Should I get a part-time job or start my own business? Dave Fishwick replies
I’m 20, in my second year of studying at university and need to make some extra money to help with my living costs.
I have had a look around for jobs and have found a few that I could do, ranging from bar work, waiting tables or kitchen work, to some call centre work.
I would need to make sure that any job fits round my studies and is either in the evenings after university or on days when I don’t have lectures.
This can be quite tricky as understandably, places want you to work when they need you and that can involve late hours or times when I need to be able to study.
I read a story about people doing side hustles or setting up their own small part-time business instead of getting part-time jobs and though maybe this would be a good idea.
I’m not sure what I could do though. I thought about maybe trying to use one of my skills, such as English tutoring or cooking and baking (I am a keen amateur cook and have worked in kitchens), or trying to set up a business buying and selling things – I had an idea about selling interesting and useful kitchen items and gadgets.
What do you think, should I go for a job or a side hustle and if I choose the latter, how do I work out what to do?
Dave Fishwick, This Is Money’s business doctor, replies: A part-time job is the obvious way you could earn some extra cash, and in the wake of the pandemic, it seems that there are more jobs than there are people to fill them, which should work in your favour.
This might be the best place for you to start.
You can always think about other ways to make money on your time off while earning a wage.
I think an excellent way to start is a mixture of working for yourself and some part-time paid work, which is how I started. I have been self-employed for many years and began with three jobs.
First off, I worked very early in the morning selling clothing products on Smithfield Market in Manchester.
The market opened at 3am for shops, hotels and restaurants to buy all their food produce, and I was there early selling t-shirts, tracksuits, and sweatshirts to the customers. I was the only one selling clothing in this massive market full of people.
I bought the stock from a local warehouse at Cheetham Hill in Manchester. I was around 18-years-old, selling my stock from a vast brown suitcase and walking around the market, speaking to as many people as possible.
I would then drive back to Burnley at around 8am in my old beat-up Austin Maestro van. I would take the gates off my little rented garage and start fixing up, valeting and selling some old cars from my little car pitch.
I did everything from cleaning the toilet to delivering the vehicles on the back of my old truck.
After I finished the day at the garage around 6pm, I would grab a few hours’ sleep and then drive to the local nightclub. I worked there as a DJ until late, and it all started again the morning after.
Today, I see many influencers online spraying bottles of expensive champagne into the sea from the side of costly yachts; it is nonsense to say you can work one day a week and be an instant millionaire.
In my experience, there is no easy way to succeed. However, I promise you that hard work will put you where some good luck can find you.
Some jobs need you to be there at specific times, such as public-facing businesses like restaurants, bars, and coffee shops. With other jobs, it’s less important when the work is done, so long as it does get done.
Bar work is one example where you can work evenings, but plenty of other jobs offer shift work. Initially, I suggest you look through all the local and regional job ads, employment apps and websites for positions that offer suitable or flexible hours.
You’re in a difficult position to start a conventional business, and you can’t afford to risk much, if any, money starting a business, which rules out the buy-in-bulk and sell individual business model unless someone you know is prepared to fund it, maybe the Bank of Mum and Dad.
Alternatively, send me all your details to Burnley Savings and Loans, and perhaps I will lend you a little start-up money for your small business venture.
There will always be opportunities to make a profit on individual items.
A few years back, I noticed that because a particular Swedish homeware store chain didn’t offer online shopping, a private individual who must’ve lived near a store was making money by offering their products on a shopping platform website with an added margin for himself.
However, the company spotted the missed opportunity and does now offer online shopping.
There may still be opportunities to benefit from this kind of arbitrage, though. For example, one big shopping platform offers free, fast delivery with premium membership, whereas others don’t.
I’ve noticed some sellers seem to be offering products on the platform which doesn’t, at a higher price than the one that does.
This wouldn’t require any upfront investment other than listing and premium membership fees. You can wait for the platform to offer free listing days, but you would have to build in the cost of the commission charged when you do sell an item.
But you’re in a different position, and you’ve plenty of time ahead of you to think of your route to success.
The most important advice I could give is whatever you choose to do, don’t let it interfere too much with your studies to the point where it affects your grades.
The cost of going to university and getting a degree these days is extremely high.
However, on your days off you could be cooking a huge pot of broth and then renting a little food stall at the local market with very low overheads and selling teas, coffees, and piping hot bowls of broth and dumplings, that just might be the start of your journey.
This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk
