Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. It was just after the World Trade Center fell to terrorist attacks on 9/11 that I first started my online business . Times were tough then and times are tough now. I wasn’t sure if I could make it work but, while my business has gone through several big changes over the years, I haven’t had to be back in a cubicle since then. Going online with my business ventures was the best decision I ever made. It’s offered me freedom and flexibility that I would never get working in the corporate world. What I’ve found is that during tough times, lots of people look for ways to make some extra cash in order to put food on the table or put money back into savings. Just like I did in the wake of 9/11. Fortunately, there are many more options than there used to be for making some extra cash. Door Dash and Uber are popular ones. However, in my opinion, starting a gig online is one of the best options. Here are nine reasons why starting an online side hustle during tough times can be a great decision. Online side hustles can grow into full-time incomes One of my favorite things about online side hustles that they often have the potential to grow into a full-time income . If you start picking up writing clients online or start offering website building services and learn how to effectively pick up new clients then you can quickly replace your day job income with gig work. yOu can work around your day job and bank the extra client work. Low overhead to start It can cost tens of thousands of dollars (or more) to start a traditional business and if you are doing a side hustle or driving for a rideshare or delivery service, you will put loads of wear and tear on your car. Starting an online side hustle generally costs very little money and can be bootstrapped for as little as a few hundred dollars and sometimes quite a bit less depending on what you want to do. There are very few options that are as cost-effective as an online side hustle to start. More platforms than ever before When I started out the only option for getting a web presence online was hand-coding a website. It took many, many hours of learning and writing HTML code and was a big pain to do. Now there are many, many platforms that are easy to use and effective: You can list handcrafted goods for sale on Etsy . You can showcase your freelance services on Upwork, Toptal, Fiverr , 99Designs, and more. You can resell local finds on eBay . You can start a publishing business on WordPress. You can easily build a website on WIX. You can list original designs on products fulfilled through print on demand vendors on Amazon . That’s just scratching the surface. If you are creative […]
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