You already have a day job or business. You feel like you are working hard and being productive, but sometimes it’s not enough. After all, who doesn’t want a little more money? Whether you are looking to get the extra money to pay debts, expand your business or go on that Dubai trip, a side hustle may be the solution.
But what side hustle can bring you the extra income you need to make those boss moves? In this article, we list 10 side hustle ideas that will bring in some cash in Kenya. Find out what opportunities are available to you and how to get started!
What is a Side Hustle?
A side hustle is a way to supplement your income in addition to your salary or business income. This makes it easier for you to take care of your expenses without straining your budget. It also enables you to save, invest, and begin to build your wealth.
A good side hustle gives you the money you need to pursue your goals and passion. You will need to carve time out of your 9-5 job to be able to run it. It’s important to ensure that the side hustle you take up does not compromise your main job or business.
The Top 7 Side Hustles that will pay you at Least KSh50,000 per month.
There are a lot of side hustles that one can pursue, and we will look at the main side hustles.
- Freelancing
Freelancing is broad and involves providing one’s services on a need-to-do basis. There are a variety of freelancing jobs you can do. Based on your interests and academic qualifications, here are some of the freelancing jobs you can do as a side hustle.
- Bookkeeping
- Content creation. This includes writing blogs, and newsletters, and creating YouTube content.
- Search Engine Strategist
- Social Media Manager
- Web design and maintenance
- Research and writing white papers
- Social media marketing
- Virtual Assistant
How to begin:
- Assess your skills and passions and see where you fit in well.
- Sharpen your skills through paid classes, YouTube, LinkedIn Learning, and Coursera, among others.
- Design your income package. Break down the various activities you can do for a client and come up with pricing for each. Make sure you research the market pricing for each item.
- Build your portfolio or apply using your CV and start building your freelancing business.
Predicted income
Freelancing can earn you up to Ksh 50,000 per month. You need to make sure you are making at least KSH 2,000 per day from your trade. At the end of the month, you will have your 50k.
You can provide your services as a package. This way, you can have two or three clients. For instance, charge your bookkeeping clients Ksh 10,000 to do their bookkeeping. You will need 5 clients and you will hit your earning goal.
Here are places to find freelancing jobs
Job boards such as problogger –https://problogger.com/jobs/, https://www.behance.net/joblist?tracking_source=nav20, LinkedIn
Tools for freelancers
- Canva for proposal templates and designing-https://www.canva.com/join/misty-quaint-shade
- Tools such as Grammarly -https://www.grammarly.com/ and Quillbot for writers
- QuickBooks for ProAdvisor’s to help you run your bookkeeping services-https://quickbooks.grsm.io/kabiwangethi .Take the QuickBooks pro advisor exams to increase your chances of landing a freelancer job
- Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is one of the easiest side hustles one can do. All you need to do is to identify a product or service and sell it for a commission. You can do this side hustle online and offline.
Online affiliate marketing involves selling products through social media platforms and websites. You can choose to get the products and supply them to your customers or send them to the producer.
Alternatively, you can have the retailers give you a code and you will get a commission every time someone purchases using your code. For instance, Jumia has an affiliate marketing program.
Offline affiliate marketing involves negotiating with a supplier for better pricing, and then you market the products by marking up the pricing.
How to go about it:
- You can start by signing up for programs that support affiliate marketing, such as the Jumia affiliate program. For offline affiliate marketing, visit the wholesaler and negotiate for better prices. You may have to factor in the cost of transport.
- Promote the product or service either through your social media platforms, YouTube channels, blogs, or even WhatsApp.
Predicted income
Depending on your ability to market products, you can earn as much as Ksh100,000 per month.
Examples of online affiliate marketing programs
- ShareAsale
- CJ affiliate
- Click bank
- Amazon Associates
- Jumia
- Kilimall
- Tripadvisor
Platforms for online affiliate marketers use
- Blogging
- Tiktok
- Start an ecommerce shop
- Event Planning
Event planning entails creating, organizing, and executing special events.
These events include birthday parties, weddings, anniversaries, proposals, surprise parties, and corporate events, to name a few.
Most of these events occur during the weekends, so it is easy to plan one’s schedule outside of work.
How to start
- You can start by volunteering to plan a friend’s party.
- Market your skills online.
- Ask your friends to refer you to potential clients.
Earning potential
One can earn as much as up to 50,000 shillings per event. Depending on the number of events one can organize in a month, it is an excellent source of extra income.
- Operating an Airbnb
With the rise of Airbnb, people have preferred them to hotels as they create a more private and intimate environment. Look for an appropriate house for your market and furnish it. You will have to register with the Kenya Tourism Board Regulatory Authority and pay the registration and annual fees. After that, register your property on Airbnb.com.
Depending on the location, you can easily cruise through Ksh50,000 per month. This side hustle requires you to have the cash flow to furnish the house, register the apartment or house on Airbnb, and advertise it.
How to start:
- Choose a space you want to rent out and furnish it.
- Take good photos and post them on Airbnb.
- Market your establishment.
- Online Tutoring
With the onset of the pandemic, online tutoring became a thing in Kenya.
If you possess a skill set that people are eager to learn about, you can resort to online tutoring. For instance, you can tutor Kiswahili online. Look out for high school students looking to improve their Kiswahili grades. You can also tutor tourists coming to Kenya who would like to learn a word or two in Kiswahili.
Lay out the curriculum for the subject or topics you want to tutor. Advertise your service and enroll your students. A good example is the RCM accounting college classes, which are offered online. You can also buy their videos and read them in your own time.
Earning potential
Most online tutors charge Ksh7,00 to Ksh1,000 per hour. You will need to tutor for approximately 72 hours at a rate of Ksh 700 to make 50k.
How to start:
- Design your course outline and start advertising your services.
- Choose the platform you will use. You can use Zoom, Teams, or a more complex one like Moodle.
- Establish an online store.
The COVID-19 pandemic swayed people into online shopping. This has led to the growth of online shops. If you have an interest in selling products such as clothes, food, and beverages, then you can do it online. This way, you get to save on rental space.
Earning potential
One can earn money by selling their products online during their free time. The amount you make depends on how much you exert, but you can easily make a profit of Ksh 50,000. You
You can sell through social media platforms or go a notch higher and create a website for your shop.
How to start:
- Pick an item that you are comfortable selling, could be clothes, shoes, etc.
- Use your social media account to start advertising and marketing the products.
- Creating informational products and selling them
Creating informational products and selling them is a lucrative side hustle. It takes time to design and develop informational products such as e-books or video courses, but it is worth it in the long run. You will earn it year in and out with no additional expenses. Identify a niche in which you are an expert and design an informational product.
Earning potential
The earning potential depends on the type of content you develop and the pricing. To hit your 50k target, you need to price your products accordingly.
How to start:
- Identify the information product you would like to create. You have to do research on the niche and the needs in the market.
- Develop your content.
- Publish the content on your social media platforms.
How to Increase the Money you Earn from a Side Hustle
Use the money you make from your side hustle to pay off debts, save, and invest. In so doing, you begin to take a step towards building wealth. Here is how you can make side hustle money work for you.
Pay off your debts.
Once your side hustle starts bringing in some cash, pay off any debts you owe. Don’t be tempted to spend the money frivolously. Instead, focus on paying debts.
Start your savings journey
Start your wealth-building journey by saving the money you make from your side hustle. You can start by creating an emergency fund if you don’t have one. An emergency fund is a buffer to protect you in the event you lose your job or any other emergency.
Ideally, the emergency fund should be six times your monthly expenses. Look out for a good savings account where you can deposit the money. Make the savings journey easier by automating it. Put in a standing order to ensure consistency.
A savings account is one of the best places to put your money. The minimal number of withdrawals allowed by most banks helps you develop the discipline you need to save. Research and choose the best savings account. Use our savings calculator to see how much you will make from the bank of your choice.
Invest your money.
After you pay off your debts and save money for your emergency fund, it is now time to grow the money. Before investing, do your homework on the risk factor. You don’t want to lose the money you have worked hard to earn.
If you are a novice investor, the best place to start is with money market funds. A money market fund pools funds from different investors and invests in low-risk instruments. The main advantages of money market funds are that they are low-risk, highly liquid, and they earn a better interest rate as compared to deposit accounts.
An experienced investor may wish to consider investing in government bonds and treasuries. You can also choose to invest in the real estate sector. Look out for apartments coming up that you can turn into Airbnb and earn an income.
Whichever option you choose, make sure your money is growing and working for you. Look at it this way. If you make 50k per month and invest it, you will be on your way to becoming a millionaire in exactly 20 months.
Bottom line
There are a lot of options to choose from when it comes to starting a side hustle. Some of them require capital, while others don’t. Take your time when choosing a side hustle. Research and make sure you choose a side hustle you can manage and make money. Save and invest the money you make. In no time, you will be able to start building wealth. As they say, the hustle brings money.