Just about everyone – whether they’re business owners, employees, or currently unemployed – is experiencing the negative impacts of COVID-19, especially financially. One way to open up an additional income stream is by starting a side business, also known as a “side hustle”. This way, you can supplement your income while keeping your day job.
While it may seem like a daunting task to start up a new side business, it doesn’t have to be complicated. You already have skills and talents that other people will pay you to teach them. You can also combine your skills with other people to create a new side hustle with a great team.
With online tools like Event Espresso to help you to get paid for your ticketing and access to the services that you offer, you can get up and running with your web registration in as little as one day!
Event Espresso is a WordPress plugin that allows you to set up a registration page and create an event calendar on your website. You can use it to sell tickets to events, or access to your services, set up registration forms, and accept payments online. If, for example, you are organizing online classes, you can display classes in a calendar.
Here, we’ll go through some of the most popular side business ideas and share actionable tips to help you get started with a step in the right direction.
Article Outline
#1: Online Courses
If you are an expert in your field or have specialized skills within a certain industry, sport, or even a hobby, you can find people online who would be willing to pay you to teach them.
There is a growing audience for online instructors willing to share their knowledge about different tools and topics from guitar lessons, fitness instructionals, cooking classes, to coding, business negotiations, online marketing and graphic designing courses.
If you offer lots of courses, you can list them in a table layout using Event Espresso. Learners can search the event list to find the course they want to register for and click the link to begin their registration and pay for their courses.
#2: Online Coaching
Many parents look for ways to better prepare their children for standardized tests while they are still in high school. Online tutoring is a great side business for anyone looking to boost their income. Now more than ever, as parents are getting wary of acting as a tutor for their kid’s online schooling, they are seeking help from specialized sources. This opens the door widely for anyone who has the skills and desire to help in this arena.
Most online coaches charge around $60 per hour for ACT and SAT tutoring classes. And if you expand your test prep knowledge to include the GMAT and GRE tests, you can charge even higher rates as compared to SAT and ACT test preparation.
Here is an example of how you can set up a single class session within the Event Espresso event editor, to allow anyone to register and pay for their courses. Once the end user selects their course and moves onto the form to enter their name and other requested details they can pay for and finalize their booking for your class. And it’s all automated!
#3: Dance Classes
If you’re a great dancer, you can turn your talent into a profitable side business. Part-time dance teachers can bring in hundreds of dollars each week to supplement their regular income, or even go full time with their dance lessons.
Even if you can’t afford a dance studio, you can simply rent a space and start giving group dance lessons there. Similarly, you can take your talent online and offer dance lessons by building a membership site, creating a master-class course, or teaching dance face-to-face to clients via video.
You can use Event Espresso to create promo and discount codes for your dance classes. For example, you can offer a 10% discount for the first month, offer early-bird discounts, and even encourage signing up for multiple classes by using the ticket bundling discount feature.
#4: Personal Fitness Trainer
In a world where people are so intimately connected through the internet, everyone wants to look and feel good, making personal fitness a rewarding industry to break into.
If you’re a fitness enthusiast, becoming a personal fitness coach might be the side business niche for you. And once you build up a reputation, you’ll be able to charge higher rates and expand your client base.
Apart from taking traditional classes in the gym, there are other ways you can make money by fitness coaching including selling workout plans, organizing fitness seminars, and creating custom meal plans for your clients.
#5: Event Organizer
Event organizing and planning is another reliable and steady source of income that can be a useful side business. You can choose to pick a specific event niche such as holiday galas, bachelorette parties, corporate events, or become a generalist.
There are some tasks that are involved in almost all kinds of event planning like choosing a venue, hiring caterers, and other vendors.
Events Espresso lets you add event locations or venues to your events.
#6: Catering
If you love cooking, you’ll be pleased to know that you can turn your passion for food making into a reliable income stream.
There are plenty of platforms out there that let you test out your culinary skills. Once you rake up enough good reviews, you’ll know you can start carving out your share in this lucrative industry.
Using Event Espresso, you can set up a food blog and sell registrations for catering classes.
#7: Yoga Instructor
Becoming a yoga teacher is another practicable online business idea you can opt for if you’re into eastern meditation practices. You can start at a local gym or yoga studio, or teach private lessons from home to charge higher rates.
#8: Tour Guide
If you live around someplace that is a hotspot for tourists and you know the area well, becoming a tour guide may be the right option for you.
It requires a capacity to stand and walk for long periods, great conversation skills, and a disposition for storytelling. Along with making money at an hourly rate, you get valuable exposure to different people, learn about history, architecture and art, and become a destination expert.
Event Espresso gives you the option to sell tickets or event registrations online. You can also limit the number of tickets you sell and display the total remaining tickets on your website..
#9: Wedding Planner
If you’re good at managing people and logistics, you should look into a career as a wedding planner.
Wedding planning is considerably more hands-on compared to other events like birthday parties. You’re expected to manage everything from photographers, wedding dresses, performers, flowers, catering, and venue.
#10: Coach Sports Teams
If you have the skills and mindset to coach kids, you can make a decent living becoming a youth sports coach.
Teaching your favorite game along with instilling confidence and teamwork among young children is a rewarding feat on its own. As a sports coach, you can choose to charge on an hourly basis or offer a package deal for multiple sessions.
Using Event Espresso, you can set up a waiting list. So, if someone drops out of your coaching sessions then the person on the waiting list can join in their place.
Conclusion
Starting a side business is a great way to supplement your income.
Of course, the side business you consider starting might not be on this list. You can take any special skill or hobby that you are passionate about and discover if there are opportunities to share with viewers in a class format or live stream events.
Ready to take your side business online? Try the Event Espresso demo today!