The Most Important Skills to Have in the Age of Side Hustles

These days it seems like everybody you meet either has a side hustle already or is thinking of getting one. After all, with the rising cost of living, it’s hard to pay the bills and have some money left for fun stuff unless you have a six-figure salary. The great thing about side hustles — other than the extra money, of course — is that they can help you hone your skills and create some diversion from the daily slog. For a good side hustle, however, you may need special skills too. Here are the most important skills to have in the age of side hustles (and some side hustle ideas to boot).

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Side hustle skill: Driving

Being an Uber or Lyft driver is a good way to earn an extra income but they’re not the only side hustles that may require driving skills. Whether you’re babysitting, taking someone’s dogs for walkies at the dog park or delivering products that you’re making, you’ll need to be able to drive and have a valid driver’s licence. If you're driving a lot, you may also want some easy ways to cut your car costs.

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Side hustle skill: Teaching or tutoring

Having teaching or tutoring skills can open up many possibilities, from helping local kids with their studies to teaching English online. Some of the best jobs for retirees involve teaching or tutoring without the stress of being in a classroom.

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Side hustle skill: Verbal English

Being able to speak English well and clearly is important for most side hustles, since you need to be able to communicate effectively. You can also use your verbal English skills specifically for a side hustle like online conversation classes with ESL students who need some practice — or for hosting your own podcasts.

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Side hustle skill: Written English

Anybody can write a blog but not everybody can write a good blog. With great writing skills, you can also look for content-writing gigs or specialize in, for instance, grant writing. Your written English skills will also come in good stead for editing jobs, communicating with clients and managing your website and social media.

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Side hustle skill: Fluency in another language

In a country as diverse as Canada, being able to speak a language other than English and high school French is an increasingly marketable skill to have. It’s great for side hustles like interpreting and translation work too. In fact, you can charge more for your services if you’re fluent in one of the less common languages.

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Side hustle skill: Interviewing skills

Being a good interviewer takes special skills, like the ability to listen, connect with the interviewee and ask the right questions. It’s not only when you work in media that you’ll need good interviewing skills: you can use also use these skills in market research — or any other kind of research, really.

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Side hustle skill: Coding

Coding is one of the most basic skills to have if you too want to start your own tech company from your parent’s basement. You can learn coding through one of the easy courses that will also look amazing on your resumé.

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Side hustle skill: Art and design skills

Whether it’s drawing, sculpting, photography or graphic design, there are countless ways to turn your artistic skills into a side hustle. You can illustrate books, sell your work on Etsy or on stock image sites, for instance, and watch the money come in without having to lift a finger once you’ve done the initial work.

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Side hustle skill: Web design

Everyone who wants to sell anything needs a website these days, so good web designers are in great demand. It’s also one of those jobs you can do from anywhere.

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Side hustle skill: Social media

Social media manager is one of those jobs that didn’t exist 10 years ago in Canada. If you know how to use social media to get the word out there about a new product, project or campaign, you have the skills for a very lucrative side hustle.

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Side hustle skill: Video editing

Being able to edit videos is an invaluable skill to have in the age of YouTube. You can work for clients but you can also create your own videos and maybe become the next YouTube star.

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Side hustle skill: Specialized tech skills

The job — and side hustle — possibilities in tech are endless if you have specialized tech skills. Maybe you’re an expert on a specific computer program or maybe you know how to take a computer apart and fix it. Either way, you’ll never be out of work.

With so many companies prioritizing digital, there are high paying in-demand jobs in Canada that value specialized tech skills.

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Side hustle skill: Organization skills

Organization skills are great to have if you want to be an executive assistant or a project manage, one of the highest paying jobs in Canada for newcomers. You can also turn those skills into a side hustle by becoming a virtual assistant.

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Side hustle skill: Accounting

There’s a good reason why accounting is one of the best jobs for moms. Not only can you do it part-time and turn it into a side hustle — especially around tax time — but you can also earn very good money doing so.

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Side hustle skill: Research

Research skills are not only for those who do research for a living. Being able to do research is essential for just about any side hustle. If you know how to dig deeper than just the first result that comes up during your Google search, you can find out how lucrative your idea may be, where to find clients and how to stay at the top of your game.

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Side hustle skill: Marketing

Some of the highest paying in-demand jobs in Canada have to do with marketing, but good marketing skills are useful for any side hustle. After all, if nobody knows about you and what you have to offer, nobody will be able to buy your product or services.

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Side hustle skill: Games

Whether it’s beer pong or a video games, you can easily turn that talent for a particular game into a side hustle. Jennifer Tilly, who is one of the wealthiest Canadian actors of 2019, is a great example of how lucrative this can be. A big chunk of her net worth comes from prize money she won in poker tournaments.

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Side hustle skill: Carpentry

If you're looking to add some new skills for a side hustle, we've got a few suggestions.

With Canada’s construction boom, skilled carpenters have plenty of work. You don’t have to work in construction full-time to make money from your carpentry skills, though. You can make good money creating bespoke furniture on the side, for instance.

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Side hustle skill: Welding

Being a welder is one of the great jobs for women in trades but you can also turn your welding skills into a lucrative side hustle. Aside from run-of-the-mill welding work, you can combine your welding skills with an artistic streak and create sculptures or custom gates and burglar bars, for instance.

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Side hustle skill: Make-up

What? Make-up? It's true! You don’t have to be a qualified make-up artist to make money from your make-up skills. Just look at Huda Kattan, who started a beauty blog that quickly gained her a huge following. Now she’s not only one of the wealthiest social media influencers but she started her own cosmetics company and is one of the inspiring women who became CEOs under 30.

More? Watch this natural skincare haul video.