Introduction
So, your monthly allowance as a student doesn’t cover your expenses anymore?
The money you get from home is not enough because transport fares have increased, you now eat four times a day and there are some expensive handouts your lecturer compels you to buy.
You desire financial freedom but don’t know what to do.
Making money as a student could be really frustrating especially when you don’t know how to shuffle between school and business.
However, you can actually earn a decent amount starting a little side hustle to augment your allawee without compromising on your academic grades. It’s not rocket science neither is it beans.
You just have to learn how to strike the much-needed balance between your academics and a side hustle.
In this article, I’m about to show you money-making ventures you can start as a student that would give you good cash.
Before we dive in, let’s see why it’s good for you to start a business or have a side hustle while in school.
Why You Should Have A Side Hustle As A Student?
First, life after school is not a bed of roses (except if your uncle is Dangote or you’re a distant cousin to Femi Otedola). Having a first class degree without the relevant connections cannot do much in guaranteeing you a comfortable job with high pay.
The labour market is crazy and the competition is stiff blah blah blah, yeah all that sh*t they say is true. The best investment you can make besides graduating with good grades is having a side business you can fall on if things don’t go smooth with you.
Also, running a business is not easy. The skills and experiences you’ll gain on the job would come in handy to you as an asset when you graduate. You’ll be skilled and experienced in proper time management, effective business marketing, handling clients and more.
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Lastly, you’ll be rich having a side-hustle in school. You’ll get more money to augment your monthly allawee while in school and you can scale up your side hustle into a big booming business venture.
So, you see why it’s cool and rewarding for you to have a side hustle.
So, What Side Hustle Can You Do As A Student?
1: Freelancing
Freelancing has evolved much more than the $5 you get paid on the highly competitive Fiverr.
There is so much money to be m make in the industry and freelancers with adequate skill set are in super demand right now.
Truth be told, popular global freelancing platforms like Fiverr and Upwork are supersaturated right now and the competition is stiff out there.
It would take a while before you can find consistent work there as a newcomer. I would advise starting up on less saturated freelance platforms like Legiit, Funnel Rolodex, iWriter,
They are a good bedrock to kick start a promising freelance career.
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Alternatively, you can reach out to potential clients who need your skill set instead of waiting for them on these platforms.
If you know how to design cool websites, there are lots of business out there without and they don’t even know they do need one.
Your job is to find them wherever they are lurking, build trust with them by providing value and then sell them your service straight away.
They would have no reason for refusing your offer if you’ve actually provided value to them instead of hitting them with a cold sales pitch at first sight.
2: Get A Remote Job
Who told you to have to wait till you graduate before you can get a 9 – 5 job with comfortable pay?
These days, when some Udemy certificate is worth more than your hard-earned BSc degree, you can actually get a 9 – 5 remote job with your skills.
Times have changed! Remote Working (or telecommuting) is the future of work. Remote work is ideal for students due to the physical commitment to your academic demands. It doesn’t require you to be physically present at the workplace to work.
You can do your job from your home, the school library, the beach, coffee shop or any freaking place in the whole wide world. Just get the job done, well – that’s all.
Once you know your onions, you can get a job in companies and startups with w remote working culture.
3: Local Arbitrage
If you have some marketing skills then you’ll do great at this. There are two ways to do this business. Its either get your own products to sell to others.
Products that do well in campus environment are clothes, clothing accessories, food, phones, laptops, electronic gadgets, drinks and academic materials.
However, you can also act as a middleman and sell stuff for other people to get a cut off the sale. This is called affiliate marketing (link to The Affiliate Plug).
You’ll basically help connect anyone who wants to sell stuff to their potential buyers and get a cut off the deal.
If you’re influential on social media, you can easily monetize your online presence by selling products to your audience. It’s as easy as that.
4: Data Reselling
It’s no longer news that data is the oxygen of the future. The amount of data consumed every day is a lot.
Everyone needs to stay connected, do research and even run their business with data and you can build a source of income for yourself by filling that need. You can make money for yourself by becoming a data vendor in school.
There are special data plans which you can buy in large volumes and resell in smaller volumes. You can make as much as N5,000 daily doing this business.
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You need not to know how to code python before you can do this. Every average Joe can do this. It’s less tasking and vending can be done in minutes on your mobile device.
The big money in data reselling comes in when you scale up your business and get to sell to hundreds of students on a daily basis.
5: Hair Plaiting/Styling Business
If you know how to plait hair, then you can offer this as a beauty service to ladies on campus. It’s quite lucrative if you’re really good and you can earn a lot if you get a lot more customers through referrals.
Many female students would also need manicure and pedicure services. With little upfront investment, you can start a nail fixing business venture from the comfort of your home.
Also, if you have a clipper and know how to do create magic with hairstyles, then you can make little money with this skill. You should either look for barbing salons close to you and work there or start-up in your little space.
6: Photography
Photography is profitable, really profitable as a student.
There are usually not many people doing it. Although the startup cost in acquiring the best gadgets is on the high side for you, the money you’ll make on the long-run would be worth it definitely.
When you’re set up with your photography brand, you can start to get booked for campus events, parties, dinners and social gatherings.
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7: Real Estate Agent
Although seasonal, campus real estate business is big and booming. The duty of a real estate agent on campus is to connect students with accommodation opportunities and get a cut off them when they finally rent the apartment.
Their middle man services are always in demand especially when a new session or semester is about to begin.
To succeed in this business, you need to develop a relationship with various hostel owners and landlords in the community and strike a favourable deal with them.
8: Food & Pastries Making
Students need cakes and food for birthday celebrations, matriculation and any other occasions.
If you have the skill, you can tap into this opportunity and make your money in your spare time. Once they know you are good, you will never run out of money. Word of mouth is a powerful advertising tool especially in school and out of it.
9: Bitcoin Trading
If you’re just getting to know that you could make a crazy living trading bitcoin, oops! You came late to the party.
Bitcoin has gained massive awareness and popularity in Nigeria and It’s a profitable side hustle a student can get involved in with little upfront investment.
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To get started in trading crypto, you’ll need to have a wallet where you store acquired currencies and sell on platforms like Luno, Coinbase would give you a wallet as a member.
The crypto market is really volatile i.e it goes up and down depending on a lot of factors like customer speculation. The easiest way to break the bank trading crypto is to buy at low prices and sell at higher prices.
Final Words
So, you have no reason to be broke as a student with this side hustle. Pick one, go hard on it and secure your future.
Which one do you think is worth trying out? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.
About The Author
Kolade Fakunle is a Writer, Digital Marketer and a 500L Chemical Engineering Student at Obafemi Awolowo University. He is obsessed with Affiliate Marketing and shares his thoughts about it at The Affiliate Plug (link to The Affiliate Plug)
Facebook: facebook.com/thefakunlekolade
Twitter: twitter.com/kolakoded
Instagram: instagram.com/kolakoded
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