Almost 40% of Americans currently have a side hustle, and it’s more than just a way to earn extra money for many. A LendingTree survey reveals that 61% of side hustlers say they couldn’t meet their living expenses without their extra income.

Although the number of people with side gigs has dipped slightly since the height of the pandemic, many continue to feel financial pressure. About one-third of side hustlers report taking on additional work to cover basic living costs, and 49% attribute their choice to the current state of the economy.

Want to grow your side hustle into a business? Start with email

Side hustles often include jobs like grocery delivery or driving for Uber, but some serve as the initial stage of starting a real business. Whether you’re selling handmade items on Etsy or offering freelance services, your passion project could become a profitable venture.

One of the best ways to do that on a tight budget? Use email from day one.

Why email works for side hustlers

Sending emails is nearly cost-free, yet the potential benefits are significant. Unlike social media, email allows for building stronger connections, staying memorable, and generating repeat sales—all while managing a day job, sleeping, or handling orders. When time and money are limited, email is an effective tool to alleviate stress and expand your side hustle like no other platform.

Think email’s too complicated or time-consuming? Use these steps to make it easier on yourself – and see results faster.

Grow your email list from the beginning

Gaining social media followers for your side hustle helps establish trust with potential customers. However, if I were launching another business today, I’d prioritize converting those followers into email subscribers immediately.

Social media followers can vanish suddenly, leaving you without a way to reconnect. Your email list, on the other hand, stays under your ownership forever.

Here are some proven ways to grow your email list:

• Test a short free resource. Check your social media metrics — what topics tend to spark a lot of interest? Use that data to create a concise guide or checklist. You shouldn’t spend more than a few hours writing and designing it for free with tools like Canva. This is just a test to learn more about your audience’s needs and tastes.
• Expand your bank of resources. Once you understand what your prospects respond to most, add more gated content to your website. You can test varied lengths and styles — and later double down on your top performers.
• Send exclusive content. Aside from giving your audience a freebie, make your email content exclusive. Share useful tips they can’t find anywhere else. Interview experts they care about. And of course, offer an unbeatable perk — discounts, free shipping or early access to new products.

Start emailing right away

Many side hustlers put off email marketing, thinking they need a large list to make it worthwhile. But that’s a trap. Emailing your customers — even when you have just a few — benefits you in every way:

• Instead of keeping them waiting for your emails, you can start nurturing your subscribers and building engagement immediately.
• If your emails are good, more people will subscribe. Remember to include a subscription button in every email so anyone can opt in if your messages are forwarded.
• Emailing regularly also helps your email deliverability. Every email you send builds your reputation with mailbox providers, who need to trust you in order to deliver your emails to the inbox.

Do you have 10 customers on your list? That’s more than enough to start — do it now.

Verify every new email address you get

Eventually, you’ll build your email list way beyond 10 customers, but here’s what matters even more: making sure those email addresses are accurate and real. Getting a bunch of misspelled or fake contacts means your emails will bounce, so what’s the point in sending them?

Moreover, a high bounce rate can hurt your ability to reach the inbox again – even with real contacts. Email service providers have strong filters to weed out and block potential spam. Sending emails to invalid contacts signals spammy behavior, so you may kill your email marketing before it even gets off the ground

Checking an email for validity takes seconds. Most email validation services let you start for free, so if you only add a few contacts to your list every month, it won’t cost you a thing and it’ll save you a lot of headaches.

Ask for little, give a lot

Now that you’ve got things rolling, you may be tempted to blast your subscribers with sales emails. Refrain from this tactic – it turns people off. Instead, be generous and mindful of their time. Build trust and loyalty with helpful content.

Here are some topics you could approach in your emails:

• A mistake you made early on in your side hustle — and what you learned from it
• A quick tip that helped you save time, money, or stress
• A behind-the-scenes look at how you create your product or deliver your service
• A list of tools or resources you like and recommend

Keep it personal and worth your reader’s time. That’s how you build a list that sticks with you — and buys from you later.