In my previous post I got you to create a list with three columns but we only completed 2 of them. The next step in figuring out how to find YOUR personal sidehustle that works best for YOU, start writing down the skills you could apply to solve problems people have or provide products they would be willing to pay for.
These could be skills you have gained through your primary work or they could be directly related to your passions and be self taught.
For example, I’ve developed deep expertise in research over many years in my primary line of work. This translates into being fairly adept at pulling together large quantities of information and summarising them into something that is easy to read and understand. It also means that if I don’t know how to do something, I can usually figure out quite quickly how to find a guide or explanation on how to do it.
My wife on the other hand would never ever classify herself as a researcher – BUT – she is like a digital bloodhound on the Internet and can find THE most obscure facts, figures, products – pretty much bloody anything you can think of!! She does ALL our holiday planning and once we have settled on a destination I know that she will find every single unusual, wacky, esoteric coffee shop or instagrammable location and unforgettable experience that we shouldn’t miss while we are there. She finds all the local knowledge and “hidden secrets” about the place and we have the most wonderful holidays ever.
Now THAT is a SKILL!!!!
So don’t limit your thinking to what others might think of as traditional skills!
Now I’ve used the word “unique” in the above image – but don’t get hung up on that for now – start with writing down ALL relevant skills you could use – the “unique” ones are for bonus points 😏
For example – you could have “food” as an interest. Do you know how to bake? OK – that’s a skill (I can cook but baking remains my nemesis) – for bonus points in terms of “unique” – do you make the best gluten free cupcakes around? That’s pretty unique (in my experience most gluten free cupcakes taste like cardboard – thankfully I’m not gluten intolerant!!!)
Are you interested in DIY? Do you have loads of DIY tips and shortcuts you have learned over the years? This guy started a YouTube channel called “Dad, how do I?” and gained over 700,000 followers within a MONTH!!!!! He didn’t do it for the money – but he will be able to monetise YouTube and will have a whole range of opportunities open to him as a result!
You might be more of a visual person and might prefer to draw a venn diagram like the one above and write words on pieces of paper and move them around to get a better picture of where your strengths lie.
Spend some time going backwards and forwards across all three columns – perhaps you will think of a skill you have and that will remind you of something that people would be willing to pay for.
For example, one of my passions is photography. I know that people pay for images and they pay for photography services. But when I was writing down my skills, one of them was that I know how to create (simple) websites – like this one. Which reminded me that other people (like photographers) might be willing to pay someone like me to set up a website for them to showcase their photography portfolio – most photographers I know aren’t interested in the technical detail of setting up their own website – they’d rather pay for someone else to set it up for them – OR – I could create a simple eBook that outlines the steps they need to take to create their own really simple website and sell that for a small fee
(NO – WIX is NOT your answer for a website – you will end up paying far more than you need to! More on this in a later post here).
So let’s get into the detail of the venn diagram:-
Don’t pass up an opportunity to follow your passion just because you don’t have the skills (yet). In a future post I will talk about the new skills I have learned over the last few years. I don’t let a lack of skills put me off and neither should you!
There are many things I “could” do as my personal sidehustle but I choose not to for now. For example, I could become an Uber driver, a grocery delivery driver, stack shelves at a supermarket, mow the neighbours lawns, walk dogs, create a YouTube channel (actually I might still do that!) or as previously pointed out, I could make simple websites for people that don’t want to get into technical detail (I’ve previously created over 15 websites for friends and family) -BUT, all of those would feel like “just another job” or an extension of my existing job.
If you NEED the cash then don’t automatically dismiss the things you COULD do – who knows, it could turn into a business where you end up employing people to do the stuff you could do but aren’t passionate about!
A true sidehustle should be something you are PASSIONATE about.
WHY?
Simply put, because then it doesn’t feel like work!! You are more willing to make time and money sacrifices for it and you will end up pouring far more energy into it than if it was “just another job”.
Lots of people I meet say things like “yes but my passion is so obscure and I can’t think of a related sidehustle”. Are you kidding me? The more obscure your passion is, the more niche your target market is and the better your opportunities are!!! Just think of what you yourself have spent money on related to that passion and speak to others in your community to find out what they would be prepared to pay for – there is always something.
OR
Intersection C is where you do charity work. I’ve also met people that are truly better human beings than I am and their personal passion is to make the world a better place. I met a young lady who was so struck by the plight of young (French speaking) African children when she spent 3 months volunteering in a village over her summer break that immediately on her return home to France she started collecting books to donate for a library to help the kids as her personal sidehustle. She devotes ALL of her spare time approaching individuals and organisations for donations of educational materials and cash and is currently well on her way to have enough money to build the village a new school!!! She doesn’t make any money out of this although the last time I spoke to her she was reaching the point where her sidehustle was turning into a full blown social enterprise and she would need to hire an assistant or two and start paying herself a salary so that she can leave her full time job in order to follow her passion.
There are many stories like this and if you aren’t interested in making money but are willing to work to make the world a better place then I salute you!
If however you are more like me and desperately need to earn some extra cash AND potentially one day be able to gain a bit more financial freedom to give up the “day job” then find your personal sidehustle sweetspot.
no age limit 
your personal sidehustle 
start now
Next up I’ll be covering the biggest mistake people make – and I did too – in the meantime, please check out the merch in the shop – the sidehustle design above is all about getting people to ask YOU about YOUR personal sidehustle.