A side hustle can be a great way to get a little bit richer. More and more people are taking on extra work, whether it's selling old clothes online, renting out a spare room, or even starting a new business. But it's not something that you can just start doing without being aware of stuff like tax implications and other expenses you might have to pay. Also, you do still
need a personal life. You can't spend all your time working. So today I'm chatting to Tolu Frimpong, a financial coach whose work includes helping women break the payday to payday cycle, beat debt, start investing, and crucially earn more via side hustles.
So let's do it. So Tolu, there's a lot of ways that we can earn extra money so can you give us some examples of short- term side hustles and then some longer term regular revenue streams?
Oh, absolutely. There are so many different short- term and long- term side hustles that people can try. I think the first one I always like to mention is reselling because that's something all of us can do. We all have clutter in
our homes that we can turn into cash. So what I would say is sell some of that used stuff online, make some money from those furnitures, from the clothes, the shoes, the trainers, all these bits and bobs that you have at home that no longer are serving you and it's just taking up space in your house. Sell those things online and make that extra money. It'll be extra income for you to do what you need to
do. In addition to that, I would say things like survey sites, market research is also another great side hustle that you can try. Focus groups are also fantastic. User testing is also great. Companies will pay you to test their apps or test their websites and you can make extra money for those things. And then those are short- term side hustles which anybody can start at any time
with little to no experience. But then if you start talking about the more long- term side hustles, things that you can do may require a little bit more skills, a little bit more learning, but you can eventually monetize it. So those long- term side hustles that I like to mention
are things like creating an online course. So what is something that you're great at that you're an expert in that you can monetize, you can create a course about, help other people to learn how to do it and sell it online. E- commerce is also a great additional side hustle to start. Again, it will take a little bit of learning what products to sell, et cetera, but once you get up and running, you
can be able to monetize that side hustle. And then also things like renting out parking spaces at your house, renting out a spare room, that's something you could do. Even renting out your garage or your garden for events. There's just so many different things you can do to make that additional long- term income on the side.
I think it's so great to hear that there's things that we can do in the short term that I know I've got a whole bunch of clothes at home sitting there that I can just sell online and make some extra cash from. And in the longer term, things that you wouldn't consider. You mentioned renting a parking space out. My dad does that. It's some extra money that
you can bring in. We've all got things that we can look around and probably say, actually, I can make some extra money here. And I think the great thing about side hustles is that there's always scope for it to become the main hustle. And we've heard from Georgina earlier on in the season who turned her side hustle into a main stream of income.
So I think it's great to explore what you can do, how you can make extra money, and yeah, just add to your revenue streams. I love it. It just depends on how much you want to make, how time you want to put in, if you have to learn a new skill and how quickly and how convenient you want it to
be in your day- to- day life. So what would be your advice for anyone who's looking to do that and what should they be focusing on when they're deciding what work they should be doing?
Anyone wanting to build out additional income streams. So first of all, look at what skills they currently have. What skills do you currently have in your hand that you can monetize, and what additional skills do you want to learn to be able to monetize at a later date? And then I'd say learners are earners. Yes, you want to have that skill, but how are you going to develop
that skill? You want to commit to learning. So doing your research online, but not just researching and learning about that skill, but also practicing and learning to develop that skill for yourself. I think that's going to really help you to be able to generate that additional income on the
side. I'd also say time is important as well. How you allocate and use your time in the evening and the weekend is going to really be the difference between you starting that side hustle and being successful at it.
Because that time that we have in the evening after work, that time how we currently utilizing it, how you utilize it is going to have an impact on your earning potential when it comes to that side hustle because the amount of time you give to it is the amount of time you're going to be able to monetize it eventually.
I think that's great. I think like you said, the time is a key one. When I think back to my days of learning how to illustrate, so I was like you, you know when you said you uploaded your first YouTube video, had no idea how to edit. I decided to download
Illustrator. I had no idea how to illustrate anything, but I dedicated my evenings after work at least two, three hours to learning that skill, which again, eventually gave me that earning potential. But it is just investing that time in. This is something that you want to do. So I love that point that you made.
Yeah. Oh, I was going to also say to learn a skill in something that you're passionate about because what tends to happen is you start something and then you lose interest or it becomes too difficult and you quit
before you actually see the fruits of your labor. So I think when it comes to a side hustle, you want to make sure it's something that you're really interested in doing, something that you're passionate about and something that you're going to put in the work for because yeah, if you don't do it that way and you do something that someone else is doing or you just think, I'm going to
jump on that wave because it seems like other people are making money doing it, you're going to burn out and you're going to quit before you actually see success.
I absolutely agree with you. So now you've given us some ways of actually adding in that extra stream of income. What can some of the benefits be? So obviously money is the main driver for most people, but is there other benefits that people can consider like maybe just they're trying something different. What else can come from picking up a side hustle?
Absolutely. I think a great benefit of a side hustle, obviously beyond the monetary aspect is the personal development aspect of it as well, because you're stretching yourself beyond your current comfort zone and comfort levels because if I put myself in that example once upon a time, I used
to hate public speaking. When it was someone's birthday, for example, and I had to give a speech, I will be so scared I'd run away and hide or I would say two words and then that would be it. But doing this personal finance content creation, I've had to now speak in front of audiences of hundreds of people, something that I never thought I'd be able to do,
but I've had to stretch myself. And it's so funny because when you stretch yourself you realize, wow, I'm capable of so much more than I thought I was capable of.
So I think that's one of the great things about starting a side hustle is that you don't realize where it will take you and how far it'll take you and opportunities that can present themselves from you starting that side hustle because you might just think, this is a little passion project that I've started today, but a year from now, if you continue to keep at it it will
take you places that you never even imagined. And also I think a great benefit of it is your network as well that it expands because I know since I've started doing the personal finance content, I've met so many incredible people like yourself, for example.
There we go, we have met (inaudible) .
Exactly. Exactly, and I would've never met you had it not been for me starting this side hustle. So I think it's just amazing the opportunities that can come from you stepping out of your comfort zone, backing yourself, and yeah, it just expands you and stretches you and adds so much value to you as well. That's another great thing is
your skillset. It develops it beyond what you think you're currently capable of or what you are currently capable of.
You develop new skills, you learn new skills, which is basically adding to your skill stack, which in addition to helping you generate income on the side, if you do want to continue your 09:00 to 5: 00 as well, that's going to help you with your employability when it comes to applying for promotions because you've got all the additional skillset that you've developed while building that side hustle.
Absolutely. I agree. I've listed on many a side hustle, many a skill I picked up on that CV. It is hefty.
Yes.
I've committed time and I said, this is going on because I've put my time into this. And I think another one that I'd love to add on the back of what you said as well is it helps you to problem solve because you do reach barriers and hurdles. You're going to think, how do I do this? And even back again what you said of editing, when I first started learning how to edit. There were so many things I was like, how do I do
that transition that you do there? How do I get that up? But you come across that problem and you figure out how to get over it. So let's talk about the cost associated. What are the rules when it comes to paying taxes on the extra money that you've earned because we know when you're working a 09:00 to 5:00, you pay
PAYE, you pay income tax. But if you're earning side hustle income are there taxes that we should be aware of and any other expenses that we should be aware of if you're trying to build that extra stream of income?
So that's a great question, Kia, actually, when it comes to side hustle, I think there are so many tax implications that we need to be aware of so that we don't get ourselves into trouble when it comes to
that extra money. So the extra money that you're making, first of all what I would say is when it comes to the first part of your question in terms of the costs associated with it, I think it's great to know that a lot of side hustles can be started with little to no money at all. So you don't need to think, oh my gosh, I need 10, 000 pounds to start a
side hustle. Actually, all you need is your phone and the internet and you can get started there and build it. But then when you do start making that money, HMRC are going to want their money too. So you are going to need to make sure you set money aside for taxes. So the first 1000 pounds that you earn, actually you don't have to pay tax on or declare, but beyond that, you are going to need to
start paying income tax. So what you want to do is have separate account for your business expenses from your personal income because the danger there is that you just start spending that business money and mixing it with your personal money and then when it comes to that tax time of the year, you're in trouble because you don't
have the tax money set aside. So I would say have a separate savings account or separate bank account for the business income and expenses because you are going to need to pay tax. When it comes to taxes there's income tax that you'll need to pay, national insurance contribution if you are paying yourself as an employee within that business. Also, you want to consider the structure for that
side hustle as well actually. Do you want to register as a sole trader or do you want to set up a limited company because that would determine how you need to pay your taxes for that business so when you are paying yourself as a sole trader, you want to make sure you're setting that money aside for your self-
assessment that you're going to need to pay. And if you are a limited company, you're going to need to register as well on company's house and set the business up that way. So there is quite a lot that you want to make sure you look into and research when it comes to the side hustle to make sure you don't get yourself into financial trouble later on.
Yeah, I agree with you. I think earning extra money is great, but like you said, it is just figuring out how am I going to register? How much money am I making and do I need to declare a certain
amount? And especially it's good to also note that if you are a limited company, things like the VAT, depending on how much money, how successful your side hustle may be, we hope that you get to the point that you will have to be VAT registered, you earn over like 85, 000 pounds per tax year, then you are going to
have to declare that. But again, that is another thing that you'd have to research because we want you to earn your extra money, get your money up. This is a great time. But also, like you said, make sure you're researching and understanding what that looks like. But overall, I think we've said that side hustles are great, so there's a lot
of ways that people can increase their income. But I want to end the episode as I do with asking every guest the same question. So I'm going to ask you, Tolu, what are your three top tips to help our listeners get a little bit richer?
The first top tip I would say is to learn a new skill. So learn that skill which you can eventually monetize. So commit to reading about it, listening to audiobooks, listening to podcasts. Learn as much as you can about that subject area so that you can become very knowledgeable about it. But don't just stop there. The second
tip I would say is to practice that skill. So it's one thing learning, it's another thing actually applying what you've learned. So commit to becoming an expert in that area, or at least very competent. So I don't know if you know about the 20 hour rule. If you spend 20 hours learning a particular skill, you can become
very competent in it. So if you say I'm going to commit 20 hours to learning this skill, I will eventually become competent at it and I can then monetize it. And I guess the third thing I would say to become a little bit richer is to believe in yourself and trust in your ability to monetize that side hustle.
Amazing. I love that Tolu, and especially ending it on that believe in yourself. Yeah, I love that. That's a good way to end. It makes you believe in yourself everyone listening. Thank you so much, Tolu. You've shared some impeccable gems and some very useful ways that people can increase their income. That has been very helpful. Thank you so
much to Tolu for another great episode. So you know the drill by now, hit follow, leave a review and tell a mate. Also, if there's anything you'd like me to discuss on future episodes, get in touch via Legal &; General's Instagram and TikTok channels. Thank you for listening.