4 Side Hustles to Earn $100,000+

In today's issue, I'm going to share 4 different side hustle ideas that you can build to earn $100,000 or more.

There has never been a more critical time to build up your personal brand, and head to the internet to make some extra income.

Before you do, you'll need to think about building a small audience. The best place, IMO, to build that audience is LinkedIn. It's faster and easier than most other platforms, and it the undisputed champion in b2b and b2c.

Once you have a small audience, it's time to create your first side hustle.

But, what is the best side hustle for you?

I'll walk you through 4 of my favorites, talk about the pros and cons, and share some helpful information to help you get started.

Let's dive in.

1. Build a service-based business

A service-based business is generally built by trading your time for money.

Common examples are coaching and consulting businesses like what Marcus Chan is building on LinkedIn.

(Here's how to build an audience & business with your personal LinkedIn)

Why I like a service-based business:

‍Generally easier and lower cost to get started, plus you can likely charge 3x to 5x what you make (hourly) at your 9 to 5 job.

Cons:

‍Difficult to scale unless you hire a team (or outsource) and move into more of a CEO role.

How to get started:

Step 1: Pick a skill you know cold
Step 2: Talk about it every day online
Step 3: Offer to help a few companies for free
Step 4: Track all of their meaningful improvements
Step 5: Build out case studies based on improvements
Step 6: Get a few really good testimonials for your website
Step 7: Ask for intros to other similar companies & start charging money
Step 8: Simultaneously, share the case studies and testimonials on LinkedIn

If you follow this, you'll have 2 client pipelines: LinkedIn + referrals.

Easiest tech to use to get started:

• Website: Stan Store
• Payments: Stan Store
• CRM: Airtable

2. Create a digital course

A digital course is a great way to make extra money by sharing knowledge that you have, that other people want.

Common examples are courses that I sell, like The LinkedIn Operating System or The Content Operating System.

Why I like digital courses:

‍People can purchase the courses 24/7, plus you have the opportunity to create a nice affiliate program that drives even more sales.

Cons:

‍Requires quite a bit of traction around one topic on social media. Most people try selling courses way too early, instead of focusing on building their audience first.

How to get started:

Easiest tech to use to get started:

• Website: Stan Store
• Payments + Course Hosting: Stan Store

3. Build a paid community

An online community is generally hosted on platforms like Slack or Discord (synchronous) or Facebook, Circle, or Mighty Networks (asynchronous).

Common examples are communities like Small Bets by Daniel Vassallo.

Why I like paid communities:

‍Building a space where people of similar interests can congregate drastically improves your brand, builds trust, and deepens relationships. This helps grow your audience and build your business. If you get community right, it's the most powerful of these 4 side hustles.

Cons:

‍The hardest to start, scale, and make successful. An incredible amount of work, that is underestimated by nearly 100% of community creators that I talk to.

How to get started:

‍Read this article about building an MVC (minimum viable community) by Rosie Sherry.

It's a great read on everything you need to consider to pre-launch your first community.

Without taking these important steps, you'll likely fail when it comes time to actually put the community together and charge for it.

Easiest tech to use to get started:

• Community CRM: Outseta
• Community hosting: Luma
• Community chatter: Discord

4. Create a subscription email

A subscription email is any paywalled information that you deliver on a regular basis via email to your customers.

A common example is my subscription, The Monthly Templates, which now has over 2,250 customers.

Why I like subscription emails:

‍The scale is incredible. As the customer base grows, the work effort generally remains the same, meaning that you make a lot more money without much extra work.

Cons:

‍High churn if you don't deliver value every single time.

How to get started:

‍Read this article by me to learn how to build a subscription product or read this article from Ghost to learn how to start a subscription newsletter.

Easiest tech to use to get started:

• Subscription product: Stan Store
• Subscription newsletter: Ghost

Conclusion

Navigating different side hustle options is never simple, especially when so many people are talking about them online.

But, I've laid out four paths for you: service-based businesses, digital courses, paid communities, and subscription emails.

Each has its own pros and cons, and some are suited for different skill sets and comfort zones.

The key takeaway here is to start.

Pick one that aligns with your expertise and lifestyle, and take that first step. It's the consistent, calculated actions that you take today that will help you succeed.

If you still need to build an audience, go all in on LinkedIn this year. There's not a better place to get started (which is why you see so many people creating content on the platform).

My video course, The LinkedIn Operating System, has helped 25,000 of those people and 60 LinkedIn Top Voices get started, grow their following, and start their first side hustle. It's part of the reason I was named the #1 Global LinkedIn Influencer by Favikon.

→ Watch The LinkedIn Operating System

I hope to see you creating and building. Good luck out there!