Podcast: Can you really make money from a side hustle?

Is the side hustle hype, or a way to make some cash fast?

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With job losses, underemployment and job uncertainty many of us are trying to figure out some ways to make extra cash, set up an emergency savings fund or even look to changing careers altogether.

In this episode, we talk to four people who are using the power of the side hustle to make extra cash by selling items online, selling their skills, upskilling and a few other tricks to help bolster their bottom line.

We chat with Kylie Travers, better known online as The Thrify Issue who shares her range of tips and tricks that have seen her build a portfolio of side hustles. As a result, this is now her primary income and a way for her to spend more time with her children.

Jake Falkinder of The Freedom Chaser tells us how he has taken his passion for writing and marketing and turned it into income by blogging for money. He's even made extra money by sharing his skills by writing an ebook on, you guessed it, making money from blogging.

Stef Yip is Finder's travel editor by day but in her spare time, she is an experienced eBay seller of over 15 years, with a 100% positive feedback rating across 1,400+ reviews.

Finally, Em-Rose Hills tells us how she took her dual love of dogs and social media and combined them to not only make some pocket money but also used the skills she learned marketing her business on social media to upskill in her career.

Mentioned in this episode:

The Thrifty Issue

The Freedom Chaser

It pays to blog

How to make money from blogging

Read the transcript of this episode

• Episode 214 transcript

  Kate Browne 0:03
  Hello, pocket pals and welcome again to Pocket Money. Well, Australia is now in a recession. And well, it's not surprising after the last roller coaster few months we've all experienced, it's still a bit of a shock. I'm still coming to terms with 2020. Sally, what about you?

  Sally McMullen 0:19
  Yeah, I know who hurt you 2020. And with job losses, underemployment and job uncertainty, many of us are trying to figure out some ways to make extra cash, set up an emergency savings fund or even looking to change careers altogether.

  Kate Browne 0:35
  Yeah, I think it's become really clear that we all kind of need to be a little bit more prepared and build up those funds. So in this episode, we're going to talk to four people who are really using the power of the side hustle to make extra cash, whether it's selling things online, selling their skills, upskilling or a few other tricks in their hat, which just helped bolster their financial bottom line.

  Sally McMullen 0:57
  We're so excited to share our guests with you, we think it's gonna be a really great episode and we hope that if you're looking to do something similar, you might walk away with some great tips on how to get started.

  Kate Browne 1:10
  Before we jump into the show, this episode of pocket money is sponsored by eBay. Whether you want to make some extra cash clearing out those unwanted items from around your home, or even to start a business, eBay can help you sell. And with eBay's partnership with Parcel Service Sendle, you can also opt for a contactless pick-up and delivery which is super important during these coronavirus times.

  Sally McMullen 1:35
  Our first guest is definitely more than a one-trick pony when it comes to generating income. Kylie Travers of The Thrifty Issue has been so successful in learning to save and make money, she now runs an entire blog dedicated to this topic.

  Kate Browne 1:49
  Kylie, Welcome to Pocket Money. Now your alter ego could be known as The Thrifty Issue. Can you describe what that's about and you know where you're at and why you're on the show today.

  Kylie Travers 2:00
  The Thrifty Issue is all about ways to make and save money. It's aimed predominantly at Australian women because obviously I'm an Australian woman. And I sort of focus more on side hustles as well. So there's thrifty tips, but things on like buying and reselling, which I've done a lot of, and just all random side hustles are discussed on there as well.

  Kate Browne 2:18
  I love the fact that you've got what you could kind of call a portfolio of side hustles you're not just concentrating on one thing. You've got a whole lot of stuff going on.

  Kylie Travers 2:26
  Yeah, in 2018, I actually did an experiment where I tested a heap of different things like different things you can do to make money on the side, including medical testing, online surveys, freelance writing, which I've done for a while, but just did a whole heap and I tracked each month how much I was making from all of them, and shared all of them but also interviewed a few other people doing different things like voiceover work, pet sitting, house minding, all that sort of stuff that I hadn't personally done but wanted to check out and test out and it was amazing. In 2018 I made over $33,000 on the side from the random little things without even being full time dedicated to it. So I started focusing more on those sorts of things, you know, like renting out your garage for $50 a week and stuff like that. It's amazing how many there are that you can do at the same time. So you can have multiple streams of income without much effort.

  Kate Browne 3:16
  Yeah, that's really interesting, because I think we tend to think a lot of these things is going to take a lot of time, or you have to concentrate on one at a time. But that's, that's really clever to have that approach. How did you get started with all of this? Obviously, you were running a bit of an experiment with that, was there something that kicked it all off for you to be interested in doing this?

  Kylie Travers 3:35
  So originally read financial blogging, I set a goal to be a millionaire by the time I was 30. So I was writing about that. And then I got a book contract and public speaking and that sort of thing. But The Thrifty Issue itself actually bought in 2014. I was starting to buy and resell websites at that point, but I really liked the community with The Thrifty Issue. So I've kept it.

  Kate Browne 3:54
  So since you have tried and tested quite a few of these, what would you say are some of the side hustles that have made you the most money and why?

  Kylie Travers 4:03
  Buying things to resell was definitely one that made me the most in 2017. I did an experiment with that alone. In my first month, I made $2,750. And by my fourth month I was making $10,000 a month. So that one was really, really good. But then I started travelling a lot, so it wasn't practical anymore. Airbnb has been another one, which has made me a lot obviously not right now, this isn't the right environment to do it in. But when I was living in Melbourne, I made $1,300 in 5 days, when I rented out my tiny, tiny two-bedroom apartment there. Over Christmas, I made $600 a week, which was a lot more than what I paid in rent for the same place. So that helped a lot. One of the easiest ones I found was just renting out my garage. I've done that in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. And each time was about $50.

  Kate Browne 4:52
  Do you think the fact that you really put your money where your mouth is helped differentiate you from some of the other people you know, in that space?

  Kylie Travers 4:59
  I do. I think it made a difference that I was actively doing it and that people could see that I was doing it, I take photos of what I was doing and could answer questions clearly, because I was doing it myself, I definitely think that made a huge difference, as well as being female. I think at the time, especially when I started, I was one of the few female voices in finance, like writing about finance. And that's something so I think that helped. And also just being very real about my personal life as well. And so sharing things and the fact that I was doing it around my kids and tips to sort of manage that aspect as well made it a bit more real and relatable, rather than just somebody you know, two income, no kids. We can do all these things because they've got all that time. Or as you know, single mums don't have that time.

  Kate Browne 5:39
  Yeah, I think that's that was what I really liked about where you're coming from, you know, I think I just I don't have time I've got two kids and a job, but did you timestamp some of the things you did as well as a way of proving that some of these are set and forget?

  Kylie Travers 5:54
  Yeah, I did with some of them. So, buying and reselling. For example, I got that down to three minutes per listing. I mostly use the eBay app and so I would quickly look up what the items were how much there was selling for. This is including taking photos and having this listing go live, I could do all of that in under three minutes. So that meant yeah, I could work out very easily what sort of how much I wanted things to sell for what was worth buying and reselling and, and do that really quickly. Airbnb took me virtually no time because you know, I clean my house anyway. So it was clean as I was leaving and then somebody would use it whilst I was gone. That one took pretty much nothing. The blogging and freelance writing obviously took a lot more time and effort. But still nothing I've done has ever really taken full time hours. My daughter's my oldest has autism and both of them needed speech therapy and, and that sort of thing so my time was quite limited because of how much I needed to do for them. So yeah, everything I did, I sort of made sure could be done in a short period of time.

  Kate Browne 6:53
  And a flexible kind of approach. Well, I'm guessing with a lot of things online, you don't need to front up at a certain time or a certain place to do it.

  Kylie Travers 7:01
  Yeah. And a lot can be scheduled, which makes it so much easier. So you can sort of pick and choose when you're doing things and schedule things ahead of time and really choose how you're spending your time.

  Kate Browne 7:10
  Kylie, what were you buying and selling on online? I'm fascinated.

  Kylie Travers 7:14
  It varied depending where I was living. But for the most part, rockabilly clothing did really well.

  Sally McMullen 7:20
  Wow. And how did you discover that? Was that something you were passionate about yourself? Or did you uncover a kind of a need for rockabilly clothing?

  Kylie Travers 7:28
  I bit of a mix. I do like rockabilly clothing. I do, like the 1950s. And those sorts of things. But I, when I left my ex-husband, my daughter and I were staying with a friend for a period of time, she was right into it, and I was looking at how much these clothes were. And I was like I've seen them for like $2 at the second hand shops and stuff. And then I helped her sell a few pieces and saw how much they went for and I'm like, oh, this is what I'm gonna look into a lot more. And then later, I also did photography gear. I was dating a photographer at the time, and so he told me a lot and asked me if I could sell some of his stuff and then once I learned that I was like, well, that's what I know now, and could do more of that. Camping gear was another one that did well, and books, books I did really well with since 2011. I've been buying and reselling books. And they did well, but I focused on business and self help. I never, never did really popular fiction titles, because there's so many of them. Whereas I'd look for books that I knew had been spoken about in groups or on forums and that sort of thing.

  Sally McMullen 8:28
  Very clever. So what are some of your tips and tricks that you've learned along the way to impart to our listeners who are thinking of getting into side hustles especially if they're thinking of juggling and testing a couple?

  Kylie Travers 8:41
  I think, have a look at what they think they would enjoy doing. Because it's kind of taking part of your free time and if you don't work, it's gonna feel like a chore. Have a look at what you think would make the most money for you in your area and see how many others are doing it. Buying and reselling is obviously an easier one that can be done by pretty much anyone but what is available for you to buy and resell varies depending on where you live. And that sort of thing. Same with Airbnb, you need to sort of do your research to see how much you're going to make if and if it's worth it in, in your area. So I sort of recommend always to do a bit of research yourself first, and then just give it a go. So choose one thing at a time, don't go, alright, here's 10 that I found, I'm gonna do them all, because you'll burn out and then you'll hate them all. So just start, start with one, give it a go. See how much time it takes you how much profit you made. And then if that works really well, and you want to add another one, add another one. Research and record so you know what works best and which ones aren't worth it for you.

  Kate Browne 9:36
  Do you think we're going to see a lot more people looking at alternative sources of income right now?

  Kylie Travers 9:41
  Absolutely. I can tell from the searches to my website that that's increased. A lot of people are looking for what there is to do, how to do it. What's going to make them the most I've noticed a big increase in people trying to sell things because obviously we've had a lot of job loss recently. And that tends to be the first thing people look around their house and go home. Until that I can sell that and I sort of offload, so that can make it a little more difficult to those sorts of ones. Right now we live in a time where there's more opportunity to make money online than there ever was before. And there's more things that you can do just through apps. And there's things such as Airtasker, you know, that has random tasks that you can do here and there. So I think there's more opportunity for it. But a lot of people just haven't known where to look yet.

  Sally McMullen 10:22
  Awesome. I will make sure to put a link to The Thrifty Issue and some of those resources in the show notes. But thank you so much, Kylie, I've learned so much and so much great advice for any time, but especially now, you know, when we're really feeling the impacts of coronavirus, and I think, yeah, both you and Kate are right. A lot of people are going to be looking at this option. Yeah, that's a great tip. So thank you. Thank you. I've enjoyed it.

  Kate Browne 10:51
  It's really amazing. There are really so many ways you can set up a side hustle, and it's definitely a test to learn what works for you. But the one thing that most people can do I know I need to do seriously is to sell the stuff that's lying around your home catching dust.

  Kate Browne 11:06
  If you're short on cash, a great way to make some quick money is to get selling on eBay. Plenty of us have a lot of stuff at home that we don't want anymore so why not make some space and some money too?

  Kate Browne 11:19
  With online sales booming in the last few months? There's no time better than now to get selling. eBay is simple to use and offers a range of delivery and postage options.

  Sally McMullen 11:29
  While anyone can do it, there are some tips and strategies that you can use to be a successful seller to get the tricks of the trade. We're speaking to Stephanie Yip. Steph is Finder's travel editor by day but she's also a killer eBay seller by night. Steph has been buying and selling on eBay for more than 15 years and has 100% positive feedback ratings across more than 1,400 reviews. Thanks so much for joining us on Pocket Money, Steph.

  Stephanie Yip 12:00
  It's lovely to be here, Sally.

  Sally McMullen 12:01
  So tell us, how did you get started selling on eBay?

  Stephanie Yip 12:05
  My cousin actually got me into it. So he's 13 years my senior, and he started selling when he was in his 30s. A couple years after eBay started in Australia, he used to sell a lot of collector's items. So he sold calling stamps and phone cards. And I was too young at the time to actually join on eBay. So I waited, I kind of watched them and I kind of got the sense that I could use this platform. So when I turned 18, I joined eBay, straight into uni, and it was just a nice resource to kind of get a little bit of pocket money back into my pocket so I could pay for my uni.

  Kate Browne 12:40
  Nice! Steph, what kind of things were you selling?

  Unknown Speaker 12:42
  As well selling a lot of pre loved things, a lot of old clothes and souvenirs, gifts from friends as well. I was also selling for remember I was about 17 - 18. So the big collector of magazines, so I'd have this whole horde of magazines. I'd read through them and then I wouldn't know what to do with them. So I started making collector's bundles on different celebrities. And I'd sell those collector's bundles on eBay. Some of them would do really well, some of them wouldn't do so well. But again, it was some kind of extra profit or some return out of my investment into those magazines that I could get. So I just put up whatever I could create. And from there, I will get a sense of which celebrities did well and which didn't.

  Sally McMullen 13:26
  And what kind of stuff are you selling currently Steph?

  Unknown Speaker 13:29
  So again, I'm selling quite a lot of pre loved stuff I've been doing a clean out with a lockdown happening at the moment. So a lot of old clothes, some old CDs that I no longer want, old books. I also do a tiny bit of reselling where I purchase items online to sell for profit. So for a while I was selling dressing gowns because I got the idea from my own wedding which was a couple of years back, but weddings are like a little gold mine you have to buy so much different things and really don't care too much about the price that you put into them. So I had to buy dressing gowns for my bridesmaids. And when I was looking around that I was trying to find the cheapest ones and the nicest ones. And I realised there was a tiny little market in there for them. So I bought purchased all these winning games for I think, like $4 each and resold them for about $20 each. So I did that for a little while. I've been a bit quiet on that front, but right now it's just a lot of stuff from my home just trying to clean up a little bit.

  Kate Browne 14:31
  How much would you make selling stuff on an average year?

  Stephanie Yip 14:34
  On an average year I make about 1,500 dollars.

  Kate Browne 14:36
  Not bad, not bad for having a tidy house as well.

  Kate Browne 14:40
  So Steph, you've been selling on eBay for quite some time now. And you also have an amazing feedback record. Obviously, you're doing something right. So what are your top tips for people who are looking to sell on eBay?

  Stephanie Yip 14:54
  So the first thing I would say once you have your items that you wish to resell is to do your research around them. Have a look to see how much they're being sold in the retail store and look to see how much another seller on eBay is selling it for. eBay also has this lovely little filter section of sold items. So you can see whether your item has sold recently in the past couple of months, how much it sold for as well. And that will give you an idea of how much to put on your item and also optimise your title. The titles don't have to be jazzy or anything of that sort. It really just needs to hit keywords. Are people looking for the brand? Are people looking for maybe the size of the clothing or how new that item is you can write something like brand new with tags attached. And that kind of gives it this extra warmth that somebody is going to want something that hasn't been worn over something that has been worn. Another thing I would say is to really take nice photos of your products. Like you can take a really quick one on your phone and it can look blurry or dark and nobody's really going to click on that, or there's a lesser chance of somebody clicking on that, than an item that looks like it could be sold in a store.

  Sally McMullen 16:09
  Steph, as an eBay seller, you've got a 100% positive feedback rating, can you tell us how you've maintained that amazing score?

  Stephanie Yip 16:16
  I definitely do love that 100% feedback rating, it makes me look good, makes me feel good, that I'm a good seller. And that's basically what it is be a good seller or be a good buyer. You'll get feedback for buying and for selling. And I think one of the best tips I can give is open communication with your buyers. Make sure that they're happy at the end. You can have that open message communication with them throughout letting them know I've just received your payment I will send your item out on so and so date. You can also update the status with any tracking details. And also be a good feedbacker as well. You give feedback and you get feedback. And sometimes, I give feedback, I don't get feedback back but I feel like if you do send feedback, then people usually will want to return that to you. And also, if there are any issues, open that conversation again, there are times when something's arrived, and it's arrived late. And I've said, Oh, that's Australia Post's fault but I can compensate you, you can always do a part refund, if anything bad happens along the way, or you've forgotten to mention a fault in your product. And I think just being that ethical around selling drives that 100% feedback back to you. And I think if you're starting out, you might be a little discouraged because you start with zero feedback. And as a seller, sometimes you might not get anyone biting because they see zero and they go, Oh, I don't know whether this person is legit. And so one of the tips that I'd like to give if you are starting out is to be a good buyer first. And so you buy a few items that you want, you be a good buyer, you get that feedback and you bring your rating up to about five or six and that shows anyone who's trying to buy your product, this person is serious about being on eBay and they're serious about selling an item.

  Sally McMullen 18:06
  That's such a good point. And I know as an eBay buyer, the feedback is definitely something that I look at and pay attention to every time so thanks so much Steph. Those tips were great.

  Stephanie Yip 18:17
  No worries, thanks for having me.

  Kate Browne 18:22
  If you don't have things to sell online, you can always make some extra cash from your skills. And that's where our next guest comes in. We've got Jake Falkinder with us and he's using his writing skills to do exactly that. Welcome to Pocket Money, Jake.

  Jake Falklinder 18:38
  I am an author and blogger I blog on the freedomchaser.com and have recently written a digital guide called It Pays To Blog. Absolutely love blogging. It started as a passion project for me many years ago, and it's now turned into something that is a regular side hustle for me.

  Sally McMullen 18:54
  Do you have a full-time job as well? And how did you get started doing blogging as a side hustle?

  Jake Falklinder 19:00
  I do have a full-time job. I work in digital marketing and working for lifestyle brands. So again, it's kind of a natural fit for me in the world of blogging because I am. I've been blogging since 2002. The first blog I actually started was while I was at uni, as I'm sure many can relate, I didn't have a whole lot of money at uni. So actually started a T-shirt blog being with the sole aim of getting a few free tees. Needless to say, that kind of escalated pretty quickly. And next thing I had a wardrobe full of three or 400 T-shirts, not knowing what to do with all those T-shirts. But yeah, I guess things you know, have just progressed from there. Over the years. I've learned a few tricks along the way, met a few cool people and also, obviously learned how to make a few quid out of blogging itself.

  Kate Browne 19:43
  Jake, there's probably a million maybe a billion unread blogs out there. How have you made yours stand out and how have you monetized it? You mentioned that you started a blog like so many people do when they're at uni or I remember starting a blog right back when it was a new thing but in never occurred to me to kind of monetize it or market it. How did you do that?

  Jake Falklinder 20:04
  In terms of the monetization aspect, I guess, looking back at that original blog, which was called T shirt alert, I'm a very curious person. You know, I'm in the world of digital marketing, because I love the world of technology and how it can assist us, but also how we can market within it. And within T shirt alert, to be honest, I got sick of the material, the T shirt itself and started diving into the technology. I started selling ads, I started selling links, and I didn't know I kind of got addicted to the additional monetization opportunities and just kept seeking them out. So T shirt alert was a lot of trial and error, and eventually was something that I sold because it was ranking really well and I'd kind of lost the fire in my belly around t shirts itself. But it left me with this real yearning to know what else could be done with blogs. T-shirts aren't great for affiliate marketing and affiliate marketing was something I was really keen to explore more and that's another reason that the Freedom Chaser was basically conceived as I'm now to a point in my life, in my career, I've also got friends that asked me often, what tool do you use to do X, Y or Z? So the Freedom Chaser is often about, you know, referring the best bits of software, the best tools, even the best physical products. And there's a lot of affiliate marketing that goes on on there.

  Kate Browne 21:17
  What is affiliate marketing? How does it work?

  Jake Falklinder 21:20
  Affiliate marketing, it's a pretty simple principle. If you think about it in the real world, someone says, This product is great, and I highly recommend it. And if the person that they recommend it to buys it, the recommender gets a clip of the sale. So in the digital world, that's usually pretty easy. Either click on a link and the link tracks back to the source or sometimes you might send someone a promo code that can also track back to the source. But yeah, it's essentially a way of clipping the ticket when something is sold.

  Kate Browne 21:49
  Blogging has been around for a long time now and there's always a lot of talk about things like Instagram and other platforms. Is blogging still a really solid way to go in your opinion?

  21:58
  Yeah, most definitely. I mean, I look Instagram, Facebook, you know, this month it's Tik Tok. All of these things are marketing channels that point back to the hub. And that hub is the blog. I don't see that changing in the next 10 years, maybe even 20 years, because websites, you know, they're here to stay. The technology around them will change as we continue to evolve.

  Sally McMullen 22:18
  And what would be your top tips for somebody wanting to earn money from blogging?

  Jake Falklinder 22:23
  Yeah, I touched on it before, but a whole planning piece is pretty critical. It sounds so American when I say it, but there was this phrase that I heard quite a few years ago in the American version, it was the riches are in the niches. But obviously we say niches here in Australia, but it's so true, the niches is really the eye in the way of I guess giving yourself the opportunity to build some authority relatively quickly these days. You mentioned it before Kate, there's probably a billion blogs in the world. So the way to stand out is to find a niche, get recognised as an authority in the niche, then grow from there. So that's something that a lot don't acknowledge when they start a blog. They try and be everything to everyone. So that part's really critically initial research into a niche that's going to work for you. And then just planning and consistency. If you're consistent with your stream of blog content, and consistent with your tone of voice, your audience will, you know, have expectations and continue to come back to your blog time after time and refer it to your friends. I also recommend going in with a plan for how you're going to monetize a blog. So like I mentioned before T shirt alert was more about the ad revenue and the free tees. The Freedom Chaser is more about the affiliate side of things.

  Sally McMullen 23:35
  And with knowing your audience as well Jake, be another piece of advice is important. Like you've mentioned building a niche. So you obviously want to go for a certain type of person or people that share an interest in it, isn't it important to get to know your audience so you do have that authority?

  Jake Falklinder 23:49
  Yeah, totally. I even get down to the point of for each piece of content defining who I'm actually writing the content piece for, and sometimes that can be literally one person. So I hear a question from someone and go, Okay, I'm gonna write a content piece specifically for them, knowing that they'll probably share it with five of their similar friends. And coming back to that niche focus, at least you know, you're going to hit an audience with that, as opposed to just spraying and praying. So yeah, I think knowing your audience in and having a clear picture of who that is, is pretty vital.

  Kate Browne 24:22
  And I guess one that you're also personally passionate about, or invested in. So you get that authenticity.

  Jake Falklinder 24:27
  Yeah, that's it. I mean, I kind of write to two people on The Freedom Chaser that are in a similar life stage to me. Young family looking to, you know, get a bit of income on the side to support things like holidays. I'm sure there's plenty of people in Australia that can relate to that. So that's what I really like to talk to.

  Sally McMullen 24:47
  Well, thank you so much for that, Jake. And where can our listeners go to learn more about you and The Freedom Chaser?

  Jake Falklinder 24:55
  That's not a problem at all, Sally. Thanks for having me. You can find out more about The Freedom Chaser and what I do there on thefreedomchaser.com.

  Kate Browne 25:03
  Thanks so much. I'm feeling like I want to go and start a blog now.

  Kate Browne 25:08
  Our final guest took a clever combination of one of the original side hustles out there – walking dogs, not babysitting, though I could tell you a few stories about that – and she paired it with her passion for social media to learn a whole lot of new skills for her career. Em-Rose Hills promoted her dog walking business on the Instagram account The Dogs Blogger and used it as a testing ground to sharpen her social media marketing skills. Em thanks for joining us on the show.

  Em-Rose Hills 25:35
  Thanks for having me.

  Kate Browne 25:36
  Tell us a little bit about why you started your dog walking business apart from the excellence of dogs.

  Em-Rose Hills 25:44
  At the time, I was working for a tiny dog food startup was actually heading up their small social media team. I just graduated from university and moved to London with friends. And to be honest, I had no idea how I was going to afford rent and the dog food startup covered half my expenses really. So I kind of had to start thinking creatively. And so that's kind of where the dog walking business started. And through work, I'd heard mutterings of clients needing their dogs walked. And so I put up my hand to do that. And kind of over a couple of months, I collected five dogs also and started taking pictures of them and documenting them on my Instagram. So slowly, the followers on Instagram started to increase and I became more adventurous with the content I was producing.

  Sally McMullen 26:28
  So how much money were you making from the dog walking business?

  Em-Rose Hills 26:33
  So I made enough to bridge the gap between graduate salary and money actually needed to live a 20-year-old something life in London. The best money earn actually was looking after dogs when they went away on holiday. And it's kind of a no brainer, I guess. But kind of those long stints were the best earners, overnight care also paid really well. So like on average, probably I earn around $50 an hour and $100 for an overnight stay.

  Kate Browne 26:58
  So tell us about The Dogs Blogger sounds super cute. Why did you start that account? Apart from having somewhere to put all those really cute dog pics?

  Em-Rose Hills 27:07
  So yeah, I started the account to get more dog walking clients and to learn more about Instagram in general. The dog food startup that I had started working as a graduate and kind of set me the task of growing the Instagram channel to 10k followers. And I remember thinking, how am I going to do that? And if you don't get taught, kind of those sort of tactics at uni, I've done a marketing degree. So yeah, I needed some way to test and learn. So to be honest, the account grew a following due to talk memes and it also helped me gain new clients really along the way. What's really interesting is I think is the content that I uploaded didn't really explain the task that I was doing. Like it wasn't really focused on dog walking. It spoke to what dog lovers felt, and I think that in turn won me clients. The key learning there was no audience better than you know yourself.

  Kate Browne 27:52
  How has setting up The Dogs Blogger helped you in your career?

  Em-Rose Hills 27:55
  I talk about my learnings a lot. And I can hands down say that I learned most by testing and learning with my own money. Spending brand money is, is a scary thing when you've just graduated university. So being able to kind of take small snippets of them, my own money and then test and learn with that, whether it was from kind of paid media promotion or content creation, and just kind of having those actual learnings on my own back rather than say to a brand, this is what you should do.

  Kate Browne 28:24
  Gotta have some skin in the game, right? Kudos to you for doing it with something that you absolutely love as well as talk about making work fun.

  Sally McMullen 28:32
  And Em, what are your tips for people who are looking to take a side hustle, especially if it is, you know, a passion project that they're looking to maybe transform into something more?

  Em-Rose Hills 28:43
  The number one thing is just be passionate about it and side hustles for your spare time at the beginning, so you've got to enjoy it. I guess the dream is that your side hustle becomes a full time gig right?

  Sally McMullen 28:56
  There are so many great tips and tricks in that and I think this is the perfect time to be thinking this way when there's so much uncertainty and a bit of doom and gloom in the world right now. What were some of your favourite tips in there, Kate?

  Kate Browne 29:09
  Yeah, look, I've really loved the idea of kind of having a portfolio of side hustles really. What we've learned from this year is that things change really quickly, people that were renting out property through Airbnb, you know, they've been really affected lately. So the idea of being able to kind of shift around and just have a few things on the boil is really cool. I really, you know, I'd like to take some of those tips on board.

  Sally McMullen 29:31
  Yeah, I felt the same way. Like I love that idea of not putting all of your eggs in one basket. But I also really liked the win-win of decluttering your house and then making some cash on the side by selling some of your unwanted things like clothes or things around your house online, because usually I would do that at you know, like a market or something. So I think that's a great option for while we're staying at home too.

  Kate Browne 29:55
  Yeah, and you know, it's just easier. Isn't it like setting up a stall on a market takes off? It's easy to kind of make excuses not to do it. I'm definitely going to sell things online. I have a pasta machine in my house that someone (not me) bought that's been used exactly once. So I'm gonna be putting that on sale. But if you are interested like me and Sally in reading up on side hustles and getting some more info and inspiration, head to the show notes from the episode, we've got loads of good info on not only what kind of side hustles there are, but how you can look after the money that you'll make.

  Sally McMullen 30:27
  Thanks again to eBay for sponsoring this episode of Pocket Money. If you're inspired to start selling some stuff and make some money head over to ebay.com.au. That's e-b-a-y dot com dot au and get started now.

  Sally McMullen 30:42
  And that's it for this week. Thanks again to all of our guests. Everything they mentioned also is in the show notes www.finder.com.au/backslash podcast.

  Sally McMullen 30:51
  As always, feel free to subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts and leave us a review if you liked the show. Join us on Instagram @pocketmoney podcast, we'd love to hear from you in our DMs or in the comments.

  Kate Browne 31:04
  And Pocket Money's hosted by Sally and Kate, and is produced and directed by Ankita Shetty and edit is by Brianna Ansaldo from Bamby Media. See you next time.

  Sally McMullen 31:14
  Get side hustlin pals

  Kate Browne 31:16
  Sell, Sell

  Everything must go, especially the pasta maker.

  Sally McMullen 32:06
  I'll take that.

  Kate Browne 32:08
  You will only use it once.