to print and ship the products. Several different suppliers are available, including Printful, Teespring, and Apliiq. To ensure the smooth operation of her business, Umerez utilizes Printify as her print-on-demand supplier.

To streamline the process, Printify is linked directly to her Etsy store. When an order is placed, they handle creating and shipping the product. Umerez only has to step in when a customer complaint arises. Even then, Printify promptly issues a reprint or a refund so that Christina is not left financially responsible for any complications.

3. Stay ahead of the curve. To get inspired, Umerez spends time researching other best sellers on Etsy. She looks into what makes a good design, including exploring different fonts and colors that she can apply to her designs. She even utilizes ChatGPT to generate engaging content and witty sayings that she can incorporate into her designs.

Umerez also notes the importance of standing out by curating a high-quality listing: an enticing photo and a compelling and relevant title.

“What do you think someone is going to type in the search bar? And that if your product came up first, they would be like, yes, this is exactly what I was looking for,” she says.

4. Utilize Etsy-specific analytics and pricing strategies. Umerez optimizes her business through data analysis and strategic pricing. Her recommended approach is to include the cost of shipping in pricing—that way, potential customers aren’t discouraged by unexpected expenses.

Umerez also takes advantage of Etsy’s advertising to determine the performance of new designs. Analyzing the featured picture, product type, and design of a successful listing can provide valuable insights.

Financial freedom

Generating nearly $100,000 in profit in 2022, Umerez’s store is now almost entirely passive, only requiring about one hour daily to manage the business and create fresh designs.

Her journey from a pet portrait side hustle to a thriving Etsy shop has given her the financial freedom and flexibility to pursue her passion for travel and other life goals. Her current focus is guiding others to replicate her success and achieve financial freedom.

[ad_2]

Smart Passive Income

Source link

October 3, 2023
How a Ticket Reselling Side Hustle Brings in $30K a Month | Entrepreneur

[ad_1]

^{This article originally appeared in Business Insider.}

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Shiraz Mawani, an accounting manager, ticket reseller, and YouTuber in Toronto. Insider has verified his earnings with documentation. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I fell into ticket reselling in 2014. My friends and I used to go to an NHL playoff game every year. That year, the ticket prices were too high, so we decided to buy extra tickets, sell them for a higher price than we paid, and use the profits from the tickets to attend the game for a lower price.

I sold a couple of the tickets through Craigslist and Kijiji, a Canadian selling platform, and then decided to try to sell two tickets through StubHub — my first time using the platform. I didn’t know much about it, and at the time, I didn’t imagine that anyone would buy tickets online without any idea who the seller was.

After posting the tickets, I was sitting at a restaurant with some friends, and I got an email saying that someone had bought them. We used the profits from reselling tickets to pay half the cost of the normal-price tickets, and my friends and I got to go to the game.

Nine years later, I still resell tickets in addition to my full-time job as an accounting manager. I make up to $32,000 a month in profit. Here’s how I do it.

First, I expanded into concerts

A few months after the NHL playoff game, one of my friends told me that Bruno Mars and Katy Perry were coming to Toronto. They wanted to try to sell tickets the same way that we had for the NHL game — except this time, we weren’t interested in attending the event ourselves.

We continued reselling tickets to local events. After a while, my friend lost interest, but I continued to run with it. I was constantly looking for tickets going on sale in Toronto, and eventually the US.

Now 65% of the tickets that I resell are to sporting events, while 35% are events including concerts, Broadway shows, and comedy events. That’s just a personal preference because I’m not a big music person. Sports are what I know and where my focus is.

There are 2 sides to ticket reselling

There are people looking to sell a few tickets, and then there are ticket brokers looking to make a profit.

Depending on which type of seller you are, there are different tools you have access to on each platform. The average seller sees only one side of the platform. Ticket brokers, though, have access to tools that identify which tickets are going on sale, a different rate structure, and a different suite of software.

As a ticket broker, I use a point-of-sale system that uses an application programming interface to allow me to list tickets on multiple platforms at once. I’ll list my inventory on my POS system, which I access for free, and it’ll put the tickets on selling platforms such as StubHub using the API.

My favorite selling platform is TickPick because I find that it has the best pricing for purchasing, and its customer service is excellent.

If there are tickets that expire or go unsold before events, I’ll drop the prices, but there’s always a limit to how low I’ll go before I simply let the tickets sit.

Pricing depends on each seller

I know many sellers who try to price their tickets for as cheap as possible. I wouldn’t say that that’s the wrong strategy, but it’s not how I do ticket pricing.

If there’s a high search volume for an event or an artist with a strong social following, or they’re going to a major city or specific venue, I may price the tickets more aggressively.

While every ticket is priced differently, my general goal is to earn between a 30% and 40% profit margin. With my type of inventory, I’m normally closer to 30% after my sell-through fees are taken into account.

For sales that take place on online marketplaces, there’s no price negotiation

When I have individual buyers approach me, I’ll try to offer them a fair price below the market value and may allow for small negotiations, but I generally keep firm on pricing.

In May, I sold 850 tickets for just under $121,000 in sales, which equaled about $32,000 in profit, but this number ranges from month to month depending on the season. This year has been very positive for me, and I’m running about a $30,000-a-month profit on average.

I started a YouTube channel in 2018

My first YouTube videos were vlogs of me delivering tickets to will call locations in different cities so buyers could pick them up.

Once I returned from these trips, I felt like I had a bit of knowledge that I could share with other people looking to resell tickets, so I started creating content about helping the average fan sell their tickets.

Mostly, people ask me what to do with their tickets if an event has been canceled, about timing for reselling tickets, and whether they can trust specific platforms.

I spend between 20 and 40 hours a week working on my resale business, so it could be a full-time gig if I wanted it to be, but at this point, I consider ticket resale and my YouTube channel to be side hustles.

[ad_2]

Sasha Weilbaker

Source link

October 3, 2023
His Pickleball Side Hustle Rakes in Up to $5,000 Per Month | Entrepreneur

[ad_1]

There are more than 4.8 million “picklers” in the U.S., according to a 2022 report from the Sports & Fitness Industry Association — devotees of the pickleball pastime often described as a combination of tennis, Ping-Pong and badminton.

It even claims the title of America’s fastest-growing sport, with a 40% jump between 2019 and 2020, per the report. And though all ages are getting in on it, more than half (52%) of players participating eight or more times a year are 55 or older, with nearly a third (32.7%) 65 or older.

Related: Pickleball Injuries May Cost Americans $400M, Especially Seniors

[ad_2]

Amanda Breen

Source link

October 2, 2023
55-year-old whose backyard side hustle brought in nearly $20,000 in a month: ‘Anyone can do this’

[ad_1]

This story is part of CNBC Make It’s Six-Figure Side Hustle series, where people with lucrative side hustles break down the routines and habits they’ve used to make money on top of their full-time jobs. Got a story to tell? Let us know! Email us at AskMakeIt@cnbc.com.

It took Rodney Melton just over a year to build a six-figure side hustle.

In March 2021, Melton started molding, engraving and selling headstones for pet memorials on Etsy. He’d long worked with concrete and stone as a hobby, while working 60 hours per week as a maintenance lead at Mars Pet Care.

He already owned a $15,000 engraver. Plus, he could work in his self-built workshop behind his home in Alma, Arkansas, a town of less than 6,000 people on the edge of the Ozark Mountains.

At first, it took Melton two or three days to set the headstones in molds, then another five hours to engrave them before his wife added epoxy filling. As his side hustle grew, revenue started pouring in — so he used a combination of proceeds and savings to invest another $51,500 in other tools, like a sandblaster, granite saw and chisel, and laser engraver.

Don’t miss: This 59-year-old’s lucrative side hustle: Earning $16,000 a month selling recycled fire pits on Etsy

Each new piece of equipment minimized Melton’s production time, allowing him to sell more headstones. In May 2022, his Etsy shop brought in nearly $20,000, and Melton left his full-time job. Now he works fewer hours and spends them with his family, after hiring his daughter and daughter-in-law last summer.

Last year, the four-person operation brought in more than $207,000 on Etsy, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. About two-thirds of that is profit, Melton estimates, and he’s on track to make roughly the same amount this year.

Here, he discusses how he built his business, why he likes working with family members and what you might need to replicate his success.

CNBC Make It: Do you think your side hustle is replicable? What do you need to get started?

Melton: Anyone can do this. I’d say you need $10,000 or less to get started. That’s for cement molds and sandblast equipment.

It’s just a matter of having the passion for it. My mom passed at the end of 2020, and my dad and I were taking it really hard. I started making things, like concrete crosses, 3D roses and plaques. Just little memorial pieces that turned out really nice.

Then, my friend Carlos lost his dog Molly. I think those things had a lot to do with the direction I went. My heart has been in it for the people [who lose their pets]. But by result, if you serve more people, you make more money.

Have you had to set any boundaries working with your family?

Not really. If you have an alpha personality and are really assertive, it might clash with some of your family members. But if you let everybody have a part it in, things can run smoothly.

In the beginning, my wife and I would meet my daughter Kristen for lunch, one day a week. We would just sit there and talk about things and brainstorm. She came up with an idea for a concrete mold shaped like a dog bone. We’ve sold thousands of dollars’ worth [of them] since.

Melton’s daughter, Kristen, cutting granite.

Rodney Melton

Now, Kristen has taken over a lot. She keeps me in line on what needs to be done. I’ll go out [to the workshop] and there’ll be a sticky note that says, “Dad, you need to pour seven beige stones today.”

How has creating pet memorials full-time impacted your work-life balance?

My wife, daughter and daughter-in-law, we all work about five hours per day now. I work 75 feet out my back door — it’s freed up so much time and given me the opportunity to just be with my family a whole lot more.

I like to sleep in and work into the evening a little bit. I’m my own boss, which has its downfalls. But it still isn’t a full-time job. I can mow the yard, clean the house.

It’s helped all of us. My daughter wasn’t happy with where she worked at the time. My daughter-in-law, who helps us design the stencils, was a stay-at-home mom and wanted something to do. She makes a few hundred bucks a week, and instead of paying for daycare, stays at home with her kids.

I can make a good living shipping everything the way we do now. If I were in my 30s, I would probably gear up and do big headstones for cemeteries. But those are much bigger items.

I’m in talks with a local monument company to start updating shared headstones in cemeteries. Maybe we’ll go in that direction next year.

DON’T MISS: Want to be smarter and more successful with your money, work & life? Sign up for our new newsletter!

Want to earn more and land your dream job? Join the free CNBC Make It: Your Money virtual event on Oct. 17 at 1 p.m. ET to learn how to level up your interview and negotiating skills, build your ideal career, boost your income and grow your wealth. Register for free today.

Check out more from Six-Figure Side Hustle:

[ad_2]

Source link

September 30, 2023
How We Party-Proofed Our Unique Airbnb Income Property | Entrepreneur

[ad_1]

This is an as-told-to essay based on a conversation with Dave Claunch, the owner of the Bloomhouse rental property in Austin, Texas. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

^{This story originally appeared on Business Insider.}

I was aware of the Bloomhouse’s existence about 10 years before my wife Susan and I bought it. But I didn’t know exactly where it was and had never visited.

We were looking for an investment property either to flip or to set up as a vacation rental. We had a good friend who owns a vacation rental property management firm, Lodgewell, and we thought it’d be a good opportunity to partner with her.

One day, I got the local Business Journal, here at my office, and there was a color insert of high-end real estate properties with the Bloomhouse on the front page. I thought it’d be an awesome investment property if we could make it work.

How we decided to invest in the property

^{Left to right: The exterior of the Bloomhouse after renovations and before renovations. Courtesy of Dave Claunch via BI}

We purchased the Bloomhouse in April 2017, renovated it for 18 months, and went online in early 2019. When we bought it, it had been on the market for six or seven months, which in Austin, Texas is rare.

Even more surprising is it was appraised for lower than the value of the land. The building, which was built in the ’70s, was subtracting from its value and there were people looking at it with the intention of tearing it down and putting up a McMansion. I think the sellers rebuffed those advances because they wanted to see it preserved.

^{The Bloomhouse has a unique path leading up to the front door. Courtesy of Dave Claunch via BI}

We were looking for something a little bit more traditional, but pretty quickly my passion for the uniqueness of this property, as a piece of art, drove the decision-making process. Nobody was dumb enough to buy it to renovate it either — except me.

^{The exterior of the Bloomhouse in the woods. Courtesy of Dave Claunch via BI}

Fortunately, the economics worked out well, but it had a lot of problems and it was in pretty bad shape. There was mold and all the plumbing was calcified and didn’t work.

How we party-proof our rental property

^{A sitting area and bar inside the Bloomhouse. Courtesy of Dave Claunch via BI}

It was a leap of faith getting the property fixed up, solving all its problems, and still making money on the back end. My goal was to not just return it to its original condition. I wanted to make it as close to perfect as I could, while also party-proofing it because vacation rentals get torn up pretty quickly.

^{The kitchen. Courtesy of Dave Claunch via BI}

People usually buy low-quality furniture and it breaks, so I wanted to be sensitive to that and put a lot of extra effort into making everything as durable as possible. Lodgewell also does a great job screening rental applicants. Our rental is limited to four occupants to appeal to people who are interested in the artistic side of the structure, and who aren’t thinking “Hey, this is really cool, let’s throw a kegger.”

How we prevent vandalism at our rental

^{Furniture and decor in the living room. Courtesy of Dave Claunch via BI}

We haven’t had any major problems. It’s made of concrete, so you’ve got to try really hard to break it. There are certain things that are more fragile than others, but even the interior walls are about an inch of concrete stucco.

^{The couch in the living room. Courtesy of Dave Claunch via BI}

We’ve had an expected amount of damage to the contents — a piece of furniture breaks or a carpet gets stained — but the maintenance has been less about repairing damage from renters and more about keeping up the structure so it looks good.

Types of people who rent our property

We’ve had people from all over the world stay here — but creatives love it best.

^{The bedroom. Courtesy of Dave Claunch via BI}

The one-bedroom, two-bathroom home starts at $400 a night and goes up depending on the time of year. One thing that binds all the guests is they tend to be creative people who appreciate art. I’ve had friends who are in accounting or finance and they’re incredibly uncomfortable at the Bloomhouse. It messes with their heads and they don’t like it. It’s the creatives who feel comfortable there.

^{A sitting area in the foyer. Courtesy of Dave Claunch via BI}

It’s a bit discombobulating the first hour or so because we’re always used to square and level walls and this structure is so organic on the inside. You do kind of feel out of sorts.

^{The Bloomhouse bathtub. Courtesy of Dave Claunch via BI}

In my experience, and with people I’ve talked to, they say after about an hour it starts to feel really comfortable. After a day you’re like “Oh my God, why aren’t all buildings like this? It’s so much better.”

How we promote our rental property

According to our management firm, about 60% of our bookings come from Airbnb, 10% come from VRBO, and 30% come through direct bookings or smaller sources.

^{A uniquely designed bathroom mirror. Courtesy of Dave Claunch via BI}

We have social media channels, but we’re not very active on Facebook or Instagram. This is a side gig for me, and I’m busy doing other stuff. My wife will occasionally post, but we’re not actively promoting the property. It’s mostly through word of mouth or news articles, and we’re okay with that.

^{A winding staircase inside the Bloomhouse. Courtesy of Dave Claunch via BI}

We’ve also had a few videos on the Bloomhouse go viral — for example, a TikTok posted in June got nearly two million views. It’s been surprising how much the property has resonated with people who appreciate its unique artistic value.

^{A reading nook in a corner of the Bloomhouse. Courtesy of Dave Claunch via BI}

The property usually books about a month out, and we’re booked about 90% of the time, which I credit to the uniqueness of the place. One of our goals in purchasing it was obviously having it as an investment and a revenue stream, but also to preserve it as a piece of art.

^{Axel Springer, Insider Inc.’s parent company, is an investor in Airbnb.}

[ad_2]

Jamie Killin

Source link

September 29, 2023
3 Publishing Trends You Must Know in 2024 | Entrepreneur

[ad_1]

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

What was the last book or novel you read? Was it full of action and adventure? A steamy, slow-burning romance? Maybe it was the tale of a successful business owner or entrepreneur. Or was it the tell-all from a famous entertainment icon?

More importantly, What format was that story in? The traditional way of reading a story these days has drifted from the standard paperback or hardcover physical book to that of eBooks, audiobooks and even videos.

Translation?

The way we read has changed. And that change is not in just how we access the reading material. I’m going to explain 3 of the most insane trends happening in the world of publishing that will change the way you read in 2024.

Related: 4 Reasons Why You Should Write a Multi-Author Book

Trend #1 — The explosion of eBooks

In 2020, 191 million eBooks were purchased. This shouldn’t be a surprise, considering that the world was in the midst of a global pandemic. But this statistic has actually been growing steadily since about 2019.

The popularity of Amazon’s Kindle helped to drive that, with 84% of people reading those purchased eBooks on the device. Additionally, 23% of the $26 billion publishing industry in 2020 came from eBook purchases.

While the pandemic helped boost eBooks even higher, the impact of digital reading will only grow into 2024. Why? There are several reasons:

Convenience – readers can start reading immediately after purchase, without the need to leave the office or home.

Accessibility – to add to convenience, accessibility is also what’s helped to make eBooks a popular choice. eBooks come in various formats – PDF, ePUB and MOBI – and many are designed to handle and use assistive technology for those with disabilities.

Portability – the portable nature of eBooks means you can take an entire library anywhere you go. The Kindle is a popular device. However, thanks to its mobile app, anyone with a smartphone can access their library on whatever device – Mac, PC, iPhone, or Android – they prefer.

Customization – perfect for students at all levels, eBooks can mark up passages for quick reference, notes, annotations and even website links.

Related: The 6-Step Process to Writing Your Own Book as an Entrepreneur

Trend #2 – Can you hear me now?

The convenience and portability of eBooks make them the perfect companion while on vacation or for a relaxing evening. But what if you don’t have time to sit and relax with a good book? Our hectic daily lives, both in and outside of work, can often make enjoying leisurely activities difficult to come by. So, while you may want to read, you probably don’t have the time or energy to settle down with a good book.

Enter the audiobook.

Audiobooks might seem like a new invention thanks to the growth in technology, but they’ve had a long life, starting in 1932. Actually, the American Foundation for the Blind established a recording studio, creating recordings of books on vinyl records.

This continued into the early 1990s when the term ‘audiobook’ became a standard to explain these recordings — the year 1995 introduced the debut of the soon-to-be audiobook giant Audible. Started by Donald Katz and Tim Mott, the two took the initial idea of the audiobook and began to develop it for the growing internet.

Two years later, the company released a mobile player, allowing people to listen while on the go. It wasn’t as popular or cheap as the emerging iPod, but it was a glimpse at what could be. Two years after that, Amazon became the strategic partner for Audible and the rest, as they say, is history.

Since then, searches for ‘audible’ have risen over the last 15 years by 167%, with revenue growing 14.3% year over year. While holding most of the eBook market, Amazon also hosts about 200,000 audiobooks through Audible.

In combination, the explosion of both eBooks and audiobooks will ultimately continue – especially as more publishers develop their works to accommodate the technology.

Related: How to Book Yourself on 10 Podcasts in 10 Weeks

Trend #3 – The rise of AI

All eyes — and talk — are on AI.

The introduction of ChatGPT, the natural language processing tool driven by AI technology, continues to be all the rage with human-like conversations and more with, essentially, a chatbot. ChatGPT, like Bard and Bing, can do more than just answer simple questions; it can compose essays, describe various objects in detail, create AI art prompts and even code for you.

Regarding publishing, writers and publishers alike have flocked to AI software to produce written content. This can be beneficial to writers in coming up with ideas or helping to create outlines. While ChatGPT is great at providing helpful answers after giving specific prompts, there are limits to what the software can do (currently). Remember, this is still a piece of software that uses machine language; even ChatGPT will admit that it has limits on what it can do.

Among those limits include plagiarism and sometimes giving incorrect answers to questions asked. This has given rise to AI detectors from various businesses and corporations, including Amazon and even Google. There are also privacy concerns due to how OpenAI was able to train the software.

The convergence of publishing and technology

These are just three trends that publishing companies and authors are experiencing as we head into 2024.

As technology advances, the abilities afforded to us to use only grows. Still, like other business areas, the devices and software we use are just tools to further our knowledge and abilities, not replacements.

Audiobooks, ebooks and AI are incredible for the opportunities provided and our wider availability to reach others. Storytelling is universal, and the more stories we can tell each other, the more connected we become.

[ad_2]

Sean Dollwet

Source link

September 27, 2023
Find Remote and Flexible Work with FlexJobs—Now Just $30 | Entrepreneur

[ad_1]

Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.

Entrepreneurship comes in many shapes and sizes. It’s not all about building and selling companies over and over. For many people, entrepreneurship is all about self-employment and self-direction, using their skills to build a freelance income. For those people, a resource like FlexJobs is invaluable.

There are many great benefits of self-employment, but one of the major drawbacks is that you may often have to look for new work. It’s almost like you’re always in the job market to ensure you’re bringing in enough income to make ends meet. While remote and flexible jobs can be more difficult to find, FlexJobs aims to make it much easier for you to find them and get them.

FlexJobs’ researchers scan hundreds of online job resources every day, identifying potential leads and vetting them to make sure it’s a job that makes sense for its clients. As such, FlexJobs offers more than 30,000 hand-screen remote, freelance, part-time, and flexible jobs, with more added every day. There are jobs in more than 50 career categories, from account management and finance to project management, writing, and more. No matter your expertise, you’ll be able to find something right up your alley.

In addition to jobs, FlexJobs gives you access to job search checklists, career content, 1:1 career coaching, expert skills tests, a resume review, and more career resources to help you earn more. It even offers information on more than 40,000 organizations who hire remote and/or part-time employees.

Pick up a side hustle or round out your freelance income. Right now, you can get a one-year subscription to FlexJobs for 57% off $71 at just $29.99.

Prices subject to change.

[ad_2]

Entrepreneur Store

Source link

September 26, 2023
11 Productivity Hacks That Are Weirdly Effective | Entrepreneur

[ad_1]

What are some quick, simple, and maybe a little weird productivity tricks entrepreneurs use to get more done?

I’m always curious about that, so I asked my most productive and successful friends for the “hacks” and tools they use daily.

You can find 27 fascinating and informative answers in the latest episode of the Side Hustle Show podcast.

Below is a sampling of sage advice worth trying out today.

Related: How to Start a ‘Million Dollar’ Morning Routine

Pat Flynn, Smart Passive Income

One of my favorite productivity hacks involves just a little note on my computer that says one single word: “start.” An object at rest tends to stay at rest. And for me, I do a lot of things often that try to fill in that space before I know I’m supposed to do something. So, I often just procrastinate is really what I do. So, I just tell myself through this Post-it note on my computer, very simple, to just start.

Favorite productivity tool: Habit Chair app, Do Not Disturb/Focus command

I get rid of my number one distraction right away in the morning before I start work. For me, that’s a clean kitchen. I don’t know what it is about dirty dishes in the sink, but if I leave them there, I know it will distract me all day. So, I do my dishes before I start work. Then, I remove all my distractions and any excuses I might have to not focus on the task at hand.

Favorite productivity tool: Asana, Text Expander

The first thing I do to start my day to give me motivation is I check my income from the day before. I do it before email or before I even go to my website. I tally up my earnings because that gives me the motivation to get through the grind of tasks that I actually have to do, whether it’s my email or writing a blog post, or whatever it happens to be. But knowing that income I made gives me the motivation to continue to get through these tasks that can give me more income tomorrow.

Favorite productivity tools: Asana, Drip

One productivity tip that’s worked for me has been to delete everything from my calendar so that I’m using my calendar for appointments only. Since I’ve stopped using my calendar as a to-do list, I’m actually getting more done in less time. I feel less stressed because I have fewer notifications popping up. Where do my tasks live now? In Trello. It’s the one tool I can’t live without. I have several boards set up for various projects. And within these boards, I use cards to track tasks for each project. I can easily add or remove tasks and change due dates within Trello as my priorities shift.

Related: 10 Time Management Tips That Work

I have an interesting productivity hack that I’ve been using for maybe 20 years now. Every day, you write out on a Post-it note, like the 3×3, Post-it with the lines on it. You write out your top six things that you need to get done. So basically, a to-do list of your top six things. And I have to say, it has worked really well. Here I am, like 20 years later, and I still do this every day.

Favorite productivity tools: Evernote.

Derek Doepker, Bestselling author of Content That Sells

Three magic words, plus a micro commitment. The three magic words are: “Can I just…” and then you insert something that’s so easy you’re guaranteed to be able to do it, and it gets you into action. If I want to start writing and I’m procrastinating, I go, “Can I just…” open up the Word document and write two sentences, then I can quit. Once you get into it, you tend to want to keep going, and momentum generates motivation. Add a micro commitment such as, “Can I just do two minutes of exercise, or can I just meditate for 30 seconds,” whatever it is.

Favorite productivity tool: Evernote

Man, call me old school, but my biggest productivity hack is definitely not anything hack-worthy at all. It involves getting up and getting a little bit of physical exercise, and at the end, taking some real intentional time to breathe. I would call it meditation, except I don’t want to insult anybody. But taking some focused time to breathe, concentrate, and think ahead to what’s going to happen during that day. And then taking a couple of notes on how I want to show up if it’s big meetings or things that absolutely need to get done if it’s crunch time, so nothing too fancy, Some good old body movement, some intention setting, and a pen and paper go a really long way to keep me on track.

I’m a therapist, and I believe truly that your mental health helps your productive health. I live and work in a small apartment in Los Angeles. I just had so much crap everywhere, and I got rid of my desk. I know you’re thinking this is the symbol of work. This is the mecca. But no, instead, I got rid of my desk, and I created this kind of inspirational, much less cluttered space where I sit, I think, I meditate, I journal, I plan my day. It’s been such a better productive outcome for me than I ever imagined. Because it helps me organize my mind. So if you live in a small space, and you have a desk like me that was just honestly piling up your mail and keeping your iPhone chargers or their headphones or that little dongle thing that you keep losing from the iPhone, maybe it’s time to get rid of your desk.

Favorite productivity tools: Boomerang

Type the word “Facebook” in the search box of your emails and just search your inbox, not all of your email. This will quickly find most of the marketing emails that you’re probably never going to get to read anyways, and put them all in the same page. Select all and then delete all. Most of these offers, newsletters, ads are going to say “find us on Facebook,” or have a Facebook link of some kind, so that is their inbox Deathwish.

John Corcoran, Smart Business Revolution

I started using a stand-up desk a couple of years ago, and now it makes me so much more efficient. If you’re going to stand, you’re going to work, you’re not going to waste time fooling around on social media or whatever. Not to say that I’m perfect in that regard, but stand-up desks definitely makes you work more efficiently. And I also think that it makes me more alert when I’m working. I know if I need to work late into the evening and I sit down, I’m much more likely to fall asleep. You’re not going to fall asleep standing up, that’s for certain. So you can actually work a lot longer, which can be a good thing when you need to burn the midnight oil.

Favorite productivity tool: Asana

One must-have productivity tip for me is the 20/20/20 rule. Every 20 minutes, I walk 20 feet away for 20 seconds or more. And that’s for two reasons. One to make sure that the blood is flowing in my legs. Secondly, to give my eyeballs a break.

Favorite productivity tools: Vidyard Video

[ad_2]

Nick Loper

Source link

September 13, 2023
5 Recession-Proof Businesses to Start in a Turbulent Economy | Entrepreneur

[ad_1]

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Economic downturns are no joke. Recession throws a massive cog in the proverbial wheels of several established entrepreneurs as well as new startup owners. A recent study by Startup Genome found that a staggering 74% of startups saw their revenues plummet since the pandemic. Even more grim is how many of these (16%) were forced to lay off 80% of their workforce.

No wonder, then, that companies are afraid to raise capital, or even start a business at all. Experts are warning about an impending global recession, so companies are apprehensive about scaling, hiring new talent and retaining the ones they have.

However, not all startups struggle in times of recession and economic downturns. Some startups may, in fact, thrive during economic crises. As someone who has been in the VC industry for over a decade, sold several companies and launched an accelerator that helped over 200 entrepreneurs, I have learned that there is a crucial difference between startups that survive and succeed in a recession and those that struggle and fail. That difference is in the business model itself.

As the CEO of Builderall, an all-in-one solution supporting over 20,000 small businesses worldwide, I have a bird’s eye view of the best-performing business models. Where other startups flounder, startups in our ecosystem continue to pull in more customers. In fact, we do not experience an economic downturn at all.

If you are wondering whether to start your business, scale your startup or cut back operations, read on for the five recession-proof businesses I recommend during turbulent times:

Related: 10 Businesses to Start That Can Weather Any Economy

1. Service-based businesses

Any time you provide a skilled service to your customers, whether online or offline, it’s a service-based business. For instance, a bookkeeping/accounting service or a digital marketing agency both provide services that require special knowledge and expertise. These companies are really crushing it today — and for more than one reason:

Their startup costs are low. Entrepreneurs can get started with a lower initial investment and fewer subsequent capital infusions.

They can operate with a minimal workforce. Companies can go fully remote with the advantage of tapping into low-cost talent markets, or they can go hybrid.

Faster turnover and revenue generation. Receiving payments from new clients and generating cash flow happen much more quickly.

Recurring payments keep the money flowing in. Service-based companies can benefit from employing subscription or retainer models. This guarantees two things: repeat customers and a continuous revenue stream in exchange for ongoing services.

Customers are effectively fronting the cost, which reduces the necessity for venture capital or working capital. Then, three years later, they have built up a solid customer base of recurring revenue customers who simply keep paying on a monthly basis, and the money from those payments becomes your operating expenses.

2. Influencer marketing

You really can’t go wrong with being an influencer. It won’t be a stretch to say that influencers are ruling the digital world right now. Look at what Khaby Lame, Zach King, Addison Rae and Charli D’Amelio have achieved. During my years in business, I have closely followed the rise of several popular influencers, and I have found two common threads among all of them:

One, all successful influencers work in a particular space or in a specific niche in which they are experts and know what they are talking about. And two, they are pure content creators, and their content resonates with their audiences, helping them attract more followers.

Once you amass a substantial following on social media platforms such as Instagram, YouTube or TikTok — that’s when the magic begins. You leverage your online presence to engage with your audience and promote products or services, effectively becoming brand advocates for the companies you work with.

3. Brand ambassadorship

Being a brand ambassador is a close off-shoot of the influencer business. A brand ambassador has always been a cornerstone of successful marketing for several companies. Back in the day, when social media wasn’t a thing, only A-list celebrities or professional athletes and musicians would get top dollar for their endorsements.

Like influencers, brand ambassadors also excel in specific niches. They position themselves as thought leaders or experts, and the association with them brings credibility to the brands they are endorsing. While influencer relationships are typically one-off arrangements, brand ambassadors generally work with the same brand for years and provide a deeper level of exposure and education for their audiences.

Related: Scared of a Recession? Follow These 5 Tips For a Recession-Proof Business

4. Online educators

With upskilling and side hustling turning into major buzzwords, I have seen so many people asking, “What else I could do?” on social media platforms like Reddit and Twitter. Those who get laid off want to increase their skill set and willingly pay hundreds or even thousands for continuing specialized education rather than returning to college or seeking an advanced university degree. This is the major reason why online educators are making a killing by selling their courses online.

People are learning all sorts of skills on e-learning platforms today. For example:

How to turn sketches into finished digital artwork

How to compose music

How to create effective marketing funnels

How to write screenplays

Online educators are just normal people who are good at what they do. Becoming an online educator requires just taking the knowledge that they have, putting it into a course and selling it. They craft an exhaustive course structure and deliver courses that cover an extensive range of subjects, from practical skills to creative arts and everything in between. Platforms with user-friendly e-learning tools are making this easier than ever.

Marketing, business, entrepreneurship, creative arts, coding and personal development are always popular with learners.

5. Unique products

Selling a unique product can be a tough nut to crack. But when a company achieves this feat, it can consider itself practically recession-proof. There are startups in the market that are selling a one-of-a-kind product to a narrow, but interesting, subset of consumers. It could be T-shirts, stickers, plush toys or anything else.

And with the online platforms available today, it is so simple to launch an online shop, spread awareness and begin building a customer base. Paid ads are something that big companies use as they scale. But when you’re a small company, you can get creative and use Instagram reels and TikToks to drive audiences to your product. Try to create a niche product as opposed to trying to sell basic T-shirts to everybody, which is very difficult. Do something that’s very targeted to a specific niche. For instance, you can come out with a whole line of T-shirts for people who love unicorns.

Related: 3 Key Strategies That Helped My Business Grow During a Recession

At Builderall, we have not seen businesses negatively affected by the recession; if anything, it has been a positive catalyst for entrepreneurs. According to this recent survey by Gusto, 56% of individuals launched a business due to concern over inflation. The World Economic Forum reports that women entrepreneurs increased to 47% in 2022 up from 27% in 2019.

So, while it may seem scary to try to launch or scale a company in today’s economy, with the right business model, now is the perfect time — and the future is bright.

[ad_2]

Pedro Sostre

Source link

September 11, 2023
I Get Paid Thousands as a Bridesmaid-for-Hire at Weddings | Entrepreneur

[ad_1]

^{This story originally appeared on Business Insider.}

When I was in my early 20s, most of my friends at the time were getting engaged. I quickly became familiar with serving a new role in their lives as a member of their bridal party. Being a bridesmaid has a rhythm to it — though every wedding is different, the role is mostly the same.

I ordered my bridesmaid dress early, helped plan pre-wedding events, and took the bride out for monthly coffee and venting sessions. I also stayed sober so I could be the bride’s go-to person for any pop-up problems.

Eventually, even people I had lost touch with started asking me to be a bridesmaid in their weddings. When I complained to my roommate about this, she nicknamed me a professional bridesmaid and told me it was likely people heard I was good at being a bridesmaid and wanted my expertise at their weddings, too.

I decided to become a bridesmaid-for-hire

I realized then that if distant friends needed me as their bridesmaid, perhaps strangers would as well. After all, I was reliable, helpful, and, above all, drama-free.

In June 2014, I posted an ad on Craigslist offering my services as a hired bridesmaid for strangers. Within 48 hours, I received hundreds of emails from people eager to hire me. I started the business Bridesmaid for Hire a few days after the ad was posted. Since then, I’ve been hired as a bridesmaid for people all over the world.

The rate for my services depends on a few factors, including how many pre-wedding events they want me to attend, how many phone chats they want before the wedding, and how many hours they want me present on their wedding day. The price starts at about $2,700 for three phone calls and eight hours in person on the wedding day. The most I’ve been paid is $5,700 and that included more services, such as attending the bachelorette party and going wedding dress shopping with them.

Being a hired bridesmaid for a stranger might seem sad or pathetic — it’s anything but that. Not everyone has close friends. According to YouGov, only 55% of Americans have between two and five close friends. Even if it seems like someone has a lot of friends based on their social-media presence, it doesn’t always mean they have a close group of friends who will show up for them when they really need something.

So when people getting married start to think about who will be in their bridal party, it can feel overwhelming if there’s nobody that comes to mind, or if your fiancé has more close friends than you do.

There are a few reasons people hire me to be their bridesmaid

When people reach out to hire me, they usually write me a message that shares too much information about their life. What they’re trying to tell me is that because of a variety of reasons, they don’t have close friends right now to stand by their side.

I often hear people say that they’ve grown apart from their good friends, have friends scattered all over the country, or find that their best friends are really busy and they don’t want to bother them.

In those instances, people are reaching out to me because they want a support system before and on the day of their wedding. Often, these are people who have felt lonely during other major events in their lives, and they’ve realized they don’t want to feel that way on their wedding day.

However, there are also people who reach out even though they do have other bridesmaids, they don’t feel like they have enough support or the right kind of support. Sometimes my clients are people whose friends just aren’t super reliable. If a bride feels like her friends aren’t being helpful or creating too much drama, she might consider hiring me to step in and join the bridal party.

I have been hired by all kinds of people with different backgrounds and jobs. I’ve worked at a $500,000 wedding for a CEO of a company and I’ve worked at a $20,000 wedding for a retail employee.

I’m often undercover and keep my job a complete secret

Most of the time, when a client hires me they want it to be a secret. They often don’t tell anyone that they paid me to be their bridesmaid. I usually have a fake name and backstory that helps me go undercover. I spend a few months learning about the person who hired me and really becoming that person’s friend. The relationship we build is real. My goal isn’t to be their fake friend for the day, it’s to be an authentic support system. Because of this, I sometimes stay in touch with clients and have continued being friends with a few of them for years. But most of the time, I keep strict boundaries, and once the wedding ends, so does the communication and relationship with the client.

I do everything for my clients that a real friend would do. I help them pick out their wedding dress, call them weekly to listen to challenges, plan a bachelorette party, and ensure they are stress-free on their wedding day. I wear a bridesmaid dress, walk down the aisle, and sometimes give a toast at the reception.

It’s not sad to hire a bridesmaid — it’s brave

Getting married can be overwhelming and stressful. For some people, having friends by their side can make a big difference in how they feel throughout their wedding adventure. If someone doesn’t have close friends to turn to or doesn’t have as many close friends as their fiancé, it’s not weird to spend money and hire a professional who can step in and help with everything that’s needed. People hire wedding planners to help with logistics all the time, and what I do isn’t all that different; I emotionally support the people who will be front and center at these weddings.

^{The author. Courtesy of Jen Glantz}

Friendship isn’t always so fluid. Sometimes you meet someone who stays in your life for a long time. Sometimes people you hoped would be there for you just disappear. But during your wedding time, everyone deserves to have a supportive friend by their side, even if it’s someone they end up hiring.

[ad_2]

Jen Glantz

Source link

September 8, 2023

Previous Page
1 2 3 4 5 6 … 9
Next Page

ReportWire

Breaking News & Top Current Stories – Latest US News and News from Around the World

Blog
About
FAQs
Authors

Events
Shop
Patterns
Themes

Twenty Twenty-Five

Designed with WordPress