One of the most common questions I hear is how to start a side hustle when you don’t have any good ideas. This is a little list of side hustle business ideas to get your creative juices flowing.
It’s by no means an exhaustive list, and I encourage you to add your own idea to the bottom if it’s not on here.
The beauty of these side hustle ideas is that many don’t require a huge initial investment or even necessarily a highly specialized skill-set. And certainly, not all qualify as “business ideas,” but each has the potential to earn you money in your spare time.
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1. Food Delivery Service
With services like Postmates and DoorDash you can earn money on your own schedule delivering take-out orders in your town … and you don’t have to worry about keeping your car super clean for passengers.
2. Notary Public Service
Notary certification is granted by the state and the cost is generally less than $100.
Once you’re certified, you can charge your own fee to notarize documents, or become a loan signing agent like Brian did and make $1500-2000 a month overseeing mortgage signings in your spare time.
3. Customer Interviews
Many companies use customer interviews to get feedback on new products. Respondent is a cool service that facilitates those interviews that take place both in-person and online. (You can totally do this from home; just look for the ones that say “remote”.)
The best part? The average compensation is $140 an hour!
User Interviews is another option that averages $50-100 an hour.
4. Online Surveys
These won’t make you rich, but can be an easy way to supplement your income and you can do them in your downtime (waiting in line, watching TV, etc.).
If you love this stuff, check out:
- Swagbucks – Mega-popular survey platform with a free $10 bonus; earn up to $35 a survey.
- Springboard America – Higher payouts than many other survey sites, but requires a $50 minimum to cash out.
- Survey Junkie – Popular online survey site with more than 3 million members.
- Prize Rebel – Earn $10-12 an hour doing surveys or completing other tasks. Just avoid the low-paying ones.
- InboxDollars (free $5 bonus)
- Opinion Outpost – Cash out at just $5 via PayPal or Amazon gift cards. Each survey enters you into a $10,000 quarterly drawing.
5. Earning Money with Credit Card Rewards
Take advantage of the various sign-up bonuses and cash back offers doled out by banks. You’ve got to promise to do this responsibly, but it’s actually earned my wife and I thousands of dollars in free money and travel over the last few years.
What’s the easiest way to get started? Try a new cash back card on for size.
For instance, the Chase Freedom Card is offering up to 30% cash back — $150 after you spend $500 — with no annual fee.
Learn more and compare this card to other cash back cards here.
If you know you’re gonna spend $500 in the next 3 months, that’s #freemoney.
(If you’re worried about your credit score, don’t be. I’ve opened probably a dozen credit card accounts in the last few years and still have a 750+ credit score.)
The Next Step: Check out my free course, Credit Card Rewards 101: How to Earn Free Cash and Travel by Spending Smarter
6. Virtual Assistant Service
Virtual assistants provide administrative support to clients from their home office. If that sounds like a fun side hustle you can set up shop on your own or jump on board with an established VA company like BELAY or Fancy Hands.
To learn more about starting your own virtual assistant company, check out the free video training from my friend Abbey Ashley, who started her VA business on the side and shares:
- Where to find thousands of potential clients.
- How to make a full-time living working from home.
- What clients are really looking for in a VA. (hint: it’s not prior VA experience)
Click here to learn more about becoming a virtual assistant.
7. Renting Out Your Car
In select markets, you can rent out your car on a daily or hourly basis to earn extra cash through companies like Turo and Getaround.
According to Turo, the average car sits idle 22 hours a day, so their service is a unique opportunity to capitalize on those idle hours. The companies handle all the insurance.
A couple friends used the Turo platform to essentially get a free Tesla!
8. Blogging
Blogging is difficult to monetize but can be a fun outlet to practice your writing or build an audience around a particular idea.
Brock McGoff turned his side project men’s fashion blog into a 6-figure online business, and my friend Jodi earns $5k+ per month from her part-time blog for girl scout troop leaders.
Want to start a blog of your own? Check out my free 6-part video course on how to start your own site.
9. Teaching English Online
Earn up to $20 per hour teaching English to young students in China via video chat with VIPKid. If you’re eligible to work in the US or Canada, a bachelor’s degree and a year of educational experience are the only prerequisites.
Note: Because of the time zones, this is probably better the closer to the East coast you are.
Remember to immediately schedule your video interview after completing your application. This is the single most important component of the application process. You will be asked to confirm a time for a live video interview with a VIPKID teaching team member. Live interviews must be scheduled and typically will happen within a couple days (sometimes up to a week) from the time a candidate applied.
10. Affiliate Marketing
Refer website visitors to buy products online and earn a small commission on each sale. This is actually how I’ve made the bulk of my living over the last 10 years, so it definitely works!
Note: Please do me a favor and don’t buy into anyone’s sleazy affiliate marketing “program” or “system.” There are unfortunately a lot of slimy salespeople out there making their living taking advantage of newbies.
If you want to learn more about affiliate marketing, check out my chat with Michelle Schroeder-Gardner, who consistently earns over $50k a month as an affiliate — all while traveling full-time.
Related: Here’s a step-by-step guide to building your first affiliate website.
11. Driving
If you’re free mornings, nights, or weekends, you can earn extra cash driving your fellow citizens around.
Sign up with Lyft (currently offering a $1000 first-month guarantee) or Uber to get started.
One cool “hack”: Both companies offer “Destination Mode”, which basically allows you to earn money on your regular morning and evening commute by telling the app which direction you’re headed and only accepting riders along your route.
12. Airbnb Hosting or Co-Hosting
If you have extra room in your house, you can earn money renting it out to visitors on Airbnb.com. It’s a pretty cool way to make money and meet interesting people from around the world at the same time.
With a little bit of traction, you could even cover your entire rent or mortgage by hosting guests on Airbnb. Have you tried it?
The next step: In addition to a small portfolio of her own short-term rental properties, Zeona McIntyre has built a side business in “co-hosting” other Airbnbs. She essentially acts as the property manager, coordinating guest check-ins, maintenance, and cleaning, in exchange for 20% of the rent — with none of the risk.
13. Selling on eBay
The long-running marketplace can be a tough, low-margin, competitive environment, but that’s not to say there aren’t any opportunities left to make money on eBay.
My favorite eBay seller is Rob, the “Flea Market Flipper,” who built a 6-figure business buying low and selling high.
14. Selling on Amazon
One of the most popular side hustles lately has been Amazon’s FBA program, in which you find bargain deals locally, and ship them off to sell on Amazon.
I recently sat down with a $1 million seller to learn how she sources profitable reselling inventory from local stores.
I even made a bit of money when I tried it myself.
15. Private Labeling
In this side hustle, you identify hot-selling products and bring your own to market to compete with them.
There’s an art and science to this, including negotiating with suppliers (often overseas), but in this episode of The Side Hustle Show, 7-figure Amazon seller Greg Mercer shared his top 3 Amazon FBA product sourcing guidelines and tips.
16. Teaching Online
Udemy is an impressive online education platform where students can connect with teachers from all around the world in any subject. You can create your own course around a topic you’re an expert in and set your own tuition rate.
I did this several years ago and have earned over $20,000 in (mostly) passive income from it!
Related: The 134 Best Udemy Courses for Entrepreneurs, Freelancers, and Side Hustlers
If you have an existing subscriber base to sell to, you might be able to sell the course directly and not have to worry about losing margin to Udemy. One resource with some great information on creating your own online course for “passive” income is my podcast with Ankur Nagpal, the founder of Teachable.
17. Baking
Do people love your desserts? Maybe you could provide cake, cookies, or cupcakes to some corporate event in town.
18. “Alternative” Investing
For me, alternative investments are vehicles like peer-to-peer lending, real estate crowdfunding, business lending, and even cryptocurrency.
This is one of my favorite side hustles because it’s automated and passive. Check out options like Fundrise, which allows you to invest in revenue-generating commercial properties for as little as $500.
19. Losing Weight
Yes, with sites like HealthyWage you can actually get paid ($500 or more!) to lose weight. It works like a bet, where you put the money upfront and get paid out your prize when your hit your goal.
Check out their calculator to see how much your prize could be. For more, here’s our full HealthyWage review .
20. Becoming an Adjunct Professor
You may need a graduate degree for this one, but it can be a fun way to share your knowledge with the next generation of students and earn some good money on the side — especially if you can teach online or with pre-recorded lectures.
21. Bookkeeping / Accounting / Tax Preparation Service
Help other businesses with their accounting and finances. This can be a great option for people with an accounting background from school, your day job, or just for people who aren’t afraid of math.
Virtual bookkeepers can earn $60 an hour or more. Here’s a free training on how to get started.
22. Being a TaskRabbit
Task Rabbit is an on-demand errand-running service that enlists regular people to help out. You can earn money in your spare time completing real-world tasks on their unique platform.
The platform also allows for virtual work like online research and other tasks that can be done remotely.
23. Proofreading
Do you like to read? If you have an eye for detail you can set up shop on Upwork as a proofreader and bid on jobs large and small.
I actually offered this service on Fiverr for a while and made some decent money.
24. E-commerce
Sell products online through your own store or through Amazon or eBay. In this episode, Will Mitchell walked me through how to find a profitable import product.
Next Step: Set up your shop with a 14-day free trial of Shopify, the leading shopping cart provider.
25. Raw Land Flipping
This sounds a little crazy, but my guest Mark calls his raw land investing business “the best passive income model” because he doesn’t have to deal with “problem tenants, rodents, or repairs.”
More recently, I sat down with one of Mark’s students who’d built his land flipping business to $10k a month in his first year.
26. Book Flipping
Use the free Bookscouter app to scan barcodes and see what old books are worth. You can do this both for the ones collecting dust on your shelf and for the ones at garage sales or the library book store.
27. Tutoring
Put that education to use by helping students learn in a comfortable one-on-one setting. WyzAnt is one of the largest operators in the online tutoring world.
In this post, Matt Fuentes shares how he built his tutoring business up to $1000 a week.
If you already have experience teaching or tutoring, you might consider VIPKid, where you can teach English online to students in China.
28. Picking up Trash
Brian Winch has been doing this over 30 years and calls it “America’s simplest business.” He says you can earn $50,000-$100,000 a year for basically walking local parking lots and cleaning up the garbage.
Check out the interview I did with Brian to learn more.
29. Focus-Grouping
I made $100 an hour at an in-person focus group. Here are some companies that facilitate them near you and online.
30. Kindle Publishing
Selling ebooks on Amazon is one of the income streams I’m cultivating. I love the idea of having my work for sale on the world’s largest store!
From my very first author royalty check in 2012, I keep learning more about self-publishing and am hopefully getting better every time I put pen to paper … or fingers to keyboard.
I generated 20,000 downloads with my first “serious” book launch in 2014, and another title earned nearly $18,000 in its first year.
31. Sperm Donor
I wouldn’t necessarily call it a business, but it sure sounds more fun than donating blood (or plasma).
32. Postmates Delivery
Ride, drive, or walk to make local deliveries in your town with the Postmates app and earn up $25 an hour doing so.
If you like the idea of doing pick-up and delivery, you might consider becoming an Instacart Shopper as well. I sat down with one full-service Instacart grocery shopper who made $10,000 in his first 6 months!
33. Selling on Etsy
Etsy is the world’s largest marketplace for unique hand-crafted goods. What can you make?
My friend Kara started selling wine-themed wedding decor on Etsy as a side hustle and since turned it into a full-time business.
Etsy also now allows for print-on-demand, digital, and dropshipped products. I’m testing this out for myself!
34. Selling on Fiverr
Fiverr is one of the greatest sites in the world. The basic premise was “what would you do for $5?” Over the years, they’ve gradually moved beyond that $5 starting point, but Fiverr remains an interesting “Buy Button” freelance marketplace.
Check out these fine Side Hustle Nation posts for more on how to make Fiverr work for you both as a buyer and a seller:
- How to Build a 6-Figure Side Hustle on Fiverr
- How I Earned $7490 in My First 14 Months on Fiverr
- $10 from a Single Sale … on Fiverr [Podcast]
I’ve used Fiverr for graphic design, book covers, website optimization, article writing, and even the old intro voiceover for The Side Hustle Show. I’ve experimented as a seller on Fiverr, starting with selling non-fiction ebooks.
Getting a little more adventurous with my gigs, I got featured on the homepage and was flooded with orders, ultimately earning $920 in 10 days.
35. Selling on Teespring
Teespring is a print-on-demand t-shirt platform, where you can custom-design your own shirts and sell them through the site.
I created an “Every Day I’m Hustling” shirt and sold enough for the campaign to ship, but didn’t earn much on the experiment because of some not-very-effective Facebook advertising. Still, some opportunity here and a friend of mine is doing REALLY well with this. If you can create awesome designs and reach the right people with good Facebook targeting, Teespring can be very profitable.
On the podcast, my friend Benny shared how he built a 6-figure business on Teespring in under a year — even after a pretty discouraging start!
36. T-Shirt Printing Service
Create silk-screened t-shirts for events and organizations. Bonus points for creating the designs yourself.
My wife and I have gotten into this ourselves lately, but we’ve been letting Amazon do the printing through their Merch by Amazon program. It’s awesome!
37. Ghostwriting
With millions of websites all competing for attention, writing is a service that’s constantly in demand. Someone’s got to create all that content, right?
You can start out on your own, or find gigs through the popular aggregating service Contena. (Use coupon code Sidehustle15 for 15% off any membership!)
Gabe Arnold even turned his ghostwriting side hustle into a full-blown agency!
38. Sports Coaching
School teams are sometimes in need of coaching help and this can be a fun and active side hustle.
39. Podcasting
With a unique angle to your podcast, you can attract a large following, which can translate into serious sponsorship dollars. It costs less than you think to start and has honestly been a life-changing project for me.
But you don’t have to take my word for it. My friend Steve Young turned his part-time podcast into a full-time business with multiple streams of income.
40. Rental Properties
Real estate investing is one of the oldest and most popular side hustles in the books. New platforms like Roofstock make it easy to shop for and buy income-generating properties with tenants and property management already in place.
I liked Austin Miller’s creative approach to building his rental portfolio, which was up to 17 properties worth $1.2 million when we spoke.
The kicker? They were all acquired “free”–without any of his own money.
41. Pool Cleaning Service
If you live in a warm climate with a lot of pools, this could be a fun and interesting side hustle to enjoy the summer outdoors.
42. Knife Sharpening
Every house in the country is a potential repeat customer. In this post and podcast episode, Matt Rowell shares how he got started and now earns $30-60 an hour sharpening knives.
43. Swagbucks / InboxDollars
Also not really a business, but you can earn gift cards, cash, and other rewards by answering surveys, watching videos, playing games, and shopping online with both Swagbucks and InboxDollars.
(While rare, you can occasionally earn up to $35 a survey.)
At press time, both companies are offering a $5 bonus just for signing up!
44. Alterations
Handy with a sewing machine? I believe the market for clothing alteration is ripe for disruption because of a lack of transparency in pricing. I’ve had some suits altered from a couple different places with dramatically different rates.
Free marketing tip: Post flyers at the gym or other places where people may have lost a lot of weight and need their clothes altered.
45. Child Care
Is it just me, or does “babysitting” sound amateur compared to “child care”? Register on sites like Sittercity to begin building a client base.
46. Caregiving
This business continues to grow as the population ages, and popular sites like Care.com can help match you with customers.
47. Brand Ambassadorship
Big brands are always looking for assistance with their on-the-ground marketing efforts, and pay pretty well for the help.
Kenny Azama explained it’s a relatively easy (and fun) way to earn $1000 a month part-time, and could even turn into a full-time gig. When we spoke, he was earning $2k a week on a cross-country RV road-trip as a brand ambassador!
48. Building Niche Websites
Building niche sites is a popular side hustle because after some initial research and time investment they can be a relatively hands-off income source. These types of sites generally cover a very specific topic and earn money through advertising, affiliate relationships, or digital products.
This tutorial lays out the process step-by-step for creating a simple niche affiliate site.
Want more? Here’s a step-by-step guide on the fastest cheapest way to build a website.
49. Building an Authority Website
While niche sites get a lot of attention, an authority site has a better chance of withstanding the changes in Google’s algorithm and turning into a long-term asset.
You may not even need to be an authority when starting out. My friend Perrin got a new puppy and was disappointed with the information he found online, so he got to work and 20 months later HerePup.com was valued at $200,000.
50. Car Flipping
If you’re a savvy negotiator and know your way around cars, you can buy low and sell high and turn a profit quickly with this side hustle.
51. Car Wash and Detailing
A mobile detailing service would be a super-low cost startup and you could get clients in bunches at office parks, shopping malls, schools, sporting events, and other places where cars like to gather.
52. Carpet Cleaning
Carpet cleaning is a relatively simple and low cost business to start. You could get clients on an annual or semi-annual recurring schedule like the dentist.
53. Catering and Cooking
If you have a passion for cooking, a catering business has a lower barrier to entry and time commitment than say, opening a restaurant.
With platforms like Eatwith, you could even begin charging to host meals.
54. Residential or Commercial Cleaning Service
It may not be glamorous, but it’s something nearly every business spends money on and usually gets done in the after-work hours.
Cassandre Poblah actually earned $1000 a month doing this part time, and Chris Schwab’s cleaning business does $60k a month — without him ever lifting mop.
55. Computer Repair Service
There are more computers in this country (including tablets and smartphones) than there are people. The repair market is very fragmented which means there is opportunity for solo-operators to break in.
John Rouda offers monthly IT support and maintenance contracts for local businesses, calling it one of his “for-profit hobbies.”
56. Computer Tutoring
Some of the computer skills we take for granted are still lacking for portions of the population.
If you can find them and sell them on the necessity of technical skills for their careers, there might be a business opportunity here.
57. Consulting / Coaching
Consulting is an ambiguously broad field, but there are consultants for practically every area of expertise. What are you a relative expert in that others might pay for your advice?
With platforms like Clarity.fm, you can get started very quickly and earn $60/hour and up.
In this episode, my friend Kai Davis breaks down his step-by-step methods of building a consulting business in 20-hours. Later, Jonathan Stark shared his framework for getting a new consulting business from zero to $5k a month.
58. Cover Letter and Resume Service
Especially if you have experience in HR, there is a massive opportunity to help job seekers with their resumes and cover letters. Since the payoff of landing a job is so high, it can be worthwhile for applicants to seek some professional assistance on their documents.
It would be interesting to see this sold on a pay-for-performance model, where you only get paid if the applicant gets the interview.
59. Craigslist Arbitrage
Craigslist and other markets are still filled with inefficiencies that a trained eye can exploit for profit. There are some great stories of regular people doing just this.
For instance, Ryan Finlay of ReCraigslist.com, makes a full-time living buying and selling on Craigslist and stopped by the podcast to tell me about it.
60. Craigslist Gigs
There’s a little-known section in the bottom right corner of Craigslist (at least at press time) specifically for side hustlers, called gigs:
Check it out and see what kind of gigs you might be able to find nearby or online.
61. Small Business Marketing Service
Many small companies don’t have the staff or know-how to do all their marketing themselves, especially when it comes to putting their best foot forward online and on social media.
You can help them with that, much like Sean does in his business.
62. Customer Service
Some companies are now employing part-time customer service representatives to work from home and handle incoming phone or live chat service requests.
63. Get Paid to Go on Dates?
The dating site WhatsYourPrice.com actually lets suitors pay women to go on dates with them.
64. Dividend Investing
This has been one of my favorite ways of “buying cash flow” lately, and is a simple way to get paid over and over again from work you do once.
I’ve focused on companies that have a long history of paying–and increasing–dividends, and built up my portfolio slowly over the past few years. Every quarter they come in like clockwork. Dividends are one my most passive income streams.
Set up a free brokerage account at M1 Finance and get started right away.
65. Dog Walking
Yes, some people are too busy to walk their own dogs. Post flyers in your neighborhood or set up a profile on WagWalking.com.
66. Doula Service
Doulas can earn $500-$1000 per birth, if you’re into that sort of thing.
67. Dropshipping
Dropshippers set up their own storefront and process sales, but never touch the actual product. Instead, the items are shipped directly to the customer from the manufacturer or wholesaler.
Next Step: I had the chance to sit down with Rene Delgado to learn how he sold $300,000 worth of bounce houses in his first year in business.
68. Estate Sale Service
Estate sales are often managed by a third-party company, who takes a percentage of the proceeds in exchange for handling the event. To learn more about this side hustle check out Robert Farrington’s post on Budgets are Sexy.
69. Event DJ-ing
I feel like DJ-ing is something of a lost art in the era of pre-made iTunes playlists, but there are still plenty of events that have a live DJ.
Check out sites like GigSalad to set up your profile and get booked.
70. Freelancing
There are millions of people supplementing their income by freelancing in their spare time. You’ll find them on sites like FreeeUp or Fiverr.
On The Side Hustle Show, I really enjoyed hearing how both Gabe and Gina set their freelancing businesses up for recurring revenue.
71. Furniture Making
If you’re skilled in carpentry, maybe people would like to buy your hand-crafted furniture. OK, this one reminds me of Ron Swanson.
72. Field Agent
Field Agent is a free smartphone app that pays you to complete small tasks in your neighborhood, like photographing the inside of a store.
I found several of these tasks near me, from companies like Home Depot and Walmart, with the payouts ranging from $3-8 per assignment.
73. Graphic Design Service
Quality graphic design is always in-demand, and never before have there been so many outlets on which to sell your skills. The most popular design-focused site is 99designs, but you can check out Crowdspring, DesignCrowd, or any of the freelance marketplaces as well.
One fun example of a side hustle graphic design business gone global is Design Pickle, where the founder told me, “I sucked at design.” So instead, it became his job to match customers with contractors. Less than 3 years later, the little side project was doing $400k a month in revenue!
74. Handyman Service
This is certainly not a great option for my less-than-handy self, but I’m positive someone else with the right skills can make it work.
You might try setting up a profile on TaskRabbit (where I connected with an on-demand handyman) or Thumbtack.
75. Home Inspection Service
Certification is required, but this is a viable side hustle because the inspections can be scheduled at your convenience and only take a few hours.
76. Mobile Mechanic
Matt Bochnak of Chicago started fixing motorcycles in his garage to earn extra money. It was a good gig, but it became a great one when he started filming his repairs and putting the videos online.
Eventually, Matt turned this classic blue collar hours-for-dollars side hustle into a $5k a month online business.
77. Human Billboard
If you’re not afraid of potentially embarrassing yourself on a street corner, there are always businesses looking to hire sign-spinners or people in costume to attract attention.
78. Hyper-Local Newspaper
Could you start a small newspaper for your neighborhood? Could you sell advertisements?
Kai Davis and I discuss this idea (among others) in Episode 4 of The Side Hustle Show.
My friend Bill Nowicki took this idea one step further, and started a local podcast for his town.
79. Interior Decorating
With an eye for design, interior decorating could be a fun part-time business.
80. Investing in Websites
If you have some idle cash and want to put it to work, buying a pre-existing cash flow may be the fastest path to side hustle income.
Stacy Caprio bought a small portfolio of sites that–after a couple early mis-steps–was profitable enough to leave her job.
81. Ironing / Mobile Laundry Service
Holy crap do I hate ironing! I’m certain a decent chunk of the population is with me on this one and would be willing to pay to make that problem go away.
I actually connected with a reader who was doing this in Australia, and earning $400 a month. She didn’t mind the work and was thrilled to be “getting paid to watch movies”–how she passed the time while ironing.
82. Junk Hauling Service
This is an especially feasible side hustle business if you already have access to a large truck or van. Bonus points if you can re-sell some of the junk!
I had the chance to sit down with Brian Scudamore, the founder of 1-800-GOT-JUNK, to learn how he took the business from a summer gig to doing around $1 million a day in revenue.
83. (Medical) Transcription Service
Medical transcription, which involves typing out doctors’ recorded voice notes, is often a part-time work-from-home position.
Rev.com hires transcriptionists as well, and if you’re fast, you might be able to earn up to $15 an hour.
84. Flyer Distribution Service
One listener wanted to find a way to get more FitBit steps–and get paid for it. So he approached a local business and offered to distribute flyers door-to-door.
Then he realized it wouldn’t really be any more work to drop off 3 or 4 flyers at each house, effectively earning $75-100 an hour for taking a walk!
85. MLM Sales
MLM (multi-level marketing) programs are frequently derided as pyramid schemes — and many of them are — but some people manage to do quite well with them, often starting out part-time. Amway is probably the most well-known.
My friend Kellie is crushing it as a Beachbody coach, and shared some of her best network marketing tips here.
A word of caution: The failure rate in network marketing is 99%–much higher than in other business models. Before you dive in and drink the Kool-Aid, make sure this is something you can really stand behind and can see yourself doing long-term.
86. Mobile Oil Change Service
Save people time by bringing the shop and supplies to them. If you’re comfortable fixing cars, you might actually check out YourMechanic.com, which helps match you with customers in need of car repairs.
87. Modeling
Stock photographers are sometimes in need of subjects for their work. Strike a pose!
88. Movie / TV Extra
Your odds are better if you’re in LA or New York, but there can always be “on location” shoots nearby.
Check out Central Casting or Auditions Free to see if there are any movie extra jobs near you. Bonus points if you can get your Screen Actors Guild credentials or IMDB credits!
Movie extras typically earn minimum wage, but then again, you might have a brush with celebrity.
89. Moving Service
Moving is never fun, but can be a good way to earn some extra cash on the weekend if you’re strong and don’t mind carrying other people’s stuff.
90. Mystery Shopping
Companies will pay you to verify their in-store or on-the-phone experience, or to spy on their competition. It’s possible to make over $10,000 a year being a mystery shopper.
We live near a place called the National Food Lab and I occasionally get called in for taste tests. They pay cash and it’s really easy; just answer a few questions and you’re on your way.
91. Organize a Bundle Sale
An online bundle sale brings together a bunch of digital products for a limited time. Each contributor earns a cut on every bundle they sell and you take a percentage as the organizer.
92. Host Trivia Nights
Bars and restaurants are always looking for creative ways to get customers in the door, especially mid-week. One compelling option is an entertaining trivia game, that you can get paid to host.
93. Party Planning / Wedding Coordinator Service
Put your organization skills to good use. Build relationships with venues, wedding photographers, or other service providers in the space. You might need to do your first couple of gigs for free or a low cost to establish yourself.
94. Rent Out Used Baby Gear
BabyQuip.com presents a compelling alternative to getting rid of baby stuff as soon as you’re done with it — which has been our strategy so far!
The platform connects parents with traveling families or grandparents who live in town and need a crib and a stroller for a few days.
The average BabyQuip Quality Provider makes $650 a month part-time.
95. Personal Chef Service
Could you picture yourself making meals in someone else’s kitchen? This could be a good way to break into the food services industry without the time commitment and overhead of starting your own restaurant.
Some friends of ours pay $180-200 a week for meals delivered to their house.
HireaChef.com connects you with families and events looking for private chefs, or you might just post on Facebook or NextDoor.
96. Personal Training
People are always looking to get in shape and if you have a passion for fitness, this could be the perfect side hustle.
97. Pet Grooming
Just like their owners, pets require haircuts too. A mobile pet grooming service can be a low-cost part-time business.
98. Pet Sitting
When homeowners travel, it opens up an opportunity for pet sitting services to come by and take care of their animals.
To set up shop, try Rover.com. These three people are all making over $1000 a month watching other people’s pets!
99. Photography Service
This is my wife’s favorite side hustle. Turn your photog hobby into an income stream.
Side Hustle Show guest Vincent Pugliese shared how “freelanced his way to freedom” and went from earning $30k a year to $30k in a day.
100. Product Licensing
Who says ideas are worthless? With product licensing you can sell the rights to your idea to large companies, who will pay you royalties for every sale they make from that idea.
I had the chance to sit down with Nate Dallas, who earned $300,000 from Mattel in this way, after licensing an idea to them for a Pictionary spin-off.
Later, Stephen Key stopped by to drop his wisdom on product licensing and why there’s never been a better or easier time to get started.
101. App Development
The mobile app market is hot, but one developer likened it to the gold rush — where the ones who made the most money were the ones selling the gear and the shovels.
Similarly, a freelance app developer gets paid whether or not the app goes on to become a hit. Learn to code apps and you’ll have a skill you can use over and over again.
102. Real Estate Wholesaling
In this side hustle, your job is to connect motivated sellers with real estate investors. You earn the difference between your negotiated contract price and the eventual sales price.
The best part? It doesn’t put your cash or credit at risk. On the podcast, J. Massey shared some more tips on how to find distressed properties.
103. Rec Sports Officiating
Recreational sports leagues are often in need of referees and umpires, and this can be a fun way to spend your evenings and earn a little extra cash.
As an amateur softball player, I’ve seen some of the same umps every season for the last 10 years so they must enjoy it!
104. RentaFriend
RentaFriend.com facilitates (strictly platonic) paid companionship.
Friends report earning $20-50 an hour to hang out with strangers. Yeah, this sounds a little creepy and weird but I guess if you’re lonely and you’ve got the money…
105. Snuggling
Yes, this is a real thing, and it has a number of health benefits. So, naturally there’s a business angle.
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.
106. Software Mogul
Software is one of those “perfectly scalable” business models, in that you can theoretically create something once and sell it over and over again.
The cool thing is, you don’t even know how to write code. Christopher Gimmer built his SaaS business by getting outside help on the technical side.
107. Teaching Music
With a love for music, teaching, and working with kids, you could start a part-time music teaching business. In our town, we see instructors setting up shop at children’s fairs and even at the weekly farmer’s markets to advertise.
108. Music Licensing
Singer-songwriter Cathy Heller found a unique way to “reverse-engineer” her dream job by licensing her catchy tunes to big brands and TV shows.
Alternatively, licensing stock music is a bit of a numbers game, but can be a cool way to earn passive income from your art.
109. Teaching Yoga
A certain level of expertise and certification may be required, but becoming a yoga instructor could be a fun and healthy part-time business.
110. Tour Guide Service
Do you want to show off your city to visitors? You can create your own unique tour experience with the help of websites like Vayable.com or ToursByLocals.com.
For example, Alex Kenin leads urban hikers through the hills of San Francisco at $50 a pop.
111. Translation / Interpretation Service
A translation service could be an excellent way to put your bilingual skills to good use. There are always translation jobs on Upwork, as a place to start.
112. Travel Agent Service
Are you a seasoned traveler? Do you always know where to get the best deals and the best experiences?
It might be surprising that despite widespread access to travel information there is still a healthy demand both for insider travel knowledge and the hands-off experience of letting an expert handle the booking.
113. Vehicle Advertising
According to Wrapify, you can earn up to $500 a month by putting an advertising “wrap” on your car.
One reader in Chicago reported making $400 in a month from this, just making her normal commute.
114. Vending Machines
Matt Miller’s passive income vending machine empire started with just $36 and a bag of gumballs. He’d been flipping used books, but found it took too much time. Looking for something a little more automated, he settled on bulk vending.
115. Voiceover Acting
Companies are always on the look for professional voiceover talent. Once you start listening for it, you’ll hear voiceover work everywhere.
One Side Hustle Show guest reported turning her voiceover side hustle into a full-time gig in just 4 months, earning up to $3000 an hour in the process.
I’ve done exactly one paid voiceover job, and I can attest, it’s harder than it looks! Though since then, I’ve had a bit more practice behind the mic thanks to the podcast–and in reading hundreds of books to my kids.
116. Web Design Service
There’s no shortage of crappy looking websites out there. Pitch the benefits of good design and help them out.
Even though I’m not super-technical, I was able to build out a pretty nice looking site in a few hours using this rapid-launch method.
117. Window Cleaning Service
Window cleaning can be a nice little weekend side hustle, and requires minimal startup capital; you may already have a ladder, a bucket, and a squeegee.
118. Working on Mechanical Turk
Mechanical Turk is a service provided by Amazon to help companies complete micro-jobs that sometimes only pay pennies for each one.
The good news is they’re relatively simple and fast to finish, so you may be able to earn a modest side hustle income in your spare time from home. One reader reported earning $21,000 in his spare time over the last couple years.
I’m not sure the hourly wage will be anything amazing here but I wanted to include it as an option in case you wanted to check it out.
119. Yard Work Service
Much like the cleaning service above, it’s not the most glamorous side hustle in the world but the fact is nearly every yard in the country requires some sort of maintenance. That means there’s a big business opportunity.
120. YouTube Channel Host
Google (which owns YouTube) pays channel-owners to host their ads on their videos, meaning if you generate a lot of YouTube views, you can earn a lot of money with their revenue sharing program.
I’ve been dabbling a bit more with YouTube lately, and recently passed $200 in monthly ad income.
Several YouTube users report earning more than $100,000 a year, and I recently sat down with Gabby Wallace, who turned her English teaching channel into a full-time business.
121. Storage Unit Auctions
Popularized by TV shows like Storage Wars, bidding on abandoned storage lockers can be a viable side hustle — and a bit of a treasure hunt.
122. Local Rental Business
Corey Jeffreys wanted to get into rental real estate, but lacking capital, bought a bounce house and began renting that out instead.
In his first year, he turned that $800 investment into $3,000 and has gone on to build the business into a 5-figure side hustle.
123. Pet Waste Removal
More and more homeowners are outsourcing the chore of picking up the dog’s back yard deposits. In just a few months, Erica Krupin had landed 80 recurring weekly clients at around $15 apiece.
124. Reader’s Choice!
Help me out by adding your part-time business idea in the comments below!
And yes, I know the list has grown beyond the promised 99 ideas 🙂
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a side hustle?
Broadly speaking, a side hustle is anything you do to earn money outside of your day job. However, side hustles carry a more entrepreneurial connotation than merely taking on a second job.
What’s the best side hustle for me?
The best side hustle for you depends on a number of factors, including your skills and experience, the time you have to devote to it, and your overall interests and goals. Check out our full list and you’re sure to find a side hustle idea that sparks a flame!
What are the most popular side hustles?
By raw numbers, the most popular side hustles are freelancing, network marketing, real estate investing, and participating in the “gig economy” through apps like Uber and Lyft. Be sure to check out the full list of ideas to see which one could be a fit for you.
How do you start a side hustle?
To start a side hustle, I recommend the “lean startup” model. That means keeping upfront investments low until you find paying customers. Then, use their feedback to change and adapt as needed. But all side hustles start with an idea. Check out our full list of side hustle ideas for more!
Why should you have a side hustle?
A side hustle can be a great way to build extra income and extra skills outside a traditional job. It can be a way to escape a job you don’t like, a shortcut to financial independence, or just a way to practice entrepreneurship in a low risk manner.
What’s Next?
- Fill out the form below to join Side Hustle Nation for free and I’ll send you my report: The 5 Fastest Ways to Make More Money.
- Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show (Apple Podcasts link, but available everywhere).
- Pin it for later:
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