side hustle – Page 2 – Take on Life After 50

New Year and 3 New Opportunities for Side Hustles

Happy New Year! I hope you’ve had an enjoyable holiday season and brought in the new year on a good note.

Now that the holidays are over and life is returning to somewhat normal, it’s time to get back to work. I’m enjoying writing for my 3 blogs, and am having fun creating new planners, colouring pages, and activity books.

The frost on the trees makes it look like a winter wonderland; so very pretty when it’s thick. The snow and frost are sparkling in the sun today. We had several days where it was overcast and didn’t get to enjoy the sun at all. (It’s days like those that my energy level goes to shit.) I’m very much a “need sun” girl. After spending a few November days in Vancouver several years ago, I realized a coastal home is not for me. I’ll take the minus 40 and sun any day.

Disclaimer: Links within this post are either to my own products, or products I endorse. I may receive a small commission should you make a purchase through an affiliate link, at no extra cost to you. My blog is supported through commissions and sales of my products. Plus, if you like what you read you can show your support by pinning this post, sharing on social media, or buy me a coffee. Thank you for your continued support.

I know I haven’t talked much about side hustles for awhile, but with the beginning of a new year I’m going to give you a few ideas for them. I do have to say, one of my best resources is Printables by Number (John & Suzi Whitford). I have purchased courses and templates, and am very happy with the information that they provide. If you’re interested in creating a printables business as a side hustle, I highly recommend them.

If you’re not interested in starting a printables business, you can start with a blog. Blogging has been, and will continue to be, a lucrative side hustle. The key, however, is to stay consistent. If you want to know more about starting a blog, Suzi has a great free beginners course. The link is for an ebook, which I suggest you print out for offline reference. (I’ve been blogging for awhile, and I still refer to my copy.)

In addition to creating printables and having a blog, you can use your knowledge to create courses. The nice thing about a course is once you create it, you can almost set-it-and-forget-it. It doesn’t have to be a long course, and your lessons should be bite-size. In my experience as a student of online courses, I would rather have more lessons of shorter duration than one or two an hour or more long each.

Notice I said almost? Even if your course content is evergreen, you’re still going to have to do some updates over time. In Suzi & John’s Printables by Number Course they updated from the 2.0 to 3.0, just since I became a student. They realized they needed to include more information, and any existing students got the new version at no extra cost. (New students will get the updated version, which includes all of the updates.)

I’m partway through a course on Systeme.io and am learning so much. My next step is to create my own, but I’m torn on which niche (printables or yoga) I want to start with. I have invested in the software and accessories to create; now I need to make my decision and actually do it.

And yes, I know I’ve talked about printables, blogging, and courses before, and they’re not an opportunity you haven’t heard about. But, any one of them can be a new opportunity for you. And with the cost of living on the rise, and the expense of Christmas weighing heavily on many, it’s the perfect time to invest some time in yourself.

Don’t wait until you’re in dire straights and need thousands yesterday. Take the steps now to start building something for yourself. Whether you want to retire early, start an education fund for grandbabies, or just take a few more vacations a year, investing in yourself is never a bad thing.

I recently invested in some software to create activity books and puzzles, and have created my first. I’m still learning the ropes on the platform I’m using, and would love your feedback. Click on the photo below (or the Activity Book in the sidebar) and let me know what you see. I’m not sure if my funnel system is set up right; so if it isn’t I want to know so I can fix it.

Once again, I’d like to wish you a Happy New Year! And may the year ahead bring you happiness, joy, and prosperity. Enjoy each day and be grateful for the good it brings.

5 Things I’ve Learned from Side Hustling

What you’ll find in this post:

There’s no such thing as getting rich quick.
Don’t have too many baskets.
If something isn’t working, scrap it.
If something isn’t bringing you joy, scrap it.
Put yourself out there.

As the latter part of April is upon us, I can’t help but wonder where the time has gone. I guess it’s true what they say: the older you get, the faster time goes by. Can someone please slow down the clock a little?

My granddaughter will be a month old on Friday, which means it’s over a month since we got back from Mexico. Wait! What? It seems like just yesterday we were sitting in 30+ degree weather, wanting to come home, but at the same time not wanting to.

And a lot has happened in that month as well. We have to move forward, no matter what life throws at us. All I’ll say at the moment in that regard is change is coming: good change for me. But without further ado, onward to the real reason for this post.

Side hustling has been my thing for literally decades, and I have come to a few conclusions over the years. Well, to be truthful, conclusions I’ve come to since I stopped trying to do everything that came along.

There’s NO such thing as getting rich quick. I can recall one of my very first so called “money makers”. I was looking through the newspaper’s classified ads section (yes, a real newspaper – pre-internet time) and saw an ad for stuffing envelopes. Well, that didn’t seem so difficult, so I ordered the package. What I got was a stack of address labels and letters to mail out (at my expense of course). The only person getting rich was the one preying on naive people like myself.
Don’t have too many baskets. The saying goes “don’t put all your eggs in one basket”, but having too many baskets at any one time isn’t good either. You start a side hustle to free up some time, then you start another. Before you know it, your side hustles and job are taking up every waking moment. It’s easy to overextend yourself without realizing it, so be wary. If you have a full time job and more than two side hustles going (especially those that require you to be present), then you’re defeating the purpose of having one in the first place.
If something isn’t working, scrap it. Maybe you’ve had a side hustle or three in the past, or maybe you’re about to embark on your very first one. Whatever the case, it has to produce results in a reasonable amount of time. If you’ve been consistent with your efforts and the monetary return isn’t there, move on. You didn’t start a side hustle to waste time and energy; you started it to improve your financial wellbeing.
If it’s not bringing you joy, scrap it. When you start a side hustle it has to be enjoyable. If it isn’t, then it just becomes another job. For example: you love to write so you start selling your services on Fiverr. After awhile you find yourself praying no one will order your gig, because you’re no longer enjoying it. It’s time to either revamp your gig, or take it down. (Fun fact: I’m both a buyer and seller on Fiverr, and have earned over $1700 on the platform. I have spent about $300, so I’m still ahead of the game.)
Put yourself out there. “If you build it, they will come.” only works in the movies. (Kevin Costner had more impact on me with that movie than I care to admit.) Just because you’ve created a wonderful blog about your hobby, or started an Etsy shop, it doesn’t mean people are going to flock to it as soon as you hit the “publish” button. YOU have to let them know it’s there, whether through paid ads, Pinterest, Facebook, word of mouth, or a combination of them all. (It’s like getting a new phone number and then wondering why no one is calling you. You have to tell the people in your life you changed it.)

Now that you’ve had an “aha” moment or two, or perhaps an “oh shit” moment, it’s time to share my upcoming change.

For those of you who have been reading my blog regularly, you know what life dealt me almost two years ago. After some careful consideration, tears, sleepless nights, and talking it over with my kids, I made the decision to move. I’m selling my place and am buying an acreage a little closer to a neighbouring town.

This is a screenshot from the Realtor listing.

It has everything I want in a home. Big windows on all four sides (all with a wonderful view); an attached double car garage (plus a detached in the back); 4-piece ensuite with a jacuzzi; game room complete with pool table, shuffleboard and wet bar; central vac; central air; fireplace; office; big kitchen; covered deck; big master bedroom; large spare bedroom; 4 (yes, no typos here) bathrooms including the ensuite; skylights; and a landscaped yard complete with trees, perennials, and what appear to be some of my favourite shrubs. The best part of it all…no stairs for these old knees.

I know the move will be bittersweet, because this was our home. The one we were supposed to grow old in together. There’ll be tears as I purge, tears as I pack, and tears as I lock the door for the last time. The land and house are staying in Ross’s family, as his brother will be the new owner. In all honesty, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

For me it’s a step forward. I used to think I would live here forever, but as I said in my last post, it’s just easier to be gone sometimes. No matter what life brings his memory will be with me always, and that’s what I cherish the most. And when my time comes (hopefully I’m around to see my grandbaby have her own baby), I’ll be laid to rest beside him.

If you’ve made it this far, I thank you. I know my posts can get a bit rambly at times, but the main reason I started this blog was to share the ups and downs of being over 50. In all honesty, I do like the format of this post, and I may continue on with it. Side hustle information first, then my ramblings at the end. That way you get what you came for as a side hustler, and I get to share the other aspects of life’s trials and trbulations.

Your Best Posts…All in One Place

Do you find yourself clicking on my posts from weeks ago just to find some side hustle information?

After some searching through a few posts to find out what I have already talked about, I decided there had to be a better way. That’s when it hit me…compile an ebook to make it easier for everyone.

I did just that, which took me the better part of two days. As the content was already written, all I had to do was copy and paste from my post editor. Add in the copyright, disclaimer, table of contents, and some back matter…and done! Each post is in its own chapter, and linked from the TOC. That in itself makes navigation so much easier.

The end result: Side Hustles Anyone Can Do

This is a prime example of how your content can be repurposed. It would have taken me days to write all of that content from scratch. In fact, over the course of when it was written, each post had several hours put into it as is.

If you write articles on your own site pick a dozen or so of the best/most related ones, and compile them into an ebook. By doing so, you’re giving your readers all of your knowledge from those articles in one place. If you have a lot of posts under your belt, consider doing a set of ebooks: Volume 1, volume 2, etc.

Set up a landing page for your new book, and include a payment method. I use PayPal for mine, and use the advanced features so the customer is taken to the download page after purchase. If they choose not to purchase, they are taken to my Tools & Resources page.

My landing page and download page were both done within WordPress. It took some trial and error to get it right, and if I didn’t I do hope someone tells me. (I can’t go through the entire process on my own because my emails are linked to PayPal and it won’t allow me to buy from myself. I can completely understand the logic there.)

Don’t forget to include an About the Author page in the back of your book. This is the perfect place to showcase yourself as a person and writer, plus link to your website and mailing list signup. If your readers like what you write, give them a freebie in exchange for their email address.

You can either sell your new ebook on your site, or publish to online retailers. Be sure to indicate it is previous work republished, as some retailers will not accept content that has been made freely available online.

I have chosen to publish my book only on my site for the time being just to see where it takes me. I’m testing some marketing efforts, and publishing exclusively on my site will give me more accurate data.

Have you considered compiling posts or articles into an ebook? If you’ve done it already, what type of results did you have in terms of sales? Let me know in the comments below.

Want more side hustle content delivered to your inbox once a month?

tap or click here