And how to make this income on the regular.
Madiskarte. This Filipino word has no direct English translation but reflects how quickly Filipinos think of their feet and make the best of things. It’s not uncommon to hear someone juggling their day job and a side hustle or two to make ends meet, to share their expertise, or simply because they found a way to manage all of them. Now that the workplace is brought online, the virtual office makes side hustling all the more convenient.
With patience and perseverance, one can find his niche and double his usual salary through side hustles. And now we bring the diskarte cheat sheet for everyone, too – the top 10 online side hustles in the Philippines, the best sites and applications to help out, and how these can be done on the regular.
- Sell Preloved Items
Got a whole lot of time and a lot of unnecessary things stored away? Now’s a great time to turn trash into cash – and space. But first, check if the item can be sold as it is – if the answer is yes, online selling is a great way to move them out.
Goods can be resold based on their current condition and benchmarking the market value for similar items. These can be sold in online marketplaces such as Facebook Marketplace, Carousell, or international vintage fashion e-store Depop. It’s surprising what can fall under a secondhand marketplace – from clothing and books to furniture and appliances! There’s something to be said about the charm – and bargain prices – of a preloved good, so even as new things continuously pop up, someone will always have room for the old.
On the regular: New finds keep people coming back for more. A trick to having new content is to sort and re-sort items into curated collections and have these posted regularly. Also, try consolidating items with friends for more products “in-store”.
2. Freelance Writing and Editing Skills
In the age of digital and especially now in this quarantine, content is king. Companies scramble to churn out content to keep themselves current in the minds of their consumers. More demand for content brings more demand for content generators as well. For aspiring writers, freelancing is a great creative outlet – or a guilty pleasure for grammar Nazis – while earning on the side.
Online work recruitment portals such as Upwork and Fiverr facilitate safe contracts and payments among freelancers and clients. Jobs are charged per article or per hour, with some going so far as charging per word.
On the regular: Choose writing jobs based on unique skills and interests, and create personal proposals to get noticed – clients can tell genuine proposals from the copy-paste ones. It also helps to look for clients providing regular work, and offer a trial run to align on expectations. Keep persevering and the leads will come!
3. Be a Part-Time Virtual Assistant or a Social Media Manager
Contrary to popular belief, managing someone’s schedule or social network accounts need not be a full-time, in-office job. Bosses are more than willing to offload these to digitally savvy part-timers with a knack for organization and a bit of creativity. Sourcing these jobs can be found in Upwork, Fiverr, and the like, but coordination may work best on applications for workplace collaboration like Slack or Notion. These programs feature channels for communication per topic, as well as mood boards for content or schedule planning.
On the regular: Similar to freelance writing, choose a person or brand’s content that is aligned with personal skills and interests. It also helps to ask the frequency of output, as this is an indicator of how consistent the work would be.
4. Hold Paid Online Classes
Learned a new skill this quarantine, or itching to share a group activity? For the right price, these learning opportunities can actually be turned into paid online classes. Many group activities have now moved online – from gym and yoga classes to piano and even punch needle tutorials.
From a business perspective, it’s important to limit the portal to those who have paid beforehand. Fortunately, video conferencing applications like Zoom have meeting room passwords and waiting rooms, allowing hosts to screen visitors.
On the regular: Lock in repeat customers through class packages! These make sure clients stick it out long enough to reap the benefits of whatever is being taught while guaranteeing revenue for the host. Pays to sweeten the deal with bulk discounts, too.
5. Open a Dropshipping Store
With the rise of e-commerce platforms such as Shopee and Lazada, budding entrepreneurs can start their own dropshipping business without opening an actual storefront. It helps that these giants are also out to get more users into e-commerce with aggressive campaigns and promotions. While the dropshipping model entails some capital for materials and advertisement, as well as branding work to stand out from the clutter, these can easily be recouped with the right pricing strategy.
On the regular: Like a brick and mortar store, sales are the way to entice customers and drive repeat purchases. It also helps to launch content in other platforms frequented by those who use e-commerce platforms (ie, Instagram, Facebook). On off-peak seasons, drive relevance by posting relevant content.
6. Set Up a Food Business
Restaurants will never go out of style. For foodies with a stove or an oven and a knack for discovering new flavors, setting up a food business at home takes no time at all. The bigger job is to deliver consistently excellent dishes in a take-out friendly format and amplify buzz through word of mouth and recommendations. Now, the experience of browsing through a menu is through mouth-watering pictures and stories on Instagram, and leveraging influencers found in the same medium.
On the regular: Create a model that keeps customers coming back for seconds – a diet meal delivery service is a perfect example. Knowing the business’s seasonality and gearing up for peak times (ie, holidays) is also an efficient way to maximize revenues without being stretched too thin all the time.
7. Be a Reseller
If the business route is appealing, but the thought of setting up a new brand sounds too intimidating, reselling existing brands might be a healthy middle. This model is entirely dependent on the partnership of the seller and reseller, the products being sold, and the reseller’s network. While this option requires less capital and marketing than setting up a business, it also comes with a revenue cut. This can be easily made up with a large network – time to give those neighbors a little nudge through community network groups on Viber!
On the regular: Diversify and get more wares than one – this creates a unique portfolio that people can associate with one’s name.
8. Get Design Commissions
For budding artists in design or animation, getting design commissions is a great way to gain exposure and experience. These can range from caricature portraits to packaging design. Prospective clients look at portfolios before inquiring, so it pays to build one up on Instagram or the artist platform Behance. Rates are flexible, based on the level of complexity of the task and its impact (ie, is the shirt design an employee t-shirt, or for a popular retail brand?).
On the regular: Keep a current portfolio with different kinds of outputs – this shows flexibility and availability to potential clients.
9. Sell Photos and Videos
For those whose artistic eye lends itself better in photo and video, Foap is a great avenue. The portal enables photographers to post their portfolios on a profile that can be bought. Photographers can also choose to submit photos fulfilling specific mission briefs posted by clients on the site.
On the regular: Similar to design, keep a current portfolio while also building a distinct style – this makes it easy for clients to assess job fit.
10. Learn to Invest
Whether it be in time deposits, stocks or cryptocurrency, there are other ways to make money work harder than keeping it as cash. Websites such as COL Financial Online and trading applications like Binance are good primers for beginner investors. Always keep in mind that money instruments come with risks. But when done correctly, investments can yield a multiplier effect that surpasses taking multiple jobs and businesses – without the back-breaking work.
On the regular: Read up and watch the news – a lot. Making investment decisions is no joke – it requires strategy and discernment to know when to buy or sell, or that sometimes, the best move is not to move at all.
