I recently hired someone to help manage my Pinterest account.

Effective pinning isn’t particularly difficult. No doubt a few days of research or a quick online course along with an hour each morning for implementation would be more than enough to hone the necessary expertise (or so I’ve been told by one of my favorite Pinterest rockstars).

But with four other social channels to manage, a blog to maintain, a roster of clients to please, an overflowing inbox and seemingly infinite numbers of other projects in development, my Pinterest account is just one of the too many things I can no longer manage on my own.

And it’s not just Pinterest – I’ve outsourced everything from web design to newsletter management to video production in the past few months alone.

What strikes me about my list of outsourced tasks (and my outsource dream list, i.e. what I’ll hire out when I can afford it), is that every one of the items is an additional earnings opportunity for someone else.

Having always been in search of ways to make extra money with minimal barrier to entry and flexibility from my days as a ‘starving artist’, it occurs to me that just about everything I now hire out (or dream of hiring out), fulfills those criteria.

And yet, I still come across the question all the time, how can I make extra money in a way that affords me flexibility without too much up front investment? To that, I answer with a principle from marketing and sales 101 – FULFILL A NEED.

The Best Way to Make Extra Money

 

• Figure out what people need and make yourself an expert in one of those things.

 

In today’s world of abundant technology and limited time, needs are greater than ever – and so are opportunities.

You can become a master of Facebook ads, for example, by taking a quick course, sending out a couple of emails and composing a few a strategic posts in forums where people who need Facebook ads hang out, launching a full-blown business in no time – not unlike my latest Pinterest hire.

While degrees and expensive certifications have always served as investments to generate increased earnings prospects, the new wave of needs surrounding modern life and business, erase many of the barriers of time and energy investment previously required for making extra money. You can be up and running and making a profit within a matter of weeks.

 

 

In spirit of finding out what some of the latest in-demand needs are, I reached out to my own network of entrepreneurs to see what they’ve outsourced in the past year.

Some needs are newer, others, more traditional, but all are an opportunity to launch an in demand side hustle where you can control your time and rates…

• Virtual Assisting

• Appointment Setting

• Email Drafting

• Editing

• Blog Formatting

• Podcast Editing

• Image Sourcing and Formatting

• Instagram Quote Creation

• Pinterest Management

• Audio and Video Transcription

• Property Management

• Cooking

• House Cleaning

• Home Maintenance

• Lawn Maintenance

• Driving

 

I also asked what they themselves have done to make extra money….

• Driving for Uber says Martin at Studenomics.

• Flipping thrift store clothing on eBay for profit says Lauren Greutman from IAmThatLady.

• Affiliate income through blogging says Michelle at Making Sense of Cents (who made $30k from this income stream in the last month alone).

• Hosting on AirBnB says Certified Financial Planner Aaron Hatch.

• Yard sales – Collecting stuff on the street that students throw out at the end of the spring semester and selling it to new students in the fall says Alan Steinborn of RealMoneyLife.

• Credit card rewards says Jacob Wade at IHeartBudgets.

• Mystery shopping says Tai Stewart, owner of Saidia Financial Solutions.

• Technical support for bloggers and websites says Grayson Bell founder of Imarkinteractive.com.

• Pet sitting and house sitting says Ashley Jacobs of Wise Bread.

• Social media consulting says Kate Dore at Cashville Skyline.

• User testing says Rosemarie Groner at the Busy Budgeter.

• Selling an online course says Deacon Hayes founder of the WellKeptWallet and the course Debt Free in 18 Months.

• Speaking, workshops and training says Kylie Travers.

• Renting out my car through RelayRides/Turo says founder of Belmore Financial Kate Holmes.

• Consulting by the minute on clarity.fm says Nick Loper, founder of Side Hustle Nation.

• Reselling concert and event tickets says Brent, founder of VOSA.com.

 

There’s no shortage of flexible side gigs available to make extra money, we’ve got over 30 listed right here. (Plus more here!)

If you’re not sure where to start in your own ventures, remember to go back to the basics and ask yourself – what do people need?

 

Go from money making idea to successful earnings execution with the help of my FREE scale your income starter guide!