While your biggest reason for starting a side hustle in 2024 is financial freedom, finding a niche that you’re passionate about and offers long-term growth is the key to making it successful. Market demands fluctuate throughout seasons and your side hustle should be adaptable to meet them. As an entrepreneur and rental business coach, I spent a good amount of time researching the market before I started my first business. It helped me know my audience better and adapt the business from a practical perspective.
Here are 8 side hustle tips to find your niche:
1. Find Your Strengths and Passions
It’s all about blending what excites you with what you excel at, so that your side hustle is not only profitable but also enjoyable. For example, if crafting is your happy place, why not turn that into a business making handmade jewelry? Or, if you’re the person everyone turns to for help in a certain subject, think about how fulfilling tutoring could be.
2. Research Market Demand
Once you have a list of potential niches, find the current market demand. Tools like Google Trends, Google Keyword Planner, and social media analytics are great to know what people are searching for and talking about. For example, if you notice a growing interest in reusable moving boxes, you can start a rental business focused around it in your city.
3. Assess the Competition
Investigate who else is operating in your potential niche. Take a good analytical look at your competitors and identify gaps that you can fill. That’s called adding more value, you don’t always need to reinvent the wheel.
Say you’re interested in starting a home bakery. Research other local bakeries and find out what’s lacking in your town. It could be a lack of fresh gluten-free cakes, cakes made with unprocessed sweeteners like dates and jaggery, or as simple as nut cakes.
4. Start Small and Test
Use what you already have and invest just enough to get the ball rolling. Take service-based side hustles for example. If you know logo design, you can make some logo mockups for businesses around you that haven’t updated theirs in a long time. Reach out to them and ask if they’d like to work together. Offer your services at a discounted rate to build your portfolio.
If you’re looking into something like personal training or event planning, offer your services to friends or community events to build experience and credibility. For crafty side hustles like knitting, platforms like Etsy or eBay allow you to start selling with minimal upfront costs.
4. Use Online Platforms
A lot of online platforms already have niche users, so breaking into the industry won’t be difficult. If you’re a reseller, instead of selling on Amazon, build your e-commerce website on Shopify and use SEO and paid marketing to bring in traffic. Try Etsy for handmade products. You can use Udemy to sell online courses.
5. Network and Collaborate
Attend local events, join online communities, or collaborate with other small businesses in related niches. This works great during holidays as you can offer gift hampers and make your product more appealing.
This helps in forming long-term partnerships and free publicity. For example, if you’re an artist, you can collaborate with a local coffee shop to display your art and in return pay them a part of your profit.
7. Use Social Media Marketing
Each social media platform has its perks. Facebook is great for service-based businesses, while Instagram and TikTok are useful for unique products like candles, pottery, and clothes. It goes without saying, but regular posts, engaging content, and interacting with your audience will increase your reach.
8. Be Patient and Persistent
Success doesn’t happen overnight. Continuously learn, adapt, and refine your strategies. Remember, every successful business started as a small idea. Give yourself a fixed amount of time to work on a side hustle idea and if it doesn’t work out, move onto the next one. That’s why, start with a small budget, so you don’t feel disappointed if it isn’t successful.
Carrie’s Courses offers an excellent 14-week side hustle course that focuses on building a moving box rental business. We’ve built this program with a special interest in sustainability and work-life balance and is recommended for stay-at-home parents or teachers wanting to add supplemental income. Book a Clarity Call with Carrie to know more!
