5 Side Hustles to Help You Survive a Recession
The UK has officially entered a recession for the first time in 11 years. Yikes! This means job cuts, a tougher and more competitive job market and the obvious downturn in average household spend.
I know it’s hard to be positive in light of the onslaught of negative news but remember that flowers grow from cracks, and so it’s time to get watering and get growing. I’ve been on this journey for months; when Covid hit and lockdown begun I lost the core of my income; 80% from my hospitality marketing clients and I was forced to think creatively about how I was going to survive the coming months. I became, and I don’t believe I’m exaggerating here, the Queen of The Side Hustle (disclaimer: this is a slight exaggeration). In the thick of it all; sleepless nights, anxiety, tears and frustration I learned that I AM CAPABLE. And I believe you are too!
So, today I want to get your creatives juices flowing and get you thinking a little more laterally about how you can turn adversity into advantage and survive the recession… maybe even THRIVE in the recession!
This blog post contains affiliate links, which means that if you make a purchase through some of the links I provide I can earn a small commission at no cost to you. Thanks for your support!
Let’s get into it…
JOIN FIVERR & GET TO WORK!
Whatever you’re good at, you can start promoting and selling your services through Fiverr today. It’s essentially a HUGE freelance jobs board and pretty much whatever you’re doing, you can do on Fiverr; Language Translation, SEO, Logo Design, Data Entry, even voice overs. This is such a great way to earn side income by doing what you love and what you’re good at!
JOIN FIVERR & MONETISE YOUR SKILLS!
Fiverr works both ways - it’s also a great resource to help you build your business, whatever that may be, and do the jobs that you can’t or don’t want to do. You need a logo? Get it from Fiverr. You need a website? Get it from Fiverr. You need LITERALLY ANYTHING? Get it from Fiverr.
DISCOVER FIVERR & use the code FIVERRSUMMER10 on checkout for 10% off your first purchase.
2. SHARE WHAT YOU KNOW: CREATE AN ONLINE COURSE
You may not think you are cut out to be a teacher, but the truth is that you know something about something. And, if you dig deep, you’re likely to discover that you actually know A LOT about something! Let’s say you were recently made redundant from your advertising job; now you’re stuck with a TONNE of information about advertising in your head and no one to hire you. Create an online course, it’s SO easy to do with Teachable.com and share your knowledge! The same applies for EVERY niche; hairdresser, accountant, lawyer, PE instructor. The list is really endless!
3. ETSY
ETSY is a huge online market place where you can create or sell anything! That knitting hobby you’ve had for years? Monetize it by starting your ETSY store and getting your beautiful knits in people homes today. If you love art, or photography, if you make your own hand creams or sew your kid’s dresses then why not share your talent and your passion with the world? Start your ETSY store and get grafting!
4. BECOME AN AFFILIATE
Pretty much every company you have ever purchased anything from has some sort of affiliate program. So, you can start by looking at products you already love, find their affiliate program and apply. This way, you can recommend products you love to friends, family and clients and earn a small commission every time they make an online purchase. If you have a website or blog you can join an affiliate network and have access to THOUSANDS of affiliate programs, keeping your affiliate links all in a small handful of neat and tidy locations. Yay!
Recommended Affiliate Networks:
I love AWIN and it was the first affiliate program I signed up for. They work with big brands too, like John Lewis, Red Letter Days, La Redoute and more. That’s the main reason I love it, but its also great because the user interface is so easy to navigate!
I recently joined ShareASale too, which is the sister company to AWIN and also home to big names like Reebok and Tailwind.
5. START A BLOG
Find something you love and start sharing your passion; cooking, working out, travelling, finance, real estate - ANYTHING!
Once your blog is up and running and you’ve got a few posts going, apply to GoogleAds and start making money from ads (and from affiliates!) The more you blog, the more traffic you drive; with bullet-proof blog posts and a solid Pinterest strategy you’ll start to generate a stream of passive income for years to come.
If you are selling a product or offering a service, you need a website, and if you have a website, you NEED a blog - it will keep your audience engaged, boost your SEO tremendously and help you draw new clients. Think of your blog like a shop on a busy street - the more exciting new things you advertise in the window, the more people are likely to come in and browse. And buy!
Not sure how or where to promote your blog? I doubled my website traffic in one month using Pinterest; you can read all about that here. Even better, I recently joined Tailwind and Tailwind tribes on a free trial, which is currently on track to help me TRIPLE my website traffic this month! I’ll share more about that in an upcoming blog post, but Tailwind so far is amazing; it takes the time and stress out Pinterest.
These are just a few ideas I came up with whilst I was sipping my morning coffee. Which means that if you put your head down and think about it you’ll find there’s countless ways you can support yourself through a recession and even beyond! Maybe this was just the push you needed to reach out and take hold of the life you really want. I hope you do!
KEEP READING…
If you are a freelancer making your living from this kind of work, one of the major things you will always need to be aware of is how you can hope to have enough clients to keep your operation afloat as long as possible, and to make as much money as you can.