For as long as I can remember I’ve always had some type of side hustle going. Wether it was working at the mall in a high-end olive oil store for three years while working my salaried job, or working random retail-I always have something going on.
Initially, I was working those side hustles to balance out my imbalanced financial life. I basically had way too many expenses, debts, and a ton of money flowing out. Over time my habits changed substantially and I found that I was not excited about working in malls because that was like giving a drug addict a fix-I just couldn’t be in one for extended periods of time.
My Side Hustles Changed
I set a minimum amount that I would work for per hour as a side hustle (especially if it required standing) I now will do fun side hustles that start at a minimum of $17 but usually are around $20 an hour.
Finding these gigs weren’t as difficult as you would imagine I would look for event gigs on Craigslist-and then spend time vetting those leads to make sure they were legitimate. I signed up with marketing companies that utilized Brand Ambassadors for fun events and festivals and began to notice that some people always were booked whereas I wasn’t booked as often as I would like. Then, I discovered the following:
Facebook Group Pages
In a side hustler’s life are the key to getting jobs! I signed up for brand ambassador boards specific to Colorado, Virtual Assistant groups, and national brand ambassador boards. I discovered that the Facebook pages would post real time leads on almost a daily basis that included contact information, amount you would be paid, and the duration of time for the gig.
Also, Facebook Group pages would alert you to the businesses who weren’t paying their staff on time or having problems with staffing and needed to hire more people.
I also use Facebook Group pages for focus group and market research study leads in real time. For market research studies you have to sign up for several leads before you’re approved for a study. I also have certain parameters that I follow when looking at research studies. If they involve food I don’t mind being paid a little less 🙂 Recently I did an ice cream study it was a lot of fun and I didn’t mind getting paid almost $40 for an hour of sampling ice cream. If it is a study that will entail conversation/discussions then I start at a minimum of $100 for about an hour and then up.
As a result of using this process I bring in hundreds of dollars more than I did before, I don’t work in the mall anymore and I make more money in shorter amounts of time which gives me more time to work on growing my actual business and other online endeavors such as Colorado Luv Hub.
Things to be aware of: some times other Brand Ambassadors that you meet might want to friend you on Facebook. I have a personal Facebook policy so I find that I turn down more of those requests than accept them. This can be a little awkward if you work with the BA again.
You have to respond to those leads QUICKLY there are exponentially more people looking at those leads, so make sure you have your Brand Ambassador resume updated and ready to go if you’re applying for those types of gigs.
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I’ve been interested in trying out some brand ambassador work. I’m not really sure how it would work out with my family life, though, so I’ve been a little slow to sign up.
I will say that after I joined some of the blogging groups (like FinCon), I get lots of Facebook friend requests from people I don’t know in real-life. I haven’t 100% figured out how to balance that. I want to network and make connections, but… Back in my early days of blogging, there was a sweet lady who was very supportive of me. She sent me a friend request and I accepted that, no problem. And it’s been no problem ever since. She’s just as supportive on Facebook as she was in the comments section on my blog. But the FinCon folks who have sent me friend requests… I’m like, I’ve never been to your blog, you’ve never been to mine, so we aren’t even remotely acquainted. Feels icky. I’ve got pictures of my kids out there, so I want to know these people aren’t weirdos; if I wanted a public profile, I would have done that (and published my last name on my blog). Whew. Rant over.
I just ignore Facebook requests from people that I don’t know and you can do 2 things: set up a page that is specific to your blog and change your privacy settings so that it’s really hard to find you. I have allowed FinCon specific bloggers to friend me…but I put very, very benign stuff on my Facebook feed. Except this year I’ve gotten a little more ranty and political.As for the Brand Ambassador work, you could also do food sampling which tends to be a little more flexible and are shorter hours.
yep sometimes facebook pages helps a lot:P
I was surprised by how helpful those pages were to finding jobs.
I’ve seen sites like this before and I’m sure they are really helpful. I’ve done $10/hour side hustles (like the ones where I help my friend Heidi out with networking events), but they come with better perks. For instance at last night’s event I met a lot of people who want videos for their site. Plus I get free food and drinks. 🙂 Babysitting is only $15/hour, but it’s about 2 hours of playing/reading with the kids and the rest of the time I get paid to watch TV. Anyway, that’s off topic a bit, but I thing with side hustles aside from money is to see what other perks are involved.
I have a side hustle right now that I absolutely love AND it keeps me in freaking phenomenal yogurt. All I have to do is pass out yogurt to people who love this brand. Love it!! I love the hustles with perks. I’ve found the groups to be super helpful though so I’m look to find a couple of more to join.
This was really interesting. I’ve never been much of a Facebook person but recently have started connecting to a few blogging groups. I’ll have to check into this as well to see if there is anything in my area. I’m always looking for ways to earn a little extra income. Thanks for the heads up!
They can be pretty affective if you live near or in a larger sized city. I would definitely use it in your side hustling arsenal.
I’m ready to ramp up my side hustling because my PT job ends at the end of September. A Facebook group may be the answer that I’m looking for. As far as adding certain people as friends, that’s a slippery slope. I’ve been on FB for 10 years. My post for years were semi wild. I’ve toned down quite a bit but certain things I post piss people off from time to time.
My personal Facebook posts are purposely boring. I very rarely post things when I’m angry and I usually avoid hot topics.