- So you're looking to get
into the real estate business and maybe earn a little
extra cash on the side, huh? Well in this video, we're
gonna talk about five side hustles that you can pursue
in the real estate industry that can help you to build
some more financial freedom and depend a little bit
less on your day job. Stick around. (upbeat music) Hey, I'm Seth Williams, I'm
the founder of REtipster.com, where we give all kinds
of insights and guidance for real estate investors. And in this video, we're
gonna talk about a few different ways you can get involved in the real estate industry
if you're just trying to earn a little extra side cash and
get your foot in the door so that you can learn more
about how this business works and eventually take this
to a much higher level. So I remember back when I
was working my first job outta college and I desperately
wanted to get out of it. I wanted to get into
the real estate business as an investor so I could
start making a lot more money and really just doing life on my own terms and not living and dying by
what my boss told me to do. And there was nothing wrong with my job, I just didn't like the
idea that I had to do what they told me to
do all day, every day, and I could never do my own thing. And so I got started
the way most people do is I found a way that I could make money in the real estate business
while I was still working my full-time job. And good news is,
there's all kinds of ways that you can make money on the side. And one of the easiest ways
I know of to get started is to become a notary. Becoming a notary is not
expensive, it's not difficult. And essentially what a notary
does, their job is to attest to the validity of signatures
and the original documents that are being signed. So for a lotta years, I actually
acted as a notary in my job and I would sign hundreds
of different loan documents for people who were borrowing money. And by acting as a notary
and signing my signature right next to theirs, I was
saying that I had actually looked at this person's
personal identification, I verified that yes, they
are who they say they are, so the document is not forged,
it's not a fake signature, this is a real valid and
legally enforceable document. And that's really what a notary does. And most notaries can
earn anywhere from 75 to even a couple hundred
dollars for every signing appointment that they book, so for every time they meet with somebody and notarize a signature. And notaries are needed
any time you're signing loan documents, any time
you're signing a deed, and the amount that you
earn per job as a notary depends on where you're
getting the job from and who you're working with. For instance, if you get plugged in with a local title company
or attorney or escrow office and you basically just act
as a mobile notary for them, where you're going out
to meet people and sign their documents, it's
typically gonna involve a little bit of travel
time because you have to go to where this person is and
watch them sign the document and verify that they are
who they say they are. But aside from understanding
how to do this properly and just signing the
document right after they do, that's really all there is to it. It's not hard or difficult work. You just have to go through the motions of becoming a notary, filling
out all that basic paperwork, and then remaining in
good standing in the state where you're authorized as a notary. So it's pretty straightforward
and this is not something where you're gonna get rich from it. But if you can constantly
maintain appointments, say one a day or even a
couple every single week, it can add up fairly quickly
to a nice side income on a monthly basis. Another way to make a nice side income in the real estate business is to get into the business of bird dogging or some people even refer
to it as wholesaling. And essentially what this
is is you're going out and you are finding great
deals for other cash buyers. So for instance, let's say
you're able to find a seller who is highly motivated,
they're willing to sell fast for a very very low price. You don't necessarily have
the cash to buy it yourself, and even if you did, you
wouldn't have the resources to do all the flipping on your own. But, if you have connections
with one or more other real estate investors in the
area who are actively looking for deals like this, you
could bring the deal to them and earn a referral fee. And I think for the most part,
if you have a good trusting relationship with somebody,
it is possible to just have like a gentleman's agreement,
handshake agreement, where they would pay you
for every deal that closes. But for most cases, when you're starting a new relationship with
somebody that you haven't worked with before, you'll probably wanna start by getting some paperwork
involved, getting an actual purchase agreement signed with the seller and then assigning that
agreement to that cash buyer. And then you would essentially
get paid an assignment fee when that deal closes. I've actually got a
very detailed blog post that explains all the
mechanics and paperwork behind how this happens. I'm gonna link to that beneath this video, so feel free to check it out. I will say that assigning
purchase agreements like this is not legal in all 50 states unless you're a licensed real estate agent, so keep that in mind. You don't wanna just start
going this without first reviewing your state's
laws just to make sure that you're actually able to do this without breaking the law. But if you are able to do
it, and you still are able to do it in most states, this
can be a great way to earn some side income in the
real estate business. Along those same lines, let's
say you actually do want to become a licensed real estate agent. If you wanna be a Realtor
and list and sell properties in the local MLS and collect
a commission every time one of these properties sells. There's a lot of real estate
agents that work like this and in my conversations with
some of the more serious agents out there, they've
told me that as few as about 20% of all the agents out there are actually doing this
as a full-time career. The rest of them are doing
this more on a part-time basis, where they're selling anywhere from like one to five deals per year. So a lot of real estate agents
out there totally treat this like a side hustle and just
do deals when they have time on the nights and on the weekends. And if you wanna do it like
that, that's totally feasible. In order to become licensed
as a real estate agent, you're gonna have to
go through some testing and exams in the state
where you're working. That's usually gonna involve
a little bit of prep work ahead of time too
because you have to learn how to answer these questions
right before you actually take the test. And of course, as you can
imagine, there's costs associated with all this stuff too. So you should definitely
be prepared to pay some of those costs before you
even go down this road. Then there's also ongoing
education and annual membership fees you'll have to pay as well, so keep all that in mind. You don't wanna do this unless
you're actually planning on selling some properties
and bringing in some income to offset those costs. Another way to make some side income in the real estate business
is to get into something called affiliate marketing. Now if you're in the online space, if you have a blog or a YouTube channel, you're probably very familiar with this. But if you don't know what
affiliate marketing is, essentially what's happening
here is you are finding products and services from
companies that you know and have experience with
and are willing to put your reputation behind and
you promote these services to your audience. So we're talking if you
have a blog or any kind of a platform where people
are regularly paying attention to what you put out
there, you can say hey, I've been using this, it's
been working really well. If you wanna check it out
through my affiliate link, I'll earn a small
commission when you sign up. That's pretty much all there is to it. Now I will say, I think
that there's a right way and a wrong way to do this. If you've followed the REtipster blog for any length of time,
you probably already know I've done a lot of these affiliate
promotions over the years and I only do 'em on the
companies that I really believe in and am willing to stand behind. Because you gotta
remember, anything negative about the thing you promote
is ultimately going to reflect negatively on you. So you only want to do this with things that you're very familiar
with and you're willing to stand behind. Now promoting another company's stuff through affiliate links can be as simple as just posting your link on
your social media platform so that all your friends
and followers can see it and then you might get lucky. Perhaps somebody will
click through your link and buy something. But in my experience,
it's been a heck of a lot more effective to actually
offer a ton of value before you even get into the point of posting your affiliate link. For example, I've done
affiliate promotions for companies like Cozy and RingCentral and BombBomb and I can't tell you that any of these companies are perfect,
but they're pretty darn good and I believe in them a lot
because I've used 'em for years. And when I went through the
process of intentionally promoting these companies
on the REtipster blog, I didn't promote it without offering a lot of free education and
explanation as to how it works, why it's helpful, and how to really use it to make the most of your
business and get a lot better at what you do. So whether one of these readers or viewers ends up buying anything
or not, and I'll tell ya most of them don't, they're
still gonna walk away with a lot of value in any event. Most of the affiliate
promotions I've done in the past do not make a ton of money. I'd say an average one might
make a few hundred dollars per month, but there have
been some when I've been able to get the right product
with the right audience and the right promotion
where it's been able to earn upwards of $1,000 in one day. So it can be pretty cool if
you can get all the stars to align, but again, I wouldn't plan on getting rich from this. It's just a nice side stream of income if you happen to have
an audience and you know how to promote it in a way
that actually adds value to people's lives. And the last side hustle idea on this list is actually several
things rolled up into one, and it's all about being a freelancer. So I want you to ask
yourself, is there anything that you're particularly
good at that you can use to offer value to other
people's businesses and lives? For example, do you know
how to use Photoshop? Do you have a good speaking voice? Do you know how to write well? Because you could do
things like graphic design, creating logos for other people, or you could do voiceover work
for people's phone systems or you could offer
business writing services. Anything like that where
you know that there's a need out there and people need easy
help and you can basically just extend your services, and if you market yourself
specifically as an expert in the real estate industry,
you'll be miles ahead of all the other freelancers out there who are marketing their services
to anybody and everybody. If you wanna give freelancing
a shot and you think you have some value to offer the world, there's a couple websites you
should definitely check out if you haven't already seen them. One of them is Upwork. The other one is Fiverr.com. And both these websites
are kinda different in what they do. Fiverr is more like
low-end, ultra cheap help. Upwork is more the high-end, like ongoing business relationships. But they can both be a
great fit for both people who are looking to hire work
and people who are looking to hire out their services. So definitely check out both of those. I've got a couple blog posts
that explain very thoroughly how both websites work. Again I'll link to those
beneath this video too. But don't be afraid to
put yourself out there. I think there could be all kinds of ways that you could monetize the things that you're already
good at and really make a lot of money over the
long haul if you're willing to plug away at it on the
nights and on the weekends and when you have time to do it. So in my mind, side hustles are not just about making money on the side, but it's really about hope and thinking about the future. And if you're feeling like
you're shackled to your day job or whatever source of
income you currently have that you frankly don't enjoy that much or say if you just don't have any income or not enough income at the moment, I want you to understand through this, like there are all kinds
of ways you can make money and you don't have to
be a slave to your job. Making money from a side
hustle is not gonna be quick or easy in most cases, but
if you pick one or two things where you wanna be an expert
and add a lot of value to other people's businesses
and you commit to it for six to 12 months
and keep plugging away, I think you'll be surprised to see, these can be pretty
impactful in a lotta ways. It'll even give you a lot
of psychological freedom when you realize, there's
a lot more you can do and a lot more you can offer the world than just the income that
your day job has to offer you, assuming you have a job at all. And also keep in mind, there's
a lot more opportunities out there than just these
ones I've mentioned here in this video. So keep your eyes peeled. Always be on the lookout for
ways that you can add value to the world and make money on the side. So let me ask you, are
you currently working at any kinda side hustle? If so, what is it and how's
it working out for you? Feel free to leave a
comment beneath this video and let us know and who
knows, maybe we can all learn of some other ways that
we can make some income on the side in the real estate business. Thanks a lot for watching. For more information, be sure to check out the full blog post
associated with this video. Again, I'll link to that and
a lot of other things below. I hope you got some new ideas from this and I'll see you next time.
