10 Side Hustle Ideas for Mechanical Engineers
Summary
TLDRThis video script discusses the benefits of side hustling for engineers, including financial security and skill development. It offers ten diverse side hustle ideas, such as tutoring, career coaching, part-time lecturing, freelance design, consulting, manufacturing advice, sales, 3D printing, YouTube content creation, and online course development. Each idea is tailored to leverage an engineer's skills, with tips on getting started and potential earnings.
Takeaways
- 💼 **Side Hustling Benefits**: Having a side hustle provides extra income and a safety net in case of job loss.
- 💰 **Financial Security**: A side hustle can offer financial security and bridge the gap until a new job is found.
- 🚀 **Skill Development**: Engaging in side projects can push individuals to learn new skills and explore different aspects of their abilities.
- 📚 **Tutoring**: Tutoring engineering students in subjects they struggle with is an easy side hustle to start.
- 👨🏫 **Career Coaching**: Offering career coaching or mentoring services to engineering students or graduates can be a lucrative side hustle.
- 🏫 **Part-Time Lecturing**: Becoming a part-time lecturer allows for formal teaching opportunities and can be a structured alternative to tutoring.
- 🖋️ **Freelance Design**: Freelance mechanical or CAD design work can be a profitable side hustle leveraging existing engineering skills.
- 🔧 **Engineering Consulting**: Consulting on engineering projects can be a high-value side hustle, especially for those with more experience.
- 🏭 **Manufacturing Consulting**: Assisting companies in the manufacturing process is a specialized side hustle that can be very rewarding.
- 📞 **Sales Representative**: Working as a sales representative for mechanical parts companies can help build sales and communication skills.
- 🖨️ **3D Printing**: Investing in a 3D printer and offering printing services or selling designs can be a creative and potentially profitable side hustle.
- 🎥 **YouTube Channel**: Running a YouTube channel allows for skill development in video production and online marketing.
- 📈 **Online Courses**: Creating online courses can be a lucrative side hustle, especially when leveraging an existing audience.
Q & A
What are the primary reasons for pursuing a side hustle as an engineer?
-The primary reasons for pursuing a side hustle as an engineer are to earn extra income and to have a fallback in case of job loss. Additionally, it allows for personal growth by pushing oneself to learn new skills and explore different aspects of one's abilities.
What is the first side hustle idea mentioned in the script for engineers?
-The first side hustle idea mentioned is tutoring, where engineers can help engineering students with courses they struggle with and prepare them for exams.
How can one find clients for in-person tutoring as suggested in the script?
-To find clients for in-person tutoring, one can leave flyers around the closest university, ask friends still in university for referrals, or stand in front of a lecture hall after class ends to attract students.
What are the differences between career coaching and tutoring as side hustles?
-Career coaching involves working one-on-one with individuals, often engineering graduates or seasoned engineers, to help with job hunting or career advancement. Tutoring, on the other hand, focuses on helping students with specific course material.
What are the keys to successful career coaching according to the script?
-The keys to successful career coaching include having strong credentials to showcase, targeting clients with expendable income, and defining a clear niche in terms of who you're helping and what you're helping them achieve.
How does the script suggest becoming a part-time lecturer?
-The script suggests becoming a part-time lecturer by identifying topics you can teach, searching for part-time lecturer positions online, reaching out to universities or schools without current postings to create your own position, or looking for online lecturer positions.
What financial investment is required for freelance mechanical design as a side hustle?
-Freelance mechanical design requires a good laptop to run CAD software and either paying for a CAD software license or having the customer provide one.
Why might freelance CAD work sometimes pay low rates as mentioned in the script?
-Freelance CAD work might pay low rates because the work can be done by people without engineering degrees, leading to competition that drives down prices.
What is mechanical engineering consulting and how can one get started as suggested in the script?
-Mechanical engineering consulting involves larger projects where clients need help with the entire engineering and design process. To get started, one can advertise their services on LinkedIn, create profiles on platforms like Fiverr and Upwork, and build a website to showcase past work.
How does manufacturing consulting as a side hustle differ from mechanical engineering consulting?
-Manufacturing consulting focuses specifically on helping companies with the manufacturing process, from design for manufacturability to finding suppliers and managing production runs, whereas mechanical engineering consulting is broader and can include designing and engineering new products.
What are the potential downsides of working as a part-time lecturer as a side hustle?
-The downsides of working as a part-time lecturer include the need to find a university or company willing to hire you and the potential for the position to be for a limited duration.
What is the script's advice on running a YouTube channel as a side hustle?
-The script advises that running a YouTube channel can be a great side hustle for learning new skills and deepening knowledge in specific topics. However, it's not recommended for quick money due to the time investment and不确定性 of earnings.
What are the potential ways to monetize a YouTube channel according to the script?
-The potential ways to monetize a YouTube channel include AdSense, affiliate links, sponsorship deals, and selling digital products like templates, ebooks, or courses.
How does the script suggest using a YouTube channel to support other side hustles?
-The script suggests using a YouTube channel to bring traffic to other businesses, such as tutoring, coaching, mechanical design, or manufacturing consulting, by making videos that attract potential customers who might need the products or services offered.
What is the final side hustle idea presented in the script?
-The final side hustle idea presented is creating online courses, which can be done on platforms like Skillshare or Udemy, or self-hosted on platforms like Kajabi or Gumroad.
What advice does the script give for creating a successful online course?
-The script advises researching the market, identifying gaps where there's interest but few courses available, and leveraging an existing audience from platforms like YouTube, LinkedIn, or Twitter to sell the course.
Outlines
🔧 Engineering Side Hustles: Tutoring and Coaching
The speaker, an engineer, discusses the benefits of having a side hustle, such as financial security and skill development. They introduce the first side hustle idea: tutoring engineering students in subjects they struggle with. The speaker suggests leveraging one's own strengths in specific subjects, either those they were good at or those they initially struggled with but later mastered. For finding clients, the speaker recommends in-person methods like leaving flyers at universities or online platforms like Preply. The second idea is career coaching or mentoring, which is similar to tutoring but targets either engineering students seeking jobs or more experienced engineers. The speaker shares their personal experience with career coaching, noting the importance of having a specific niche, credentials, and targeting clients with disposable income.
🏫 Teaching and Consulting as Side Hustles
The third side hustle idea presented is becoming a part-time lecturer at universities or schools, which is a more formal and structured way of teaching compared to tutoring. The speaker advises identifying topics one is knowledgeable about and searching for part-time lecturing positions. They also suggest reaching out to educational institutions directly to offer one's services. The fourth idea is freelance mechanical or computer-aided design (CAD) work, where one creates technical drawings for clients. The speaker mentions the need for a good laptop and CAD software, and the potential to find work on platforms like Fiverr and Upwork. The fifth side hustle is mechanical engineering consulting, which involves larger projects and more in-depth work than CAD design. The speaker recommends promoting oneself on professional networks and creating a website to showcase one's work and attract clients.
🏭 Manufacturing Consulting and Sales Rep Side Hustles
The sixth side hustle idea is manufacturing consulting, where one helps companies with the design and production process, from finding suppliers to managing test production runs. The speaker notes that this is particularly useful for small companies that cannot afford full-time manufacturing experts. The seventh idea is working as a sales representative for mechanical parts companies, which can help one develop sales and people skills. The speaker shares their personal experience with this side hustle and suggests looking for part-time sales positions or reaching out to local manufacturers. The eighth idea is 3D printing, where one could print parts on demand, sell custom designs, or offer digital files for customers to print themselves. The speaker highlights the initial investment required for a 3D printer and the ongoing costs of materials and shipping.
📹 YouTube Channel and Online Courses as Side Hustles
The ninth side hustle idea is running a YouTube channel, where one can create content about engineering principles, career advice, or personal projects. The speaker emphasizes the skill development that comes with creating videos and the potential to motivate learning. However, they also note the time investment and不确定性 of making money directly from the channel. The tenth and final idea is creating online courses, which can be hosted on platforms like Skillshare or Teachable. The speaker suggests using skills developed from running a YouTube channel and warns about the effort required to create a successful course. They recommend researching the market and identifying gaps where there is demand but few courses available.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡side hustle
💡tutoring
💡career coaching
💡part-time lecturer
💡freelance mechanical design
💡mechanical engineering consulting
💡manufacturing consulting
💡sales rep
💡3D printing
💡YouTube channel
💡online courses
Highlights
Mechanical engineers can benefit from side hustles for extra income and skill development.
Tutoring engineering students is an easy side hustle for engineers.
Tutors should ideally be proficient in the subjects they teach.
In-person tutoring can start with flyers at universities and grow through word of mouth.
Online tutoring platforms like Preply are a good starting point for remote sessions.
Career coaching or mentoring can be a side hustle for engineers with industry experience.
Coaching packages can provide a steady income stream rather than per-session payments.
Part-time lecturing is a formal teaching option for engineers who enjoy teaching.
Freelance mechanical design or CAD design can be a profitable side hustle.
Mechanical engineering consulting involves larger projects and requires a strong portfolio.
Manufacturing consulting helps companies with the technical aspects of product manufacturing.
Sales representation for mechanical parts companies can be a lucrative side hustle.
3D printing as a side hustle requires an initial investment in equipment and materials.
Running a YouTube channel can help engineers develop new skills and potentially earn revenue.
Creating online courses is a side hustle that leverages skills from running a YouTube channel.
There are five recommended business books for engineers to learn essential business knowledge.
Transcripts
I'm a mechanic engineer and I've been
side hustling ever since I started
working as an engineer and even already
during my engineering studies but why
would you even want to do a sight hustle
let's start with the obvious money it's
nice to have an extra sight income and
it also gives you some security that in
the unfortunate case that you lose your
job you still have something to fall
back onto to bridge the gap to your next
job but there's another reason I highly
recommend having a side hustle or any
kind of side project really and that's
having something that you just do for
yourself that pushes you to learn new
skills and allows you to explore another
side of yourself now which kind of side
hustle is best for you really depends on
your personal goals and circumstances so
I've collected 10 different side hustle
ideas that I've either tried myself or
that I've seen friends do successfully
let's dive in the first idea is tutoring
this is probably the easiest idea to get
started you just need an engineering
student in need of help so this side
hustle idea is basically helping
engineering students with the courses
they struggle with and help them prepare
for their exams it's helpful if you've
actually understood the material you're
helping them with so you should probably
pick classes that you're quite good at
or even better classes that you were
struggling with yourself but then manage
to understand then you can likely both
emphasize with your students and explain
the material really well where can you
find clients there are a few options
depending on if you want to do in-person
tutoring or online tutoring for
in-person tutoring you can leave Flyers
around your closest University I've seen
that a lot at my own University and you
can use that to get your first clients
and then grow further by word of mouth
if you have friends that are still in
University you can also ask them if you
if they know anyone that could need help
with their classes or you could just
stand in front of a lecture hall right
when the class ends that you want to
help them with and wait for students to
approach you and if you want to do
online tutoring you can post on one of
those online gig platforms I saw that
there are even specific platforms just
for tutoring and finding a tutor like
preply the second site has idea is
career coaching or mentoring it's
similar to teaching you also usually
work one-on-one with people but besides
coaching engineering students you could
also coach engineering graduates who are
trying to find their first job or even
help more seasoned Engineers if you're
further along in your career yourself a
big advantage to this is that the
engineers who are already working might
have more money to spare than
engineering students now you could
either offer individual coaching
sessions or you could offer coaching
packages of maybe six or 12 sessions
this way you don't have to pitch clients
for every single session and you can
also achieve bigger results if you have
more time with the clients I have tried
career coaching myself but it hasn't
worked well for me so far and I think
it's for three main reasons first of all
I was not specific enough in my offer
and tried coaching both students and
Engineers I targeted people who don't
have that much Expendable income so
students and fresh graduates and I
didn't have anything that really made me
stand out in terms of credentials for my
specific perspective but I do know
people who are successfully doing career
coaching and from what I've seen the
factors that make them successful are
that they have the credentials to show
for so maybe they went to a prestigious
school or landed a prestigious job or
they're a seasoned engineer with lots of
experience to pass on then they are
targeting people who have some money to
spare like working engineers and they've
defined exactly who they're helping and
what they're helping them achieve
whether that's create a killer CV or
their dream job or help them go from
engineer to engineering manager the
third site hustle idea is working as a
part-time lecturer some universities and
schools hire part-time lecturers to
teach their students certain classes or
workshops so if you enjoy teaching and
explaining the material and want
something a bit more formal and
structured than tutoring then this could
be a great option how do you get started
first think about what kind of topics
you could teach and then search for
part-time lecturer and the name of your
area or a university in your area and
also experiment with throwing in and
different topics you could teach and see
if you find any interesting job postings
and apply to them you could even reach
out to universities and schools that
don't have any positions posted and ask
them if they could use your help and
this way create your own position and
finally you can also search for online
lecturer positions either from online
universities or from companies that need
to teach their employees specific skills
but those are often more advanced and
specialized skills than if you were
teaching at a university like teaching
them a specific software or method so
that's only an option if you have a
specialized skill like that or are
willing to teach yourself one to then
teach it to others if this is something
you want to try I would just search
around for what kind of lecturers
companies and institutions are looking
for and see if there's a match with
something you're either already good at
or something you would like to learn
anyway and are willing to teach yourself
in order to become a lecturer a downside
of this is that you need to find an
available position and a university or
company that's willing to hire you for
that position but once you you do have
that position you could have a gig for a
longer period of time a few months or
maybe even a year the fourth side hustle
idea is doing freelance mechanical
design or computer AED design short cut
as a mechanical designer you're making
2D or 3D technical drawings for people
or companies that need it either because
they want to use that drawing as a
digital prototype or because they want
to get that product manufactured and
need to provide technical drawings to
the factory there is a financial
investment needed for this because you
need a good laptop to run CAD software
and you need to either pay for a CAD
software license or get your customer to
provide you with one so you definitely
need to account for that in the prices
you charge to make it profitable but
other than that you're just using your
time and the skills you've already
learned as a mechanical engineer you can
find these kinds of gigs on platforms
like Fiverr and upwork which makes it
easy to get started but a downside is
that you actually don't need an
engineering degree to do CAD work so the
prices people pay can sometimes be a bit
low because you're competing with people
who don't have engineering degrees
however you can overcome this problem
with the next side hustle idea and that
is number five mechanical engineering
Consulting these are bigger projects
where people or companies don't only
need to translate their ideas into a
technical drawing but they actually need
you to engineer and design the whole
thing it's often small companies who
only design new products every once in a
while and therefore don't need full-time
Engineers I've actually gotten offers to
do this kind of work myself where people
just somehow found my YouTube channel
and then emailed me asking if I could
design something for them the reason I
said no so far is that those were very
time intensive projects and I already
had enough going on with my job and this
YouTube channel but if you have more
time available it's a great option but
how can you get that kind of work
without a YouTube channel it definitely
helps if you put yourself out there
somehow and let people know that you're
open for this kind of work so I would
definitely add to my LinkedIn profile
that I'm open for mechanic engineering
Consulting work and I would set up
profiles on pages like Fiverr and upwork
to get started I would probably also
create a simple website where you write
a few points about what you offer and
the value you provide to your clients as
well as showcase some of your past work
once you have that to give yourself more
credibility and then you can link that
website on your LinkedIn Fiverr upwork
and so on you could also use it to reach
out to companies in your area or in your
industry and ask them if they have any
work for you just send an email send a
short picture of what you can help them
do and include a link to your website
and if you don't know any companies you
could also start out with the previous s
hustle idea so do some basic cat design
work first and then pitch to your
clients that you could also take over
more of the engineering and design
process to transition to this kind of
sight hustle just be aware that not all
clients will need a full engineering
project so you'll have to be a bit smart
about picking the clients that might
have a bigger project for you in the
future side hustle idea number six is a
bit similar to the previous one but it's
still different and that that is
manufacturing Consulting in this role
you basically help companies bring their
product idea to manufacturing with a
focus on manufacturing this is a great
option if you have some experience
working in manufacturing or design for
manufacturing depending on your
experience you can help companies with
the design so help them design products
that can be manufactured first of all
and that they can manufacture easier
cheaper or faster and you could also
help them find suppliers talk to
suppliers and do test production runs
and just cover all the technical aspects
of getting a product manufactured I have
a friend who does this successfully for
small startups who can't afford to hire
someone fulltime for this but you could
also pitch yourself to companies who are
not so deep in the manufacturing
industry and might not even know that
they can get this kind of support for
example you could approach small makeup
brands Fitness Brands food brands
stationary Brands large companies
probably have full-time experts in this
field but small or new companies might
not have anyone and be happy to have you
cover it for them it's something I'd
actually love to do in the future so if
you try this out I'd love to hear how it
goes s house idea number seven is
something I've done myself as an
engineering student and that's working
as a sales repap for mechanical Parts
companies that sell mechanical parts are
often quite small companies who are
always looking for new customers and
they need people who know something
about their products to sell them well
so as a sales rep I was cold calling
companies and ask them what kind of
Parts they usually order and if they
would like to order from us the next
time they need those kind of parts I was
getting paid by the hour but there are
also setups where you get paid based on
the sales that you make and you learn
sales skills and people skills and if
you're scared of calling strangers like
I was then this is a great way to
challenge your fears you could even do
this for other kinds of companies that
might need someone with a technical
background to do their selling it works
best with smaller companies because
bigger companies probably just want to
hire someone full-time for their sales
to get this kind of job you can search
for part-time sales position I or even
student sales positions or you could
just reach out to your local mechanical
parts manufacturer and see if they could
use your help side hustle idea number
eight is something on the more
investment heavy side and that's 3D
printing basically you buy your own 3D
printer and then print parts to order
when people send you their drawings you
could also design your own special
products that you sell to people or
offer to do custom designs for your
customers so then you charge them both
for the design and the printing finally
you could also just sell your designs as
digital files so that people can print
them themselves except for the last
option you will need to buy your own
printer like I said which is quite the
investment and you will also constantly
need to buy new 3D printer ink and then
you also need to take care of shipping
the parts to your customers unless you
only sell to local customers which is
another option as well if you anyway
want to buy a 3D printer and experiment
with it which I personally would love to
do in the future then this is a great
option for making some money with it and
challenging yourself with new designs
that your customers request but if you
don't want to own a 3D printer then
probably pass on this one side hustle
idea number nine is something that I've
been doing ever since I started working
as an engineer and that's running a
YouTube channel as an engineer you can
make videos explaining engineering
principles or Vlog your life as an
engineer or give career advice or show
how you create stuff yourself maybe even
with your 3D printer the great part of
making YouTube videos is that you learn
a ton of new skills like video
production writing filming and editing
videos and even online marketing skills
on top of that you can deepen your
skills in the topics that you make
videos about and it can motivate you to
learn new things for example I've been
reading way more books and taken way
more online courses ever since I started
my YouTube channel because I can then
make videos about them which is a great
motivator not only to start but also
finish them now I'll be honest this is
an awful side hustle idea if you just
want to make quick money because it
takes so much time to to make videos it
can take years to make any decent amount
of money and there's no guarantee that
you will ever make money with it the way
that you would make money with a YouTube
channel is either from AdSense so the
ads that Google runs you after your
videos but that's only available once
your channel is monetized and you can
also make money from affiliate links
where you link two products people can
buy and then make a small cut every time
they purchase something and if you
become a somewhat bigger Channel you
could also take sponsorship deals
another way you can make money is from
selling your own digital products like
templates ebooks or courses or from
combining a YouTube channel with another
of the side hustle ideas and using your
channel to bring traffic to that
business in fact that's in my opinion
the healthiest and most profitable way
to use a YouTube channel as a side
hustle not as a means to making money by
itself but as a marketing channel for
another business whether that's a
tutoring or coaching business a
mechanical design business manufacturing
Consulting business or 3D printing
business you just need to make sure that
you make videos that that actually
attract the right potential customers
that likely also need the products or
services that you sell and number 10 the
final side hustle idea is something that
I already briefly mentioned and that's
creating online courses it's something I
definitely want to experiment with in
the future because it's fun it uses tons
of skills I already have from running a
YouTube channel like writing filming and
editing and it can make you a lot of
money if you do it right you can do this
on a course platform like skillshare or
udem me where the advantage is that they
Drive traffic to your courses because
your courses can be found when people
search for the topic that you made a
course on but you will not make that
much money per person that takes your
course another option is to host your
course on a platform like kajabi or gun
Ro so basically host it yourself which
means that you can make more money
because you can decide the price
yourself and the platform either takes a
smaller cut or just takes a fixed fee
but those platforms don't have a
discovery function so it only makes
sense if you already have an existing
audience so so for example if you have
an audience on YouTube LinkedIn or
Twitter that you can sell that course to
if you don't have an existing audience I
would go with a course platform like
skillshare or em me but before you get
started on creating your course a word
of warning it's a lot of effort to
create a course and it's very easy to
create a course that nobody wants to buy
so follow the same guidelines as with
every business you start research the
market find out what kind of courses are
popular and identify potential gaps in
the market where there's a lot of
interest but not a lot of courses or at
least not any Great Courses out there if
you're now thinking these ideas are
great but I don't know anything about
how to start a business I got you
covered because I collected the five
best business books for engineers to
learn basic business knowledge as
quickly as possible which I share in
this video right here
Посмотреть больше похожих видео
3 side hustles for students
15 Side Hustle Ideas for 2024 💸 businesses my friends & I have tried and made it work
The Laziest AI Side Hustle to Make Money Online in 2024
13 Best High Income Skills Worth Learning To Land Remote Jobs (2024)
10 Side Hustles That Could Replace Your Job
10 Side Hustles Na Magpapa-Quit Sayo sa Work! (Earn 20k - 100k per month)
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)