Resources For Your Side Hustle!
No matter at what stage your side hustle is at, your needs are great and financial resources are typically limited. So, you want to maximize whatever tools you can with the least amount of out of pocket expenses. Even then, remember…
You should never invest a bunch of money before you have fully validated your side hustle to know that it has a very high probability to be successful!
OK, so here are some of tools and resources that I deploy both online and off. Some are completely free and others may have a cost. Know that some of these links may allow me to earn a commission. However, you are never paying any more (and sometimes paying less). More importantly, I either use, have used or highly believe in every resource here. I will never put up a link just to make a buck.
CRM – Email marketing
Let’s face it, there are a lot of email marketing software available. Every side hustle business should be building an email list! If you are well along your side hustle journey and into online marketing, you may need something as robust as Infusionsoft. But if you are just starting out your side hustle, ConvertKit just works. It isn’t so simple that you will soon outgrow it. And it isn’t so technical that the average side hustler won’t know what to do with it. They have a ton of videos and it also goes to the side hustler motto of “If it is good AND free, then it is for me!” You won’t be paying until you actually have a viable list. I am using it and am happy.
Remember what I said above? Every side hustle business needs an email list! Why? Because they may not be in need when they find you and you want your business to be top of mind when they do. As such, anything you can do to build your list is critical to your success! OptIn Monster will help you to instantly grow your email list, get more leads and increase sales. Need I say more
Sumo – Similar to OptinMonster, Sumo has a variety of tools to help build your email list. It may be a bit more robust than OptinMonster, but also has a monthly cost which can be a deterrent to beginning Side Hustlers.
Link Shorteners
URL shorteners allow you to take a long URL and make it easier to both remember and for someone to type to get them to the desired page. They can be a great asset when you have limited amount of characters. For example, https://www.findingyoursidehustle.com/course could be shortened to shorturl.at/yUX26
Bit.ly – For a long while, bit.ly has been the gold standard for URL shortners. Bit.ly will help you maximize the impact of every link you put out. It has a great dashboard to manage your links and plan campaigns around
TinyURL – all you have to do is go to TinyURL.com and follow the instructions to quickly make a custom link that will be shorter and more memorable. The challenge you may have with bit.ly and TinyURL is that they have been too popular and getting something memorable may already be taken.
Pretty Links – If you are using WordPress, Pretty Links if the way to go! Pretty Links is a plug in on your site that enables you to shorten links using your own domain name (as opposed to using tinyurl.com, bit.ly, or any other link shrinking service)! In addition to creating clean links, Pretty Links tracks each hit on your URL and provides a full, detailed report of where the hit came from, the browser, os and host.
Screen Capture and Recording Software
Snagit – IMHO, forget about Microsoft’s Snipping Tool. Snagit has it beat hands down. Besides letting you quickly capture a particular region on your screen, or to record a video of what you are seeing, it also will scroll down and capture an entire page. More importantly, you can tag images and retrieve them easily. It also creates a library that you can go back in time. They have both a Free and purchase version.
Screencast o Matic – This tool allows you to record up to 15 minutes at a time for free (has watermark in corner) or upgrade for $15 @ year.
Online Sales Platforms
Shopify – Shopify is an eCommerce platform to make it easy to sell both physical and digital products. If you have something to sell, you can pretty much get your product up and loaded in about 30 minutes. It has a bunch of apps that you can add to expand functionality and efficiency to your site.
Credit Card Processing
PayPal – Whether you are just starting up or have an established side hustle, PayPal is an easy way to send or receive money, as well as generate invoices with one of the oldest and most trusted online processing platforms around.
Other credit card processes are likely to have a monthly fee. With PayPal, you only pay when you use it. If you have a service business, it is tough to beat for a beginning side hustler with a fee of 4.4% + $.30 USD. I do believe they have tiered fees where the more you use it, the less you pay. I know of several multi million dollar businesses who use PayPal almost exclusively.
Invoice processing
While it is great to start your side hustle, you know what is even better? Getting paid! For side hustlers, finding the right tool can be a bit of a challenge. Here’s some to get you started!
Invoiced – These folks make a side hustlers life a little easier as Invoiced will allow you to customize your invoice by having your logo and leaving notes to go along with your terms and conditions to get your invoices paid. It’s available online, so you can throw an invoice on the fly if you need to.
FreshBooks – FreshBooks has a free invoice creation service that is highly reliable and very professional looking. Customize it and then indicate what fields you want to be mandatory. I like this software!
Business Startup Funding
Kickstarter – KickStarter is probably the best known of the crowdfunding sites that can provide you an opportunity to gather funding from around the world. Some of these campaigns have the ability to raise millions and turn your dreams into reality. Essentially, you are asking for the online world to take an interest in your project and give you some partial funding in return for anything from an acknowledgement to getting a deal on the initial product. Kickstarter is for real, but I think most side hustles can fund their business in other ways.
Graphic design
Canva – If you aren’t a graphic designer and need a simple application (it doesn’t get much easier than drag and drop), Canva is something you should look at. I have used in in previous endeavors as my main InstaGram design tool. When you combine the capabilities and the price (as little as $.00), it is tough to beat in creating graphics for your social media, blog posts and even a logo.
Freepik – If creating graphics is not your cup of tea, freepik might be a better alternative. It is a mixture of pictures and graphics that you can use for a blog post or your website (if you have a side hustle, you need a website…even a minimal one). You can get almost all of the graphic pics/clips you need here and it also priced right for side hustlers (free as long as you credit the website on each graphic you use). Currently, the paid version is only $8.77 a month if you don’t want to credit freepik. Either way, you are getting graphics to make your business, blog post or other design stand out.
Adobe Spark – Use Adobe Spark as an alternative to Canva when you are wanting to design graphics on your mobile device. One difference is that you are not limited to create just social graphics and web pages…you can also do short videos! It is free and they have a different set of templates than Canva does. Priced for Side Hustlers budgets, it is free.
A word about accessing Stock Photos at Side Hustle Prices (Free)
When you are running your side hustle and want to make a statement, whether it is a brochure, powerpoint presentation or a website (it really is something you need if not for anything but credibility), you need to come to grips with content alone is not going to set you apart. People need graphics to “cement your story”. These are currently all free (although some may ask for you to credit the contributor)
Burst – Stunning stock photos that are perfect for blogs and websites…all free for commercial use!
Unsplash – Photos for everyone. They make it easy to both download photos by category, but to also attribute who was so gracious to provide them.
Negative Space – When you need high-end, corporate shots to reflect your side hustle. You might see some duplicates from other sites (which can be a good thing so you find the right site for you and stick with it as a primary source)
StockSnap.io –Hundreds of high resolution images added weekly that are free from copyright restrictions.
Free video stock??
Mazwai – May not be my first choice, but it may just have what you want or need…for free J
Coverr – F word as a value: Free! They do their best to make great videos accessible to anyone! Not everything on the site is free, but there should be something in there to get you where you need to be.
Videvo – This site offers free stock videos and graphics for use in any project free of charge. They also have music and sounds. That being said, not everything is free (which is cool…we all want to make money J )
Web Hosting
Bluehost – When I begin to get serious about doing a side hustle, I knew I had to make some changes. And web hosting was one of the first ones to make. I did a study of speed, performance, customer service, uptime and cost. When you look at the reviews, Bluehost won hands down. So, I have moved most of my domains and sites here. They have the tools you need and ultimately the price is tough to beat. I am a fan J
HostMonster – I used to do everything through HostMonster as they were cheap and reliable. Comparatively, they are still inexpensive. And I thought there customer service was good. But in terms of performance and ultimately site up time, there were not consistent. I still have some domains still there and it might be a good option to pursue. They have 1 click WordPress install and a lot of tools that help the average side hustler just starting up at a low price.
Team Management
LastPass – Let’s face it, passwords rule our life. And, oh by the way, they are a challenge to maintain. Now add in that successful side hustlers typically have a team, your comfort level might go a little on tilt. LastPass conquers that. It allows you to safely share your passwords with family or team members. Check it out!
IFTTT (If This, Then That) – IFTTT is a free cloud workflow tool that allows you to get all of your apps and devices to work based on trigger based events. I have used it in connection with Buffer and it was amazing. Perhaps it became too popular because depending on what you are trying to accomplish, it has not been as reliable as it used to be. Still, for the price, it is still viable.
Zapier – Allows you to start workflows from any app! Do you have a repeatable process that you would like to automate? Zapier is for you. For example, when an email comes into your Gmail, you could have Zapier automatically pass a copy of the attachment into Dropbox for your Virtual Assistant to do something with and then would alert you in Slack or Asana when the task is completed. You don’t have to be a gearhead to create these and anything a side hustle owner can do to simplify their life is a good thing J
Building Your Team
If you are like most of us, when you first start your side hustle, the budget is tight. And while you love the thought of building a team to help you grow your business, there is a harsh reality that financially it is a challenge.
Well, if you are thinking about taking on a Virtual Assistant and you still only have sporadic tasks for them to do, consider a part time VA.
OKAY Relax – For as little as $30 @ month, you can off load some of your tasks that can free you up to focus on bringing in new business (or to do the things you just don’t want to) Whether it is reminders to get presents, triage email, unsubscribe (don’t even think about it J ), coordinate your meetings, provide pricing and so much more, Okay Relax can assist you.
Fiverr – If you aren’t familiar with Fiverr, you should be. I have used them for everything from logo creation, doodle videos, graphics, transcribing, facebook group graphics and podcast graphics. And that is just the tip of the iceberg…all for as little as just $5. You may not think of them as a Virtual Assistant, but they are there. Many times, I look for folks who are just getting started and get amazing values that in turn I give a great review.
Efficise – similar to OkayRelax, Efficise has been providing VA services for over 5 years and have plans beginning at Side Hustle affordable $15 @ month.
Fancy Hands – if you want to have your VA worker be based in the US, Fancy Hands can do that from $30.00 @ month. They have a large pool of US based VA’s that can turn tasks around quickly…often in less than an hour from the time you request it!
Handy Side Hustle Connection Productivity Tools
Evernote – Not sure where I would be without this app/software! You have your iCloud or your OneDrive. But for my experience, I just love the ease (and the cost) of using this tool. I keep handy info there that save me time and energy of not having to look up.
Project Management
It isn’t unusual for Side Hustle business owners to be working on multiple projects at once until they find the right one (check out my Finding Your Side Hustle free course). And even if you are focused on a single side hustle, you want to be able to manage day to day activities to hit deadlines and collaborate with others on your team. In order to do that, you are going to need some help. Check these out to see which one you prefer.
ASANA – Asana provides the tools you need to manage your side hustle, hit your deadlines and achieve your objectives to be successful. The basic plan is free and will handle most side hustle projects out of the gate!
Slack – If you are into collaboration with other people on your side hustle, consider Slack. Overall, it will cut down your email chains, allow you to assign tasks and due dates and will let you know exactly where your project is at any time. Slack plans begin at free and offer literally thousands of integrations to bring everything together.
Trello – Trello allows you to collaborate with other team members on your side hustle to get more done. Whether it is their lists, boards and cards, Trello can help to organize and prioritize tasks to get your side hustle going in the right direction. While it is easy for side hustle folks to use, the free version may not be as robust as the others (but probably will do what you need)
Social Media Management
When you first begin your side hustle journey, it is likely you are wearing a bunch of hats. You are sales, delivery, possibly manufacturing, scheduling, administration and so much more. When you add the social media hat to the mix, your head becomes heavy and wobbly (which is when the other hats begin to fall off). That is not what a side hustle owner needs
You want the ability to create content, schedule posts, engage with followers and potential customers, all the while being engaged. The best way to manage that is to initially automate what you can.
To be clear, there are some pretty robust social media tools. The ones posted here are geared to help budget conscious side hustlers get out of the gate without being overwhelmed.
And if you have run out of ideas for posts/content, use Hubspots Blog Ideas Generator to juice your creative thoughts and come up with a week’s worth of content.
Buffer – Buffer is a free social media management tool that will accommodate Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook and LinkedIn. It allows you to create and schedule posts in advance so social media doesn’t overwhelm you and side hustle owners can focus on their business!
Socialoomph – These folks have been around for quite awhile and have long time users (which has to say something J ) The free account may not let you post as many posts per hour as you want, but probably as many as you need J and is easy to use. If you like old school, stop looking.
Legal Assistance
To be clear, there is not a great substitute to having your own trusted legal advisor on retainer. However, when you are getting your side hustle started, you may want some assistance in the name of generic forms or agreements. Even though these are just tools, be sure to check to insure you and your side hustle are on the right side of the legal fence before you deploy. Or in other words…use these references at your own peril!
Docracy – Docracy is a depository of open source contracts and other legal forms that are freely available to everyone. Additionally, the site helps start up and side hustlers help to compare their legal documents against trusted documents available elsewhere. You can even do ESigning using this platform.
LegalZoom – If your legal needs have exceeded your reach, LegalZoom typically provides a cost effective place to have those needs met. Whether you are looking for protection in the formation of your hustle, a question regarding some intellectual property you are developing or you just plain need to ask an attorney some questions, LegalZoom can accommodate you.
Appointment Schedulers
Let’s face it. As a side hustle owner, you lead a pretty hectic life. You probably don’t have the time or the resources to be able to respond to everyone who wants some of your time. Prospects and customers can be given time slots (and appointment lengths) that you set up to make an appointment with you. They then choose the time and workflow takes the hassle of sending them a confirmation and reminder email of your upcoming appointment. It is one of the first automations that a side hustle owner should set up.
Square – An all in one solution that includes customer booking, integrated payments as well as automated text and email reminders, Square checks many of the boxes on a side hustle owners list.
Setmore – If you need your prospects or customers to set appointments with you on a calendar you control, Setmore is tough to beat for side hustlers. They have a ton of integrations that will work with apps like Gmail, social marketing and so much more. You can drag and drop rescheduling, block off times and of course is accessible through your mobile. Check it out.
10to8 – For most folks that rely on having prospects/customers schedule their own appointments, 10to8 might be a great solution. If you are booking less than 100 appointments a month (and if you are booking more, then you may be willing to pay for something more customized), the free version will most likely meet your needs.
That’s quite a list! However…
And you would be correct! It IS a long list of tools and resources that side hustle owners have access to. However, we live in an ever changing world. And the internet changes even faster than that! So, there may be something that YOU are using. if so, email us at: info@sidehustleconnection.com