What are the top ten criteria when creating a side hustle?
My experience in side hustles is limited, but I'll describe it: I did various freelancing gigs on Upwork and Fiverr, mostly comedy writing (which turned into my main job), and I self-published erotica on Amazon for a while (I might get back to it).
I'll approach this from the perspective of someone interested in side hustles and from the perspective of someone running an online service business for not very long (I'm still mostly working on it by myself).
1. Does it stand out?
I see so many people on Twitter offering the exact same services. I don't see the point.
2. Ability to spread the word about it
3. It should be at least somewhat fun to work on
4. Build in public
5. Effective hourly rate and future earning potential
At the start, it's normal to make little to no money, but once you become successful at it, how much will you really be earning?
6. Validation
A big one that's easy to forget when getting excited: is anybody actually interested in this? There are ways to find out. A good start would be to ask your friends and acquaintances as well as folks on social media (including NotePD). I also created a Facebook group for this, it's tiny and I'm not sure how I will grow it but I thought it might lead to something nice in the future.
7. Leverage
Can you get to the point where you keep earning more with the same amount of work?
8. Health
For example, if your side hustle idea somehow requires working at night, you might want to reconsider it due to health concerns.
9. ROI
If you're going to spend money on it, let's say on ads, how much can you expect to earn back if spent properly? Selling socks might not be as efficient as selling snowplows.
10. How fast can you start?
I love Noah Kagan's approach of starting a business in a weekend. I procrastinated a lot on my own business and I would have benefitted from going all-in with a short deadline.
11. BONUS: Organic growth potential
Let's add an 11th one.
What's the organic growth potential? I've thought about this back when I wanted to try e-commerce (I still do but not in the immediate future). Some things are surely easier to make content about. Especially when it comes to funny content. If you're hesitating between selling pickles and selling underwear, think of which one inspires you the most when it comes to creating content (and ask people what they think).
Or let's say you're thinking of either selling digital products or a physical product: maybe the physical product will be easier to promote because you can post UGC videos? (I guess that wouldn't count as organic growth then) This wouldn't mean you would necessarily have to go with the physical product but it might be a factor to consider.
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