The side hustle has exploded among Australian millennials and thanks to the internet there's more opportunity than ever to turn a skill or passion into a tidy income outside your nine-to-five.
Goodbye dog walking and lawn mowing, hello DIY e-commerce platforms and pop-up websites you can assemble in a few clicks. Simplified technology means it's easier than ever to make money online. But earning extra cash isn't the whole story when it comes to the side hustle.
![If you love to knit, you could have a side hustle selling cute beanies.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170616022546im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/r/z/b/9/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gwryfa.png/1497563163275.jpg)
The 2016 NBN Side Hustle report calls it "a trend taking the nation by storm" with eight out of 10 Australians looking for fulfilment outside of work.
Whether you're in it for love or money or a nice blend of both, here are five ideas to get your side hustle on.
1. Get your skills on Fiverr
If you are a creative type, Fiverr is a great online market place to sell your services digitally. The site links consumers looking for help with a design project with freelance creatives. Most jobs start at $5 but this doesn't mean earning potential is capped at $5 with real money to be made from providing service upgrades at additional cost. Most of the services on Fiverr are custom jobs, and it's not just limited to design. Side hustlers are offering writing, music, video and tech services in this international marketplace outside their nine-to-five.
2. Create and sell a digital product
It's never been easier to turn your knowledge into a digital product, like an eBook or online course to sell over and over again as passive income. It seems no skill is too obscure to package as a digital offering. Clutter coach Elesha Piper recently launched Minimalist Bootcamp, an online course aimed to help overwhelmed and over-cluttered home owners downsize their belongings. She wrote and launched the course working around her full-time role. Popular online platforms for course creators are Teachable, Udemy and Thinkific where students enrol in courses priced from $15 to $1000 plus.
3. Become an Airbnb host
Airbnb functions as part of the sharing economy – people rent out their rooms, apartments, and houses to people looking for a place to stay. Hosts post their accommodation offering on the Airbnb site, interacting and accepting future guests all at the click of a button. In most cases, it's cheaper and more personalised than the standard hotel offering and has exploded internationally as the accommodation option of choice among many travellers. It's also a money-making opportunity for home owners with a spare room. Nightly room rates on Airbnb range from $25 to $150. It's the flexibility to decide when you want people to stay and when you don't that has benefits over the traditional room-share arrangement. Again, many Airbnb hosts do it because they enjoy meeting international guests and flexing their hospitality skills, not just for the money.
4. CV and LinkedIn writing service
Are you a HR professional? Why not consider a side gig writing CVs and crafting the perfect LinkedIn profile for clients? You'll be drawing on the skills you have in your day job and setting the number of clients you take on means you can work extra hours that fit around your schedule. As a starting point, you can offer your skills on a freelancing platform such as Upwork but where possible leverage your own relationships to land your first client.
5. Shopify your hobby
Love creating? Move over Sunday market stall, ecommerce sites such as Shopify or Etsy allow you to wow international audiences with your expert knitting or other skills. Shopify is a commerce platform that allows you to sell online, on social media, or in person. Setting up an account is easy even if you aren't a tech head. You could soon be shipping your one-of-a kind beanies all over the world, earning some extra cash doing what you love.
For love or for money, if you've got a computer and an internet connection, there's nothing stopping you getting your very own side hustle on.
Catherine Robson is the founder of award-winning financial planning practice Affinity Private. Twitter: @CatherineAtAff.