We all could use a little extra cash and side hustles are some of the best ways to make it. Side hustles are a good way to raise money to pay off debt, reduce your financial stress or save up for a big purchase. These are some of the best side hustles for students in South Africa.
1. Start a YouTube channel
YouTube is a big platform, with over 1 billion users. A lot of South African students make money from YouTube, you can go from making R0 to making R12k in just under 12 months. This is why you see a lot of people opening up a YouTube channel.
The barrier to entry for opening a YouTube channel is really low, you can get started using your mobile phone. You don’t need any professional camera to start. Some of the most popular videos on YouTube were made with the front selfie camera. The great thing about this is that YouTube might even sustain you should you take long to secure employment.
You will not make money on your first month but you will definitely make R6 000 per month within 12 months at the very least. As long as you follow the proper guidelines. In the meantime, you will be happy to see your subscriber base growing day by day. You can also use the platform to promote your own business or other side hustles that you might have.
2. Start a blog
A blog can be a great way to earn passive income, it will make money for you years after you have stopped blogging. The main downside is that you have to wait, the waiting period can be exhausting. You have to wait for 6 months at the very least before you start seeing serious money from blogging.
Blogging also requires you to get a few things right, multimillion-dollar companies hire bloggers on a daily basis. This means that you will need to be skilled, this should be no problem if you love writing. A blog can earn you over R35 000 per month, some earn around R80k. There is no limit to how much money you can make.
However, we can give you a rough picture of how much you will make at different points in your site. For most people, you should be able to hit R4 000 per month at the end of the first year. This doesn’t seem like a lot when you compare it with YouTube, but the income grows over time. The income grows naturally, without you making any extra effort, it can grow from R4 000 to R20 000 by the end of the second year. Blogging is not easy and it requires a lot of patience, there are bloggers that earn R40k per month within 12 months, but these are mostly experienced ones.
3. Become an influencer
All the first three options have one thing in common, you earn money from attracting an audience. Influencers usually have a huge audience; the only difference is that this audience is mostly based on social media. The highest paying platforms are Twitter and Instagram. You won’t really make money from having a huge following on Facebook.
Twitter and Instagram are very different, the strategies that are used to gain a following on both platforms are very different. If you are photogenic or prefer creating content that is based on pictures then I recommend being an Instagram influencer. Twitter requires you to be very active, to always comment on the latest trends and make trends that will in turn trend. It’s a lot harder than Instagram but manageable.
4. Host parties and events
This one requires you to know a lot of people, you can host parties and have people pay an entrance fee. You will need to carefully calculate your profit margins; you should know how many people you expect to attend the party. Buy whatever needs to be bought and pocket the difference. This can be a great way to earn money, however, it will likely staff off slowly and grow over time.
5. Tutoring
There are not many barriers to entry for this side hustle, all you need is to have passed the subject you aim to tutor by 80%. You can aim this at high school students or first year students at tertiary. Students will pay you good money just so that you can tutor them.
Conclusion
Making money is not easy, you should always be open to new opportunities and grab them. You need to have a certain level of patience in order to generate a good income from side hustles. The above side hustles have been proven to work. Do you have any thoughts or questions? Comment below.
