I’ve seen it, and I’m sure you’ve had too. The TikTok video that promises you a fortune while you sit on the beach relaxing.
Most people now realize that much of that hype is overblown, but what about the legit side hustles? Are there actually any on TikTok?
Are the Side Hustles on TikTok Real?
Tiktok has side hustles mentioned on there that are legit business ideas. Many of which I’ve tried myself or am currently doing. With that said, you should know that there are plenty of viral TikTok videos that give advice so bad you could probably go broke if you tried what they said.
Solid TikTok Side Hustles
There are some legit TikTok side hustles out there. Tiktok advice ranging from
- Becoming a YouTuber
- Blogging
- Real estate
- Owning a laundromat
- Vending machines
Just to name a few. These are all legit side hustles, but I think the very nature of TikTok itself can lead you to disaster if you don’t take other necessary steps.
TikTok is a platform geared towards bite-sized information. Because of that, it’s very easy to get a lot of ideas on what side hustle or business you could consider or maybe even some ideas of how to get started.
As far as I’m concerned, that’s where the benefit of TikTok as far as starting a business ends.
Why you ask?
It’s because you cannot get a good idea of the ins and outs of a business. How to properly start or structure a particular business in 60 seconds.
It’s not possible..it’s absolutely not possible.
You cannot get a good idea of the ins and outs of a business. How to properly start or structure a particular business in 60 seconds.
Thomas Uzuegbunem
Take for instance the ever popular, start a blog as a side hustle.
I could distill the steps down into 3 steps:
- Come up with a niche
- Get your hosting and WordPress setup
- Start creating content
I literally just told you how to start a blog without telling you anything. Each step alone could consume hours of content just to be able to do it right.
Not to mention important detail that I left off. But yet this is the 3 step process I’ve seen man TikTok videos say.
So while you can make money (and good money) building a blog, it’s a lot more nuanced than any TikTok video can explain.
For Example
To illustrate my point take this TikTok video below.
For the record, there’s nothing inherently wrong with what she’s saying. She had the same 3 points.
- Find a niche.
- Setup a website.
- Create content.
While those are all great points telling you to pick a platform doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface.
Some of you who watched the video might wonder what about her point #4. Like all the other points, her last point could be hours upon hours worth of work and researching by itself.
Bad TikTok Side Hustles
Then there are the bad TikTok side hustle ideas.
These could range from ideas that:
- Never worked
- Worked at some point but not anymore
- Very difficult to get it to work
I’ve noticed business ideas generally work like this.
People find an idea. They exploit that idea until it no longer works (or doesn’t work as well). When it stops working, they’ll start teaching other people how to do the very thing that’s not working for them anymore.
Obviously, this is not the case for everything, but you get my point.
How You Should Come Up with a Side Hustle Using TikTok
With all that said, I think TikTok is a good place to start with ideas.
Once the algorithm knows you want to see side hustle ideas, it will start feeding you more and more videos. From that point, here are the steps you should take
1. Tell the Algoritynm You’re Looking for Side Hustle Ideas
Go into the home tab on TikTok and search “side hustle,” “make extra money,” or something of that nature.
You should then see a ton of search results. Go through and click on some videos. Check out the TikToker profile and like any videos that interest you.
What you’re essentially doing is telling the TikTok algo, I like videos on this topic. Show me some more like this
2. Take Note of Good Ideas
As you’re getting inundated with side hustle ideas, take note of the ones that interest you. Make a note of what you like about it. It might even be worth noting down the ideas you don’t like and why
3. Get Off TikTok and Do Some Research
After getting your initial ideas and making notes of what you like, the next thing is to actually find out more information about the business.
Some questions you should be looking for answers to are:
- Is this business even possible?
- Can you actually make money from this?
- How hard is this business idea?
- What do I need to get started?
- How much money and time do I need to get started?
- How much can I realistically make?
- How long will it take me to start making money?
The list goes on and on. As you do more research, you’ll have more questions tailored to the specific business that you’ll need to find an answer to.
Where to do your actual research?
Now you might be wondering, that’s all fine and dandy, but where am I actually going to do the research.
There are a couple of options, and I’ll have another article that’ll walk you through more on how to research side hustle ideas, but the one that I will give you in this article is YouTube.
YouTube is a great resource for researching business ideas. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t critically think about what you’re watching, but it’s a great place for in-depth research.
TikTok Can Get You Going
TikTok can get you started. But you’ll need to go on other platforms for actual deep research.
Let me know in the comment section some of the ideas you’ve seen presented on TikTok that made you think to yourself, there’s absolutely no way that’s possible.
