10 Best Side Hustle Ideas that Can Make $5k+ Per Month

Are you looking for ways to earn some extra income in your spare time?

Below are 10 side hustle ideas that are flexible, easy to start, and have great earning potential.

1. Blogging

A blog is a website that contains informational content, generally, in an article/video/podcast format that revolves around a certain topic(s) intended to help people. The person who owns the blog/writes the content is known as a blogger.

This is called blogging!

This website, for example, is owned by me and it is primarily focused on finance and business/entrepreneurship ideas. All the contents of this website are on the said topics (also called “Niche” of the website).

Income Opportunities in Blogging:

Income depends on a lot of factors, such as the age of the blog, the topic of the blog, the quality of traffic, the size of the blog traffic, and even the time of the year (the holiday season, October to December, makes a lot more ad revenue to most of the bloggers compared to rest of the year)

Income from blogging can come through multiple avenues such as:

1. Display ads: Do you see the ads placed all over this page? Those are display ads, and yes, they make quite a lot of money if you choose a good ad network (such as Mediavine).

2. Affiliate marketing: When you promote other’s products with your own affiliate link, you get a commission if they get a sale through you.

3. Sponsored posts: When you hit a certain traffic or audience threshold, various companies will reach out to you to publish a sponsored article in your blog highlighting their products and services. You get paid in return.

4. Selling Products: You also can create physical or digital products, such as Ebooks and courses, and sell them through your blog.

5. Coaching services: This requires some experience and expertise in a certain domain which you’ll be offering as a paid service to the people visiting your blog.

It’s usually some combination of these 5 methods that make blog money.

Who Can Start Blog?

Well, this is one of those side hustles that anyone can start with no prior experience whatsoever. Here, you’ll be sharing your passion, ideas, and experiences and making money along the way.

I mean, you’ll be creating meaningful content around the topics that you already love, and that makes it less boring and more alive.

How Much Does it Take to Start a Blog?

With just $2.95 a month, you can kickstart a new income stream. Skip only a single latte this month, and that’s enough to afford your new side hustle.

If you’re unsure about what content you’ll be creating if you choose to create a blog, don’t worry at all. Most people have no idea what they’ll be writing. I had no idea what I would write and whether people would read it or not.

All of this is part of the process; all you have to do, as of now, is make the first move. Get yourself your very own blog.

2. Proofreading

Do you occasionally catch the classic “your/you’re” mistake from texts? If yes, then Proofreading might be just for you!

But…what exactly is proofreading?

Proofreading is the process of thoroughly analyzing and rectifying errors in a piece of writing to ensure accuracy in grammar, spelling, punctuation, and formatting. And it should make sense altogether in the end.

In short, finding (and correcting) mistakes in written pieces!

It is done just before its final submission or publication to make sure that the piece of writing is accurate, professional, and grammatically sound.

To get freelance proofreading jobs you don’t need to leave your house at all. You can easily set aside a few hours a day to work on it at the comfort of your couch or a work desk, whatever you prefer.

Businesses and massive publishing organizations rely on proofreaders to ensure quality and maintain professionalism throughout.

So, if you like correcting mistakes and can spot errors, or can easily fix hidden misspellings, proofreading may be the thing just for you.

In 2014, Caitlin Pyle made over $43,000 by working as a freelance proofreader. 

After she had a ton of success in 2014 being a professional proofreader, she decided she wanted to teach others how to do the same thing, so she started the simple course called Proofread Anywhere to make sure that others learn to proofread the right way as a total beginner and get clients consistently.

3. Dropshipping

Dropshipping is basically a business model that allows individuals to sell products online to customers without ever actually stocking the products themselves.

Meaning, in dropshipping you don’t have to make or keep track of inventory and shipping yourself, you can sell other suppliers’ products and they handle the rest.

While there is an option to sell other’s products, you can also sell your own products by opening an online store.`

The difference between Amazon FBA and dropshipping/online store is, here you get to build your own store and scale it on your own terms.

How to Get Started as a Dropshipper or Build an Online Product Store?

Starting an online store is very easy, trust me. I’ve opened quite a few of them in the last year. The only problem is, it is not so easy when it comes to scaling or bringing people to your store.

This is why proper guidance is necessary when it comes to learning a new skill, a lot of phony gurus nowadays sell their courses on every social media platform that has no value whatsoever.

Scott Hilse’s Simplified Dropshipping course, on the other hand, is as genuine and practical as it comes. I’ve taken a lot of dropshipping classes (including this one) and in the end, this course is what I’ll recommend every time.

Scott has taught many students who have (within the first week) made thousands of dollars. Just check out the testimonials and decide for yourself.

4. Making Videos On YouTube

Let me start things off by pointing out some of the quite interesting YouTube stats.

• Number of MONTHLY active users: 1.9 Billion+
• Number of DAILY active users: 30 Million+
• Number of videos watched per day: 5 Billion+
• Every day people watch one billion hours of video on YouTube.

Just look at those massive numbers and let the sheer volume of opportunity to make money sink in.

YouTubers make videos through which they make money by putting ads in their videos. The revenue generated by those ads splits 55:45 between the creator of the video and YouTube.

The creator gets 55 percent of the revenue and YouTube takes the rest 45 percent.

And it’s not just ad revenue or Adsense through which you can make money, after building a good audience following in your channel, brands will reach out to you to promote their products or services.

Ever watched videos that start with “This video is sponsored by …”? Yeah, those are sponsored videos where the creator is getting paid to promote a brand.

The amount you make through these brand deals largely depends on the type of content you upload as well as your average views per video.

On average, If a video has 100,000 to 500,000 views, then the YouTuber makes anywhere from $1,000 to up to $10,000.

But again, a little disclaimer, this is not a hard and fast pay rule, it really depends on channel to channel and brand to brand.

To know more about starting a youtube channel, visit the article: How To Start a YouTube Channel Successfully

5. Pinterest Virtual Assistant

Pinterest is not just a place where you find various recipes and home decor ideas, it is so much more than that. Pinterest is more than a typical social media and in many ways, it is a visual search engine.

This is why Pinterest is a goldmine for people who are looking to drive potential customers and blog audiences to their own websites through Pinterest images, called pins.

But as straightforward as that may sound, there are a lot of small businesses and individuals who struggle to drive traffic from Pinterest to their businesses., especially those who are new to Pinterest.

This is where a Pinterest virtual assistant helps such businesses and individuals get their customers.

As a Pinterest virtual assistant, you will help build your client’s Pinterest outreach and maintain their Pinterest presence.

The majority of users on Pinterest are looking for things to buy on the platform, which makes them the perfect audience group for businesses trying to market their products.

Your job is to help those businesses and individuals reach potential buyers through Pinterest.

As a Pinterest Virtual Assistant, you will work remotely and virtually, and that too at a time that’s convenient for you.

At the time of writing this Pinterest has more than 400 million active users on its platform, which keeps on increasing every single year. So this side hustle will be relevant and wildly profitable for centuries to come.

6. Freelance writer

A freelance writer is someone who doesn’t work for one specific company, rather they work for themselves, contract out their writing, and write for a number of different clients, such as websites, blogs, magazines, and more.

P.S. You don’t really need a strong writing background in order to thrive in this business

How Much Money Do Freelance Writers Make?

According to PayScale.com, a part-time freelance writer’s salary is put somewhere in the range of $24,000 to $115,000 a year.

This range can go as high as $200,000 a year

How Can You Get Started as a Work From Home Freelance Writer?

Holly from Club Thrifty started doing freelance writing on the side with no real background, and now makes over $200,000 per year from her writing.

Now she has a course primarily focused on people who want to be successful freelance writers with no previous experience. 

In her course, she has included nine video modules, several printable worksheets, awesome add-ons, and also,

• How to find your clients.
• Which platforms to choose 
• How to structure your work so that you can make a six-figure income.
• how to find a beginner’s job and move up with time and all that good stuff. 

Check out Holly’s free workshop to start your $200,000 journey! 

7. Work as a virtual assistant

A Virtual Assistant (Also known as VA) is a person who helps businesses from a remote location through their paid services.

Thanks to the development of high-speed internet facilities- file sharing, and real-time multimedia communication have proven to drastically increase the demand for virtual assistants to entrepreneurs and businesses that are on the internet (Blogging, Ecommerce, etc).

Moreover, If a business needs instant help, hiring a VA is much less complicated compared to bringing in a full-time staff.

What Exactly Does a Virtual Assistant Do? Tasks of a Typical VA?

Being a Virtual Assistant, you will have to provide your services as self-employed or as a contractor irrespective of your location.

These said services may include but are not limited to–

Social Media– Almost all of the businesses that are present online are opting for social media for driving leads to their websites. But most of them do not have time to create consistent content to share and engage with the audience on a regular basis.

Thus the need for VAs who have some expertise in the given topic to run their social media accounts on the business’s behalf.

So, if you have any experience in creating content for Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, etc this might be right up your alley.

Social media VAs are very high in demand in online businesses, so if you have these skills, this niche is for you–

• You can create visually appealing and shareable posts
• You can engage with the audience well
• Keep up with the trending topic

Admin Work– This niche is basically for administrative work. Booking appointments, managing emails, keeping track of official documents, data entry, and spreadsheets are a few examples.

So if you have any previous experience in an office job or you would like to do tasks like the above mentioned, this category might just be for you.

So basically, this niche is like any other office assistant job, except for the “bringing the coffee for the boss” part. 

Content Creation– Content creation is really popular as this niche is the most lucrative of all. Good content is what really brings sales to the business, hence this is very crucial for any online business.

Moreover, content creation is hard, time-consuming, and tedious, this is why business prefers to outsource these jobs. 

If you like creating well-written articles, reviewing products in detail, making good-quality videos, and editing videos, and photos, there is a good chance you’ll thrive here.

Ecommerce– Do you know that the eCommerce industry is expected to hit $4.5 Trillion in sales (Source: DisruptiveAdvertising)?

What does that mean?

These businesses are expected to grow at an exponential rate, therefore, e-commerce VAs are (and will be) in great demand. 

Tasks for an Ecommerce VA– Product management, Inventory management, Shipping issues, and returns, Customer relations, Order tracking, and invoicing

These are just a few examples, there are many more services that you can offer!

If you want to know more about what you could offer and choose what suits you best, check out this list of over 150+ services that a Virtual Assistant can offer to a client by downloading it here.

How much Money do Virtual Assistants Make?

An average North American can earn anywhere from $35 to $50 per hour. This rate goes as high as $100 per hour depending upon the area of expertise and experience.

8. Create a Digital Course to sell

Digital courses are the new model of modern education.

Independent teaching platforms has facilitated instant and cheap learning experience that people are loving because of their convenience.

For example, if over time, you have developed a desire to learn filmmaking, would you get yourself into a film-making college and spend $40,000 there just to pursue a hobby?

OR

Enrolling in a digital course online that costs just a fraction of that amount and will teach you just as much sounds more convenient.

I will choose that latter any day of the week!

And let me assure you, this mindset is more widespread than you think. People now, more than ever are enrolling in digital courses and are learning at their own pace.

And as a result, digital course creators are making a fortune by selling courses online.

So if you have a specialization on a given topic and you want to share the knowledge to the rest of the world, don’t shy away from creating a digital course, whether it is in textual format, explained video format, voiceover, or any combination of these.

People are utilizing platforms such as Teachable to build and sell courses online. Check out teachable to know you can create a digital course.

9. Make money as a transcriptionist

A transcriptionist is like a professional typist who listens to recorded or live audio files and then converts them into text format by typing.

They offer their services to the medical, legal, and general transcription industries. Working from home as a transcriptionist has its benefits, including working at your own pace and according to your own schedule.

You have zero commute time with the comforts of your home. The only requirement for this job is to be able to type with speed and accuracy.

There are basically three types of transcription:

1. General Transcription
2. Legal Transcription
3. Medical Transcription

General transcriptionists transcribe on the media and research levels. This might include bloggers, podcasters, interviewers, researchers, YouTubers, marketers…the list goes on.

The legal transcriptionist transcribes in the legal areas and medical transcription for medical areas obviously.

How to Become a Successful Transcriptionist?

To be a Transcriptionist one needs to have the skill of typing fast, accurately, and error-free.

If you think this is something you can pull off, I recommend you to have a look at TranscribeAnywhere.

TranscribeAnywhere offers affordable, high-quality, proven transcription education that you can actually apply for getting big clients. You can learn to transcribe with excellence, and you can do it from anywhere

10. Photography and Videography Services

This is one of those creative fields where you will have the freedom to work on thing things you want (mostly). And as a self-employed individual and a shutterbug myself, I appreciate the creative freedom this side hustle provides.

There are quite a few ways you can use your photo and/or video skills to make quite a good income on the side. Some of those ways are:

• Sell your photos on websites like Shutterstock, Getty, etc.
• Start a photography blog
• Create a tutorial channel on YouTube
• Create a course online (on Teachable or skillshare)
• Set up a photography or video shoot business
• Sell hard/printed copies of your work
• Create an Instagram page focusing on your best work

When it comes to making money through your photo and video services, this income here isn’t fixed at all. It all boils down to the fact that by providing different services you can make different amounts of money.

For example: Only selling your photos on stock images website isn’t as sustainable as you think while on the other hand, selling courses and making YouTube tutorials has the potential to make quite a good income (up to $100,000 a month)

So I would suggest you experiment with different income formats if you’re just a beginner and see for yourself what works for you.

And to be honest, photography is quite a crowded space with people offering their services for almost all niches and at various price points.

That being said, with the right passion and an eye for exceptional photography, anyone can set themselves apart from such crowds and succeed in ways unimaginable.

One of the things that can set you apart is by creating your own online portfolio where you can showcase your work to potential clients and brands.

And if you choose to create online courses or tutorials, you can redirect those people visiting your website to the courses or youtube channel.

You can use various professional-looking portfolio templates offered by platforms such as Squarespace to get started.

11. Become a bookkeeper

If you’re not familiar with bookkeeper or bookkeeping in general, let me clear the air first.

A bookkeeper is someone who prepares your accounts and documents the daily financial transactions of a company, small business, or organization.

As a bookkeeper, you will be responsible for the documentation of any type of financial transaction concerning the business or organization and hence you’ll be helping businesses to keep track of how much money comes in and goes out every month.

Your daily tasks might include:

• Recording sales and revenue
• Reconciling expenses
• Managing bills payments
• Managing payroll
• Producing financial reports whenever deemed necessary
• Filing receipts

After the recording of the transactions, an accountant will normally review the bookkeeper’s work, analyze the data, and make the adjustments needed before submitting the accounts.

Where can I find legit bookkeeping jobs?

Jobs openings can be found in your area by simply searching on Google: “Bookkeeping jobs near me”

12. Sell stuff on Etsy

I’m sure you’re aware of Etsy and what it is about by now. Etsy is a global marketplace for creative goods and has over 33 million buyers that bought Etsy $3.9 billion in 2018 from merchandise sales.

Products sold on Etsy include:

• Arts
• Crafts
• Home Decor
• Seasonal goods
• Clothing and accessories
• DIY stuff
• Jewelry
• Handmade personal care items etc.

But it is to be noted that it’s not just a place to buy creative products but to also sell them. Thousands of sellers use it to sell their own brands and products every single day and make good money at the end of the month.

If you have a creative bug and would like to sell your creative goods such as paintings, accessories, crafts, etc, then you can definitely give it a try.

Check out Etsy’s seller page

13. Complete tasks on TaskRabbit

TaskRabbit is an app that matches freelance about and service providers to the local demand and helps them with everyday tasks.

This side hustle is best for people who do not have a set working schedule to get started so that they can choose to work whenever they’re free.

You can literally pick up the phone to accept a new task and can put it down whenever you feel you’re done for the day.

TaskRabbit is a low-commitment side hustle opportunity that pays you as you finish each task.

You can choose a wide variety of tasks such as cleaning, moving furniture, buying something on behalf of the customer, etc depending on your area, and make quite a few dollars at a time.

Join TaskRabbit

14. Make Money as a tutor

If you have good knowledge about a subject or two that you can teach students in your free time, consider becoming a part-time tutor.

Concerned parents are always looking for good tutors for their kids for mostly all subjects such as math, science, foreign language, music, or even coaching for SATs and ACTs.

And moreover, the pay rate for private tutors is quite high ($30 to $60 an hour), and this rate goes as high as $45 to $100 an hour if you’re in the SAT/ACT prep business.

15. Start an eCommerce store

You may or may have noticed that a lot of YouTubers promote their personal merchandise brand on YouTube by mentioning an online store link in their video description.

But have you ever wondered how much money they make from those online eCommerce stores selling their products?

It varies from a few hundred per month and goes as far as millions. Seriously!

You can even start your own online store if you don’t even have any products to sell right now!

For example, you can provide a few good-looking designs or logos to a T-shirt printing company (such as Teespring) and can sell them in your store at your own price.

Online stores nowadays have a larger potential in terms of making money compared to any other type of store because of various factors such as the convenience to order from home, wide variety to choose from, and home delivery.

How Much Money Does It Make?

There is not a definite range on how much money you can earn, you could be making anywhere from $500 a month to literally millions a month by selling products online.

Fun Fact: Kylie Jenner got her “Youngest Billionaire” status by selling makeup products online (KylieCosmetics.com).

So I guess you realize the value of building a successful online store. And you’ll be making money even when you sleep if you are able to get consistent traffic.

Websites such as BigCommerce and Shopify offer you a platform to build your own eCommerce store. You’ll even get a free trial (no credit card required) before you can commit.

16. Walk dogs or pet sit

Do you love being around those little bundles of joy, called “Dogs”? If yes, then it is right up your alley! Moreover, if you’re fond of dogs, this kind of side hustle doesn’t feel like work anymore.

How to get started?

You can sign up with services like Rover, which helps people like yourself find clients in your area.

How much does it pay to walk/sit dogs?

According to care.com, depending on your state, you can earn anywhere from $15 to $18 an hour.

17. Teach English online with VIPKid

Teaching English online? How does it work?

When it comes to adapting, certain traditional ways need to change to adapt, teaching is no exception here.

Since there is a growing demand for online education solutions, some platforms like VIPKID and K12 have taken the initiative to implement changes.

So, If you are a teacher and have a license to teach, you can now start teaching classes from home. Classes are usually taught via Skype or pre-recorded video sessions as per requirements.

How to Find Work-From-Home Jobs for Online Tutors & Teachers?

Since the internet, like most “work from home” professions, teaching, and tutoring professions might as well need to update their ways to avail of the “work from home” facilities.

For example, one of the most popular work-from-home jobs out there right now for online tutors is teaching children English through the platform VIPKID.

The service is super flexible, you get to set your own hours. VIPKID provides the lesson plans and communicates with the parents, all you need is a computer with a webcam and that’s it.

K12 is a similar platform for online teaching and you have to go through the interviews and background checking for the hiring process.

18. Part-Time Remote Work

Part-time remote jobs are one of the great options as a side hustle that will not demand any form of a commute from you.

Sites like Flexjobs offer an array of remote part-time jobs in domains such as writing, accounting, sales, retail, customer services, data entry, content creation, and so many more. There are around 50 job categories to choose from according to your preferences.

The only downside is, there is a monthly fee you have to pay to be a member of Flexjobs which is probably worth it considering the number of opportunities you’ll be getting.

Check out Flexjobs

19. Amazon FBA

FBA means: Fulfilled By Amazon.

Meaning, you sell products on Amazon, and Amazon ships them, as simple as that!

Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) is a service provided by Amazon that allows sellers more flexibility in their selling. The service provides storage, packaging, and shipping facilities, significantly reducing the work of the seller.

The program allows sellers to ship their products to an Amazon fulfillment center, where items are stored in warehouses until they are sold.

When an order is placed, Amazon employees physically prepare, pack, and ship the product(s) to the customer.

How To Start an Amazon FBA Business From Home?

Amazon FBA is a very lucrative business once you get the hang of it. So, to get started with this business the right way, it is better to learn it from the pros.

Jessica, of The Selling Family, perfectly elaborates how selling on Amazon may bring side income for you.

In the first year that her family ran their Amazon business together while working 20 hours or less a week, they made over a whopping $100,000 profit. 

20. Facebook ad manager

What Do Exactly Facebook Marketers do?

Do you know that Facebook is one of the largest platforms preferred by advertisers? 

With over 2.42 Billion monthly active users Facebook is a goldmine for businesses.

Moreover, Facebook’s high-tech ad systems provide a very sophisticated and efficient ad experience that keeps them coming for more.

But the problems arise for businesses that don’t know how to reach their potential customers via Facebook ads and don’t even know that this kind of ad facility even exists.

That’s where Facebook marketers come to help! Facebook marketers help such businesses get more customers and sales. 

How to Become an Advanced Facebook Marketer?

The FB Side Hustle Course, created by Bobby Hoyt and Mike Yanda, two world-class Facebook marketers, created this course to teach you everything you need to know about Facebook marketing for businesses.

This course helps you quickly master your work-from-home Facebook ads business and will teach you:

• Know how to set up a Facebook ad for a local business
• How to find businesses that pay you for this service
• How to convert those businesses into recurring client
• Scale the revenue

21. Flea Market Flipping

Fliping is the term used to describe when someone buys a product from a certain place at a much lower cost and sells it for a much higher cost, making them a good profit.

Do you often visit flea markets, garage sales, or antique shops? Well, you might want to, because these are a few of the places where you can find those hidden gems which you can sell at a much higher price.

Flea marketing flipping is a great way to make huge profits selling products.

How to get started? 

To get started you can visit the nearest flea markets, garage sales, etc, and look for yourself. And if you have no idea what to look for you can visit Flea Market Flipper, where Rob and Melissa teach people how to bag huge profits flipping.

The couple made over $42,000 in 2015 and more than $133,000 in 2016 flipping.

How much money can you make?

The money largely depends on various factors:

• The type of items you can find
• How much do they cost
• At which cost you can sell them
• How often do you sell items etc?

So you see, there is no definite income range you can expect. It can be $100 a month or $133,000 a year.

22. Data Entry Jobs

I know, I know, this is not something that you can refer to as a “Fun job” but it pays for doing mindless tasks. Data entry is actually one of the most popular remote part-time jobs out there.

Not only zero to minimal credentials are required to get these jobs but they are available throughout the year.

How much does it pay?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, data entry workers make an average hourly wage of nearly $15.64, which goes up to $22.24 an hour for a more experienced worker employed by a generous company.

23. Stock Trading

Stock trading can be very profitable but the only thing that keeps people from ever buying stocks is the risks that are involved.

But do you know that investing can have a very high return rate, a lot more than any bank can provide?

For example, $10,000 invested in AAPL (Apple) in 2016 would’ve yielded you over $40,000 in 2020. That’s 4x the principal value.

Let’s take another example, $10,000 invested in TSLA (Tesla) in 2016 would be worth over $121,000 in 2020. 12x growth!

M1 Finance is a service that offers free stock trading options. It is absolutely beginner-friendly (tried and tested by yours truly) where you can practice trading in real-time with a feature called paper trading for free.

24. Rent out your free space with Airbnb

If you have a spare room or you want to get into the rental business, Airbnb is the easiest way you can get started.

Here is how you can get started-

• Create a listing of your space: Describe your space, location nearby things with photos
• Select your price: You can check online for the price ranges near your area and you can also set your own prices
• Post it: Finally, post your listing on the website. You will be paid via PayPal, wire, and direct deposit, among other ways.

How much money can you expect to be an Airbnb host? according to Airbnb, the average host makes $6,000 per year. for more details, check out Airbnb’s homepage.

25. Rent your unused stuff with Fat llama

We all have something around the house that is not used for months and years, just sitting there eating dust.

An old camera, a drone, and an old guitar, or just camping stuff. If you’re not using them or not going to use them anytime soon, you can rent these items and make money in the meantime.

Fat Llama is an online peer-to-peer rental platform that allows you to rent out items you already own and surprise! surprise! make loads of cash from it. Which is absolutely FREE to use and even gives its first users $25 upon signup.

The platform has been dubbed the “Airbnb for stuff” which seems pretty right!

26. Make deliveries for Postmates and Doordash

While food delivery isn’t something new but it remains an evergreen gig, because most of us like to eat good but are really lazy to make food most of the time. With platforms like Postmates and Doordash,

 A lot of people have started delivering food with Postmates and Doordash because it is a flexible, easy way to earn money on your own schedule.

You can deliver at any time of the day, whenever it’s convenient for you. If you’re approved, you just get started with the app and start receiving delivery requests in your area and make money depending on how many deliveries you make.

Delivering food is on the rise, especially for those who want to earn money during their free time.

Many apps and websites make it very easy to get started with this hustle. You can start this side gig and work on weekends delivering food through companies like Postmates and UberEats.

How to get started?

You can sign up for Postmates from their signup page and for UberEasts, you can sign up from their delivery signup page.

How much does it pay to deliver food?

According to Indeed, based on 136 salaries, the average for delivery drivers is $19.97 per hour.

27. Become a graphics designer

A graphic designer makes money from completing design jobs. They may be employed by an organization/company, like an ad agency or a large company’s design team.

Many large firms have entire departments dedicated to design because of course, design helps to get exposure.

While there are a lot of design jobs in major companies, graphics designing can also be considered self-employment where you have to work with different clients from home.

If you want to pursue graphic design, there are a few ways to gain the required skills. You can take a few design courses on skillshare where you can learn from professionals with a lot fewer fees involved compared to other alternatives.

28. Flip Websites and domains

Flipping websites is a business that requires you to buy certain domains or websites and sell them at a much higher price than the one you bought.

Good domains are hard to get, which is why companies often pay millions to get the perfect domain for their business. For example, Elon Musk has paid over $11 million to the previous owner of the “tesla.com” domain.

So if you think this is something you should try and snatch as many good domains as possible, you should definitely do your research and get started.

29. Coaching sports

Becoming a sports coach is another way to make money on the side while being active in your free time.

If you reside in a locality or can commute to an area where there is a demand for sports coaches and instructors, you can definitely go for it if those are something you can do in your free time.

I actually know someone that lives in my neighborhood who despite having a day job and teaches little kids how to play football in the evening.

30. Landscaping and Yard Maintenance

Isn’t something new but still relevant nonetheless!

Maintaining yards and landscaping is quite a popular side hustle in the suburbs and semi-rural areas i.e areas that do have a yard. If you live in a crowded city, chances here are slim to get a landscaping job. So act according to your area of residence.

Landscaping is one of those things that have huge opportunity potential as this is something that homeowners nowadays are choosing to outsource.

31. Search engine evaluator

While algorithms are the ones that decide what pages to show when a user searches in a typical search engine (such as google.com, bing.com, etc),

but from time to time, human eyes are required (as search engine evaluator) who inspects and reviews search results for accuracy and quality.

These are mostly part-time jobs that fit right into your “weekend” criteria.

How to get started?

You can search for “Search Engine Evaluator” jobs on the internet or can go to Lionbridge.com and Appen.com

How much does it pay?

Search engine evaluators make around $12 to $15 an hour. However, it’s pretty steady work and there’s no entry requirement.

32. Website tester

A website tester is someone who tests websites and apps to provide honest feedback. If you’re a daily internet user this is something you can easily do.

You’ll have to go through the websites assigned to you and have to make sure that the interface is user-friendly.

How to get started?

There are a bunch of platforms you can signup for to get a part-time website testing job. Some of them are:

• Try My UI
• User Brain
• Think Sprint 
• TestingTime

How much money can I earn from testing websites?

Generally speaking, most website testing companies are going to pay you $10 per website that you test.

And you’ll get $15 to $25 if you get enough experience under your belt.

33. Uber/Lyft driver

You might have used uber or similar services before, so if you have adequate driving skills and of course, a car to drive around, why not become a Uber/Lyft driver during the weekend?

Though the amount of rides you’ll be getting depends on the area you plan to work in, it is a great way to make money on the weekend

How to get started?

If you wish to join uber visit their driver signup page and for other similar services, just google ” *Company name* driver signup”

How much money can I earn as a Uber/Lyft driver?

Depending on the area you live in you can make anywhere from $12 to $21 per hour driving for Uber/Lyft.

34. Start a Podcast

Podcasting is a great way to simply talk about a topic (or topics) that you find interesting, reach a target audience, and make money. You can talk about a topic, give some insight, or even interview people to share their thoughts.

And if you are able to garner a huge following for your podcast, you can bag some pretty big sponsor deals.

How to start a podcast?

As a beginner, I am sure you won’t be able to spend thousands of dollars on expensive podcasting courses, so I would suggest you go to Youtube and learn as much as you can for free.

YouTube has tons of useful information from people coming from all walks of life. And thus you can start your podcast with much less upfront investment.

And as you’ll grow your audience (and income ) you can choose to invest in bettering your content over time.

35. Rent-a-friend

RentaFriend.com, as the name suggests allows people to rent people as their friends for set hours, and mind you, this service is strictly platonic and paid companionship.

This might seem a bit strange but this is an actual side hustle for many and $20-50 an hour.

36. Snuggling services

Yes, this is a real thing, and it has a number of health benefits. So, naturally, there’s also a business angle to it.

For Sam Varnerin of Boston, her snuggling side hustle has turned into a pretty lucrative business. She told Student Loan Hero, “I work around 18 hours a week, charging between $80 and $100 an hour, and make between $3-4k a month.”

Sam started part-time through the SnuggleBuddies.com agency, which allowed her to earn $40 an hour on her own schedule, before striking out on her own.

37. Social Media Manager

Businesses and organizations are in constant need of new customers, you being their social media manager will help those businesses drive new customers by providing useful, relevant social media posts.

Moreover, having active social media accounts from businesses also helps them retain their existing customers because people spend much of their time on social nowadays.

So naturally, any business will try to have an active and relevant account that will bring them, new customers.

While every single business wants to have that, not a lot of them know how to do so. And this is where you help these businesses by offering your social media services.

Some of these services may include:

• Creating relevant content
• Answering comments and messages
• Helping answer questions
• Attract more customers to the business

38. Teach a Class on Skillshare

Skillshare, as the name suggests, is a platform where people who have good experience or expertise in a certain area can create courses and make money from them.

Skillshare is a little different from Teachable because there isn’t any paid user base already on the platform who are constantly looking for great classes on Teachable.

On the other hand, Skillshare has over 3.5 million users that making them around $14.4 million in 2018.

I too have a paid Skillshare account where I follow and learn from a lot of classes on topics ranging from productivity, photography, starting a youtube channel, etc.

39. Real Estate

A real estate agent is one of those high-profile professions that require a lot more money and experience to get on the playing field.

Sure, the real estate business has the potential to make you millions a month but it takes a lot of investment to even get started.

And because of the market for apps and websites for every single service, buying and owning rental properties can also be done by platforms such as Roofstock, you don’t always have to drive and talk to the real estate agent to get a hold of a property.

40. Take surveys online (Market Research)

Market research can be explained as – the effort put by companies to gather information about the current and future consumer market, the customers, what they like, and what they prefer so as to better serve them.

This is a very clever business strategy that is certainly not new.

Big companies literally pour millions of dollars into these programs because relevant data is an important entity for business growth, analyzing which can help them to take necessary steps.

What you will be doing?

Answer super-easy questions.

Yes, you can make money off of these market research programs by answering simple survey questions. This is one of the easiest ways to make money online.

While you will not certainly get rich with these, answering surveys in your free time can bring you an extra few hundred bucks in your pocket every month.

Some of the best survey sites that are worth your time –

• Survey Rewardz
• Pinecone Research
• MySoapBox
• Inboxdollars
• Survey Club
• E-poll
• Survey2Cash

How to get started?

Given above are some of the well-paid survey sites. Sign up with as many as possible because you want to grab every opportunity you can get to answer those simple surveys and maximize your earnings

How much does it pay to answer surveys?

To be honest, there is no set range you can make from a certain survey but you can make anywhere from $1, $2, $3, or $5 to as high as $100 ( although these are rare, you should sign up with as many survey sites as possible to increase your chances to catch the bigger fish )

41. Creative and Artistic Services

If you’re blessed with a particular (or quite a few ) art skills or you have a hobby around a specific artistic domain, you can certainly make money selling your creative and artistic skills, both online and offline.

42. Print on Demand T-Shirts

Starting a T-shirt business isn’t something that is new but is relevant nonetheless. With on-demand printing companies such as Teespring, you can sell T-shirts with your own personal branding.

If you’re creative enough to print some really cool and relatable designs, people will surely be interested in buying them.

If there are large groups and organizations that would require t-shirts that reflect their ideas in a time of a big event, you can take the responsibility to handle that and make a good side income out of it.

Moreover, you can scale this whole gig if you yourself offer your own printing service in your locality or even ship them across the whole country.

And this can be a pretty profitable business!

43. Become a Professional Organiser

Yup! You can make money organizing stuff for people. And as fake as it sounds let me assure you that this side hustle is very much a legitimate business for many.

There are services where someone can request a professional organizer to organize their entire (or part of their) house. So if you think this is something that suits you and is worth trying, you can certainly start a side business around it.

Since this is not as popular as other side hustles because of its newness in the industry, you can attract clients through your social media accounts or your own website where you can showcase your skills.

You can use Squarespace to showcase your work and inform clients about your services with pricing.

44. Offer Childcare Services

If you love being around those tiny bundles of joy (also called babies) then this side hustle suits you well. There is certainly an all-year demand for childcare services, especially from parents having a day jobs.

This side hustle is quite popular among teens or young adults who are looking for a way to make some quick cash!

But, let me assure you that offering childcare services has nothing to do with age if you’re good with kids while keeping them safe and comfortable for the scheduled time.

So if you think, this is something that you can do as a side hustle, I say go for it and see for yourself.

45. Web Design Services

If you have good knowledge regarding building websites and web design in general, you can offer people these services and get paid to do so.

New businesses start every single day, and to cater to their needs to take their business online to help them get their logos and design materials, they surely need someone to help them with that.

46. Start a Consulting Business

Consulting, in general, is quite a broad area to get started, there are consultant services for practically every topic out there.

With platforms such as Clarity.fm, you can easily get started with your field of expertise and make money.

How does clarity.fm work?

• People come to Clarity.fm and search for an expert regarding their issue
• They then find a consultant (a.k.a, You) and schedule a call
• You both receive confirmation from Clarity
• And finally, you get on-call and receive payment for your time

47. Start a Food Truck

This might be a dream for a lot of people, to start a food truck or their own restaurant one day and make a good income from it. But in reality, starting a restaurant comes with a lot of investment and risks.

So starting a food truck seems like a better alternative to that.

48. Teach Driving Lessons to Students

Pretty self-explanatory, you will be teaching students how to drive.

Driving schools are always in demand as every year millions of kids approach the legal driving age. So, therefore, you will be making some side income by offering driving lessons.

49. Sell services on Fiverr

Fiverr is a gold mine to sell and find freelance services. People from all around use Fiverr as their means to make money.

You can provide every type of freelance service on the face of the earth on Fiverr such as Data entry, graphics design, transcription, SEO services, etc.

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So there you have it, 49 side hustle ideas to choose from.

How to Develop a Successful Side Hustle

Starting a side hustle is not that hard. One can easily start a side gig out of sheer motivation after reading it in a blog post such as this one or in social media posts.

But the real struggle comes when you have to put in the actual work or investments required to make that a success.

So in order to make that happen there are a few points you have to keep in mind throughout the whole process. They are:

1. Make a list of what you’re interested in

Your interest is the single, most important ingredient to building a successful side hustle.

This is why listing only the things that excite you or something you are willing to try really helps to begin your side hustle journey the right way!

If you like and enjoy something doing, you’ll actually have fun while working. And thus you’ll be more focused and more consistent at what you do without worrying about “ugh! When will this end?“

Of course, you can try different side hustles that you have never done before. But if later it starts to give you a headache every time you think about it, it’s time you leave it and try something else.

A side hustle should be more about making money by pursuing your interests rather than getting another boring job that you despise.

2. To invest or not invest?

Starting something that will make you more money will require some investment upfront from your side, whether it is for buying tools and gears or services, certification, training, or even courses. So make sure you’re up for it.

If you have quite a bit saved up for the investment required for kickstarting your side hustle, you’re good to go!

But if you don’t have anything saved, don’t give up just yet, work your way up!

When I started this blog, I paid around $3 monthly (which was paid the annual amount taken together).

But only after making good money from this blog (through affiliates and ads), I tried to re-invested the income in bettering the blog by buying premium themes, better hosting, email services, and a few other things that would help me grow this blog.

My point is, you can always start small, and then you can reinvest your earnings to expand your side hustle even more.

If you’re in a position where you think you have to borrow money to establish your side hustle, decide if it’s worth the risk or not.

If not, then opt for some side hustles that require considerably smaller investments, work your way up, and fund that bigger business of yours on your own.

Sounds like a plan?

3. Make sure there are no conflicts of interest

Before starting anything, carefully weigh in your interests and plans because once you’re in, you’re all in!

Remember one thing, if you start working on a side hustle and later realize that this is not for you, you have to start something else from level zero. All the work and time spent on the previous gig will be for nothing.

Having second thoughts or switching from one side hustle to another every now and then can hinder you from building anything at all.

This is why I want you to take a moment to think clearly about what is it that you want to go all-in with.

Of course, there is always a possibility that you might have to switch your side hustle if it doesn’t click with you after some time. But this can significantly reduce the chances of having to switch at all and thus saves you buttloads of time and energy.

4. Schedule time for your side hustle

This is obviously a no-brainer, you want to build a side hustle, and you have to squeeze time to make that happen.

Carefully set specific hours dedicated to your side hustle that does not coincide with other essentials even during the day and utilize those hours to their full extent.

That means no scrolling through your phone or watching any web series after working for a mere few minutes.

5. Don’t forget about your day job

You might be super excited to start a new income stream and be dreaming about giving your boss the finger but you need to keep yourself grounded until you can afford to.

Don’t spend your entire time and attention on building something new that does not make you money yet when you already have something that is making you money.

Your day job is still essential for your survival as long as you are not making good money from your second source.

Till then try not to build your side hustle at the expense of your office hours because this can get you fired.

Some Relevant FAQs

Are side hustles worth it? and why should I start a side hustle?

The real question is why shouldn’t you?

A good side hustle has the potential to not only replace your current job but also provide you with financial freedom that couldn’t have been possible otherwise.

A job can provide you with money but it can never offer you freedom. A side hustle, on the other hand, can potentially provide you with more money than a regular job and time and location freedom.

Having a secondary income source also acts as a safety net if something ever happens to your primary source.

Just imagine, if you lose your job tomorrow, for how long will you be able to rely on your saving? (Assuming you have a big chunk of money saved, which most people don’t!)

I am certainly not trying to scare you in any way, rather you can call this a reality check!

For example, in April 2020 alone, 20.5 million jobs were lost in the US due to mandated shutdowns, according to CNBC. Job security is a myth!

So, in conclusion, it is a rather wise decision to have additional sources of income regardless of how much you make off of your primary source, which can save you in unfortunate and desperate times.

Start a side hustle, folks!

Moreover, starting a small-scale business has never been cheaper. You don’t need hundreds of thousands of dollars to start a small-scale business.

There are a lot of gigs you can start with for less than $5 a month. All you have to do is putting in the work, which is required to build anything of greater value.

So to answer the question above: Yes, side hustles are worth it!

Initially when we think about starting something on the side, a business or a side hustle, one of the first things that come into our minds is, “This will be hard to build from the ground up!”.

And this usually holds people back to start!

Just remember, it is not hard to put in small efforts daily, it’s just the overwhelming feeling when we realize the overall work needed that scares us.

This is why it is so important to start something (presumably with lower risks involved) without thinking much!

To start something, anything, keep trying until everything works out. And if it doesn’t, start something new, there are a lot of gigs around that are worth pursuing.

How do I start a side hustle?

When it comes to starting, there are so many options with varying income potentials and the pace of overall growth with different areas of interest.

This is why sometimes people tend to fall deep into this whole analysis-paralysis trap, preventing them from starting anything at all.

• Identify your skills and areas of interest:
• Set realistic goals with deadlines
• Prepare for the long haul
• Build consistency
• Track your growth
• Improvise if necessary

How much investment does it require to start a side hustle?

In short, it depends.

It really does depend on a lot of factors such as the type of side hustle you want to enter, the niche of your side hustle, whether any certification or experience is required, or any heavy investment you need to make beforehand or you need to buy the necessary tools, etc.

For example:

On the cheaper end of the scale, there is “Blogging”, where you’ll be needing less than $3 to start and run the business all by yourself.

Of course, it might increase later as your business grows but we are talking about the investments you need to make as a beginner.

In terms of moderate investments, for starting a YouTube channel, for example, you’ll be needing a good quality camera and proper editing software so that you can create good videos for people to watch.

Which is going to cost you a lot more than $3!

If you’re not using your phone as a primary camera, a good camera can cost you anywhere from $500 to $3000 and for editing software (such as Adobe Premiere Pro) it might cost you another $20 a month (cost based on annual plans).

And on extreme-high ends, such as it is with owning a rental property, which takes a lot of money to even begin with. To buy a property valued at $100,000 you need at least $20,000 upfront to get it.

So the investment really depends on the type of side hustle that you want to pursue.

What’s the best side hustle for me?

Not every single side hustle idea mentioned in this post is going to align with your interests and time availability.

So it is better to list out your interest and or potential interests first and then see if you can give it enough time to build the side hustle if you have a pretty tight schedule.

Through trying different things and gigs from time to time, you come to know a lot about the things that you wouldn’t know otherwise.

How much money can you make with a side hustle?

This is another question whose answer is: It depends!

Different side hustles have different income potentials. And their rough estimate has been mentioned with each side hustle idea in this blog post.

As mentioned before, even though there are a lot of areas where the income potential is crazy high, you shouldn’t always use that as a deciding factor for your side hustle.

Why?

Because building a side hustle takes a considerable amount of time and energy. Once you’ve started a side hustle or a side business, you’re in it for the long haul.

This is why it is better to pursue something that you actually like instead of blindly chasing the high-income criteria.

Doing something that excites you not only helps you stay consistent in your work but also it’ll also eliminates any chance of

How can you find the time to work on your side hustle?

Working on your “side hustle” can turn into a “side struggle” very easily if you fail to manage your time well.

The majority of the side hustle mentioned in this article are the ones that you can do in your free time or at night so you can definitely spare a few hours a day if you have a day job.

You can’t afford to spend hours scrolling through social media when you should be working or resting after a long day.

What are the most popular side hustles?

Simply based on numbers, the most popular side hustles are freelancing, and participating in the “gig economy” works through apps like Uber, Lyft, Task rabbit, etc.

But this surely doesn’t indicate higher income potential compared to the rest, this is merely an overview of where the majority is, i.e, the popular side hustles.

Conclusion

There you have it!

The above-mentioned are some of the best side hustles you can try starting today.

So, take your time, bring out a piece of paper and a pen to list your interest, select one (or a potential few ), research them thoroughly about their income and growth trends, and act accordingly.

Also remember that building something as significant as a new income source can take a long time, just don’t give up if you don’t see desirable outcomes right away.