What’s up side hustlers, Jamasen here, CEO of LoopGenius and author of Beyond9to5. If you’re new here, we cover tips on Monday, tools and news on Friday. We’re all about helping you grow your side business so you can escape the 9 to 5 grind!

👋 In today’s newsletter:

• Side hustle vs. business: what’s the difference?

• 5 weird, yet popular side hustles to try

• #1 ChatGPT prompt to generate side hustle ideas

Side hustle vs business: what’s the difference?

When you fill out surveys or thrift clothes on the side of your job, you might not immediately consider it a business. It’s simply a way to make extra cash.

But once you make a steady income from your side hustle, you’re naturally going to think about scaling. How do I take this to the next level? How do I turn this into my full-time gig?

That’s when you have to take off your side hustle hat, and put on your business hat.

A side hustle can, and often is, a business. But not every side hustle is run with a business mindset. 

A business mindset means planning. You consider the long-term goals of your venture. It’s less about the money you’re making on the side now, but the money you’re going to make in the future.

With that in mind, read on for some side hustle ideas that are truly unique and can easily scale into successful businesses.

5 weird, yet popular side hustles to try

Side hustles turn into successful businesses all the time. But side hustle ideas can feel repetitive.

You’ve probably heard about affiliate marketing and digital products on TikTok a million times.

If you want to launch a side hustle that turns into a profitable business, sometimes you need to think outside the box.

Luckily, we’ve got you covered. Here are 5 strange, yet popular side hustles that you may not have considered yet. And they’re meant to scale to 6 and 7-figure+ businesses!

Chat stylist advisor

If you’re passionate about fashion, then get paid for advising on style. Amazon offers a flexible customer service program where you could become a Chat Stylist Advisor to gain some experience and make money.

From there, you can start securing your own clients via inbound marketing and networking. Talk about your style services on social media, join Slack and Discord networking groups and more. Showing off your own fashion is one of the easiest ways to build a following and attract potential clients.

Bounce house rentals

Rent out a miniature bounce castle and share your party services for kids’ birthday parties. This is a great way to make extra cash, but you can also scale the side hustle into an entertainment business. As you secure more party clients, rent out more bounce castles, build your team, and even diversify to full-service event planning.

You can get your first mini bounce castle here!

Dog walking

With platforms like Rover, dog walking can be a lucrative side hustle, especially in cities. You can start on a pet sitting platform, then after you get a few clients, transfer over to running your own business. Leverage the word of mouth of your existing clients to peak the interest of potential ones. Talk about your services on social media, share with local neighbors and start to scale.

Notion templates

While selling digital templates is common, Notion specifically is an opportunity to tap into. Notion has soared to popularity as a workspace platform, and creators have noticed. Think about any Notion process that helps you save time, set goals or build your business. Then sell the template for others to get value from it as well.

Notion templates can be one stream of income in your larger business plan. For example, if you’re building a marketing agency, you can sell templates for content calendars. Here are some examples to check out:

1. Ultimate Business Template for Freelancers

2. Social Media Content Planner

3. Ultimate Event Planner

Career coach

Coaching isn’t just reserved for sports these days. You can coach others in virtually any skill or career you have expertise in. Coaching is very much dependent on networking. Use LinkedIn to connect with people in the industry, and join Slack, Discord or Facebook communities to network further.

Here are some popular coaching services in 2023:

• Tech coach: help people break into tech

• UX/UI design coach: help people navigate a design career

• Public speaking coach: help people develop public speaking skills for events in their industry

#1 ChatGPT prompt to generate side hustle ideas

Copy the prompt:

I need you to act as my career coach. Please provide 5 side hustle ideas based on my unique skills and goals. My skills are: skill 1, skill 2, skill 3. My goal is to turn this side hustle into a successful, profitable business that allows me to leave my day job.

That’s all for now.

See you on Friday, side hustlers! 👋

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That's it for this week's edition of Beyond9to5. Stay tuned for more tips, news, and spotlights in our next issue. Until then, keep hustling!