Why Every Parent Should Have A Side Hustle

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You may have heard the term, Side Hustle, thrown around at work, on social media or by a tech-savvy friend. There's a good reason, for many, a side hustle is the answer to fulfilling a dream, selling a million dollar idea or product, and most of all, financial freedom.

What exactly is a side hustle? 

According to Merriam-Webster: A side hustle is, "Work performed for income supplementary to one’s primary job.” Think: Doing something you love and earning a little extra money at the same time, but not enough to quit your day job. Yet.

As a parent, living on a parent's budget, having a side hustle is the saving grace for my family. Especially, around the holidays. What family couldn't use a boost to the budget around the holidays?

How do you choose a good side hustle?

Ask yourself what you're good at, or enjoy doing, or do better than anyone you know. Are you crafty? Do you love landscaping or own a riding lawnmower that can mow the entire neighborhood in one afternoon? Can you fix cars, tint windows, clean houses, write, network, organize... I imagine you get the point.

I honestly wish every parent had a side hustle. My first side hustle, blogging, led to a career! I left the ad business and blogged full-time. Now, I'm on to a new side hustle, digital marketing.

Thanks to technology, the Internet, social media and a slew of geniuses, in today's tech-driven-age, launching a side hustle is not only super easy, but it's also relatively inexpensive. What's more, I don't care how crap you are with technology, website building software like GoDaddy GoCentral, makes building an effective website fast, easy and fun. And for the first month, it's free.




You can literally commit to your side hustle today, and have it up and running tomorrow! Here's how in three steps:

1. Choose a name for your side hustle: I always tell my clients to choose a name that is not too narrow or too broad. Not too long, confusing or trademarked!

2. Brand your side hustle:  Buy the Dot.Com (AprilMcCormick.com) I use GoDaddy to purchase   my URLs. Then start social media accounts using the name of your hustle--Facebook (@AprilTheWriter), Twitter (@TweetingApril), Instagram (@AprilsInstag).

3. Build the website: Whether your side hustle is Local-Only or available worldwide, you absolutely should have a website. People need a place to go to see what you're all about. With GoDaddy GoCentral, it literally takes TWO questions to create your website template. GoDaddy GoCentral takes out the guesswork and coding headaches.

Seriously.



After answering the questions, a template related to your side hustle/name is automatically created. Then you play around with colors, layout and add the information, needed to let everyone know about your side hustle. This takes an hour. Maybe more, but that depends on you and the information necessary. 


No coding needed. Which, is INSANE!!! Oh, how times have changed! It's a miracle I didn't go blind spending all those hours reading and writing code. Everything is laid out and self-explanatory. There is also a wealth of information on website optimization to have you working like the pros in no time. #love






In less than a day, I created a website that showcases my talents, accolades, and experience in a smart, clean, professional manner. I didn't pay a design firm to build my website. I didn't pay an overseas company for marketing. I answered a few questions, entered information, automated my social media, and within a weekend I had fully launched my SEO enabled side hustle website, AprilMcCormick.com, with SEO built-in!




DO. THIS. NOW.  Who knows, a side hustle just might change your holidays, financial situation and maybe even send your child to college.





I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

April is an award-winning writer and blogger. Her work has been published in over ten countries and four languages. From books to newspapers, to print/online magazines and everything in between, you can find her work. For more on April, Visit AprilMcCormick.com