student or working a 9-5 job, there are many ways to make some more money on the
side. You just need to know them and be ready to give the required effort and
commitment to making them work for you.
side.
Consulting/Coaching
If you have a specific skill-set
with adequate knowledge and experience, you can leverage on it and build a
lucrative side business on consulting/coaching that’s quite easy and affordable
to start. It can involve giving advice to a start-ups on how to build their
public image, assisting start-ups with social media marketing and SEO work etc.
The best part of this business is that you can build it to fit your schedule and
free time.
Freelance Work
This is another flexible side
business that doesn’t need long-term commitments. You can also adapt this kind
of business to fit your schedule and free time. Becoming a freelancer can
involve writing content for businesses, doing content marketing for start-ups
and doing design work for businesses, which can include graphic designs, web
designs, logo designs etc. It really depends on your talent, skill-set and
interests. The best part of this is that there is a reasonably high demand for
freelancers especially in the area of content marketing, social media marketing
and design work.
Leverage On Your Vehicle
If you have a
vehicle, you can cash in on it by registering with Uber or Taxify or both. The
best part about this is that you can keep your keys by becoming a driver on the
platform or hire someone to drive the car on the platform for you. However, when
considering this option as a means to making some extra money, you should be
sure that you are satisfied with the rate of depreciation of your car (because
it will definitely be higher). You also have to consider the cost of financing
the car and other maintenance costs.
Produce Crafts
If you’re
good with your hands, are creative and love to create crafts and design work,
you can use the talent to create jewelry, clothing, furniture or accessories,
and can sell them to make some decent money on the side. The advent of social
media has made marketing your craft work and designs much easier, as you can
take advantage of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and online shopping platforms
like Jumia mall, to put your work out there and get it
sold.
Photography
If you have good photography skills, you can
purchase a camera and start doing photography jobs on the side. Photography is
now big business, if you know how to exploit it, and you can start a very decent
side business from it. However, in the photography business, it is best to carve
a niche for yourself. Don’t be a jack-of-all-trades and master of none, you are
unlikely to get positive recognition and referrals that way. You can specialize
in weddings, capturing landscapes, taking fashion pictures etc. You can also
sell some of your pictures to sites like Shutterstock.
Modeling or
Voice-Over Work
Modeling is not all about having the perfect body and
walking on the runway, there are different aspects of modeling. You can be a
body model, hand model, leg model or even a face model, and earn some decent
money from it. If you are really good at it, there is a chance that you get more
recognition, and even attain a kind of ‘celebrity status’ from it, which of
course means more money for you.
For the voice-over work, if you have a
voice that’s great for voice-overs and you have some broadcast experience, you
can earn some extra money by doing voice-over work for ad agencies, broadcasting
houses etc.
