One in three turns to ‘side hustle’ to make money in lockdown

A third of people have embarked on a “side hustle” to make more cash from home during lockdown, with some taking up unusual moneyspinners such as beekeeping and becoming an online quizmaster.

A poll found that the average person’s income had dropped by a quarter since the coronavirus pandemic hit, and some had turned to side businesses to make up the difference.

The most popular moneymaker was offering services such as social media marketing and selling items online.

However, some people took on diverse ways of earning money such as beekeeping, which was taken up by five per centofthosepolled,becoming a quiz master and working as a video games tester.

Other people were selling photographs, while some had started blogging to earn cash.

The poll found that 35 per cent of people in Scotland admitted that their drop in income meant that they had been unable to pay all their bills and outgoings.

Selling clothes from home was the most popular option for side hustlers in Dundee, while in Edinburgh multilevel marketing was the top choice for making an extra few pounds.

In Inverness 25 per cent of those who said they had started a side business said they had started upcycling furniture, while Glaswegians started making homemade crafts.

Lucy Askew, spokesperson for home interiors firm Hillarys, which carried out the research, said: “2020 has been a tough year for everyone and whilst job losses, redundancies and pay cuts are sadly an inevitable part of the economic recovery, the fact that so many Britons are now looking into alternative ways of sourcing income to stay financially afloat and pay their bills paid from home should be highly commended.

“Thousands of workers have reaped the multitude of benefits that flexible working brings; and so it is inevitable that we will see home-based working a much more common options in the months and years to come.”

The study found that 53 per cent of respondents had been furloughed during lockdown, 19 per cent had been made redundant, nine per cent had been forced to take a pay cut and 19 per cent continued to work their normal jobs but with reduced hours or shifts.

Almost a third also admitted their income had been affected due to a lack of childcare and needing to stay home to look after their children once schools, childminders and nurseries were closed in March.