Here’s the next installment in our side hustle case study series, where real people share how they make extra money in their spare time!
This week’s interview is with Annelies, a student lifestyle and money blogger at The Frugal Frenchie. Annelies is sharing a really cool side hustle idea for students: she made extra money at university by selling revision notes to her coursemates!
Here’s how she did it:
How to make money selling revision notes with Annelies
Please tell us a little about yourself and your side hustle.
Hi, my name is Annelies and I’m the writer behind The Frugal Frenchie blog. My unique side hustle, is that during my fresher year of university, when everyone was settling in and finding their rhythm, I would get ahead of schedule and read up on chapters of textbooks that weren’t yet taught. Then, when we came to that point, I would sell notes to students who weren’t confident with making notes or who were behind.
How long have you been doing your side hustle? How did you get into it?
I got into it with a fellow student, so we would do alternate weeks. Let’s say we were on week 1, I would write notes for week 1 and 2, and she would do weeks 3 and 4. It means I would be ahead, but would also get notes ahead of time so I had longer to revise. It was also beneficial because she held me accountable and vice versa as we had to rely on each other. I stopped after a year as I transferred to another university and future content was not as clear, concise or structured.
What does the work actually involve? What does a typical day/work session look like for you?
For me, I would get back from university, do all my homework, and then start on the next week’s work. It was very difficult to juggle, I would often work from 10am to midnight, including university times.
How much can you make doing this side hustle?
This completely depends on what you’re offering. My friend and I offered entire revision books for the whole semester but if you’re just doing weekly summaries then you could charge less as you’re having a more regular income. It also depends on the amount of effort you put in. Are you making the notes appealing, colourful and poster-like? Or are you just writing out textbooks in the form of bullet points? Another thing to consider is how popular the items will be? If you want to make them very accessible, offer your notes at a lower price so that more people will purchase them.
I can personally say I earned triple figures from this side hustle idea, without getting behind on my university work, having no transport costs or working for other people… it worked for me and my lifestyle at the time, and really helped when it came to things like my grocery bill.
If it’s something that you think you could do, I’d encourage you to just give it a go!
Are there any start-up costs and/or ongoing expenses with this side hustle?
None at all, which is the beauty of it; unless of course you print the notes yourself. The only cost is a lot of time spent on it.
What advice would you give to somebody who wants to get started?
Just start! The further you get into the term or year, the less income you can get as the less time you have left. Also by the end of the year, people become more confident in their abilities to note take and time manage, so you’re mostly likely to get a lot of interest at the beginning of the year.
Where can we find you?
If you’d like to know more about money saving or earning money from a student’s perspective, or just somebody in the beginning of adulthood, you can find me on the following social media:
Instagram: instagram.com/thefrugalfrenchie
Twitter: twitter.com/afrugalfrenchie
Facebook: facebook.com/thefrugalfrenchie
My blog is https://thefrugalfrenchie.co.uk
I’d love to know if you came from this post, so if you follow, please say hi!
Thank you Annelies! I love this idea for students to earn extra cash, and it would help with your own studies too.
Looking for even more ways to earn extra money alongside your studies? Check out these realated posts:
You can find the other posts in the side hustle case studies series here.
I’m currently looking for more contributions to this series! If you have a unique side hustle you’d like to share, please contact me and let me know what it is!
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