Earn Money from SIDE HUSTLES

Earn Money from SIDE HUSTLES

 Sean: Hey, guys, welcome back to the channel! My name is Sean. And for this episode we’re going to do something a little bit different. We’re going to do Taglish and we’re going to be tackling a topic today which is also a bit different. The topic is, how do you make or earn extra cash or money in your spare time or free time?

So I was requested to speak on this topic because I also started SEO Hacker by doing things in my free time. And there are lots of ways to do that. In my opinion, if you’re going to want to do it long term, choose something that’s valuable and choose something that you’re really good at, that you have the desire to be great in that area.

When I started SEO Hacker, I was working in HP as an IT consultant and at the same time I was doing blogs for God and You. I was writing about my faith, and I learned SEO because not a lot of people were reading my stuff and I tried to figure out how to increase my readers.

So when I checked the backend, not a lot of people were reading and I searched in Google. So as per Google, do SEO, learn how to do SEO. And so I started to learn it 14 years now. And during that time, I didn’t know anyone who knew what SEO was. It was super new, so I just really tried to study it. I said, there’s no way that Google is not going to be what we will use in the future.

So I was using Google super often during that time. A lot of people I know were using Google super often during that time, so there’s no way that companies will not be in Google, that companies will not need search traffic. It’s going to be something big.

So I doubled down on it by studying, researching, and then I wrote about it. I was journaling everything in a blog called SEO Hacker, which is now my company’s business name. And everything that I was writing there are case studies, things that I learned, things that worked for me. And then more and more people started to read SEO Hacker and inquire about my services, if I had any.

And during that time, I did freelance SEO stuff. So I would get a project, and then I would do the blogs or do the editing, the link building. I do some programming for the website and coding. I do web development and design. I was doing like everything that I can to side hustle SEO. And that side hustle turned into a much bigger take home for me as a day job salaryman than what my day job was paying. I started like that.

And so this question is actually something that is very relevant to me, because that’s my story. Now there are still a lot of side hustles that you can do now that might turn into a business in the future, but whatever it is that you’re going to side hustle, my opinion is that you have to be one of the best in that area. You have to be one of the best, if not the best.

Otherwise, you’re going to be competing your entire life and you’re going to be competing in a downward spiral. That’s a price war because the market is like that. You will lower the price as long as you have something to earn. And, of course you’re going to lose out on some good clients because there’s a much lower price out there, offering a lowball price.

Whatever it is, if you’re not the best, clients will get the next cheaper guy or girl. Whatever it is, right? Whatever it is you decide to side hustle, may it be freelance writing or body fitness trainer, as long as you’re good in that field, why not? There are also dog walkers in BGC, I just learned this now, so I didn’t know that existed. I don’t know if you can be the best dog walker in the Philippines, but these are side hustles that exist and there’s a lot more that you can do in your free time.

I just happened to choose SEO, and it just happened to grow into the industry that it is today. And then I just happen to be really good at it. I’m sure you’ve heard and seen so many videos, so many people talking about side hustles—what they are, what you can do, how much you can earn. That’s really not what I want you to take away from this video because there is already a lot of content about this out there.

But what I want you to take away from this video is that, whatever it is—whatever side hustle you choose—you have to be the best at it. Double down on something that you feel so strongly about that you place your entire life as a bet doing that thing so that you become the best in that.

I don’t compete on price. At SEO Hacker, we don’t engage in price-based competition. I’m not in a rush to acquire clients. If you’re the best at what you do, you’re not at the mercy of clients. Clients will come running to you and they’re willing to pay. I’m not in a hurry to get clients. I can wait a year or more.

So that’s why what I want you to take home is if you’re going to choose a side hustle that you’re going to want to turn into a business someday, you got to be the best at it, so they will be the one coming right after you, and you can price at whatever price point you want.

Is it really critical that we are priced this way? Everything is arbitrary. At the end of the day, if you want to price it this way, if you want to produce this much value, double, triple, that’s okay. If I produce four times the value, I price it four times higher, that’s also okay, because pricing is perception of value.

At the end of the day, you can price it any way you want and you can compete any way you want. Just don’t compete on a downward spiral. If you’re not the best at what you do, if you’re just a ‘me too’ business or a ‘me too’ side hustle, potential clients will likely lowball you.

They will say, ‘Well, you are not known, and another company offers it at this price.’ With that, you may feel compelled to adjust to a certain price point which for you is not good. Why? Because time is the building block of life. You only have one life and your time is on a straight line. 24 hours a day. That’s it.

If you give some of that time to some people who are willing to pay you less, then you’re just wasting that time. You’re wasting that amount of life in that area. That’s my advice for you.

I hope you got the value out of it. And if you have, please do give us a thumbs up. Hit that bell notification icon and hit that subscribe button so that we can send you even more value next time. Again, this is your host, Sean Si, aka Mr. CEO at 22, and I’ll see you in the next episode.