Is That Side Hustle a Scam? Here Are Four Questions You Need to Ask. Good side hustles exist. Easy money does not. Here's how to avoid scammy side hustles and find the right one.

Are you reading a lot of "best side hustle" stories, looking for the ones that can make you the most money with the least work? I have bad news: Easy money is hard to find — and if you don't ask the right questions, you may even lose money trying to chase these side gigs.

As editor in chief of Entrepreneur, I see this problem all the time. In the hopes of earning easy money, many people devote themselves to useless tasks and borderline scams. Yes, there are wonderful side hustles out there — but they generally require a lot of work, time, creativity, and specialized skills.

Related: Her 'Junk' Side Hustle Soared to $10,000 in Monthly Sales Using a Simple Secret Every Business Owner Should Know

Most people forget this because they're taken in by promises of extra income. It's why Alissa Quart, executive director of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, calls side hustles a con.

So, are you looking at a con — or a real business opportunity? Before you commit to a side hustle, here are four very serious questions to ask:

1. "Does this make logical sense?"

To appreciate that question, I'll tell you about someone who was recently considering a side hustle.

On my podcast Help Wanted, a listener recently asked for advice on making a career change — and then told me about one he's considering. "It seems people will buy products that me and you would buy," he told me, "and Amazon ships it, and the money goes into your pocket. So you're just buying things cheap and selling high."

I stopped him immediately. He's describing dropshipping, a common side hustle that's promoted online. It's simple, in theory: Dropshippers sell things online, but they don't generally make the products or keep any inventory. Instead, when a customer buys a product from a dropshipper, the dropshipper simply has the product shipped from whoever does keep the inventory.

Related: 5 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting a Dropshipping Business

How does this work? Here's one way: A dropshipper could create a website to sell socks for $20 each. The dropshipper doesn't make or own any of these socks; they just found these socks listed on Amazon for $10 each. So when a customer buys a $20 pair of socks from this website, the dropshipper simply buys the socks on Amazon for $10, has them shipped to the customer, and pockets the $10 difference.

Now, back to my question: Does this make logical sense?

You might say yes, in a way — you can see how this business operates. It's simple and efficient.

But now ask: Does this make logical sense… from a customer's perspective?

For example, how many people would really buy socks from a random website you built? And how many wouldn't notice that your prices are way higher than the same socks on Amazon?

If you want to be an entrepreneur, think like one! Businesses are not built off of wishful thinking. So, how many customers would really buy from your generic dropshipping website? Maybe a few, sure. But enough to make it worth your trouble of figuring out how to set up this system, and then pour marketing dollars into promoting it?

I've interviewed people who pursued dropshipping, and heard the same thing repeatedly: "You have no idea how hard it is to make money at it these days," one told me for this Entrepreneur article. "Only the big guys are making money, and not nearly as much as people would think."

That's because it doesn't make logical sense. If you cannot understand why your customer would make a purchase, then you cannot reasonably expect them to make a purchase.

Which leads us to the next question to ask:

2. "Who's winning here — me or someone else?"

Want to learn a side hustle? Many people are ready to help — often by selling you costly courses, seminars or software. This is true in dropshipping, for example.

But who's winning when you buy these things — you, or the person selling you their product? Will you gain a valuable skill, or are you just paying someone to teach you a useless skill?

Related: The Best Leaders Do These 5 Things Every Day

To answer that, you'll need to track down people who are actively doing the side hustle. Don't just talk to a few that brag about the money they're making, or the ones being promoted by the person selling their courses. Find these people yourself and talk to a lot of them. Look for patterns among the people who are making money (assuming anyone is!) and the people who are not.

Now ask yourself:

3. "What other things do I need to succeed?"

Some people might succeed in dropshipping, for example. But why?

Here are some potential reasons: It's because they're also masters at search engine optimization (SEO), and therefore are able to effectively boost visibility for their websites. Maybe they have a marketing background, so are great at engaging consumers. Maybe they've poured a lot of money into lead generation.

Similarly, I recently heard from someone who paid for a certification as a copyeditor, because she heard that copyediting is a great side hustle. The only problem: She can't find any clients.

Why? Because she was led to believe that a certification is all she needs in order to find clients. But that's not true. Take it from me, someone who's spent their career in media and has hired many copywriters: I never ask whether someone has a certification. Instead, I care about their experience — meaning they need to have worked at similar publications, doing similar work.

And how did they do that? By being very good at client development — which is a different but equally important skill set than copyediting.

Related: How to Identify Your Peak Productivity Hours During Your Work Day

That's not to say copyediting isn't valuable. It is very valuable. But the skill by itself won't translate into a lucrative side hustle — and that is what you need to appreciate before diving in. You must know what else you need to know, in order to succeed.

This brings us to our last big question:

4. "Do I know how to add value?"

If you found a side hustle online, you can assume that many thousands of other people found it too.

It should make you wonder: Does the marketplace have a need for all of you? (How many dropshipping socks websites can exist in the world, really?) And are you able to step into this side hustle and add genuine value to your future customers?

Personal development writer Tim Denning put it nicely: "Just because you have a side hustle, doesn't mean it has value. Passive income is money you get for creating value. Value comes from solving a problem people have. If your side hustle doesn't solve a problem then it's worth $0."

So, to review: Before you commit to a side hustle, you need to be clear about whether it makes logical sense, whether you're actually gaining a marketable skill, whether you have all the skills necessary to succeed, and whether you can add genuine value to the people you'll sell your products or services to.

Good side hustles exist. Easy money does not. It's as simple as that.