One of the side hustles that I like doing is selling t-shirts. I’ve had success and failures doing this side hustle. Every design has not been a hit. I created a couple of designs that I thought would do good, but they bombed. I posted pictures of the shirts on my Facebook account and figured that they would do well. Friends liked the pictures and even said how nice they looked, so I thought the sales would flow in once I list the finished product. I printed some shirts and started to promote them online. Guess how many shirts sold? Zero shirts sold. I wondered where all the people went who liked them before. They were nowhere to be found. I can’t lie; I was hurt. I also took some money losses on both of those designs. I still have a box of shirts that I never sold in my apartment. Something like that will throw anyone off their game. Did I stop designing shirts? Nope, I found other ways to design them where I wouldn’t lose any money. It took a little while, but I have sold some designs since I started doing that.
If you have a side hustle that flopped, there are a few things that you need to do.
Keep going
If your side hustle involves you selling something to someone, keep going! You could be on the verge of making some huge money. The right person may not have seen your product or hustle yet. Don’t stop doing what you’re doing.
Change it up
For some of my shirts to sell, I had to go back and change them up a little bit. Some of the designs needed better fonts or designs. Some needed different colors. Some of the artwork needed to be touched up a little bit. If you have a product that you are selling as a side hustle, change it up a little bit.
Try something else
If your side hustle flopped, you could always try something else. Just because you didn’t make any money off that one doesn’t mean that you won’t make money off of your next side hustle. Selling on Amazon, selling on eBay, completing surveys, finding gigs on Craigslist, babysitting, computer repair, yard work, washing cars, doing design work, and creating websites are just a few side hustles that you can do.
Every side hustle won’t bring in a lot of money. Some won’t make you any money. Don’t let that get you down. Keep grinding. One of those side hustles will work!
Have any of your side hustles flopped?
Jason Butler is an Atlanta native, as well as businessman, blogger and teacher. Not only is Jason a prolific flipper, marketer, writer and side hustler his number of years in higher education and student support have given him expert knowledge in understanding the economics of the student loan industry.