These days everybody needs a side hustle. Something that can earn income, but at the same time something that doesn’t require too much time and effort beyond the initial set-up. Investing in rental properties is one example that people like to talk about. It is indeed a good option although the costs might be seen as prohibitive. For the mathematically and commercially inclined drop shipping is also a good option. This is something that can almost be entirely outsourced. All you need are the right partners and some start-up capital, and you should be able to leave your hustle in the hands of experts. But who are those experts? Here is a list of the various parties that you would need to contract with along the way.
Traffic Drivers
It is one thing to have a website, it is quite another to have an audience. Getting people to your site is critical and the best way to do it is to partner with acquisition experts and SEO experts. The former will deliver you paid traffic and the latter organic search traffic. Both are critically important to the sustainability of the site. In short, you need potential clients to be in a position to discover your site when they are looking for the products that you sell. Because it is digital you could find partners who are based anywhere in the world but don’t. Look for people close to home so you can build relationships. An SEO company in Adelaide is a good solution for you if you are also based in Adelaide. That face-to-face relationship is going to be key.
Product Partners
You are going to need to decide what you want to sell, and the recommendation is that you are quite focussed and specific. Don’t try to be all things to all people. If you go that route it means that you are up against Shopify or Alibaba or any of the other major players. It also means that it is quite hard to define the audience that you want to target and advertise to. It is also recommended that you pick a product range that plays to your passions. This might just be a side hustle, but it will still occupy your time. So, make sure that you spend your time working with products or in an industry that you enjoy!
Development and Maintenance
You definitely don’t need to build or maintain your own website. Find a company who specializes in e-commerce and who can use their experience to whip you up a site as quickly and cheaply as possible. While you don’t want cheap and nasty you also don’t want to be reinventing the wheel. Remember that you are going to be using SEO and acquisition marketing campaigns to get people to the site – you are probably not going to be dealing with regular, repeat visitors. So, the look and feel are less important than functionality. If it is easy to navigate and easy to transact you are on to a winning formula. Trust the experts and get it built quickly so you can start to earn.
