The pandemic uncertainty has prompted a lot of people to look for side gigs, especially because their jobs weren’t secure anymore or because they had the time to do it. Even with the pandemic gone, passive income and side gigs are still top-of-mind for professionals of all ages.
The tech layoffs in 2023 made even more people look for ways to earn passive income or build a side gig even if they were not let go yet. Better cushion that blow before you have to!
We started here: in February 2020, 36 percent of American workers had planned to start a side gig to supplement their regular nine-to-five jobs and have some much-needed extra income to offset some of their bills.
Image Source: Dollarsprout
The reality on the ground is that the gig economy is increasingly being seen by many workers across the globe not just as a path to financial freedom but also as a safety net, especially in the wake of layoffs.
Image Source: Fortune
In America, for instance, employers had shed over 20 million jobs within the first quarter of 2020 – one of the highest unemployment rates in the country’s history and since the Great Depression, whose peak was a little over eight million.
Income diversification has now become a must-have and 2024 – the year of the side hustle – is the perfect time to get that side gig off the ground.
You may feel confident in your main revenue stream but why not make some extra money?
I think I know your answer: running a side gig is not easy. From time constraints to waning productivity to unhappy or unsatisfied customers, side hustles are simply not for the faint-hearted.
Not to put a damper on your dream side hustle but truth be told, a lot of things can go sideways if you don’t have the right tools and strategy to ensure that your side gig is consistent and most importantly, profitable.
One of the most effective solutions that have successfully come in handy for most people running their side gigs is automation. Automation has been a lifesaver for many because it simply enables most of the side hustle’s operations and tasks to run in the background, especially when you are engaged in your 9 to 5.
Can you automate passive income? We’ll get there soon, but first a quick primer in case you’re not convinced your can generate passive income without spending ages on a side gig.
Here’s the thing. If you have a side hustle, it means that you have a main hustle, which obviously requires most of your attention. This also means that your time is, for the most part, limited.
Naturally, if you want to keep your side gig going, you will need to find innovative ways to cut the time you spend on your side gig without jeopardizing the quality of your marketing/sales.
To complicate things even further, you most likely don’t yet have a team that can run things in your absence. So you need to automate things quite a bit to ensure that everything runs smoothly.
Here are a few reasons, in no particular order, why you seriously need to automate your side hustle.
1. Enhanced efficiency: Even though you are a one-man-show, having efficient systems is paramount to the success of your side gig. Inefficient businesses do not survive. This is because the modern customer has become accustomed to a seamless purchase experience and the minute this attribute is taken away from them, they will quickly go look for it elsewhere.
2. Increased productivity: If you are still in the early stages of your side gig, your productivity will be affected. Obviously, since there’s no one to help you run the show. Fatigue and stress can and will most likely get to you as you try to juggle the various tasks with the limited time you have. This is where automation comes in handy. Most of your tasks are repetitive and with automation in place, you don’t have to keep doing them manually. You just do it once and that’s it. Automation will take care of the rest!
3. Error-free operation: This is probably where most side gigs suffer the most. Errors can be super expensive. They can even cost you loyal customers, especially if the errors persist. Since side gigs don’t have a team behind them, the pressure to ensure that everything runs smoothly can sometimes cause you to make a few errors on the way. Luckily, automating tasks like email sending or auto-responders can significantly reduce the chances of sending the wrong email to a customer.
Several automation solutions can help your side gig to run smoothly and even grow to eventually become a fully-fledged main hustle. If you put in a ton of work to get this side gig off the ground, then you’re ready to move to passive income land — through automation, of course.
Picture this.
Your side gig is off to a good start and customers are trickling in, thanks to Shopify and Constant Contact for your marketing campaigns – two great solutions that have worked for your side gig albeit working separately.
Here are a few examples of how integration solutions can help you accelerate your passive income endeavors:
Scenario 1: A new Shopify customer makes a purchase. The last thing you want to do is just leave it there and hope they come back soon. With the help of the Shopify and Constant Contact integration, you can sync and segment Shopify customers to your Constant Contact lists based on which customer bought a specific product.
This way you will be able to deploy targeted email campaigns in the future and, in turn, significantly improve your lead generation and conversion efforts.
The best thing about it is that you won’t have to lift a finger to send these campaigns. That’s the beauty of automation and the future of passive income.
Image Source: Inman
Scenario 2: Another new customer logs onto your Shopify, browses a few product categories, and even picks a few items and fills their cart. Then for some strange reason, they check out without making a purchase.
Image Source: Finance Online
With an integration solution like Mailchimp for Shopify, you will be able to integrate your abandoned cart buyers into your Mailchimp audiences so that you can send automated follow-up emails reminding them to complete their purchase or even make them an offer they simply can’t refuse.
Scenario 3: If you are a 3dCart user and some of your customers unsubscribe from your email marketing list, without the 3dCart and Constant Contact integration, you will be forced to manually remove these contacts from your system, which can be time-consuming.
The 3dCart to Constant Contact integration helps you to eliminate this by seamlessly removing unsubscribed contacts from both systems – leaving you with a constantly updated email list for your email marketing.
As your side gig’s customer base grows, so does the need to constantly keep existing clients and prospects engaged. Customers can easily forget about you if you don’t keep them engaged for long periods of time.
To make sure this doesn’t happen to your side gig, automation is your safest bet. It won’t just help you make real money off your side gig, it will also leave you with the brainpower to come up with new strategies and grow your side gig into a full-fledged business. You’ll be able to quit your job in no time!
I know, most side gigs have a limited budget, to say the least. And automation and integration sound like expensive solutions. But did you know that SyncApps has plans that are 100% FREE? And I’m not talking about free trials — these are plans that are free forever. You can use them for as long as you want or until your side gig grows so much that you need a more advanced solution. You can then easily upgrade to a plan that fits your new needs better.
Sounds good? I thought so! Start here!
