Before we talk about the best side-hustles anyone can pick up in 2021, I hope everyone had a great Christmas amidst the lockdown of some countries.
2020 was definitely a year where many valuable lessons can be learned.
Some of which is the knowledge of how we can control our job security and finances but unfortunately, not many people know this.
Here are some of the best side-hustles that can be done from home and also pandemic proof that we can pick up in the upcoming year.
1) Blogging
One of the top side-hustles many people are beginning to look into especially towards the end of 2020 is Blogging.
Blogging is a lucrative way to earn money on your own terms even in the case of a pandemic.
Furthermore, your blogging income may even grow during the pandemic as more people are staying home and looking for entertainment such as things to read and videos to watch.
Here is the income of a fellow blogger that used to work in a 9-5 job just like many of us.
As you can see, the annual income growth is exponential which I will explain why.
How Do Bloggers Make Money?
The way bloggers make money is through ads, affiliate marketing and eventually the creation of their own digital products once they garner a decent amount of followers.
The 3 methods are in chronological order with ads being the first step and after you have a good amount of readers, you can start to approach brands related to what you are writing about and work out a deal with them.
You can then promote their products to your audience and if they buy them, you get a cut from the sale.
Be careful though, try to only promote products that you personally use and believe that it will provide value to your audience.
The creation of your own digital products depends on what you are writing about. This can be in the form of e-books, videos or even articles. One of the ways can be using Skillshare to create online classes in your niche for your audience.
I will be writing an article on how to start your own profitable blog soon for those who are keen and I will be going into detail on how your income will compound in the long run, stay tuned!
2) Youtube
The next one on our list is evidently something many or all of us use on a daily basis.
Some statistics from Youtube showed that âthere are over 2 billion logged-in users visiting the platform each month and every day, people watch over a billion hours of video and generate billions of viewsâ
This shows a lot.
With practically 2 out of 7.5 billion people visiting the platform each month, there must be a way for you to generate some income from it. Yes, youâd have probably known by now but not many know how lucrative it actually is.
This is another way that will grow your income in times of a pandemic as users flock to the app to fulfill their entertainment needs.
Maslow Hierarchy of Needs
To understand why both Blogging and Youtube is one of the most lucrative ways to earn money especially in times of crisis, we can take a look at the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs.
Letâs take a look back when the pandemic began.
The first need everyone prioritised and aimed to fulfil was âPhysiological needsâ, many started panic buying and stockpiling on the essentials such as food and water.
âSafety needsâ was next.
We started looking at ways on how to stay safe such as comparing the different types of masks and eventually this need was fulfilled as lockdown began.
Here comes the âBelongingness and love needsâ.
As we went through lockdown, no one left their homes and what we find ourselves doing was browsing social media such as Youtube and Facebook and sharing interesting videos, posts and articles to our friends and families.
The internet became our middleman to fulfil this need.
If you are involved in helping to fulfil the needs of the people, thatâs where the money is.
Is It Really That Simple?
Of course not.
Itâs called a side-hustle for a reason and it takes a tremendous amount of work but the returns are unimaginable.
This is a great estimate from one of my favourite youtubers, Ali Abdaal on the average amount of videos you need to make in order to hit a million subscribers.
The ones in blue are the number of videos it took him to hit a million subscribers and it generated him an estimated amount of ÂŁ100,000 in 2020.
At the end of the day, youâll have so much more free time to make videos in a pandemic than you think.
You can check his video out in detail if you are keen.
3) Trading
By trading, I mean trading in the Forex markets.
You can engage in trading in the stock market too but the barrier of entry is higher. Thatâs why most people invest in stocks and trade Forex.
I will share more about the differences in articles to come.
When it comes to the topic of trading, it raises skepticism as to how Forex trading is a scam and how many people lose their money in a matter of seconds.
Yes, those scenario do happen and in fact, quite often.
But the difference between those guys and people who are trading is that those people are gambling and treating Forex as a way to âget rich quickâ.
This inevitably ruins the reputation of Forex and how it really works.
When done right, Forex trading is a ridiculous way to make money that even your own family members think youâre a useless person rotting in your own room. (A true story)
I have a friend who literally turned himself from rags to riches at the age of 22 years old while serving the National Service trading Forex. And also a few others who managed to master the markets.
I will be interviewing this friend and some others so that you can have a better insight on how all this Forex thing works.
For a start, you can visit this website Babypips to literally begin learning the foundations of Forex and how you can trade with calculated risks and with a goal in mind.
4) E-Commerce
What other fun side-hustles you can pick up to make a serious sum of money while in the comforts of your own room than selling products online?
You may think that in times of crisis, the spending power of many people will decrease so how is this a profitable side hustle?
This is where it depends on the types of products you sell.
Scroll back up to the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs. Are you selling a product that fulfils the needs of people?
Think about it.
Fulfil Peopleâs Needs
In a pandemic, when both the âPhysiologicalâ and âSafety needsâ are fulfilled, what are some products that fall into the other needs of the pyramid or can you fulfil the 2 basic needs further?
When more people are staying or working from home, theyâll start to realise that they should start upgrading the chair they are sitting on, the desk they are using, the beds they are sleeping on and even the coasters on the tables.
Thereâs a saying that goes, âin the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunityâ and I couldnât agree more.
However. If you think about it logically, this side hustle will not work if you are going to start your online business in the midst of a pandemic because the supply chain are most likely cut off.
So as things are gradually becoming better (at least in my country, Singapore) lies the opportunity you are looking for.
Aside from this nuance, if you are able to set up an online store in years to come selling things that fulfil the needs of people. You can be sure that your sales will invariably go up during the next pandemic (ok hopefully no more pandemics)
5) Coding
Alas. The last one on the list may perhaps be the backbone of point number 1, 4 and possibly even 3.
Coding is one of the best side-hustles to pick up as it acts as the foundation of many things internet.
A Core With Many Possibilities
If you lay this layer of brick properly, you can start to realise that you can branch out to many other fields or side-hustles.
You do not even need to branch out to other side-hustles. As more people are turning to online businesses during this pandemic, just imagine the demand for this skill.
Yes, you may argue that there are websites builders such as WordPress for blogging and Shopify for e-commerce and they are growing rapidly.
But many people would rather pay than to engage in the steep learning curve, besides, a manually coded website offers so much more flexibility.
To support this point further, these platforms mainly targets entrepreneurs and small business owners and with the skill of coding, you can engage larger companies which offers a higher payroll for your services.
Another interesting side-hustle you can leverage on with this skill is to become an ethical hacker aka White Hat hackers.
This is a great time for hackers to attack as the world turns vulnerable and there are many organisations or even government entities looking for ethical hackers to protect their websites and data.
Hereâs where you can start learning how to code completely free. And these are the required skills and programming languages you need to become an ethical hacker.
Thatâs probably all of the best side-hustles I can think of now which are also pandemic proof. Hereâs how you can stay productive and efficient working on them.
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