These days, there are countless ways to make money outside of your day job. You can walk dogs, rent out your place on Airbnb and even help someone land dates online.
One particular side hustle that could be fairly easy to pick up and help you earn thousands of dollars in passive income is selling printables online. Printables are digital lists, cards, spreadsheets, etc. that you upload to online stores like Etsy and Shopify and sell. Buyers can either use them on their devices or print them out at home.
Opening your store is pretty straightforward: You'll want to come up with an idea using suggestions from sites like Pinterest, create your printables on sites like Canva.com, then list them using keywords you find with tools like Ubersuggest.
And when it comes to diving in, experts have one piece of advice: "Do it with other people," says Julie Berninger, Etsy printables seller with her very own course on the hustle.
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Having a network can 'shorten that learning curve'
When you're starting a business, "there's so much to learn and it gets overwhelming," says Rachel Jimenez, whose Etsy store brought in more than $110,000 in passive income in 2022. As a result, you'll likely make a lot of mistakes along the way and "it's just not going to be your best possible work," says Berninger.
That's where having a network of other people around you who have done it before comes into play. You can go to them with specific questions like how "How do I use social media?" or "How do I figure out what keywords to use?" says Jimenez, and they can help steer you in the best direction. It means "you can get feedback and you can iterate quickly and experiment," says Berninger.
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Ultimately, having that support group helps to "shorten that learning curve," says Berninger, and ensure you're finding success more quickly.
A community helps you feel like, 'okay, I'm not alone'
Jimenez herself found her network by taking Berninger's course, which offers entry into a Facebook group of fellow students.
To find your own community, you can take similar courses with built-in student networks, look for other Facebook groups with printables sellers, find Reddit threads where people ask questions, follow Etsy sellers on Instagram or TikTok and join the communities they've cultivated or even reach out to other sellers on Etsy directly to see if they'd be open to helping you out.
Finding people facing the same challenges in their hustle is not only a great way to get solutions to your immediate problems, it's also a way to stay motivated.
Starting a printables side hustle — or any business — "can get lonely," says Berninger. But doing it with other people can make it "feel like, 'okay, I'm not alone,'" Jimenez says.
Want to earn more and land your dream job? Join the free CNBC Make It: Your Money virtual event on Oct. 17 at 1 p.m. ET to learn how to level up your interview and negotiating skills, build your ideal career, boost your income and grow your wealth. Register for free today.
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Mom who makes 6 figures through Etsy side hustle: 5 steps to start your own printables shop
