5 Ways Your Business Can Make Money Outside of Your Services or Classes

As a small business owner or service provider, you give 110% every day to your clients.

It goes without saying that your day-to-day is already chock-full of hustle.

So, what do you do when you need to make more money?

Running a small business isn’t easy and requires a lot of hard work and time. (We see you!)

But we also know that sometimes the day-to-day revenue of your appointments or classes just doesn’t quite bring in all the money you want or need.

That’s why so many small business owners these days are on the hunt for side hustles to make more money.

Whether you’re a hair stylist or a yoga instructor, starting a side hustle, or alternate revenue stream, doesn’t have to add a ton of stress to your work week. It can even be fun!

With the following tips, you’ll find your next side hustle and start bringing in more money in no time!

5 Side Hustles for Service Providers to Make More Money

Sell Products

If you aren’t already, selling products is a great way for both beauty professionals and fitness professionals to bring in extra revenue.

By selling products, you’re providing customers with even more service and value. Your clients are already there for their appointment or class, so there’s the convenience factor for them of buying products as part of their workout or haircut.

Plus, the amount of time and money clients potentially spend during a single visit will increase.

Business coach and former salon owner, Nina Tulio, encourages salons to “get more conscious about their retail.”

Here are her three pro tips for selling more products:

Only offer one or two product lines that support your brand.
Every quarter, you should pull your average sold per product. If a product hasn’t sold in 90 days, move it. Either swap it out with your vendor for a product that sells or offer it at a promotional price.
Please, please don’t go to the beauty supply store every week to purchase supplies. Order them once or twice a month. Get on a consistent schedule. When you go to the store the temptation, the struggle is real. It’s like being a kid in a candy store.

Don’t Forget Your Website

If you have a website for your business, that’s a great place to mention and promote your products.

More than likely clients are going to visit your website before booking with you, so why not take that opportunity to show them the products you use and how to purchase them?

Website hosts, like WordPress, even have built-in tools to sell products online.

Teach Workshops

Nobody knows your craft better than you do. Your passion and love for what you do is visible daily to your clients and those around you.

So, why not turn that passion into a fun workshop or class for your folks in your community to try? Or maybe teach a class online?

For pretty much any industry and business, workshops are a big opportunity for extra income. Think of higher priced beauty retreats, massage certifications, or fitness workshops, for example.

Ultimately, teaching a workshop allows you to expand the boundaries of how you earn your income.

Extra Credit: We found a website called Udemy where you can create and teach your own classes online. They even have a great motto for service providers on the hustle: “Become an instructor and change lives — including your own.”

Can you actually make more money using social media? Yep, you sure can! And we’re not talking about just the big celebrities or athletes.

Plenty of hair stylists and personal trainers are able to build up a big enough following to earn a little extra income on the side by being active and engaging with clients (and potential clients) on social media platforms, like Instagram and YouTube.

As an expert in your industry, your opinion has clout.

And if you have a unique angle on your industry or if there’s a niche piece of your industry that’s missing content, you are well on your way to growing your business and earning extra income.

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Getting Started

Plan

You can’t expect a thousand followers to land in your lap each week. It takes consistent and fresh content over time.

Choose your platform: If Instagram is your jam, and maybe Facebook, too, stick with those platforms and don’t try to promote content everywhere possible or you may end up burnt out pretty quickly.
Find your message: You need a vision for your business — and your brand — and how it will connect with clients. What will be your focus? Inspirational? Educational?
Start a calendar: Once you have your message and focus, lay out your content ideas into a monthly schedule. Set daily, weekly, and monthly goals for posting.

Fill in what’s missing

To help your content stand out, you need to find something unique to post and make your own.

Maybe there’s a certain workout routine you came up with to help strengthen your client’s core.

Or maybe your focus is on curly hair. Make sure you do your research on other influencers out there to find what’s missing.

Deep-dive into trends, tools, and hashtags that will take your brand – and small business – to the next level.

Cultivate a following

Your goal in the beginning will be to start growing your list of followers.

Modern Salon suggests that when building up your following, you should start by posting “three times a day. Stay on top of each post for the first hour, engaging with anyone commenting.”

Even if you don’t become a huge social media influencer overnight, your social media presence is still important to earning income.

It’s an easy way to promote products or new services.

Partner With a Brand

Partnering with a well-known brand goes hand in hand with social media, as you’ll earn extra money for using and promoting that brand.

For personal trainers, this could mean partnering with a nutrition brand to offer your clients and promote online.

For hair stylists, brand partnerships are a creative way to think outside of your normal revenue stream. As a professional hair stylist, your opinion carries more weight than you think.

Hairstylist and mentor Yene Damtew has a partnership with DevaCurl to not only help sponsor events — DevaCurl pays her directly as well.

On top of believing in the product you use, Yene has a few tips for securing a partnership with a brand:

First, identify yourself with a brand you like and you feel have the same values as you do.
Pitch yourself to the brand with a press kit and info on you and your business.
Clearly state what your goals are with the partnership and how your brand can help their brand.

Offer Online Consultations

With services and classes going more and more online these days, now is the perfect time to start offering online consultations.

They’re a quick and easy way to make extra income outside of your regular offerings, and they can also help hook potential clients for more bookings down the road.

Win-win!

Zoom makes it really simple to stay in touch with clients online and set up consultations.

Their free version lets you have unlimited 1:1 meetings and lets you host up to 100 participants in group video conferences for up to 40 minutes. This is great for most businesses.

The main exception is for those fitness instructors or yoga teachers who want to offer standard hour-long (or longer) classes. For that, you’ll want to go Pro, which rings in at $14.99/month.