How to Start Your First Side Hustle: A Student's Honest Guide
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How to Start Your First Side Hustle: A Student’s Honest Guide
Okay, let me be real with you.
I spent three months “researching” side hustles before I actually started one. Three months of reading Reddit threads at 2am. Three months of bookmarking YouTube videos I never watched. Three months of telling myself “I’ll start next week.”
That was stupid.
Here’s what I wish someone had told me when I was sitting in my dorm room with $89 in my bank account, wondering how I was going to afford textbooks.
The Overthinking Trap
You know what killed my first six months? Analysis paralysis.
I made a spreadsheet. Seriously. I had columns for “startup cost,” “time investment,” “income potential,” and “skill requirements.” I compared 47 different side hustles.
Guess how much money that spreadsheet made me? Zero dollars.
Meanwhile, my roommate started tutoring high school kids in math. No spreadsheet. No research. Just texted his old high school teacher and asked if anyone needed help.
He made $400 his first month. I made a really nice spreadsheet.
What Actually Happened When I Finally Started
My first side hustle was proofreading. Not because it was the “optimal choice” from my spreadsheet. Because someone in my English class mentioned they paid $50 to have their thesis proofread.
I thought: I can read. I know grammar. Why not me?
So I posted on my university’s Facebook group. “Hey, I’ll proofread your papers. $15 for under 10 pages, $25 for longer stuff.”
First week: nothing.
Second week: one person. $15.
Third week: three people. $55.
By the end of the semester, I was making $200-300 a month just reading papers. Not life-changing money, but enough to stop stressing about groceries.
The Three Things Nobody Tells You
Here’s what I learned the hard way.
First, your first side hustle probably won’t be your forever side hustle. I did proofreading for one semester. Then I switched to tutoring. Then I tried freelance writing. Each one taught me something.
Second, the “best” side hustle is the one you actually do. I know people making $2000/month from things I would hate. Doesn’t matter. They do it, I don’t.
Third, starting is 90% of the battle. Once you make your first $20, something clicks. It stops being theoretical. You realize: oh, I can actually do this.
How I’d Start Today (If I Had to Do It Over)
Forget the spreadsheets. Here’s what I’d do.
Week 1: Pick ONE thing. Not the perfect thing. Just one thing you could theoretically do.
Can you write? Try writing. Can you tutor? Try tutoring. Can you edit videos? Try editing. Can you organize stuff? Try virtual assistance.
Don’t overthink it. You’re not signing a contract. You’re just trying something.
Week 2: Tell people. Post on social media. Tell your friends. Email your professors. The hardest part isn’t doing the work. It’s finding the first client.
Week 3: Do the work. Even if it’s not perfect. Even if you’re nervous. Even if you charge less than you should. Just do it.
Week 4: Evaluate. Did you hate it? Try something else. Did you like it? Do more.
That’s it. Four weeks. No spreadsheets required.
The Money Reality Check
Let me give you real numbers from my first year.
Month 1: $15 (one proofreading job) Month 2: $70 (got a bit more traction) Month 3: $180 (word of mouth kicked in) Month 4: $220 (raised my prices slightly) Month 5: $340 (added tutoring) Month 6: $450 (both going well)
Total first six months: $1,275
Not Instagram-worthy. Not “quit your day job” money. But real money that paid for real things.
Here’s what that money actually bought me:
- Textbooks for one semester
- Three months of Spotify
- Groceries when my meal plan ran out
- A used monitor for my laptop
Small wins. But they added up.
The Stuff That Didn’t Work
I tried surveys once. Made $3.47 in two hours. Never again.
I tried dropshipping. Spent $150 on a “course” that taught me nothing I couldn’t have Googled. Lost another $80 on Facebook ads that got zero sales.
I tried crypto trading. Let’s not talk about that.
Point is: not everything works. And that’s fine. The goal isn’t to find the perfect thing on your first try. The goal is to find something that works for you.
Finding Your Thing
Look, I can’t tell you exactly what side hustle will work for you. But I can tell you how to figure it out.
Ask yourself three questions:
What do people already ask you for help with? That’s usually a sign you’re good at something.
What could you do for 2 hours without wanting to quit? That’s usually a sign you don’t hate something.
What would someone realistically pay for? That’s usually a sign there’s a market.
The intersection of those three things is your starting point.
If you’re still stuck, tools that help you do homework and earn money can match your skills and schedule to actual opportunities. Not perfect, but better than staring at a blank screen.
The Mindset Shift
Here’s the thing that changed everything for me.
I stopped thinking of side hustles as “making money” and started thinking of them as “building skills.”
Proofreading taught me attention to detail. Tutoring taught me how to explain things clearly. Freelance writing taught me how to meet deadlines.
Those skills? They’re worth way more than the money I made. They’re why I got my internship. They’re why I’m not terrified of graduating.
The money is nice. The skills are better.
Common Mistakes I Made (So You Don’t Have To)
Undercharging. I charged $15 for proofreading when I should have charged $25. Took me four months to raise my prices.
Overcommitting. I once said yes to five tutoring sessions in one week during finals. Almost failed my own exam.
Not tracking anything. I had no idea how much I was actually making until I finally made a simple spreadsheet (ironic, I know).
Comparing myself to others. My friend made $800 his first month doing web design. I made $70. Felt like a failure. But he also had three years of coding experience. Comparison is stupid.
Just Start
Look, I could write another 2000 words about side hustles. But here’s the truth: you already know enough to start.
You don’t need another article. You don’t need another YouTube video. You don’t need another Reddit thread.
You need to pick one thing and try it.
Will it work? Maybe. Maybe not.
But you’ll learn more from one month of actually doing something than from six months of researching the perfect thing.
So close this tab. Open a new one. Post something offering your services.
See what happens.
You might surprise yourself.
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