A woman who lost her job unexpectedly has been praised online for her brilliant side hustles that have enabled her to pay her bills.
And this includes a gig that Kate Winney says most people have never heard of.
The 34-year-old has recently gone viral on TikTok after sharing her brilliant work approach, with users praising her for sharing effective tips amid the cost of living crisis.
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The clip has 71,200 views and almost 5,000 likes.
“After I lost my job, I worked out what I could do immediately to get money in my bank account,” Kate, who typically works in digital marketing, told AbsolutelyBusiness.
“The cost of living everywhere is crazy but it’s particularly extortionate for me because I live in London.
“When I was a student and for the first few years after graduation when I had a lower-paying job, I did market research.
“My ex-boyfriend actually gave me a list at the time.
“He said, ‘Contact these people and sign up to this and you’ll get questionaries and stuff.’
“I was still getting emails from them, so I got back in touch and put myself forward again.
“According to the comments on my TikTok, not a lot of people know about [this type of side hustle] but it’s quite an easy way to get pretty immediate cash.
“Usually they pay around £60 an hour or £80 for two hours.
“I did one recently that was a three-hour market research and a pre-task where I had to visit a shop beforehand and that paid £215.
“Because I have more time on my hands, I’ve also put more effort into Vinted and had a big clear-out – I’ve made about £350 there.
“If I was really stringent, this money would cover the necessities.
“Ultimately, my side hustles are helping me not dip into my savings too much – I did build them up as I had a feeling that the job loss was coming, as much as it was unexpected.”
Kate said that, in total, she’s made around £1,000 in five weeks so far.
Another side hustle that has been a big earner for her is TikTok itself – she’s pulled in £600 since joining the platform just six weeks ago.
She said: “A few of my videos have gone viral very unexpectedly.
“Off the back of that, a couple of brands have reached out to me.
“I’ve now been paid for two different things on TikTok – through a brand paid partnership to promote a product and through creating UGC videos for brands to use on their social media.
“I won’t share individual rates, however in the first four weeks of creating my TikTok account I made £600.”
Kate is also capitalising on her existing skills by taking on freelance work as a journalist and videographer.
As well as this, she is planning to rent out her wardrobe, something she did successfully last summer.S
he said: “I have some really nice dresses that people rent out for weddings and things like that.”
However, she admits that her best side hustle so far has definitely been market research.
Kate admits that it’s “heartbreaking” that so many people with full-time jobs are having to turn to side hustles to get by.
She added: “Everyone seems to have a side hustle at the minute because the average salary hasn’t risen in line with inflation.
“I’d advise anyone struggling to look at TikTok first because there are so many people giving away useful information for free.
“I actually did a follow-up video when mine blew up and people wanted to know the names of the market research companies I was using.
“I don’t think people should gate-keep information. I recommend Focus Force, iPoint Research, and Inspired Opinions.
“Google was also really helpful when it came to finding side hustles.
“I’d also advise people to just go for it. I put off using Vinted for a long time because it seemed like a big effort, but it’s actually really easy.”
TikTok users have come out in droves to praise Kate for her inventive approach to money-making.
One person wrote: “You’ve inspired me! Unemployed super suddenly & feeling wildly lost!”
A second TikToker added: “My gosh this is impressive. Absolutely well done.”
Meanwhile, a third person dubbed Kate a “Queen” and said she was “killing it”.
Aziza wrote: “You seem like a hoot. Hope you find a role soon.”
Raven made a suggestion of their own, adding: “Pet sitting!”
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