How to Launch Your Side Hustle & Make Your First $1,000 with Daniella Flores

Ever wondered how to launch your side hustle and start making $1,000 a month as your passive income?

Do you run a side business? Maybe you blog with a full-time job like me and so blogging is your side hustle?

No matter what you do, you should always have a side hustle to increase your monthly income. Below are the most popular side hustles that we will discuss in this interview post.

But most people don’t know how to launch their side hustles, so they don’t do anything!

Today, I’ve invited the queen of side hustles, Daniella Flores of I Like To Dabble to share some of her secret tips on launching your side hustle, why you should start a side hustle, and how to make your first $1,000!

Stay tuned till the end because I have a special surprise (discount) for you on her course here.

So without further delay, let’s get started with the interview:

How to Launch Your Side Hustle & Make Your First $1,000: Interview with Daniella Flores

1. Can you tell us about yourself and your business?

My name is Daniella Flores, and I am a software engineer by day and blogger by night or any other time of the day.

I started I Like To Dabble back in 2017 originally as a hobby blog then figured out I wanted to turn it into a site that not only tracked our own side hustles and financial journey but also discussed the different ways different people make money.

When I was playing around with the idea of monetizing it, I never knew it would ever make as much money as it has but the more serious I got with it, the more creative I got it.

Here we are 3 years later and the blog brought in $30,000 in 2019 alone, on the side of my full-time job and other side hustles.

The different ways my business brings in money are ads, affiliates, sponsorships, products, services, and freelance projects.

2. What inspired you to start your side hustles?

I’ve done many different side hustles throughout my life from high school to now.

But I started my website on a whim one day from the love I have with playing around with WordPress websites and custom theme development.

At the same time, we had quite a bit of debt that we needed to pay off so we started to play around with different ways to bring in extra money, pay off debt, and really start saving and planning for our futures.

I was doing some freelancing projects and learning to sell on eBay with my wife (who flips guitars on eBay for her side hustle).

Then once I set the site up to bring in money, I really started to pour most of my time into the site and away from the other side hustles.

3. How many side hustles do you have and what do you love about them?

Currently, the majority of my time goes to my main site iliketodabble.com but when I get the opportunity or want to bring in some extra money to put back into the site, I will do some freelance projects such as writing for other sites or small design projects for friends who ask.

I also started a second site with my wife called hikingandroadtrips.com but it’s not currently monetized.

I also have 2 Etsy shops set up (one that sells printables and the other is a dropshipping store that sells clothing and accessories in the Goth Bachelorette niche) but these manage themselves and are mostly passive income.

4. How many hours per week do you spend on running your side business? What does your typical day look like?

I usually spend about 5 to 10 hours a week on my 2 sites and anything associated or offered through those sites but lately with my new course and preparing for its launch, it has become more around 20 hour weeks.

My normal work week looks like this:

I wake up an hour early in the morning to work on articles, designs, content or services I offer through the site (or working on pitches).

I then work my day job, which I do from home from 7:30 AM until 3:30 PM then I go for a run, come back and get dinner ready with Ally, hang outside with the dogs, then work on the site again for about 2 to 3 hours before bed.

I do this about 3 days a week and then I take Saturday completely off.

Then I spend about 4 hours on my site again on Sunday. Some weeks, I don’t work on the site at all during the week and only do it on the weekends.

It just depends on what else is happening that week or how much I want to sit back and do nothing.

5. I see you have helped so many people create their side hustles through your “Launch Your Side Hustle” course, can you tell us about it?

Yes!

This is my very first course and has absolutely everything you need to launch your side hustle and make your first $1,000 with it (from my real-life experience).

It doesn’t matter if you don’t have an idea of what you want to go with, we help you figure that out too as well as how you can make money doing it.

Thanks to you, we also go over how to legally cover your side hustle as well as insight from an accountant for the taxes portion. 

These are additional video lessons we added in the course to help our students feel confident launching their side hustles successfully (and legally!).

The Launch Your Side Hustle course also includes:

• 7 modules + 1 bonus module that includes 38 lessons, 7 videos (with transcripts), and 19 worksheets that show you everything from idea, to action, to bank
• Examples to follow and templates to use
• Resources to show you how to choose a side hustle that is not only perfect for you but also fits your lifestyle
• How to identify your audience, what they need, and where to find them
• How to research demand and stand out
• The different ways to make money including passive income ideas for your business like affiliate marketing
• How to decide what services and/or products to offer and how to sell them
• How to legally cover your side hustle (including insight from an ACTUAL lawyer)
• Make sure you track expenses, income, and taxes correctly (including insight from an ACTUAL accountant who specializes in self-employed and small businesses)
• How to create and market your brand
• How to decide if you need a website and if so, how to create one for free (or paid if that is what you want to do)
• Social media marketing strategies
• How to build an email list
• How to get featured on big media websites
• How to set up systems for organization and avoid overwhelm
• How to find a community and network of support
• Insight from other successful side hustlers, freelancers, and other self-employed persons/small business owners about what worked for them for reaching their first $1k and their different perspectives
• An optional private 1:1 coaching upgrade with me
• And so much more!

6. Does Launch Your Side Hustle Course work for everybody? Someone with or without an existing business and at any skill level? 

This course would absolutely work for almost anybody but I do recommend that they have reliable access to the internet as all the tools discussed in the course are online tools and that they are based in the United States (due to the legal and tax sections being specific to the United States).

If they are already making some money with their side hustle, they can use this course to learn new ideas for growing that income too.

Some of my students had side hustles for years but after taking the course, they still learned something new! 

7. What are the most profitable side hustles or side hustle ideas?

The most profitable side hustles are the ones you can start with little to no upfront costs, such as freelance work.

You will need a good hosting company, email marketing service, a beautiful theme from here, and maybe some social media graphics.

Examples include freelance writing, freelance design, freelance social media manager, freelance video editor, etc.

You can freelance in almost any skill you have, and this course shows you exactly how to get paying gigs.

Freelance is a great place to start and then you can get ideas for the services and products you want to offer.

From there, you want to keep building on that income by creating a space for your followers such as on Instagram, offering services and products on a website (and have that site as a central place for people to find you and what you offer).

Then figure out ways to work in more passive income like affiliate partnerships and subscription offers for exclusive content.

Selling online is another lucrative side hustle but takes longer to work up to more consistent sales and has more of an upfront cost.

Mostly any online side hustle can be quite lucrative with the potential to build on more income streams, which is why I created this course to hone in on online side hustles.

8. What are your top 3 tips for starting your own side hustle?  

• Do your research. You don’t want to offer something that no one wants, which is also something we cover in this course.
• Commit and plan your time upfront. Look at your current life and schedule, and make sure you pick something that is going to be able to fit into that schedule easily starting out.
• Don’t try to do all the things in the beginning. Take it slow and get the basics figured out. You don’t want to burn out so your time management will need to be top-notch (as well as your stress management).

9. What are some of the mistakes you see people making when starting their side hustle?

I see a lot neglecting the legal side of their business starting out, forgetting about taxes, and end up paying more in the long run for it (like me).

The first year I tried to figure out my side hustle taxes with my blog I was doing everything from my PayPal and a lot of personal expenses came out of it too. I don’t recommend that at all!

When it came time to do my taxes, the time it took to sift through it all was excruciating.

So it’s very important to have a proper legal foundation for your business such as forming an LLC (if you want) and having the essential legal pages and documents to protect yourself and your side hustle.

Avoid legal mistakes with your side hustle with these legal contracts

One of the most common legal contracts you will need for your side hustle is a FREELANCE CONTRACT.

If you are going to offer ANY kind of freelance services then you’ll need to have a legal contract to protect yourself and your side business.

Learn more about my Freelance Contract Template here.

Another important legal contract you will need for your side hustle is an LLC OPERATING AGREEMENT.

If you end up forming an LLC for your side business to protect your personal assets then you will need an LLC Operating Agreement.

This post talks more about LLC’s and why you should consider having one for your business.

Learn more about my LLC Operating Agreement Template here.

Maybe you decide to offer coaching services as your side hustle then you’d need a COACHING AGREEMENT.

Coaching is a great way to help others and you can offer any kind of coaching such as business and legal coaching like I do or anything else you are qualified to teach others about!

Learn more about the coaching business and what legal contracts you will need in this post.

Related Blog Posts on How to Protect Your Business Legally:

• 3 Legal Pages and Legal Contracts for Bloggers and Entrepreneurs
• What Is a Media Release Agreement and How to Use It?
• The Only Guest Blogger Agreement Template You Need for Your Blog
• What Is a Confidentiality Agreement and Why You Must Use It (NDA Template)
• Coaching Agreement and Contracts You Need for Your Coaching Business
• 16 DIY Legal Document Templates for All Entrepreneurs
• Sweepstakes Template, Giveaways and Contest Terms and Conditions

Watch how thousands of other smart entrepreneurs like you are protecting their businesses with my easy legal templates:

10. Can you share the top 3 features of your Launch Your Side Hustle course that distinguishes it from other courses out there?

There is nothing else out there that covers as much as this course when it comes to online side hustles and that doesn’t cost hundreds or thousands of dollars.

The Launch Your Side Hustle course only costs $97 and includes some amazing bonuses!

It also isn’t only text lectures or only video lectures, it is a mix of text lessons, video Q&As, visuals, worksheets, templates, examples and more!

You also don’t need to be a complete beginner for it to benefit you.

Final Thoughts from Amira – Launch Your Side Hustle

I have personally taken Daniella’s Launch Your Side Hustle course here and loved it!

Daniella has really thought about everything you could possibly think of from starting your side hustle to protecting it legally to paying your taxes to how to invoice clients to pricing your services, how to network with others, and so much more!

Some of my favorite parts from the course were learning about

• what mistakes to avoid when setting up systems for success
• different types of side hustles + side hustle ideas
• finding your community and network because that’s essential in business! (you don’t need to work alone)
• Q&A lesson with a business lawyer (me!!) to show you how to protect your side hustle legally!
• Q & A lesson with an actual accountant to teach you all about taxes
• 4 BONUS lessons with real-life side hustlers who are crushing it!
• How to get featured on big media websites like Business Insider, Huffington Post, CNBC, USA Today and others!

and more!

Check out the full course curriculum here

This course is VERY reasonably priced and a total steal because of HOW MUCH it offers!

Tell me your favorite side hustle below in the comments!

Related Blog Posts to Starting a Side Hustle

If you are looking to start a side hustle from home then you should check out these helpful blog posts:

• How to Make $100,000 Flipping Websites 
• How to Become a Virtual Assistant
• How to Start a Freelance Business 
• How to Start Working in Real Estate from Home

About Daniella 

Daniella Flores is a Latina software engineer and the founder of iliketodabble.com which she actually started on a whim on the side of her full-time job back in 2017. She’s been featured on big-name sites like Business Insider, Huffington Post, Refinery29, CNBC, Bustle, USA Today, and more (which she actually shows you in her course how to get similar big media mentions).

She’s been side hustling since she was a kid when she created a Lisa Frank sticker club in 2nd grade and charged sticker packs to join, but that was just the beginning. Throughout her life, she has also sold paintings at festivals, repaired and resold old Playstations, flipped items on eBay and Poshmark, freelanced in a variety of skill sets, started and runs 2 Etsy shops (that are mostly passive income streams), and runs 2 websites.