Showing posts with label eCommerce. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eCommerce. Show all posts

Wednesday 20 April 2022

5 Websites to Find an Online Side Hustle


You want to start a side hustle, but you know it’s going to be a lot of work. It takes time and effort to build a side hustle from the ground up. However, there are several websites that can help you build your side hustle. You still have to put in the work to make it successful, but at least you’ll have some help getting started. In this article, we’ll take a look at five websites that can help you find your perfect online side hustle. 

 

Care.com 

 

If you offer services such as childcare, cleaning, in-home elderly care, or dog sitting, care.com is a great place to start. Of course, you don’t have to sign up for care.com to market these services, but it does make it much easier to find clients. If you’re just starting out, you might want to start here and then, as you build your client base, you can start your own website. 

 

Fiverr 

 

If you are a freelancer, Fiverr.com is a good place to get started with selling your services. Since the base price must be $5, this may not seem like a very profitable option. However, you can charge more for premium services and add-ons. Plus, again, once you build a client base, you can move off of this platform and start your own website or agency. 

 

Assistant Match 

 

The field of virtual assistants is growing every day. There are many small business owners that don’t have the time to take care of administrative tasks such as data entry, responding to emails, scheduling meetings, etc. This is where VA services would come in. The website AssistantMatch.com helps those who are interested in breaking into the field of virtual assisting. 

 

Etsy.com 

 

If you are a crafter living in a small town, it can be quite difficult to build your customer base. However, Etsy.com can help. You create your store and start listing your products for a small fee.

 

FlexJobs.com 

 

This website is one of the top websites for finding an online job. You can find jobs ranging from entry level all the way up to executive. Additionally, you can find jobs that you can do as a freelancer or as a full-time worker. In addition to finding an online job, there are some additional resources that can help you find the right online side hustle for you.

 

The search for an online side hustle can be quite overwhelming- but you can visit these five websites to make it easier. 

 


Follow this Side Hustle Method to Keep Yourself Motivated


A “side hustle” is something that allows you to earn money by pursuing your passion. In some cases, this may be in addition to your regular 9 to 5 and in other cases, you may be trying to replace your 9 to 5 with your side hustle.

 

While it’s true that a “side hustle” does offer benefits such as an increase in overall income and independence- it is still possible to get burnt out and lose motivation. However, there are a few things that you can do to keep yourself motivated in your side hustle. In this article, we’ll look at three of the most common ones. 

 

Do Something You Enjoy 

 

First and foremost, you must find something that you enjoy doing. After all, if you don’t enjoy doing it, then it’s definitely not worth it. So, take some time to think about what you enjoy and go from there. When you’re like what you’re doing, it’s easy to maintain your drive. 

 

Make Your Schedule Work for You 

 

When you’re working a regular 9 to 5, you’re stuck working someone else’s schedule- but when you have your own hustle, you can create your schedule. You can make time to handle personal business matters, family obligations, and more. If you plan to keep your regular 9 to 5 while you’re just getting started, it’s critical that you give yourself time to adjust and don’t book yourself to do too much. When you do this, it leads to a lack of motivation. 

 

Remind Yourself of the Benefits 

 

There are reasons why you decided to start a “side hustle’ in the first place- so remind yourself of those when you start losing motivation. If you’re looking to replace your regular 9 to 5 with your side hustle, remind yourself that this “gig” means that you have the flexibility to take kids to the doctor when needed or go on class field trips or whatever it is that is important to you. When you’ work a regular 9 to 5, it’s much harder to take care of those things. Also, if you’re needing some extra cash flow, you have the ability to increase your earnings, which isn’t always the case with a regular 9 to 5 job. 

 

Keep in mind that a “side hustle” is a great way to increase your earnings- and maybe even begin a new career path. However, it can be exhausting and easy to lose motivation, but by following these three tips, you can maintain your drive and continue on your path to freedom. 

 


How to Budget Your Side Hustle Earnings


If you’re just getting started with your side hustle, you’re going to enjoy having that extra income every month. However, you are going to have to learn how to handle this extra cash. If you’re not sure what you’re doing yet- don’t panic. In this article, we’re going to look at four tips to help you budget your side hustle earnings. This will help you reach those financial goals you have been striving for much quicker than you ever thought possible. 

 

Keep Track of Your Earnings

 

First and foremost, you must keep track of the money that you are earning. If you don’t, you won’t be able to appreciate the extra income your side hustle is bringing in. In addition to being able to know what your side hustle is doing for your finances, it will help you keep track of the taxes that you owe on the money that you are earning. As an employee in a regular 9 to 5, your employer takes care of that- but as a side hustler, you are your employer and therefore, obligated to pay taxes. 

 

Watch Your Budgeting

 

There are some side hustles that have some inconsistency in earnings. You may earn $800 one month and only $500 the next. Therefore, you must learn to not depend on those good months. Instead, set your budget based on the leaner months so that you don’t end up running out of money with bills that still need to be paid. 

 

Keep Side Hustle Earnings Separate

 

One of the best ways to budget your side hustle earnings is to keep them separate from the rest of your earnings. If it’s not readily accessible, you’re less likely to spend it. Plus, if you have a savings account, you can keep your earnings in this savings account, and then earn interest on it the longer it sits. 

 

Be Careful with Debt 

 

If you can possibly start a side hustle without taking on debt, this is ideal- whether you get started by investing your savings or with no money down. If you want to turn your side hustle into a full-time gig, only take on debt if you don’t have any other options. 

 

Bottom Line 

 

A side hustle is a great way to earn some extra money- but it’s also a great way to get off track with your budget. You start seeing the money roll in and you get excited and it can cause you to go a little crazy with spending. However, if you’ll keep these four tips in mind, you can learn to budget your side hustle earnings with ease. 

 


Planning Your Week with an Online Side Hustle


You’ve decided to start a side hustle, but you’re wondering how you’re going to fit it into your schedule with your full-time job, social and personal obligations, and anything else that fills your calendar. Believe it or not, it is possible to fit a side hustle into an already busy schedule. You just need a little bit of help planning your week with an online side hustle. 

 

What Hours are You Planning to Work? 

 

The very first thing you must do is determine what your working hours will be for your side hustle. You can ask these questions: 

 

  1. How many hours will I dedicate per week? 
  2. Am I working before or after my regular job? 

 

Answering these questions is a big step in scheduling your work week with your side hustle. 

 

If you are working with clients, you’ll also need to consider what their deadlines are and schedule accordingly. 

 

Give Yourself a Buffer 

 

When you are scheduling, make sure that you give yourself a buffer. That is, consider setting your deadline a day or two earlier on your calendar so that you can be sure that you are able to meet it. 

 

Plus, if you do meet the earlier deadline, it reflects well on you with your clients and if something happens, that keeps you from meeting the deadline, you have a little bit of wiggle room. 

 

Structure Your Day/Week 

 

Once you know how much time you’re going to invest and when you’re going to do it, as well as client deadlines, you can start to build your day and week. There are 3 things to keep in mind here: 

 

  1. Time blocking: block out time that you will be working on your side hustle. You can set it up in blocks of 60 minutes or whatever works for you. This way, you remember to take breaks and don’t get too wrapped up in work. 
  2. Batching: this refers to working on same or similar tasks within your blocks of time so that you don’t have to redirect your focus. This will help you increase your productivity. 
  3. Scheduling: this is where you take those deadlines and input them into your calendar. This way, you can look at it and see what deadlines are coming up. You might also want to input a checklist so that you can check things off as you get them completed. 

 

When you decide that you want to take on a side hustle, you have to determine how you are going to fit it in with your regular obligations and responsibilities. These tips can help you plan your week with an online side hustle. 

 


Top 3 Online Jobs that Require No Experience


You’ve been looking for an online job so that you can have the flexibility that comes with working from home- but you keep finding ads that say you must have experience in that field, or at least a related one. You may start to get frustrated, but you don’t have to. 

 

There are several online jobs that require no experience. This means: 

 

  1. You don’t need experience in that field
  2. You don’t necessarily need specific skills for the job 
  3. You don’t need a degree to do the job 
  4. The job is perfect for beginners 

 

In this article, we’ll take a look at the top three online jobs that require no experience, which will give you a good springboard for starting your online job search. 

 

Content Creator 

 

A content creator is someone who can do some research and create informational articles, blog posts, reports, and more about a specific topic. There are lots of “content mills” out there where you’d be creating tons of content for little pay- but you don’t have to settle for one of these jobs. There are plenty of companies who are actually hiring content creators for their own websites and publications and some of them may even hire you as an employee instead of a contractor. What you make depends on how much effort you are willing to put into it. 

 

Transcriptionist 

 

A transcriptionist is someone who listens to audio recordings and types out what they hear. This is most often used in the educational, legal, and medical fields- though there may be some other fields that may use this service as well. You don’t need experience, but you do need to have good listening skills, a good set of headphones, and a good software program to type the transcribed conversations into. Again, what you make depends on you. Take some time to research the various companies to find out what they are paying. 

 

Virtual Assistant 

 

There are lots of small business owners and entrepreneurs that just don’t have the time to deal with the day-to-day administrative activities. This is where a virtual assistant comes in. There are some websites where you can sign up to be a virtual assistant and these professionals can find you or you can start your own virtual assistant agency. As a VA, you’ll take care of marketing, content creation, financial management, and more. 

 

There are lots of online jobs out there that require experience or education in that particular field. However, there are also many that don’t have these requirements. These are the top three online jobs that you can get with no experience. 

 


Top 3 Reasons to Work Online


If you desire flexibility and freedom in your life and you’re tired of working yourself to death for someone else, then it’s probably time that you find a job that you are able to do online from the comfort of your own home. 

 

In recent years, online jobs you can work from home have increased in popularity. Every day, more people make the jump from working a regular 9 to 5 job where they feel unfulfilled to working online from home at a job where they feel like they’re doing something for themselves and others. Are you ready to work online? In this article, we’ll take a look at the top 3 reasons to work online. 

 

No More Commute 

 

As long as there is an available internet connection, you are able to work. You don’t lose valuable time on a commute. Instead, those hours can be spent leisurely drinking your morning coffee- or even getting right to work. Think about it: if you have an hour commute, you’re losing 10 hours a week on driving- at a minimum. That’s not counting on any extra traffic. If you can work from home, you don’t have to worry about losing that time. 

 

Freedom & Flexibility with Work 

 

There are lots of different ways you can generate an income online. In fact, every day there seems to be something new pop up. Therefore, when you work online from home, you have options. You can take surveys, set up affiliate accounts at various retailers, write product reviews, and so much more. If you do something for awhile and you get tired of it, you can switch it up. 

 

You are Your Boss 

 

Perhaps the greatest reason to work online from home is the fact that you are your own boss. This means that you can take time off when you need or want to, you can work extra if you want to. Being your own boss is such a feeling of freedom. You no longer have to worry so much about punching a time clock. 

 

Bottom Line 

 

If you are considering an online work from home job, keep these things in mind as the top 3 reasons to work online. Of course, there are many more- these are just the ones that people most often mention when they are making their case for working online from home. 

 


Top 5 Highest Paying Online Side Hustles


We are living in the age of remote work and more people are going to online side hustles every day for some extra income. All you need for online work is a computer and a stable internet connection. Of course, you’ll also need some patience and determination, but it is possible to earn a decent income through online side hustles- and possibly even reach the point where you can replace your full-time job with an online one. In this article, we’ll take a look at five of the highest paying online side hustles.

 

Online Coaching 

 

If you are good a guiding people, online coaching may be a good option for you. There are no special skills needed- and it pays quite well. Simply figure out what you’re really good at and offer coaching in that area. If you’re not sure that it would work for you, consider hiring a coach to guide you through the process. You can learn more about it and figure out if it’s something that you’re truly interested in. Average earnings are around $57,000 per year. 

 

Online Teaching 

 

In the past few years, online learning has become the preferred method for most people because it offers flexibility. Students are not stuck on a specific schedule that they have to be in class at a certain time. Teachers are able to be more flexible as well and can schedule classes around their own schedule. Average earnings are around $47,000 per year.

 

Virtual Assistant 

 

Many people are starting their own businesses and realize quickly that they don’t always have time for the “details” of the business. This is where they hire a VA to help them. The VA takes care of things like emails, scheduling meetings, and more so that they business owner is freed up to do other things. Average earnings are around $60,000 per year.

 

Freelancing 

 

Being a freelancer is a lot like being in an office, but with much more flexibility. You can try new things and work with a variety of clients to find what you’re really good at. You are in charge of how much you earn. If a contract isn’t paying well enough, you can negotiate it to make more. Average earnings are around $45,000 per year- more if you have specialized skills such as web coding. 

 

Dropshipping 

 

This is a great option because it allows you to sell products without having to purchase inventory. This means that you can focus on your customer experience and marketing your products. Average earnings are around $50,000 per year. 

 

As you can see, there are several side gig that pay pretty good, if you’re willing to put in the effort to make them work. You can use this income as “extra” money to set aside for other things or you may even be able to replace your full-time income. 

 


Sunday 10 April 2022

The 4 Habits of Highly Effective Video Marketers


If you change your habits, you will change your results. Take that to the bank. I'm willing to bet everything on that statement.

 

Because when you change your habits, you change the way you think, you change the way you talk, and most importantly, you change the way you behave.

 

Listen up, people couldn't care less about your feelings. I don't want to be the first person to let you in on that truth, but it's the absolute truth.

 

How come? Well, all people have feelings. Feelings are a dime a dozen. You're feeling one way one second, then you're feeling another way another second. So what?

 

What matters is what you do. That's when the world sits up and pays attention. That's the point in time where you actually change your world. You will be judged based on what you do, not your feelings.

 

This is why it's really important to change your habits. Because if you are any way, shape or form, unhappy with the results you are getting, it may because of your habits.

 

As a video marketer, you know that there is money to be made. You know that this is not a fantasy. You know that this is not theory, speculation or somebody's opinion. This is the real deal.

 

People are banking. People are killing it. But why not you? What are they doing right that you are doing wrong? What did you miss out on? Well, it can boil down to your habits.

 

The good news? Study the habits of successful video marketers and adopt them. Again, change your habits and you change your results.

 

Here are the 4 habits of highly effective and successful video marketers.

 

Habit #1: They reverse engineer their competitors

 

The first thing that I noticed about highly effective video marketers is that they don't reinvent the wheel. They definitely do not suffer from the classic "build it and they will come" mindset that has bankrupted so many marketers before them.

 

Instead, they focus on what works. They focus on what everybody else got right and uses that information to build their online marketing empires.

 

In other words, they build their businesses on the bedrock of tried and proven success. They're not speculating, they're not taking shots in the dark, they're not hoping for the best coming up with something hot, no. They focus on stuff that already exists and use the same topics and themes and present video with a particular brand-building twist.

 

Habit #2: They constantly test

 

I have yet to meet a successful marketer who just stuck with one solution throughout their career. If they did that, they would quickly start to starve.

 

Successful marketers understand that market sentiments and consumer trends change quickly. This is why they always try to remain several steps ahead of the market. They're constantly testing.

 

How do they do this? Well, they would take a video ad, for example, and come up with many different variations. They would run traffic through the video ad and pay attention to the results.

 

If it turns out that one variation is converting at a much higher rate, then they would take that variation and come up with even more variations of it, and run the traffic again. They then take the winner that leads to higher conversions, and repeat the process again and again.

 

They only stop once the video no longer improves in conversions. They've reached a peak conversion rate.

 

What do they do then? They buy a lot of traffic, or they go on a massive free traffic-generation campaign. And it all boils down to constant testing.

 

Habit #3: They constantly scale up their operations

 

Highly effective video marketers are not content with just one small video in one channel making, let's say, $1,000 a month. A lot of people would think that that's success. No.

 

Successful marketers understand that if they are able to make $1,000 per month, they can make $10,000. If they can make $10,000, then they can make $100,000. If they can make $100,000, they can make $1,000,000. And on and on it goes.

 

The secret? Scaling.

 

So, what they would do is they would constantly test different content and see if it converts, and then they would take what works and replicate it across many different platforms into a larger scale or maybe they can use it to promote other products.

 

Whatever the case may be, they're scaling up. They're not thinking small time. They have huge mental horizons. They don't just focus on a neat, tidy little box in front of them.

 

Habit #4: They focus on conversions

 

I have to admit, this is one habit that I should have adopted early on in my video marketing career. Unfortunately, I did not.

 

Just with a lot of marketers who are wet behind the ears, I got all excited about the fact that my videos were getting a lot of traffic. I would upload video after video on YouTube and, sure enough, just like clockwork, people would click on the link in the description page.

 

It seems like people love my videos enough to go to my sales page link. But here's the problem. They would click the link, and promptly do nothing. My videos got a lot of traffic, but I also got a whole lot of nothing.

 

It took several months for it to finally dawn on me. In fact, "dawn on me" is too mild of a phrase. It just hit me like a ton of bricks. It's as if these bricks just came out of the sky and just pegged me on the head. It was a painful realization to say the least.

 

I was focusing on click-through. I was focusing on reach. I was focusing on traffic volume. I was focusing visits. In other words, I was focusing on all the stuff that, at the end of the day, doesn't really matter.

 

Because you know what matters? Whether dollars appear in your bank account or they don't. That's what matters. Dollars only appear when you convert traffic into cold hard cash.

 

Highly effective video marketers focus on conversions from the beginning. Before they even sit down to create a video, they're already thinking of conversions. Before they even think about writing the script or outsourcing the script to somebody else or retaining a voice-over talent, they're already thinking about conversions.

 

At the end of the day, it's about conversions, conversions, conversions. That's why they're successful and most other video marketers continue to struggle.

 

Make no mistake, you need to adopt the 4 habits of highly effective video marketers sooner rather than later. You can only take so many hits before you start seriously thinking about quitting.

 

I'm sorry to report that the only way to fail is to quit. So don't quit.

 

You already know the habits of highly effective video marketers. Adopt these habits. Change your habits and you change your results.

 


How to Craft Video Calls to Action that Really Work!


I remember when I first got into video marketing, I would watch one video after another. This stuff was really fascinating because a lot of the materials that I was viewing really told great stories.

 

Many of them were well produced, they were crisp, they were clear. Many cracked jokes. In many cases, a lot of these videos connected with me on a very deep level. In fact, a tremendous amount of them were very insightful.

 

They taught me a lot of things that I did not know before. I was able to connect the dots as far as online marketing goes, thanks to these videos. In fact, I owe a lot of my skill set to these videos.

 

Interestingly enough, despite the dozens of marketing videos I consumed, I never really signed up for any of the products they were promoting. Believe me, they were promoting products. That's the main reason they were produced in the first place.

 

It's not like the marketing experts and gurus behind these materials had nothing else better to do. They definitely were not producing high quality, high cost educational videos for their health.

 

Where did they fail? Where did they go wrong? What element did they fail to include in their video? This omission, it turns out, was one of the most important lessons I, as a marketer, had to learn.

 

It's one thing to produce a video that's slick, talks about the right things, creates the right emotional environment, but ultimately, if you don't include an effective call to action, you're just wasting your time.

 

It's as if you got the viewer to get all pumped up and excited about the fact that you can solve a problem, but you did not get around to letting the viewer know that they should sign up for your solution. Talk about a joy kill. Talk about going 99% of the way, only to drop the ball when it counted the most.

 

Sadly, even the most polished videos commit this mistake.

 

Here are the steps that I use to create video calls to action that really work.

 

First, I start out with a case study. You have to remember that a human brain makes sense of the world through stories. There are lots of data in the world, but the human brain doesn't function with data.

 

When you are presented with raw data, you can't make heads or tails out of them. Instead, you want to piece it all together into a form you can readily recognize and you can readily engage with. This is where personal case studies or stories come in.

 

You can talk until you're blue in the face regarding a particular business opportunity, but believe me, people are more likely to listen to you if you tell them the story of your uncle who actually carried out and took advantage of a particular business opportunity.

 

All of a sudden, what would have been a theoretical opportunity to make money becomes a real personal experience that you would want to listen to.

 

I always start out with a case study, and I walk the viewer through the story elements of the case study. This leads me to the benefits.

 

Basically, they have a problem and we distill that problem using a story form into benefits. I spell these out. I clearly identify them.

 

And then, now that we have established that they should shoot for certain benefits, I line up other solutions that supposedly bring the same benefits.

 

But here's the catch, I use a comparison method. The other methods that competitors bring to the table may be too expensive, take a long time to use, fall apart quickly, are inconvenient, or have a bad reputation.

 

Whatever the case may be, I would line them up regarding how well they deliver the benefit, then I would find a hole. I would find a weakness. I would find the inadequacy. I would find something missing.

 

I then bring it all down to a crescendo. It is kind of like a classical concert, there's a crescendo.

 

Now that we know that there are these set of benefits that we're shooting for, but a lot of the stuff out there simply fall flat for a variety of reasons, there must be one solution. There must be at least one exception to this.

 

And that's where I talk about my solution. I talk about how my solution, which leads to the product or service that I'm promoting, succeeds where everybody else fails.

 

Of course, I do this in a strategic way. I'm not going to compare the strongest points of the competitors to the weak spot of the product that I'm selling. That does not make any sense. That makes me look like a fool. That makes my product or offer look weak.

 

Instead, I line up what's wrong with the other alternatives out there, and then I compare that or I line that up with the strongest point of the service or product I'm promoting. This is how you distinguish the solution. This is how your solution appears black and white.

 

I then create an emotional hook with the benefits. Since the video begins and ends with a focus on benefits, I then create an emotional connection between the action that they're about to take and the benefits that they will get.

 

"Wouldn't you like to live your best life today instead of constantly waiting?" "Wouldn't you like to get the best skin that leads to greater confidence and greater appreciation?" "Don't you deserve a better life because you finally let go of your belly fat? "

 

There has to be an emotional hook. And this emotional hook must be directly plugged into the benefits. Because the more you remind the viewer of the benefits that they would be getting, the tighter the connection between your solution and those benefits.

 

They develop a sense of emotional urgency and don't be surprised if they whip out their credit card at that point to fill out an online form so they can add dollars to your bank account.

 

That is the bottom line. It's all about crafting video calls to action with the right emotional punch.