Top 5 ways to double up on side hustles, and double your money

Being the creative I am, I spend a lot of time thinking about how things can be more efficient. How can I possibly make more money without having to expend more effort? How can I make the best use of my time? How can I multi-task and do even more things that compliments something i'm already doing?

Starting with the one that most people are already doing....

Idea #1: Turn on multiple driving or delivery apps at the same time. For example, turn on Lyft and Uber at the same time or GrubHub and UberEats at the same time.

PROS: If there is a slow patch and you're driving around you will have access to more jobs where you're located, and possibly already going in the same direction or the same destination. Maybe you can't double the money or jobs you do in a typical hour but you definitely have potential too. You also can be ping'd for quite a few jobs during busy times in a cluster and not have to drive back and forth 15 minutes for different deliveries. Being smarter about this could work to your advantage.

CONS: It could get confusing, especially when you're driving or distracted. You might have to manually calculate which delivery is closer instead of the app telling you where to go next. If you piece together two apps, you might have accepted multiple jobs in different directions and have to make a judgement call on which one to deliver first. There could be unforeseen challenges like one order not being ready and having to wait a long time.

Idea #2: Sit or board someone's dog or multiple pet while you double up on something you can do at home like freelance writing, video creation, idea generation or virtual assisting. For example, the next two days I am boarding a slightly older dog, that is used to very little activity and I'm also writing blogposts and working on freelance design projects.

PROS: Watching pets at home is pretty passive but gives you long breaks where they can sit next to you or you just need to be at home with them. Especially if your life is already conducive to this lifestyle (ie: you have a pet already or you work from home mainly), this is a great way to double up on side hustles. Pets are known to reduce stress and make people happy. They are a calming and supportive presence and they may allow you to be even more productive and creative!

CONS: You might have a higher maintenance pet or 2 that won't allow you to concentrate or focus on the other things you're doing. Or the pet you're watching might not get along with your current living situation or your own pet. You might need to put aside the 12 hour workdays and choose something that's a little more leisurely and can pet your dog while doing it.

Idea #3: Do Amazon Flex or any other jobs like Instacart where time and efficiency matters with a friend or spouse. You're still going to need to be the one signing in, using your phone or app or car but they can often come along and help.

PROS: Bringing someone else along allows you to get the job done faster. For example, I bring my partner along on Amazon Flex jobs because the packages are sometimes pretty heavy or I'd normally have to carry up to 6 to 8 packages in 2 or 3 trips instead of just 1 with him. We're sometimes able to finish a job that should normally take 2 hours in 1.25 because we were both working towards the same things. We are working on making more money because we might want to buy a house together, have a wedding or have a kid so we use this time to be together and talk about goals, planning, how our day was etc. It also makes us feel like a cohesive team that is working together to accomplish shared goals. We split up the work by having one person drive, one person manipulate the app/directions, or one person park and stay in the car while the other person delivers something to a door inside an apartment complex. It's SUPER helpful to have two people when there is no parking.

CONS: You could disagree, argue or get tired of that person. Bringing someone else along that is new or is not familiar with your strategy might complicate things and increase the risk for errors if you don't communicate well, or if you haven't worked together for awhile to know how the other person operates and thinks. Also, there has been times where we've debated having the other person just sit around and do nothing and if we'd be better off separating doing totally different side hustles. In the end, choosing to be together is more fun and motivating and makes a tedious sometimes boring job into spending quality time with each other.

Idea #4: I'm sure all professional bloggers know this well, but have multiple income sources from just your online content. You can have various ways to monetize the same content with Amazon affiliate ads in your posts, Google Adsense ads in your side bar, other affiliate links in your internal content and a youtube channel the same exact content just in video format.

PROS: These things are all free to implement. If you're intentional about your writing you can easily add all four of these things and they will all feed into each other and eventually grow. Also, all the time you spent into crafting unique content and structure doesn't just have to reside on your blog. With minimal work you could possibly create an online course from it once you've amassed enough content. You could also repurpose that same idea and content and do something painless as a video if you're comfortable. All of these things could be potential revenue streams hitting different people interested in the subject but in different formats.

CONS: You have to plan ahead, ie: you might have to craft a post based on an affiliate that you want to take about or showcase. This also potentially takes quite a bit of upfront work to gain traffic, sign up the different accounts and make sure you're using every opportunity to monetize. You need a certain amount of great content and traffic before you can do some of these things and it's not guaranteed. You might need to keep going and growing for a year of 2 before you gain traction with extra income.

.......and saving the best for last!

Idea #5: Maybe this is a triple whammy, but today I did a mystery shop at Jack-in-the box that was close to my house. Not only did I get a free lunch on my lunch hour but it was also on the way to the post office where I was dropping off a Poshmark item that I had sold and was mailing off.

PROS: The mystery shop pays you about 15 bucks for 15 minutes of ordering food, taking photos and filling out a radio button questionnaire that you can fill out in the timeframe that you're waiting for your food. If you need to eat anyways, this also saves you some $ you'd normally be spending. If you're smart and have the control over locations and times of which mystery jobs you decide to take you can plan accordingly based on other side hustle errands or just life things you need to take care of. If you're efficient and experienced making a dollar a minute doesn't sound so bad either, it'd be equivalent to making $60/hour! There are several JIB's within a few minute drive to my house so it's efficient with my gas and time.

CONS: If you're trying to eat healthy, and/or don't frequent a lot of fast food restaurants this might not be a great thing for you. I for one was craving a Jack in the box sourdough jack so it worked out perfectly. If there are any complications like when I first learned to use the app, it might take you up to an hour. The UI of the app is a little clunky so unless you manually save, you might lose the things you've inputed. Also, if you forget certain photos you might have to go back and take them. Another downside is if you, leave your food for too long it might not taste that good! : p If there's nothing near you, then you might be eating into your time by driving too far. The last downside is a part of me feels bad for the employee if you have to give them a bad review, but that's just me.

Hope this helps you to be more efficient and strategic in your side hustles, but who are we kidding ultimately make more $$ - Go out there and have a great week!