Why Blogging Is The Perfect Side Hustle

So you want to make more money, but you don’t know where to start.

Trust me, I’ve been there.

Over the years I’ve tried everything from working second jobs, to writing Kindle ebooks but I keep on coming back to blogging as the perfect side hustle.

Today I’d like to tell you about my own personal experiences with blogging – and why I think starting a blog of your own can be a very smart financial move…

Starting a Blog to Pay Off Debt

One of the key strategies I employed while working my way out of debt was to increase my income in any way possible.

It makes perfect sense of course; higher earnings means more money to pay off debt – and so the sooner you can become debt free.

But even once you’ve paid off your debt that extra income can come in handy. It lets you live a more comfortable lifestyle, save for the future and worry less about everyday living expenses. This is especially so if, like me, you start your debt repayment journey earning a rather unimpressive salary.

To this end I considered all sorts of options, many of which I’d tried in the past.

For me, working a second job just didn’t appeal. I was already working a 55+ hour week, and had very little free time. I worried that working a second job would just lead to burn-out. And this was besides the fact that my days off changed each week – so trying to fit a second job around just a varied schedule proved next to impossible.

In truth, I also didn’t want to earn peanuts from my efforts. Most of the “second jobs” on offer paid minimum wage, meaning I’d be giving up my days off in exchange for very little money.

And so it was that I decided blogging was likely the way forward. Even today, now I’m debt free, I maintain a number of blogs on a variety of subjects, and earn an income from them. It’s something I intend to continue doing for a long time into the future.

But if you’re looking for ways to make extra money, what are the real benefits of starting your own blog…?

Minimal Startup Capital Required

The first big benefit of starting your own blog is that it costs next to nothing to get started. Unlike traditional businesses, where you might spend a five figure sum getting started, blogging costs next to nothing. All you need are a website address and a hosting account and you can get started.

Everything else is available free, or can be bought over time from your earnings.

Don’t believe me? BlueHost, one of the most reputable blog hosts in the world, are offering X

Flexible Working Hours

One of the most critical benefits of blogging from my perspective is that you’re not forced to work to a schedule. You can truly put in as much time as you have available, without a boss breathing down your neck.

From my own experience I would sometimes spend days on end writing new articles, queue them up to be published on a schedule and then not need to touch my sites for days or even weeks on end.

If you’re juggling a full-time career and/or a family this flexibility to work when it suits you is worth its weight in gold.

Residual Income

Let’s be honest; while it is entirely possible to make money blogging (I do!) it can take time for your income to grow. Don’t be under misapprehension that you can start a blog today and be earning money by the weekend; that just ain’t how things work.

However what you *will* find is that as time goes on your income should continue to rise; whether or not you’re working directly on your site. Indeed, having this “residual income” coming in, whether you’re working on your blog or not, is another critical benefit.

At a job, I only earn money when I turn up and put the effort in. With a blog I earn money continually, even when I’m asleep. Waking up in the morning to find you’ve already earned some money that day never seems to get tired for me!

Freebies

Let’s be honest; companies need bloggers. Many of the bigger blogs receive impressive volumes of traffic each day – the exact type of people that companies want to get infront of.

Just imagine that you’d launched a new baby product, and want to increase awareness of it. One of the best routes is to get bloggers talking about your product, so their audiences all get to see it.

To this end its not unusual for bloggers to receive free gifts from companies in exchange for featuring them on their sites. We’re talking about anything from free make-up to vacations.

Building a blog around your passions, therefore, can not only earn you money – but it can also *save* you money on account of all the potential freebies you can land.

New Friends

While there are a handful of people who set up blogs purely as a way to make money, in reality most people start a blog because they’re passionate about something. The money, in many ways, comes second.

That means that starting your own blog – and then networking with other bloggers – can be a great way to make loads of new friends – all of whom share similar interests to yourself. These days I have a network of people who I’ve never met in person; yet I chat to on an almost daily basis, and its a great feeling to have such a support network in place.

Big Paydays

The final benefit of starting a blog as a side hustle is that you’re not just limited to your regular daily or monthly earnings. Blogs can also be sold – just like a traditional business – for a huge payday. At present most blogs are selling for 20-30 times their monthly income, meaning that if you work hard and build your blog up to $2,000 a month in income, you could potentially sell it for $60,000 at any point.

Of course this all depends on a suitable buyer coming along, and being willing to shell out the required cash, but its important to point out that growing your blog is also growing your investments. If you dream of buying your own boat, putting down a deposit on a new home or some other venture which requires a fair amount of capital then starting and growing a blog to maturity can be one of the most enjoyable ways to raising the eventual cash in due course.