One of the best ways to improve your financial situation is to create extra cash flow with a side hustle.

Traditionally, earning more money meant getting a Raise or a second job. But in today's technology-driven economy, there are more ways than ever to pursue additional income streams.

Side hustles are a great way to earn extra money on your own terms.

What's a Side Hustle?

Any activity you do to make money outside of your normal routine can be considered a side hustle.

Classic side hustles include babysitting, mowing lawns, and petsitting. But technology has broadened the scope of what you can do now to make extra money.

Apps like DoorDash and Instacart have created a new gig-based economy where users can hire and work for each other without the traditional barriers of starting a full-fledged business.

Which Side Hustle Is Right For You?

The first step to finding a side hustle is to determine what kind of work you want to do and how much time you have to do it.

Think about your personality and the things you already enjoy doing in your spare time.

Are you the creative type, always elbow-deep in a new craft or project? Consider selling your creations on Etsy.

Maybe you enjoy treasure hunting at yard sales. In that case, flip those finds on eBay.

The possibilities for side hustles are only limited by your imagination.

Here's a list of side hustle ideas to get you thinking:

• Walk dogs or petsit with Rover

• Grocery shop for others with Instacart

• Run errands with TaskRabbit

• Make deliveries with DoorDash

• Drive for Uber or Lyft

• Become an Amazon delivery driver with Amazon Flex

• Sell digital files and photographs on Creative Market

• Sell your art on RedBubble

• Do some retail arbitrage (reselling products) with Amazon FBA

• Sell shirts with Merch by Amazon

• Start a blog

• Sell printable worksheets on Teachers Pay Teachers

This Month's Side Hustle Challenge

My preferred side hustle includes finding something I enjoy and/or can do with relative ease.

In the past, I've had success making extra money with Amazon FBA (I love to hunt for deals) and Amazon Merch (I've always been a t-shirt junkie).

For this month's challenge, I'm going to focus on another Amazon resource, Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP).

The hottest thing right now is low-content or no-content books. Things like journals, planners, and trackers are super popular and relatively easy to produce.

There are even places to buy templates and covers so all you need to do is upload your designs and wait for the sale.

However, like Amazon Merch, research and volume seem to be key to being successful.

I've purchased shirt designs for Merch in the past and not had a lot of success primarily because I never mastered keyword research.

My goal this month is to develop a system to produce and publish content consistently so I can build the foundation for a profitable side hustle.

While my focus this month is KDP, the things I learn should translate over to Merch as well and help me build that income stream back to profitability.

Creating a Profitable Side Hustle for the Future

The point of any side hustle is to make extra money, but ideally, you'll find one that produces a consistent stream of income for the foreseeable future.

By focusing on KDP for this month's challenge, I'm hoping to build up a good resource library in time for the holiday shopping season. But also to build a long-term side hustle that can continue to generate income for years to come.

If you're interested in learning more about side hustles I encourage you to check out Side Hustle Nation for ideas and resources to help you get started.