What can you expect from a side hustle
I think this is important to say when talking about side Hustles.
As you probably know, there are many YouTubers and other influencers promising you millions in revenue with a few hours of work. That's not the reality. The reality is that you have to invest a decent amount on upfront work before seeing any results. But still, starting a side business is probably the best thing you can do in 2023!
Along your journey to finally see first successes, you will learn so many useful things that will also help you bring you towards your career goals in your day-to-day job. You will also learn new Development skills, be more confident withing your chosen field and make new friends! Just keep in mind that there are no shortcuts, as Jeff Bezos said.
One essential thing to keep in mind before we start
Provide value! Whatever you do, your main goal with your side Hustle should always be providing value. Providing value to your customers is the only way to succeed in the long run. If you just try to for example generate thousands of blog posts using ChatGPT you will never rank on Google, since they detect it and penalize you. Drop-shipping the cheapest products from China at super high prices will most times just lead into handling returns, no matter what a random YouTuber with 150 online courses on drop-shipping says.
Just always have your audience in mind and do your best to provide value, and they will honor you with success! So now let's get started with my top seven methods!
1. Freelance web development:
One of the most obvious ways for web developers to earn extra income is by offering their services as a freelancer. With the proliferation of online marketplaces, it’s easier than ever to find clients who are looking for web development work. You can always go one step further with that and play the agency game.
What I mean with that is that you can offer your services to clients and then look for example on fiverr* for freelancers who will do the actual work for you. The difference between what the client pays, and you get (arbitrage) is your (passive) income.
2. Create and sell themes and plugins:
WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems (CMS) on the web, and there is a huge market for custom WordPress themes and plugins. If you have the skills to create these, you can easily sell them on marketplaces like ThemeForest or CodeCanyon.
But there is not only wordPress! Playing the theme game also works for other well known services like shopify.
Shopify will pay you, according to their partner program policy 80% for your plugin sales and 100% for your theme sales, up to your first million
3. Build and sell online courses:
Teaching how to code is an amazing way to earn extra income as a web developer. You can teach others how to code or build websites, and sell your courses on platforms like Udemy or Teachable. This not only earns you some extra money, but it also provides value to so many others. A Win for all sides!
4. Offer web development consulting services:
This is my favorite, but you should have a lot of experience in web development. You can offer your expertise as a consultant. This can be a great way to earn extra income, and you can choose your own clients and projects. At our company we also work with consultants and this was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. We were not on the point where we are right now without good consultants. So there is definitely a market.
5. Develop mobile apps:
Why not simply build a business out of your side projects? You can learn something new and also earn something.
With the increasing popularity of smartphones and tablets, there is a growing demand for mobile apps. If you have the skills to build mobile apps, you can create and sell them on app stores like the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.
6. Create an Online shop and sell products there
We as developers have enough knowledge to create great online shops. There are so many online shop frameworks out there, making it super easy to set one up.
If you like the fast way, you can get started immediately using Shopify. If you want to develop your own one, you could also use other frameworks like vue Storefront.
If you need a Domain for this, you can get up to 92% off with my link.*
7. Start writing:
Last, but not least, you can do what I love to do. Simply start writing. When you do your Job as Developer, you automatically also do your Keyword research. Remember the problem you googled, but there were no or just insufficient solutions out there? Write a blog post about it. You're exited for a new framework, write a post. Just write about things that you were proud of solving. Your readers would be thankful for it, and to speak for myself, since I started Blogging I really leveled up my coding skills, I’m so much more confident, and I love to take challenging things.
If I’ve convinced you to start your Blog, I have an article for you on setting up a free to host blog, and another article on hosting it for free on my blog.
You may also want to visit fiverr learn*. They are having lots of useful courses which will definitely level up your content creation.
You can then monetize your Blog using affiliate programs like the one of fiverr or shareASale.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there are many lucrative side hustles available to web developers. Whether you want to freelance, create and sell products, or offer consulting services, there are plenty of opportunities to earn extra income on the side. Put in some work, add your personal touch, provide value, and I'm sure you will be successful!
I wish you lots of success,
Alex
Links marked with * are affiliate links.