A DISABLED mum-of-one began making extra cash when recovering from surgery at home and soon turned it into a business.
Elaine Hughes, 47, lives in London with her daughter.
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Born with a spastic quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy, she is a full-time disability and diversity inclusion consultant for luxury brands and hospitality, with a love of side hustles.
Elaine started doing side hustles full-time after medical retirement 15 years ago.
She was in about £15,000 worth of debt when she started and made around £70,000 in her first year.
She told The Sun she began when she was surviving on half wages and benefits, out of both boredom and necessity:
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“I caught the love of it whilst laid up after one of many surgeries worrying about how I could pay for my daughter’s dance classes,” she said.
“I listed my first item on eBay and I sold something pretty much a few hours later, I quickly started adding other bits and realised how quickly I found things to sell.”
She was soon regularly earning between £1,000 and £2,000 a month, even making £4,000 one January, when most businesses struggle.
Although she has since stopped in favour of other side hustles, her favourite things to sell were hampers, especially close to Christmas.
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Last Christmas she made over £1,000 using Amazon returns, bulk buys, clearance auctions, Airport Luggage auctions, Groupon and Wowcher for reselling and buying gift products.
She then split up products and created gift baskets, which were sold on eBay, craft fairs, Etsy and Facebook groups.
Elaine noted three-for-two deals of miniature products and unwanted Lego are all small items that can easily be portioned out to give big returns.
Elaine puts the success down to knowing her audience and studying the market for what people want.
She said: “I didn’t put my prices up higher than was reasonable, but I also ensured that what I am offering is a great product.
“If you are filling a customer’s requirement they will buy from you.
“Hampers and gift baskets are great as they have a very personal touch.”
Having always shared what she was doing with friends and family, Elaine realised she was good at understanding what people said and developing their ideas to make an extra income.
She said: “People always say to me ‘I have no skills or I’m rubbish at everything’.
After an hour with me, they’ve gone away with more than a handful of ideas of how they can make an extra income or multiple streams of income.
“I think the key is just giving them the key to unlock their thought process.”
After helping friends, family and those on low incomes or disabilities who just needed some guidance, she started her business helping people to develop a side hustle.
This boosts her income by £1,000 a month for a few hours of work.
For some of her clients, this has turned into their main income.
For example, client Kyra has a love for fashion and travelled a lot with her job.
After a chat with Elaine they created a series of checklists and guides.
These gave tips on a variety of things, such as what to pack for holidays/work, how to create the perfect styling board for weddings, events etc.
This proved popular, especially the guides on what to pack and wear for work and special occasions.
She now runs it as a successful consultancy business.
Meanwhile, second client Jane has two autistic sons who share her love of gardening.
They started selling fruit and vegetables that they had grown in their garden and allotments, putting it outside the front door with a little card giving the background story.
Happy customers now drop envelopes through the letterbox as a “thank you”.
Elaine has been so successful in her hustles – and helping others start theirs – that she has recently published a book Side Hustle 500: Couchpreneur’s Guide.
With over 1,000 ideas to choose from, Elaine has written up 500 of the most popular ones.
She smiles, saying the book actually started as a joke:
“During the lockdown, my friend and I were just chatting and she said “I bet you can’t give me 10 ways to create a side hustle around pets”, she said.
“So I rattled off 10 ideas and she then gave me another topic and I rattled off 10 more.
“I thought I should start to write them down and I just kept adding to it.”
Having launched the book, she now offers brainstorming sessions and has a membership programme for people who need help on their side hustle journey.
Elaine says “Anyone can have a side hustle and bring in money, all you need is an idea and there are thousands available.”
How to make £1,000 before Christmas
The Sun asked Elaine for her top ideas for making £1,000 before Christmas:
1) Handmade Christmas crafts
Create and sell personalized ornaments, wreaths or stockings.
People love home-made, personalised items and many also want to support small UK businesses.
So, as well as ebay and Etsy, sell on The British Craft House and at local Art and Craft Fairs.
2) Gift wrapping service
Provide a professional gift-wrapping service for busy individuals or businesses to help them get their presents ready for family, employees and favourite clients.
3) Virtual Santa video calls
Offer personalized video calls from Santa to add a magical touch to children’s Christmas celebrations.
You could also make videos to send over social media.
4) Holiday pet sitting
Provide pet-sitting services for those travelling during the holiday season.
You could do this at your own home or at the pet owner’s.
Sites like House Sitters or Trusted House Sitters bring together pet owners and sitters.
5) Holiday home cleaning services
Offer specialised holiday cleaning services to help busy families prepare for guests over the festive season.
6) Advent calendar creations
Craft and sell personalized advent calendars with unique treats or activities.
She noted this could be done for pets too.
7) Virtual holiday cookery or craft classes
Share your culinary skills by hosting virtual cookery classes, featuring festive recipes, or craft workshops on how to make Christmas decorations.
8) Sell children’s art packs
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Buy a large number of crayons/coloured pencils and split them into smaller packs and put them with colouring pictures downloaded and printed from free online sites.
These are great for stocking fillers and to put in children’s travel packs for long journeys.
