The apparent wage spike in the pandemic is an economic head fake, stimulated by federal relief augmenting low-earners’ income.

In fact, it is more crucial now to investigate a side hustle than ever before.

A side hustle is one or two money-earning endeavors you do around your regular job. Having these extra tendrils of income can make or break your weekly or monthly budget when layoffs loom or hours get reduced.

While there’s no magic bullet for extra income—they all involve real work and real time—how to find a side hustle can be as easy as looking around your home at what you already enjoy doing.

Many people even find these side gigs becoming their main jobs. And they are happy to make those paychecks from “The Man” less and less important over time.

In the following article, we’ll discuss what you should know to find a successful side job in the gig economy.

What’s Your Goal?

While the term side hustle kind of sounds sleazy and undesirable, you shouldn’t view it that way. It’s the lexicon of the gig economy, and it’s a synonym for freelance work.

And for good or bad, this work is on you to get done. You’re your own boss of the side hustle, so no one is going to make it happen (or not) other than you.

So what do you want to accomplish? Do you want to make enough money to have your own business?

Or do you want to make enough to cover your car payment or all your digital subscriptions?

Having a clear goal—financial or otherwise—will help you narrow down your possible side jobs.

What Are You Good At?

Next, make an inventory of the things you do really well:

• Can you speak another language?
• Do you have a nice set of wheels?
• Are you mechanical?
• When do people turn to you for advice?
• What are you really fast at doing?

The answers to these kinds of questions, cross-referenced with your financial goals, can help you fine-tune your side hustle ideas.

You could find yourself driving for Uber, populating websites, or making items that people are dying to snatch up on Etsy. Tutoring is another great way to put your interests to work as your side hustle.

Keep an Eye on the Clock

One of the toughest lessons to learn when determining your best side hustles is how to make sure your time is well spent.

It’s one thing to say you’re a freelance writer. But it’s another to write fast enough to make writing worth what you’re getting paid.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t keep at it. Everyone knows that it takes practice to become perfect, but you have to make certain that the time invested in your new hustle equals dollars and not dimes.

Check the Gig-a-Pages

Another great way to find your side hustle is to look at specialized websites for gig workers. Upwork, Freelancer, Guru, and TaskRabbit are examples of websites specializing in finding you a flexible, freelance job.

How to Find a Side Hustle Isn’t Hard

Once you decide what your side hustle is, it shouldn’t take you long to get up and running. By some counts, nearly half of the workforce’s millennials are already working side hustles in this economy.

How to find a side hustle is a matter of utilizing your existing talents and time.

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