Woman, 26, saving £100,000 a YEAR with side hustles that she works on before 9-5

A young woman has revealed she is on track to earn £100,000 a year thanks to her ‘side hustles’ – which she worked on before starting her 9-5 job.

Elena Assimakopoulos started garnering additional streams of income in 2021 when she was preparing to move to London with a £30,000 annual salary.

The 26-year-old was in her first graduate job, but felt the salary would make living in the capital “really difficult” and she had recently decided the role wasn’t for her.

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Not wanting to feel “trapped” in a role that she knew wasn’t for her, Elena discovered she could sell books on Amazon and earn money for it.

She decided to focus on sharing her expertise in candle-making – which she had done when she was younger – and worked “relentlessly” for five months to research, and then hired a ghostwriter to pen the full text.

Incredibly, the venture has proved incredibly profitable, with Elena raking in more than £70,000 ($92,000) from her eight published books.

The entrepreneurial young woman says she dedicates between 2-3 hours a day to her side hustles, waking up at 5am to work on her own business before starting her 9-5 full-time job.

But while this entails “sacrifices” including less social time and occasional weekend work, she says it is all worth it – and estimates she is on track to earn £100,000 by the end of the year.

“Starting my side hustle journey has changed my life in so many ways,” Elena, a marketing lead living in London, told What’s The Jam.

“I dedicate around 2-3 hours to it a day.

“I wake up at 5am every day to get my business work done before I start my full-time job, as this is my most productive time of the day.

“A typical day involves building my community of 66,000 members online and replying to comments and emails, working on Amazon ad management, and learning new skills like how to improve engagement rates too.

“I also end up doing some more after work most of the time and on the weekend, not because I have to, but because I love it.

“It’s definitely a sacrifice as I do see my friends and family less, but it’s worth it for me as I want to build something special.

“This intensity of time has not always been the case though – last year when I started my new job, I spent significantly less time on my side hustle (less than 1 hour a week).

“But I have drawn my focus back to it this year and want to grow my business much bigger – to £100,000 revenue by the end of 2024.”

It all started for Elena shortly after lockdown in early 2021.

She said: “I graduated in Covid and found a job which turns out wasn’t quite for me, which made me feel really panicked about my future.

“This was my first job after graduation and it was Covid, so finding a job was extremely difficult, and quitting within four months just didn’t seem like an option.

“I felt trapped, as I knew this role was not for me, but I felt like I couldn’t leave.

“I wanted more, and was determined to do something about it, and so – like I am sure everyone has once or twice in their life – I did the classic Google search ‘how to make extra money’.

“I wanted to use my brain and push myself to achieve something that not many people do whilst preparing myself for a career change.

“I was just about to move to London too, and living in London on £30,000 is really difficult these days.

“I have done little business ventures here and there when I was younger, like selling candles, but my main side hustle journey started in February 2021.”

Having discovered Kindle Direct Published (KDP) on Amazon, Elena decided to try her luck at self-publishing a book, Candle Making Business 101, under a pseudonym.

She said: “I worked for five months relentlessly, learning everything I could to make a successful book to combine my passion for candle-making and business to publish my first book in June 2021.

“It cost me £1,500 to make my first book, and £1,000 for a course to learn how to publish. I used all my savings from my first job for this.

“However I could have definitely done it cheaper – my second book cost me £500 to make.

“It took me five months to break even after publishing my first book.

“I have since published seven more, and in total, the eight books have made me $91,133 to date.

“I have three candle-focused books, two colouring books which sell a lot seasonally, and three notebooks – which aren’t as profitable.

“My biggest regret is that I was too scared to publish any of my books under my own name, so no one ever knows I published them!”

Elena, who documents her journey to £100,000 on TikTok, also sells old clothes and other household items, which she says makes her around £100 a month.

She said: “It fluctuates monthly but on average I make around £3,500 a month at the moment, with my highest months just under £10,000.

“I also have some big launches coming up which will increase my side hustle earnings before the end of the year.”

For anyone looking to start their own side hustles, Elena added: “For anyone who is doubtful about starting, I hope they read this, and start your journey today.

“I am extremely grateful for the opportunities that I have received.

“Not only do I have more income, but I now have a full-time job that I actually enjoy and is aligned with my side hustle mission, trying to show everyone that if I can start making extra income online – so can you!

“My favourite quote is ‘The difference between you and the person you admire is action’.”

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