The Top 15 Ideas For Earning a Side Income With High Profit Margins
Over my many years of building websites and working with businesses in consulting situations I have been intrigued with just how many opportunities are out there for a regular person to come up with ideas for making a substantial side income.
So how would one go about getting yourself ready to start making a substantial side income? Well that’s what we will be going over in this article today.
To start out this is going to take a little self inventorying of what your strengths and weaknesses are. For me I enjoy reading and working on the computer so writing articles, building websites and making affiliate marketing products on the side so working online was a natural fit for me.
So I would sit down and make a list of what you wouldn’t mind doing for others. You can make different categories like examples might be labor tasks, creative tasks, cooking and stuff like that. Or you can just write a list however you want.
Think about your hobbies or your past job experience that you happened to enjoy. Remember we are not trying to create another job for you so think about these side income ideas as potentially your own career that you are starting out with.
This can and should be a freeing and relaxing experience because you and only you should have the power to shape your life in any way imaginable. I mean really that is what it’s all about. Working and being happy everyday in order to enjoy the life that you have and not just watch the years pass you by as you stick to a soul crushing job simply hoping for another dollar raise every year.
You have to forgive me for this tangent but as you might be able to tell I have some experience with this. I wasted ten years of my life working for a company that in the end cared nothing really about me and the day I quit was not only the scariest but the most exciting of my life.
Alright… my rant is over so let me take a few deep breaths and I’ll get back get back on track.
Now that you have got your list so go ahead and make a checkmark next to the ideas or services that have a good potential to be profitable and worth your time in relation to how much the public market is willing to pay.
This is a crucial part of the equation because the one thing you don’t want to do is spend a bunch of time gathering supplies or creating products if you know that your margins won’t be very good. For me building a website and doing SEO work on it can vary by the severity of the job but I know I am going to at least make a hefty amount for my time.
On average I gross around $500 per project. That right there is enough for me to put in a great effort and be satisfied with how much of my time it would take to complete a project.The next part you would have to take a look at is how easy it would be to formally do what you have chosen to do. What if any are the start up costs?
Do you need to get any permits or licenses to protect you in your state. Do you need to incorporate a business and register with your local city? For these answers I would suggest heading to your local Secretary of State page and doing a little research.
Also while you are looking into financials, do an assessment of the services or amenities that you have at your own home. List out your monthly bills and have a look at what you will have left over in the month.
As a side note, a financial advisor I was speaking with a few months back at a luncheon said that when a person usually needs a bit more money coming in is when they have probably begun to live above their means.
I remember it clearly what he said because it sounded so shockingly simple on how to fix it. He simply stated that in order for the person to get out of the debt they were in is to cut back on all the cable and phone bills that they had.
My point is, it is important to know where you can cut costs if you need to free up some initial money to get things started. Let us now take a look at some of the businesses and resources that you would need to these side income ideas to life!
LIST OF BUSINESSES YOU CAN START FOR A GOOD SIDE INCOME
1. Jewelry Maker-This can be a very satisfying business and very easy to set up. The clientele is usually higher end so you may need to spend some upfront money on getting quality materials.
My Aunt actually started this business on Etsy.com but I have since made her an eCommerce site where you can buy her designs without paying all the fees. She has made several thousands of dollars but that is from having the gold wiring and actual gemstones pieces.
For more information and ways to get started type into the search engine Wholesale Gemstones and do some searching around.
How To Get Customers-Attend and get booths at trade shows to gain initial buzz. This service has an exceptionally loyal following that in time help you keep coming up with ideas
2. Business Cleaning Service-Think of the many office buildings around your town that would surely need your services. This can be very lucrative as you can charge clients $500 or more a month to clean the offices eight times a week. On average it would take 4 hours to clean a 15 person office then you head to another client to finish up the night.
If you don’t mind working at night or dealing with other peoples messes you could pack in 7 clients visiting at two times a week and charging $500 and that would get you $3,500 per month!
How To Get Customers-Print out flyers and mail pieces to businesses in your area. Print out business cards and hand them to places that you frequent.
3. Dessert Maker-How are your baking skills? This will take a few licenses I imagine as does any service having to do with food but the profit margins are larger in this side income idea. You only build specialty desserts and cakes on a purchase basis.
Imagine just receiving a phone call or email and instant money into Paypal and all you have to do is bake a cake or frosted cookies!
How To Get Customers-Find a local craft show or Bazaar to go to with some baked goods. Also have a garage sale to bring in the clients. You can sponsor a retirement community’s activity and provide goodies and business cards also. Those are gold mines!
4. Restaurant Kitchen Hood Cleaner-This is a great opportunity for someone to turn a side income idea into a full fledged business. Often times a business will let these services fall by the wayside since it is a little bit more involved process.The hoods need to be lifted out, soaked and scrubbed. But if not taken care of properly a serious fire can break out.
How To Get Customers-Just go into every restaurant you can find and pass out business cards to them. Put together a small brochure from a local media agency so you can walk them through the dangers of not having this service done. I believe it is required in every state but don’t quote me!
5. Researcher-If you enjoy doing research and chatting with people you may have the right skills to start your own researching business. People need information about many different situations and events.
The beauty of this is that you can do it from wherever you want.
How To Get Customers-Have a look at different craigslist postings as well as college announcement boards.
6. Pet Sit or House Sit-How hard would you imagine taking care of a domesticated animal could be? Or what about making sure the garbage is on the street on a Wednesday night and the mail gets brought in? If you have stellar references put up a quick Wix site and start placing ads for your services.
How To Get Customers-Attend dog shows and find some snowbirds in your area. Just get on local websites and start advertising your services. Speak with some veterinarians and ask to put in ad on their website.
7. Hot Dog Cart Vendor-One of the characteristics of the ideas for side jobs in this post has to do with the profit margins. They need to be big. Hot dog vendors can clear $2,000 in a day easy at a fair. Most people waste away at a job to make a few hundred in a day.
How To Get Customers-Easy. Find a spot where plenty of people congregate and start making profits. You do not have to go to sporting events you just have to go where people will be at. After church gets out, a school play, I mean literally any and everywhere that people will come into contact with you.
You could even be waiting by clubs or bars when they close down.
8. Catering Company-Do you have a knack for putting together great meals? If so you could
get a ton of business by just cooking homemade meals.
Listen, for this all you need to do is perfect a few different meals. You don’t need to be a personal chef. All you need is to have a few meals down and be able to deliver that same quality every time.
How To Get Customers-Start by going to local fire stations and get those crews on your side. It should spread like…ugh. Nevermind.
9. Become a DJ-I know this may sound a little crazy but listen to how crazy these profits could be. All you really need is some large speakers and a Spotify account…
How To Get Customers-Pass out flyers near schools and colleges. Also think of local bakeries and wedding photographers to send each other referrals.
10. Be a Videographer-Along those same lines as the DJ, a Videographer has a large profit margin built into it as all you really need is a good video camera so you can look professional.
These day’s most laptops come with standard video editing software that will get you almost studio quality video. Once you learn how to use it you have got enough equipment and know how to start getting clients.
How To Get Customers-Just like the above mentioned, create partnerships with complementary businesses.
11. Become a Local Business Consultant-Would you like to be getting thousand dollar checks or deposits multiple times a month? I know I do. If you know about business and bringing in clients then this is the gig for you. Many businesses out there are starving for clients and if you can help them, then your services will be in demand. As you can see by my website name I specialize in SEO but with so much competition and everybody undercutting each other I figured I had better expand my knowledge base and business to stay alive.
How To Get Customers-Check out the BBB and The Chamber of Commerce to start out. Then you are going to have to do some investigating and direct mailings.
12. Do Offline Affiliate Marketing-Have you ever heard of a little company called Avon. You got it right. Those old pyramid schemes…I mean multi-level marketing companies. The FCC has really cracked down on these companies and there are a lot of improvements that have been made throughout the years. One of the best ones I found is Amsoil. You are selling oil, de-greasers and several other additives for your vehicle.
Heck, they even have gun cleaner! They sell high-end synthetic oils so check out their page as I highly recommend them. Use code 5616889 and visit the website.
13. Thank You Gift Sender-This is a great service that is highly underutilized. Many sales professionals have a need for sending thank you gifts to their existing customer base. This could be something as simple as a large coffee mug that comes with a balloon and is sent to the office of the recent purchaser. This can also be combined with the business consultant as a form of generating referrals.
How To Get Customers-Think of any high-end sales professional. Car salesmen and real estate agents are prime markets to approach. Insurance sales professionals are a great industry to look into also because they live off customer retention and referrals.
14. Become a Tutor-Each individual has some sort talent that they can share with other people. Whether it’s teaching English or showing how to make a crochet hat, all those skills you possess are the asset.
How To Get Customers-Craigslist or any type of local newspaper advertising will do well with this type of service.
15. Look on Fiverr.com-If you happen to be looking at this particular list and are not seeing anything that you feel comfortable doing then check out the website above and see if anything sparks your interest.
This is a service based website and it has all kind of ideas on it that you can take from. Also, most services on there cost around $5 and it would be a cheap buy to learn how to do something. That's Fiverr.com
Another great webpage to learn about how to do something is Udemy.com
Well, there is my list of side income ideas and what it really comes down to is what you want to do? How do you like to spend your time? Is it being creative or is it in the kitchen? Is it teaching or helping others?
No matter what it is, it should make you happy. All of these are examples of real businesses that you can work on part-time but can give you the types of surges in cash flow that can help you in the long run.
There are however all the other examples of what you can do to make some side income and that includes craigslist gigs, selling on eBay, becoming a virtual assistant and so on. But the thing that you need to realize is the fastest money you will be able to make will come in the form of working in your local community.
Next time you’re out and about start thinking what service can be provided. Also, there is the process of buying low and selling items at a higher price and I go into that process on another article you can find entitled arbitrage tips. There are plenty of places to get ideas on how to sell services on these website links I have placed on my resources page.
Head back to my SEO blog homepage for more information and check out another money making article.