Is blogging one of the best side hustles available to anyone anywhere? Well, after a couple of years of blogging, it’s turning out to be one of the best side hustles that I’ve tried in my life due to multiple reasons (which we will delve further into later).
When I first started Thrifty Hustler, I never planned for it to become a platform to earn money (at least not directly). I wanted it to be my platform to connect with personal finance bloggers so I could improve my personal finance ‘literacy’.
I’d like to surround myself with like-minded people from the personal finance world even if it’s just online, so I can reinforce my desired behaviors to myself (e.g. frugality and saving/investing money).
Secondly, I also wanted it to be my platform to learn online money-making. I’m a person who does not really learn that well by reading stuff in books or online. I really need to go through the process of actually doing it to learn it.
Photo by Jen Theodore on Unsplash
Now that I have been running on this blog for more than two years (on the side, I’m still a full-time online seller and consider myself as just a part-time blogger), I am pretty confident to say that this is one of the best side hustles that I have ever tried.
If you are looking for a side hustle to earn some income from, here are 12 reasons why I consider blogging as one of the best side hustles out there and I think that if you have not decided on any side hustle yet, you should give blogging a try.
It’s Very Affordable to Start
Starting a blog is very affordable. It can even be free if you don’t want to own your domain yet and if you don’t want to be self-hosted yet (e.g. WordPress.com, Tumblr, Medium).
Although I would suggest that you get your own domain though and go for a self-hosting option if you can do so because it’s easier to monetize self-hosted blogs.
My domain renewal only costs less than $15/year via Namecheap and if it’s your first time to buy then you can even get it even cheaper by using promo coupons available online.
My hosting service is provided by Hostinger. I was able to save a great deal of money because I paid for 4 years upfront. I wrote about it in a separate post and you can read about it at this link.
You don’t have to even pay for a year or multiple years upfront because most hosting services companies can bill you on a monthly basis. It’s just that the savings that I could get was too big to ignore if I paid for multiple years that’s why I went for that option.
As of the time of writing, domain and hosting services are the only things that I’m spending money on when it comes to blogging. The rest of the services that I’m using are available to anyone for free (e.g. Canva for graphics, Unsplash for pictures, Grammarly, etc).
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It’s Not That Difficult to Learn
Blogging in 2021 and onwards is not that difficult to learn. There are so many available plugins, themes, templates, online tutorials, Youtube tutorials about blogging and almost all resources that you need can be searched online.
It might intimidate you at first but if you’re a resourceful person and if you can manage learning on your own then you will easily learn how to blog.
Starting and creating a blog is really easy. But of course, driving traffic and earning money from a blog is a different story.
But then again, there are so many available resources online that can help you learn how to drive traffic and how to monetize a blog.
It Can Be an Alternative Career
I don’t think I still need to mention names anymore since a quick Google search can lead you to the blogs of people who made this as their full-time career or profession.
Blogging can be a nice career for people who love Writing, Selling, Marketing, Teaching, etc.
You Can Work on it Anytime and Anywhere
This is one of the things that I love about blogging. You can practically blog anytime anywhere as long as you have your laptop and an internet connection.
Some people have even experimented on blogging using a tablet and a smartphone. I think both gadgets are possible but personally, I find it easier to type though with a keyboard.
Since you own the blog, you don’t report to anyone thus you can set your own schedule on when you want to produce content (articles) for your blog.
You don’t have to commute anywhere because you can even do this at home.
Photo by Mikey Harris on Unsplash
It’s Like a 24/7 Shop
Another thing that I love about blogging is that it’s like a shop that is open 24/7 unless of course your website is down.
This is why it’s important to get a host that has a very high uptime (99% and up) so you won’t experience prolonged downtime for your blog.
And if you’re running ads and affiliate links on your blog then that means that you have the opportunity to earn even while you are sleeping.
You Can Be of Help to Many People Anywhere in the World
One of the most underrated benefits of making a blog is that you can be of help to any person anywhere in the world especially if you are blogging about something that is very useful to a huge number of people.
I have read countless blogs to teach myself a variety of stuff (such as blogging) and I can’t thank those bloggers enough for sharing their experiences online.
I have even searched Google for blogs that talk about some other personal matters in life and in reading the personal journeys of those bloggers, it helped me feel less alone.
It Can Be Therapeutic
Blogging is a therapeutic and calming activity for me. Whenever I’m writing or whenever I’m tweaking my blog’s template or even if I’m just making some graphics on my blog, I feel calm and I forget my worries in life even for just some time.
You Can Have Multiple Income Streams in One Blog
Yes, you can!
You can really have multiple income streams from just one blog.
You can put Google Adsense, Ezoic, or any ads from any company. You can also put affiliate links from Amazon and from other affiliate programs available in your country like Involve Asia for Southeast Asian bloggers.
You can even sell your ad space directly to companies if you wanted to. Although, usually, this option is for bloggers who have huge traffic and social media followers.
Photo by Vladimir Solomianyi on Unsplash
Earn Money Writing About What You Love
It’s your blog, it’s your choice of topic. So you can practically earn money just by writing about the things that you love.
In my case, I usually write about online selling on my blog because I love doing it that’s why I even chose to do it full-time.
Some people love to blog about things that they are passionate about such as fashion, lifestyle choices, travel, their pets, etc.
Although bear in mind that niche topics will have a direct relationship with your blog earnings because some niches have higher CPMs (Cost per Mille in Ads) than the others.
You Can Use Your Blog as a Networking Platform
As I have mentioned earlier in this post, this is basically one of the main reasons why I made this blog. I wanted to be surrounded by like-minded people in the personal finance world and I’d like to use my blog as a platform to connect with them.
I do believe that a blog is an awesome tool to connect with people in different parts of the world. Your blog is like your business card with add-ons. Thru your blog, other people can get to know you on a professional and personal level depending of course on what you want to share (publicly) online.
It Can Be Your Online Portfolio
If you are a writer, a graphics designer, an artist, a resource speaker, etc, then your blog can be your online portfolio.
In my case, I wasn’t even treating my blog as an online portfolio but last year, somebody emailed me saying that they’ve read my blog posts and they’re interested to hire me as a writer for a short-term gig.
I accepted the offer after some negotiation and after the trial period, then I wrote for them for a couple of months.
It’s a Side-Hustle that Fosters and Enhances Creativity
I like to write and I do enjoy writing but I know that I’m not a good writer. I have a lot to improve on when it comes to grammar, flow, engagement, etc.
But as they say, practice makes you perfect. Well, even if it’s not perfect yet, writing consistently helped me improve a lot when it comes to my writing skills.
My blog also became a platform for me to learn how to create graphics that I use for my social media pages (Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram).
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You Can Be Just Yourself
Your blog can be your safe refuge where you can be just yourself.
In our professional careers and in the society that we live in, we have to adhere to a lot of rules that can sometimes be restricting.
With blogging, you can just be yourself and have the opportunity to earn a side income at the same time.
Some people just blog about their day-to-day lives and still continue to get traffic probably because their daily musings found their way to their target audience.
I also think that blogging is a nice platform for shy people to earn money online in the comforts of their homes.
With a blog, you can earn money even without interacting that much with people. You can make niche websites about products, services, etc.
This is actually the newest project that I’m gonna try this year. I have created a blog-style resource website about a particular topic that I like.
It Open Doors to a Lot of Opportunities
Yes, a blog can open doors of opportunities. Just like what I have shared above, I got a short-term job even without applying for it and that’s because of this blog.
It Allows You to Spend Time on What Matters to You the Most
Not just blogging but also with other similar ways to earn income, you can spend time on what matters to you the most such as your family, friends, things that you love doing, etc.
When you have an opportunity to earn anytime anywhere then you get to save those precious time that we often spend on daily commutes, etc.
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Final Thoughts
These are just some of the reasons why I think blogging is one of the best side hustles available to anyone anywhere in the world, especially to the parts of the world where job security and income are not really great.
Blogging can make you earn additional income that can help you put food on your table and buy other necessities for yourself and your family.
This is not a get-rich-quick scheme though.
Building a blog to the point that it can generate profit takes time and takes a lot of effort. But once you understood how to do it then the potential just becomes limitless.
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