Making money in college is hard. It’s difficult to get a job that will work around your class schedule and won’t completely exhaust you. My solution to this is trying to start up a side hustle. Over my almost four years in college, I’ve tried lots of different things to make a little bit of extra cash. Here are a few ideas for side hustles and how to start them up. Even if you think you don’t have time or you don’t have any skills, these money makers require all different kinds of skills and have varying levels of commitment.
- Redbubble
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If you ever brought stickers to put on your water bottle or laptop, then most likely you got them on Redbubble. The cool thing about this site is that all the designs are done by artists and each time you buy something that artist gets a commission! Last summer I bought an iPad and started uploading my designs on Redbubble. This costs you no money to do and once the design is uploaded you are done. Now, this isn’t going to be a huge moneymaker but since I opened my shop in July I’ve probably made close to $300.
The first thing you will want to do if you are going to start a Redbubble site is to decide how you are going to make your designs. You don’t need any expensive equipment like an iPad or paid apps, because there are plenty of free sites. You also don’t have to be super great at art. Canva or Gimp are great places to start. You can use their free fonts and shapes to create your idea and then you just need to make sure you save it as a PNG with a transparent background. Next, you will want to go to Redbubble and create an account. The process from there is pretty self-explanatory. You will go to “Add New Artwork” upload your design, add a title, tags, description, and then decide which products you want the design to go on. Stickers are by far the most popular item on the site but they have hundreds of products you can put your design on. I recommend allowing your design to be sold on as many items as you can because you will make more money off of those more expensive products. Another feature Redbubble has is for you to be able to pick your margins. The standard margin is 20%. This means that if a sticker costs them $1 to make then you will make $.20 and the total cost of the sticker for the customer will be $1.20. I normally turn up my margins on stickers to 100% so the sticker will still only cost $2 to the customer but I can at least make $1 off it.
Tips:
1. Use Tags
This is how people will find your designs through the search feature. You want to use a LOT of tags in order to reach a large audience. There are about ten tags I use on every single design I have, such as my name and a few basic adjectives. It’s also important to use specific ones too. If you make a sticker of a daisy that says “be happy” on it then you might use tags like, flower, daisy, daisies, white, yellow, be happy, happy, quotes, etc.
2. Don’t Get Copyrighted
There are a lot of things on Redbubble that are copyrighted. You are probably thinking, “Hey, wait, I’ve for sure seen stickers on Redbubble that are owned by some else.” This is true that you will see Twilight, Taylor Swift, and all kinds of other copyrighted designs for sale on Redbubble but that doesn’t mean that they won’t get in trouble eventually. Designs get flagged at different speeds, but it isn’t worth the risk because if you get too many violations you can get your account shut down. So stick to original designs that don’t involve any kind of copyrighted material.
- Babysitting, Dogsitting, Housesitting
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This is super simple but I think college students often forget about it. I got lucky and while I was getting my hair cut sophomore year I made friends with my hairdresser. Since then she has asked me to babysit her kids and watch her dog throughout the school year. You can also put ads out online, put up posters, or reach out to your professors. The great thing about these jobs is that they are a low commitment but normally the pay is pretty good.
Tips:
1. Make a Good Impression
When it comes to something like babysitting, you really want to make a good impression so they ask you back. You don’t want to get too many customers because it might overwhelm you but if you get one family that really likes you, then you might be able to work for them every week. Go the extra mile by cleaning up, communicating well, and showing up on time.
2. Keep Your Schedule Open
The downside of jobs like this is that you have to be available when you are asked. If you make plans every weekend for the whole semester then you are really cutting down your chances to make money. This kind of sucks but it is better to keep your weekends and evenings kind of open so when there is a chance to go make some extra cash you can jump on it.
- Etsy
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Starting a small business or an Etsy shop has become super common. You can find almost anything on Etsy now and the best part about it is that all the items are made by real people! Even if you are thinking that you don’t have anything you are good at making, you are wrong. I recently started an Etsy shop where I sell custom pet portraits, but I also have a friend who sells letters from your favorite fictional characters. The possibilities on Etsy are endless! If you want to get into shipping maybe you could sew something, make jewelry, sell antiques, or really anything! If you want to go more digital, there are two routes you can take. You can either offer something that is just a downloadable product that they will get instantly after buying or you could do something custom that will require more work from you after each order. I recommend browsing the app to start getting ideas.
To actually start your Etsy shop you will want to have a few pictures to upload, a logo or profile picture, and a little description of your shop. I was surprised by how easy it was to open my shop and list your products. You can pick the price, pick the shipping cost, and Etsy only charges you $.20 for each listing you make. This is a super great site for college students who don’t have the time or the money to have their own website right off the bat.
Tips:
1. Don’t Under Price Your Items
You might be tempted to really undercut your prices out of worry that people won’t think your products are worth it, but trust me, if you put in a lot of work then people will be okay with paying. It is also important that it’s worth your time. When I do a pet portrait it takes me about six hours, so if I only charged $20 it would hardly be worth my time. Make sure you charge a fair amount for your product and also explain to the customer why it is priced the way it is.
2. Advertise Your Business
Etsy is kind of like social media because it has an algorithm. The more traffic you send to your page, the more Etsy will promote it. Especially when you are starting out you want to promote it on your own social media and tell your friends and family and eventually you will start getting organic sales. Tiktok has also become a really helpful tool for small business owners. If you want to start a Tiktok for your business there is always a chance that you will go “viral” and your sales could skyrocket. This would be a lot bigger commitment but also has a huge payout.
- Sell a Service
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This isn’t something I’ve had a lot of success with but I think it’s a great idea and could be super profitable. By service I mean offering to do something like tutor kids, give sports lessons, or even offer to revise papers and resumes for people. You just need to figure out something you have experience in and then market help for that. I once offered to edit and help high school seniors with their scholarship essays. This isn’t something that worked out for me (would probably be better in a larger city) but I still think there is a market for it somewhere. You could even just offer to take notes on lectures for people.
Tips:
1. Pick Your Target Market
This is going to be super important to figure out how you will market your service. If you want to give swim lessons to kids then your market is going to be parents. Maybe you will want to put up flyers at a local school, post on Facebook, or start to tell family friends to get the words out that way. Once you have your target market you really just need to push out as much information as you can until you start getting customers.
2. Make Yourself Sound Professional
Listing your qualifications and having a flyer or business card can go a long way when you are doing a side hustle like this. When I tried to help high school seniors I made sure to put down that I was an English major and that I’d been a writing tutor at my college so parents and students knew I had training that would help. If you are doing swim lessons make sure to write down that you swam in high school or that you are a trained lifeguard. This might also help you charge more money!
These are just a few ideas on how to make extra cash. If you are really worried about money then get online and get creative! Good luck!