Your Guide on How to Side Hustle Reddit

Reddit has become an indispensable tool for many people who ask questions and form discussions on many topics ranging from hobbies to professional careers, and from random trivia to experts coming together. Now, it is one of the largest spaces in the world wide web for almost anything and everything. You can get side hustles from Reddit.

Because of its community-centric model, Reddit is the perfect place to build and grow your side hustle to make more money. The website is basically the largest collection of communities that helps you delve into your interests, hobbies, passions, and professional pursuits. It is another stomping ground where a lot of freelancers learn how to make money online.

Interested in something? Reddit has a community for that! They are called “subreddits,” which carry their own community rules, themes, and expectations based on the people who interact in that community. 

Subreddits are what make the website valuable for generating your side hustle ideas. By posting or commenting on Reddit, your interactions can get upvotes or downvotes. The more upvotes you get, the more valuable you and your posts become to the subreddit. Getting side hustles from Reddit can become almost easy.

If you can leverage the curation and promotion system of Reddit, by making your post a top topic, then you’re on your way to getting more side hustle ideas that you can grow into a business. Understanding how Reddit works can give you many insights on how to make money.

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Heap On Good Karma

One important feature of the site that you have to be mindful of is what you call “Reddit Karma.”

Unlike the original concept of karma, Reddit Karma isn’t about you giving and receiving good things. It is about the scores you accumulate based on your activity on the site. While it doesn’t give you money, more Reddit Karma means that you have more freedom, credibility, and followers on the site. More importantly, high scores can help you get into exclusive subreddits.

But whether or not you get into the exclusive high-karma redditors, high karma means that you can influence Reddit users, thus giving you an edge in the democratized web space. More users will be interacting with you and can be persuaded to give you the help you need.

This means a lot when you’re trying to generate side hustle ideas and grow your side hustle. And when it comes to Reddit, there are many stories about side hustle successes that there are whole threads and topics devoted to just that. One was even able to grow her online coaching side hustle on the site!

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Getting Started With Your Side Hustle Ideas

If you’re just starting on your journey and looking at side hustle ideas, Reddit can definitely help you in building and growing your side hustle, especially as the platform experienced 30% growth in its monthly users, topping popular social media sites Pinterest and Twitter. 

Just like any business and sales activities, you have to know where to go to get leads and side hustle ideas. Here are a few ways to get side hustles from Reddit:

1. Scout Before You Offer

One of the most important things you have to consider is how you can sell yourself to get hired. In this gig economy, there are so many people offering their expertise. Many people may fear that they cannot make their side hustles succeed simply because there are too many people building their gigs.

This is where you can stand out. If you’re offering a general service like graphic art; you can look at Reddit to see what people specifically need and what is the trending demand. For example, during the lockdowns, many people suddenly found the time to write and are looking for great book cover art; they went on Reddit and looked for people who can make their artwork for them.

There are tons of niches in your side hustle category that you can specialize in. Knowing which niche is trending and what your customers are looking for will lead to your getting many side hustles from Reddit.

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2. Know Your Subreddits

Now that you’ve found your niche, it’s time to know your subreddits. Being part of the popular subreddits focusing on side hustle ideas like r/BeerMoney and r/Freelance can be helpful as the network can help you with great advice and leads.

Let’s take the example of the graphic artist doing book cover art as an example. The natural course will be to go to subreddits like r/BookCovers aside from the side hustle subreddits mentioned above. But you should go beyond that.

To get side hustles from Reddit, click on subreddits where your customers hang out--in this case, the writers. You can even go to people who are connected to them like subreddits of editors and beta readers, and even publishers. You can even go to subreddits for readers, because that’s where a lot of writers hang out as well, even if you’re not targeting the readers themselves.

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3. Set Yourself up as a Thought Leader

Now that you’re in a subreddit, it’s time to sell your product or service, right?

Wrong.

Going straight into sales after entering a Reddit community will only get you ignored. At the worst, you might draw the ire of the community and the admins of the subreddit and get yourself kicked out.

Reddit is all about being a community where ideas, opinions, and help are shared and exchanged. This is what you have to do. Share your ideas and opinions, and help out when questions are posed. You can even post questions, stories, or interesting information yourself so that the community knows that you’re there to give and not just get.

The more you do this, the more people on the subreddit recognize and trust you. This sets you up to be someone they know who is truly a part of the community and is contributing to its growth.

Then, when the right opportunity arises, offer your service. Someone asks where to get great book cover art? Reply to them. Do you have an idea for a great cover art? Post an unfinished version.

Trust can go a long way into getting your side hustle to grow. These same customers and colleagues who trust you can give you more side hustle ideas. Thought leaders who have huge communities who trust in them get lucrative deals even without their asking. Side hustles from Reddit can evolve into prestigious, high-paying stints. 

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4. Don’t be Afraid to Show Off

Sometimes, things we post can turn off redditors. Remember that one of the reasons why people go to Reddit is to share and help. One of the best ways to share and help while marketing yourself is to post an achievement.

Taking the book cover artist example. You can flex and promote by posting a cover art and say something like, “Challenged myself to create this cover art in 30 minutes. It may not be the best but just being able to finish something is an achievement. Don’t worry about your first draft and finish it! The polish can come later.”

Inspirational and encouraging posts are some of the most upvoted posts on Reddit. So make sure you use this strategy wisely, but sparingly. Do it too often and you’re just showing off.

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5. Actively Hunt

Sometimes asking for leads and jobs is one of the most effective ways to get clients and customers for your side hustle. Let people know you’re open for business so that those who are looking for your product or service can see you.

A caveat: do not post the same question in all the subreddits you are a part of. Make sure that you tailor your question to the kind of group that you are talking to.

In the case of the graphic artist, you can post in the book covers group about specializing in certain genres for those who want their covers done. A member of the group may recommend you if they get approached for something they are not that good at.

For the writer group, especially genre specific ones, post book covers you have done in their genre and say you’re open for commissions. You can even offer your service when a writer says they have finished writing their book.

As for editors, you can ask if they’re currently working on editing a book and pitch your idea for the cover. If the editor likes it enough, they might recommend you to the writer they are working with.

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6. Help for Free

Helping for free is great, both for when you’re just starting and when you are growing your side hustle. If you are exploring your side hustle ideas, tell people that you are building your portfolio or gathering feedback. Limit your offer and send out your product or service to those who signed up for your free offer. In exchange, ask for their testimonials and recommendations.

If you are looking to grow your side hustle, you can still do this, but in a different way. People may randomly ask to “edit out” something from their photo. Use the opportunity to do so and then offer your service. Or maybe someone is complaining about a product or service they have received. Give them tips or ideas, or maybe even give them a glimpse of what you can do to help them.

Knowing that someone is out there to really help them out and not just siphon off their hard-earned money is a sure-fire way to get Reddit customers, and even recommendations.

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The Best Tip for Growing Your Reddit Side Hustle

If there are any tips on this list that would really help you grow your side hustles from Reddit, the best would be to become a thought leader and help others for free.

Why?

Thought leadership turns your name into a brand with value for others. Seeing your name post or comment on Reddit lends whatever you post or comment credibility. It also helps people remember you more. This is especially important when there are a number of freelancers like you vying for a spot when someone posts their needs on Reddit. Thought leadership will give you that edge over others who give similar offers. 

More importantly, thought leadership helps generate leads. This can come in the form of people responding to your posts or responses, or those actively looking for you because of something you shared that resonated with them. Thought leadership makes clients and customers look for you instead of you looking for clients and customers.

Helping others for free makes people more amenable to your offers. Helping them means that you have their best interests at heart. IT means that you actually care for the person who trusted you in doing business. With trust in business at a low point, genuinely helping people can create that gap in trust, which goes a long way in getting more money for your side hustle.

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Suggested Side Hustles from Reddit

By now, you may be making an inventory of your skills and capabilities to find your niche and grow your side hustle. While there are many side hustle ideas from Reddit, this list will focus on five things you can do online and quickly, regardless of your technical skill and expertise. Some of these are helpful side hustle ideas for moms.

Virtual Assistant

As long as you have a good calendar and develop an eye for detail, you can be a virtual assistant to anyone in the world. All you have to do is to help your clients accomplish what they need to by the deadlines they have set.

Data Entry Specialist

Know the basics of excel and other data input technologies? No? They’re pretty easy to learn for this job, so if you have a whole day to study them and then earn continuously after, then this job is for you.

Transcriptionist

Transcribing is all about listening to others and typing down what they say. There are some formats required for transcriptionists, but have a cheat sheet handy and you can start transcribing for money.

Personal Stylist or Shopper

Got an eye for clothing combinations? Or maybe you just have the time to look for the things your client needs to buy? Being someone’s personal stylist/shopper is just the thing for you. Just make sure your client feels good about your decisions at the end of the day.

Building and Growing Your Side Hustle on Reddit

Reddit is a great resource for getting more side hustle ideas. All you need to do is invest the time to engage with the community. If you do these things, Reddit is a gold mine for making more money for your side hustle. Think of them every time you search “side hustle ideas reddit.”

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