80+ Extra Income Ideas That Don’t Suck
Earning extra money through a side hustle has been generating quite the buzz over the past few years. With the cost of living steadily increasing and some wages remaining stagnant, many people have become interested in getting a second job or establishing a profitable side hustle.
Side hustles are more flexible than getting a second job with a traditional employer because you can often set your own hours and control how much you work and how much you earn. I’ve been fortunate enough to find success with freelance writing as a side hustle, and while I understand writing isn’t everyone’s forte, there are so many other side hustle options out there to take advantage of to earn more money.
Side hustling has literally changed my life and opened up so many possibilities for me. I’ve been able to beef up my emergency fund, pay off my debt at lightning speed, and feel more financially stable and confident overall.
It feels great to earn multiple streams of income and it’s just what we all need in order to truly be financially secure and meet all of our goals.
I feel like a lot of people understand that nowadays, which is why I receive a ton of questions from other people about side hustling and how they can get started. My own mom has even been on me to help her establish a money-making side hustle :).
Table of Contents
When People Ask Me About Side Hustles, I Ask Them What They Enjoy Doing
It’s so important to narrow down what you actually like doing and what you have the skills to do. The ideas and opportunities are definitely out there, but you need to find what works for you and will help you earn money.
Related: How to Find the Right Side Hustle For You
This is why I decided to create an in-depth and proactive side hustle roundup list of 80+ things you can do on the side of your main job to earn extra money. These are REAL and legitimate ideas that don’t suck (like being a human billboard) or won’t have you earning pennies after spending hours of your precious time (work-from-home scams like assembly jobs).
Rather than just listing out ideas, I decided to add even more valuable information, tips, and resources to help you actually get started next week if you wanted to.
Everything is broken up so it falls under 5 main categories:
- Online income ideas
- Work-from-home and money-making websites
- Offline extra income ideas
- Offline extra income ideas with experience required
- Extra income opportunities with sales
So browse through the categories, let me know if you have any questions and let’s start making money!
Online Side Hustles – Freelancing
Blogging
Blogging is a fun way to earn extra money for the right person. Unlike some of these other side hustles, it may not help you earn money as quickly as you’d like, but it is possible to earn an income and have fun doing it.
Without my blog, I wouldn’t have been able to quit my job to work from home full time. Blogging has been a great way for me to earn more money on my own terms and by doing something that I love. If you think you’ll love blogging as much as I do, you’ll definitely want to check out my free email course which will show you exactly how to start a successful blog that earns money in just 10 days.
If you’re ready to start your blogging journey now, setup your blog with Bluehost for premium hosting without the high cost. Check out great WordPress themes here for your new blog also.
Related Resources and Information: How to Start a Blog Tutorial
Freelance Writing
Freelance writing is one of my favorite ways to earn extra money online. People basically pay me to write about topics I’m interested in or share my personal experiences and life lessons learned, and I love it. I’m happy I never fell for the myth that writers are like starving artists and don’t earn much money because when I landed my first $300-per-post client last year, I proved all the doubters wrong.
It took me some time to work my way up to that rate, but I started pitching blogs and websites that had a blog with my ideas and explaining my interest in writing for them. I got myself a wonderful coach named Cat Alford who is a successful freelance writer earning six figures per year herself, and I followed her lead and all of her advice.
If you want to start freelance writing, I’d recommend starting a blog or at least getting an online portfolio up so people can see examples of your work.
You can earn a sustainable income from freelance writing and I teach you how in my course Freedom With Freelance Writing. If you want a career that offers freedom and flexibility I’d love to show you the steps you’ll need to take to get started.
Related Resources and Information: How to Get Started With Freelance Writing
How to Establish a Steady Freelance Writing Income
Freelancer’s Winning Pitch: A Free 4-day Course
How to Become a 6-Figure Writer with Earn More Writing
4 Common Misconceptions About Freelance Writers
Copywriting
Copywriting is a bit different from freelance writing but if you like to write, it can be a great alternative or addition to writing articles and blog posts. A copywriter helps create direct mail pieces, taglines, headlines, web page content, and more. If you are creative and have a way with words, I’d definitely recommend looking into this side hustle.
To start working from home as a copywriter, you need samples and virtual clients. You can check out ads on job boards like Indeed and Craigslist or cold pitch entrepreneurs to see if they need help managing their email campaigns and drafting newsletters or other content. Another profitable niche to get into with this side hustle is drafting marketing copy and content for business’ websites.
Related Resources and Information: How to Become a Freelance Copywriter
Freelancer’s Winning Pitch: A Free 4-day Course
Graphic Design
Everyone is longing for a website these days; so if you are skilled with Photoshop and creating graphics, this can be a great way to earn money. There are free graphic design classes available online or you can invest in one at your local community college if you need to learn more.
You can start by creating logos for others on sites like Fiverr.com and marketing your services on social media or even taking on a few pro-bono clients to beef up your portfolio.
Related Resources and Information: Free online graphic design courses on Alison.com
12 Step Guide to Success as a Freelance Designer
Freelancer’s Winning Pitch: A Free 4-day Course
Virtual Assistant
I always recommend people who are good with computers and research to try their hand at being a virtual assistant to earn extra money. Virtual assistants literally do everything from checking emails and managing social media, to researching, managing invoices, editing content, blog management, and more.
The best part is that all these skills are super easy to learn. You just need to be organized, a self-starter, and a quick learner for the most part. There is a huge demand for VAs since a lot of businesses and solopreneurs are eager to outsource.
My friend Kayla earns $6,000+ per month from VA work; so it’s possible to even do this full-time. Her amazing course, $10K VA, teaches you everything you need to know to become a very successful virtual assistant too.
Related Resources and Information: How to Become a Virtual Assistant
How to Find High-Paying Virtual Assistant Jobs
Freelancer’s Winning Pitch: A Free 4-day Course
SEO Media Consultant
Search engine optimization (SEO) is another lucrative side hustle that you can easily learn how to master. With SEO, it’s important to weed through the illegitimate or ineffective SEO practices and educate yourself on how the process really works.
Businesses and individuals are always longing to reach their target market via a search engine, but I’d recommend offering consulting services over actually optimizing someone’s website, blog posts, etc. and keeping expectations realistic.
When done properly, SEO can really work, and an SEO specialist can expect to earn anywhere from $29,481-$60,504 per year.
Related Resources and Information: How to Become an SEO Freelancer in 48 Hours
Freelancer’s Winning Pitch: A Free 4-day Course
Editor
If you have a good eye for grammar and typos, you may enjoy doing some editing work on the side. Editors do work for blogs, publications, and even one-time projects like e-books. To find clients, I’d recommend building an online portfolio and cold pitching clients whose content looks like it could use your services.
With editing, you don’t want to be rude when you approach a client, but if you politely point out a misspelled word or a misuse in grammar and share the cost-effective benefits of working with you, the potential client may realize that they need help and be willing to take your offer.
You may even have to start doing an editing project or two for free to build up references and samples. I once edited the monthly newsletter for a volunteer organization and it was a great experience.
Related Resources and Information: How to Become a Paid Editor and Proofreader
Freelancer’s Winning Pitch: A Free 4-day Course
Transcriber
If you’re not much of a writer but can still type fast, transcribing is another great option. A transcriptionist basically types out conversations, audio and video recordings, podcast episodes, interviews, and other types of audio for people to read. Transcriptionists must be good at creating clear and structured sentences out of the audio they hear.
In order to be successful at transcribing audio, you may need special equipment to help you start and stop the audio you’re listening to along with great listening skills. Transcriptionists can earn up to $23 per hour. Be sure to check out the resources below to learn more about how to find gigs and which companies are hiring.
Related Resources and Information: Entry-Level Online Jobs for Transcriptionists
Transcription Jobs That Require No Experience
Freelancer’s Winning Pitch: A Free 4-day Course
Programmer
Have a knack for website code? If you have a lot of knowledge about C++, Java, NET, PHP, then you don’t ever have to worry about not having any work opportunities. While graphic designers create pretty graphics and website themes, programmers piece everything together to make sure the website functions perfectly.
Freelance programmers can make anywhere from $51,000 to $76,000 or more annually.
Related Resources and Information: Earning More Money as a Freelance Programmer
Code Academy – Free Training Tool
Freelancer’s Winning Pitch: A Free 4-day Course
Become a YouTuber
Becoming a YouTuber is a very simple task but to become popular and monetize your channel, it takes hard work and a lot of promoting.
YouTubers can get paid for their videos via ads once they attract a large audience and become popular. Learn more about it by clicking on the link below!
Related Resources and Information: How YouTubers Get Paid and How You Can Get Paid as a Youtuber Too!
Technical Writing
This is a bit different from writing blog posts and articles because technical writers usually write more formal content like instruction manuals. Colleges and education companies look to hire technical writers for curriculum development.
Technical writers make about $67,000 a year, so it can be a worthy side hustle or full-time job.
Related Resources and Information: How to Become a Technical Writer
Freelancer’s Winning Pitch: A Free 4-day Course
Work From Home – Money-Making Websites
Online Survey Sites
Taking surveys is one of the easiest ways to earn money on the side. You usually have to be 18 or older to sign up for survey sites, but you don’t need any special skills or equipment aside from a computer with internet connection and your personal opinion.
When taking the surveys, they will often ask for your email address to keep you updated on new opportunities. The emails can pile up fast so it is a good idea to make a separate email just for your survey side hustle. Some of the best survey sites include Survey Junkie, Swagbucks, and Opinion Outpost.
Related Resources and Information: An Honest Case Study Review of the Top Online Survey Websites
Review Websites and Apps
Another quick and easy side hustle idea is to test and review websites and apps. In order to become a website/app reviewer, the only thing that is required is to make honest and unbiased reviews on the website or app you have been chosen to review.
The compensation you receive can vary and heavily depends on the website you seek work through along with the number of websites/apps that you are reviewing.
Related Resources and Information: 12 Companies That Pay You Test Websites From Home
How to Get Paid to Test Apps Online
Review Music
If you enjoy listening to music and trying out new genres while finding new artists, you’ll probably enjoy side hustling as a music reviewer. You won’t become rich off this side hustle, but it’s a super easy way to earn extra money in your spare time.
Related Resources and Information: 7 Ways to Get Paid to Listen to Music Online
Audit Websites
A website audit is basically a check-up for your website to make sure everything is okay and working. To audit websites, you have to be good with a computer and know how to analyze things well. Companies like Userfeel, UserZoom, Userlytics, and Validately will all pay you for your service. You can make an average of $16 per hour auditing websites.
Play Games Online
Calling all gamers! If you like to play video games in your spare time, you can cash in on this hobby by testing out certain games and offering your feedback.
Related Resources and Information: Game-Testers.net – Earn $50-$150 per hour
Grocery Store Rebates
Grocery rebates are a good way to save at your favorite stores on your favorite brands. Most rebate apps pay you to grocery shop. No coupons are required either! This is a good idea for anyone who is looking for an easy side hustle to get some extra income.
Related Resources and Information: Ibotta – Earn $10 just by using the free app within 7 days of signing up!
Offline Side Hustles
Secret Shopper
Get paid to shop at stores you regularly visit and try out new services. Secret shoppers must have good observation skills and be able to report specific information about their shopping experience back to the company that hired them.
As a secret shopper, you can choose your hours and the assignments you take on so it’s a very flexible side hustle.
Related Resources and Information: How to Become a Mystery Shopper
The Best Mystery Shopping Companies to Work For
How I Made $14,000 a Year Mystery Shopping
Babysitting
A classic side hustle. People are always in need of a babysitter so if you like kids, you can always count on babysitting as a flexible extra stream of income.
The average part-time babysitter makes an average of $10 – $13.50/per hour, although prices vary from where you live.
Related Resources and Information: Care.com
Pet Sitting
If you’re more of a pet person, pet sitting and dog walking is a great way to earn money in your spare time.
Becoming a pet sitter requires you to be able to follow a planned out schedule and be on time with everything you do with the pet. It is important to be on time with everything you do with pets because they adapt to a schedule and they will expect a walk or a snack at a certain time of day, every day.
You can expect to earn around $15-$20 per walk or $30-$40 per overnight pet sitting. These two websites listed below will help you land gigs.
Related Resources and Information: Rover.com
Event Planner
If you’re a person who likes to take part in big events and help plan them, event planning as a side job will be right up your alley. Planning an event is stressful. As someone who planned her wedding without hiring help I should know.
When it comes to baby showers, birthdays, weddings, etc. you can help your clients focus on enjoying the special time in their life while you take care of the smaller details.
You can even serve a specific niche to earn more like events for businesses and organizations, for example.
Home/Office Cleaning
If cleaning is something that you’re good at and comes easy to you, you can offer your services to others who may need their homes or offices deep cleaned regularly. Be sure to offer a competitive rate that’s better than expensive cleaning companies in the area to attract new clients. Yet and still, you can expect to earn around $25-$30 per hour.
Personal Assistant/Concierge
As opposed to virtual assistant work, a personal assistant does work to help others offline as well as online. You can find jobs online assisting busy entrepreneurs in your area and expect to earn an average of $14-$15 per hour starting out.
Depending on your availability to work and what your client needs, this can be a great part-time job. If you prefer to do other tasks like running errands in your local area for money, these websites listed below will help you get started.
Related Resources and Information: How to Get Started Working From Home as a Personal Concierge
Lawn Cutting/ Shoveling Snow
If you can handle a little labor work, you can do lawn care and snow removal work for extra money. The amount you can earn really varies by the job, and you may need to invest in your own equipment.
Even though we live in an apartment, I noticed the complex didn’t have too many maintenance people, so I brought this side hustle idea up to my husband one winter. When he asked the property manager if they needed any help shoveling snow, she offered to pay him an hourly rate in cash for his help.
Direct Sales
Direct sales basically involves selling products face-to-face and away from a retail store location. Representatives reach out to family and friends, network with others, or host in-home shopping parties with presentations and pass out catalogs to promote sales.
The idea is to build your customer base over time through referrals and marketing your direct sales business.
The amount of income that is earned all depends on the company’s product pricing along with your commitment level in selling the products you have selected. The more you advertise and promote the more money you can earn every month.
Related Resources and Information: How to Earn Money With Direct Sales
Travel Agent
Working as a self-employed travel agent can provide you with the opportunity to earn great money while helping others plan their travel adventures.
Travel agents take over the entire planning and preparation process for clients including finding and booking the best flights and accommodations, recommending excursions and arranging an itinerary, helping the client secure the proper amount of travel insurance. and resolving any issues that occur when planning the trip.
Related Resources and Information: 7 Home-Based Travel Job Opportunities
Travel Agent/Consultant Jobs – Indeed
Professional Organizer
Professional organizers help organize schedules, closets, cluttered office spaces, and more. Kim Kardashian organized people’s closets for money before she became famous. If you are semi-OCD when it comes to organization, you’ll love doing this on the side for extra money.
Related Resources and Information: How to Quit Your Job and Become a Professional Organizer
Everything You Need to Know About Becoming a Certified Professional Organizer
House Sitting
House sitting is a super easy way to earn extra income. Just make sure everything in the house stays in one piece 🙂
No seriously though, house sitting can consist of tasks like watering plants, checking mail, cutting grass, yard work and etc. This is a very helpful way to help a friend or neighbor who is out of town. The charges all depend on how much work you will be doing around the house. The average house sitter makes $30-50 a day.
Related Resources and Information: House Sitting – A Great Side Hustle For Students
Holiday Jobs
If you’re looking for a bit of extra money in a certain season or holiday, getting a seasonal job is the best option for you. Places like Walmart, Target, Sam’s Club, Jewel, and Dollar Stores offer seasonal jobs.
Focus Groups/Panel Studies
Market research companies pay participants top dollar to meet up and discuss products, services, community and personal issues and more. If you love to talk and share your opinion, you should definitely consider doing a few focus groups.
Related Resources and Information: How to Earn Money By Giving Your Opinion
How to Earn Cash With Consumer Focus Groups
Advertise on Your Car
Advertising your car can also be an easy way to earn some extra passive income. All you have to do is put removable ads on your car and drive around like you normally would.
Some companies require you to drive a certain number of miles per week so if you have a little commute to work each day, that would be ideal. One company called Carvertise is a legit, trusted company to pay you for your services.
Related Resources and Information: Car Ads: Legit or Scam?
Donate Plasma
Donating plasma is something out of the ordinary that you don’t see a lot of other people doing.
Plasma is the colorless fluid part of blood in which corpuscles or fat globules are suspended. The average amount of money received per donation ranges from $25-$50. Although, there are certain restrictions and requirements to be able to donate plasma.
Related Resources and Information: How to Donate Plasma
Product Demonstrator
Have you ever been in Walmart or Sam’s Club shopping and seen someone handing out samples of food or another product? That person is a prime example of a product demonstrator. Their main goal is to raise brand awareness and allow you to try out a product so you can feel more motivated to buying it. Product demonstrators usually make $10-$30 per hour depending on experience and what the product is.
Related Resources and Information: How to Earn Money as a Product Demonstrator
Voice-Over Actor
Has anyone ever told you that you had a nice voice? You may be able to earn money as a voice-over actor. Voice-over actors are used for television and radio ads, audio books, presentations, etc.
Voice actors get paid on a per-project or per-job basis. Your earnings as a voice actor range from $100 for a 15-second recording, $250 for a 30 or 60-second commercial to about $3000 per audiobook making this a VERY profitable side hustle.
Afford Anything Podcast: Making Money as a Voice Over Actor with Carrie Olsen
Rent Out Part of Your Home
Renting out part of your home doesn’t require much effort from you at all. If you have a spare bedroom, garage space, or basement, you can rent it out for extra cash each month. Just to be safe, and since you could be opening up your home to strangers, you might want to check out potential tenants ahead of time to check their criminal background and rental history, if applicable.
You can use Airbnb to help you safely rent out your home.
Related Resources and Information: Airbnb
Go on a Game Show
This would be a fun side hustle but probably wouldn’t provide a consistent income. The requirements for each game show are different, although most of them require you to be at least 12 years of age. For example, if your family were to be on Family Feud, you would have the opportunity to bring home around $12,000 on average.
Related Resources and Information: Here’s How to Apply For 9 Top Game Shows So You Can Win Cash & Prizes
Game Show Audition Casting Calls
Detail Cars
If you’re a car junkie, this one is for you! When it comes to detailing cars, you could make up to anywhere ranging from $50-$100 on one job. Although there are tools that you need to get the job done right.
You would mostly need a car vacuum and carpet cleaner or leather cleaner depending on the content inside the car. This is yet another easy way to begin on your road to side hustling.
Related Resources and Information: How to Make Money Detailing Cars
Carpet Cleaning
One of the busiest times for carpet cleaning is during the summer. You could start your own carpet cleaning service or pick up a seasonal position with an existing business.
Related Resources and Information: How to Start a Carpet Cleaning Business
Personal Stylist
Personal styling is a great side hustle option for fashion students, college students, or people who generally have an eye for fashion. You could work at a boutique or find your own clients by promoting your services online. This side hustle sounds fun but definitely requires some networking skills.
You can work from home as a personal stylist for sites like JustFab and StitchFix, and I believe these are part-time positions.
Related Resources and Information: Become a Work-at-Home Clothing Stylist for Stitch Fix
How to Become a Personal Stylist
Makeup Artist
Makeup artists can be self-taught or learn the basics in cosmetology school. Makeup artists have the opportunity to work at weddings, sweet 16s, quinceaneras, proms, homecoming dances, baby showers, and many other events. Also as a makeup artist, you can work for cosmetics companies and sell products in the mall for extra compensation. This can be a very flexible gig.
Related Resources and Information: Become a Bridal Makeup Artist
Dog Walker
If you enjoy spending time with pets, and especially dogs, in particular, walking dogs for extra cash is a great way to begin side hustling. An easy way to get started is to make yourself a Care.com or profile or go on Rover.com to attract some clients in your area.
Dog walkers make around $10-$20 per hour and pet sitters can make an average of $30-$45 per night.
Related Resources and Information: Rover.com – find dog walking and pet sitting gigs
Theme Park Guide
Becoming a theme park guide could be a good opportunity for someone looking for summer employment. This side hustle will also allow you to stay active and could even come with travel perks. All you need to do is start applying to jobs that interest you.
Hostess or Server
This is a pretty standard job, but it can also be an interesting side hustle since you’ll get tips/bonuses and can usually work around the hours of a traditional day job.
Plus, restaurants are always hiring servers and may give you a chance even if you don’t have experience, so it’s not hard to find a job.
Work on a Cruise Ship
I thought this sounded super fun years ago when I went on my first cruise with my husband. Sure, being a part of the staff on a cruise ship is probably hard work, but you get to travel for free and earn good money. Plus again, the tips are nice.
There are many different things you can do on the ship as well including serving, bartending, playing music, organizing events, working at the help desk, cleaning, and more.
According to many online sources, cruise ship workers can earn around $4,000 per month on average. If you only work for a few months, you could potentially earn plenty on the side to help you meet your financial goals.
Related Resources and Information: How to Get Paid and Travel for Free By Working on a Cruise Ship
Valet Parking Attendant
Valet parking attendants are responsible for finding and parking customers’ cars. Valet parkers may work at places like theaters. In order to be eligible for a job like this, you have to be at least 16, but most places prefer 18 and older. Valet parking attendants usually make $10 per hour plus tips.
Sniff Things
Believe or not, you can earn money just for sniffing things. I guess you could say that the only skill required for this job is being able to smell. Odor sniffers can work for companies that sell air fresheners, paper towels, and toilet paper. Odor sniffers can make up to $35,000 a year alone just by sniffing things.
Related Resources and Information: Inside Jobs – Odor Tester
How to Become a Smell Tester With a Perfume Company
Drinking Alcohol (Beer/Liquor Store Auditor)
This is another easy side hustle that doesn’t require much as long as you’re 21. This side hustle would normally take place in a liquor store or grocery store that has a liquor section. You would basically purchase alcohol and audit the store and the purchasing process. Your job is to make sure employees are following proper protocol including asking you for your ID when you make your purchase.
Check out the links below to find out how to get started.
Related Resources and Information: How I Got Free Beer & Made $5,000/Month By Auditing Liquor Stores
Get Paid To Buy Beer: Earn $4,000 (& Free Beer) As An Alcohol Compliance Auditor
Offline Side Hustles with Experience Required or Training Needed
Tutoring
If you have an interest in helping others and if you’ve done well academically, then becoming a tutor is a good way to help others learn and help provide you with extra income. Tutors can make anywhere from $20-$40 per hour and many can tutor online from home.
Most tutoring companies require you to have experience and/or specialize (making this a great side job for current teachers), but others don’t have special requirements.
A great place to start your tutoring journey? Varsity Tutors.
What makes them so special to work with is they offer expert help in over 2,500 subjects, which means you have a great range of tutoring opportunities based on your academic and professional knowledge.
Also, their three amazing tutoring choices for students–online, in person and 24/7 instant tutoring– offers you more ways to earn extra income. Plus, they offer flexible scheduling, a large client base and great pay.
Related Resources and Information: 6 Ways College Students Can Make Money
Top 15 Legitimate Sites That Offer Online Tutoring Jobs
Handyman
If you are good with your hands and working on home projects, becoming a handyman/woman can be a great side hustle option for you. You can set your own rates and work as often as you’d like. The sites listed below will help you find jobs online.
Related Resources and Information: TaskRabbit.com
Translator
In order to become a translator you have to be bilingual, obviously 🙂 Knowing even more than one language can be very beneficial as well. You can find work in the courtroom, in law enforcement, at schools and hospitals, or literally anywhere.
Related Resources and Information: How to Become a Professional Translator Part Time
Private Personal Trainer
If you love fitness and encouraging others to be healthy, you can side hustle as a private personal trainer and visit your client’s home to help them work out. You need some experience to do this whether it’s professional training or your own personal experience when it comes to getting fit.
If you’ve taken any classes related to health and fitness, that should also help because many trainers are certified.
Related Resources and Information: How to Become a Personal Trainer
4 Easy Steps to Becoming a Personal Trainer
Lifeguard
This is a seasonal side job and you need to know how to swim of course. You can check with your local park district if you’re looking to get hired for the summer or any pools in the area.
Dress Alterations
If you’re good with a sewing machine and have experience mending clothes, you can earn extra side money doing dress alterations for other people. Alterations can often cost more than the dress or suit by itself so starting your own side business and offering your services at an affordable rate can really help you reel in clients.
Related Resources and Information: Love to Sew? Start a Side Business Offering Clothing Alterations
Private Music Lessons
If you play an instrument well, you can give private music lessons as a flexible side hustle option. It is a fun and easy way to get paid for something you enjoy doing. The best part about giving private lessons is that you can decide the prices per hour and payment methods.
Related Resources and Information: Side Hustle Series: Guitar Teaching
Side Hustle Spotlight: Piano Teacher
Group Fitness Instructor
Becoming a group fitness instructor is a good way to earn extra money and help others meet their life fitness goals. Plus, most times you can work out for free at the fitness center where you host classes.
You may need to get certified to teach certain classes; and the more experience you have, the more you can make.
Related Resources and Information: How To Become A Group Fitness Instructor
DJ
Working as a DJ on the side is definitely one of more fun side hustles. DJs have the opportunity to work for birthday parties, weddings, graduation parties, quinceaneras, family reunions, and just regular nights at the bar. DJs can make hundreds or thousands of dollars for a weekend of work.
Related Resources and Information: How to Make Money as a DJ
Tour Guide for Tourists
If you live in a big city, you can work part-time as a tour guide showing tourists around. I have plenty of resources on companies that hire tour guides in my area but that won’t really help most of you, so I encourage you to get online and search for leads in the closest major city so you can apply for a position.
Ordained Minister
This one is yet another interesting and manageable side hustle for almost everybody. Ordained Ministers are eligible to work at events like weddings or church events. Ordained Ministers can make up to $300 per event. Plus, you get to witness a beautiful marriage.
Becoming an ordained minister is easier than you think. Check out the link below for more information on how to get started.
Related Resources and Information: Get Paid to Go to Weddings and Earn $300 Per Ceremony as an Officiant
Cake Decorator
Becoming a cake decorator takes skill and practice, but you can master basic skills quickly. A few years ago, I took a few classes at my local Michael’s craft store and learned a lot about how to do basic cake decorations.
If you improve your skills, you can land a part-time job at a bakery or even work independently.
Related Resources and Information: How to Make Money as a Cake Decorator
Hair Stylist
Cosmetology school is a great place to start if you’d like to get into styling hair on the side, or you can be self-taught and find work.
Massage Therapist
Massage therapy is manual manipulation of soft body tissues in the human body. Massage therapists make around $40,000 per year on average.
Again, like many of these other side hustles, you can start out working part time at a company like Massage Envy, or you can work independently.
Related Resources and Information: How to Make Money as a Massage Therapist
Athletic Coach
One of the best places to start coaching for money is at the middle school level. To even be considered for a paid coaching job, you often need to have years of experience with the sport. Most schools hire coaches that have played their sport all 4 years and high school and in college.
Related Resources and Information: How to Become a Sports Coach
Referee Sporting Events
If you don’t want to work as a coach, you can referee sporting events instead as long as you have knowledge of how the game is played and all the rules. You can search for job listings online, reach out to your local park district, or contact local sports leagues directly for work.
Sales
Stock Photography
If you enjoy taking pictures and do a good job, you can sell your photos to stock photography websites for extra money. This can also be a great opportunity for passive income since every time someone downloads or purchases your photo, you’ll get paid.
Related Resources and Information: Simple and Low-Effort Ways to Make Money
Direct Sales
If you use a product that you really love and think would benefit others, you can see if the company has a direct sales program. For example, you could sell items from companies like Mary Kay, Avon, Rodan and Fields, Premier Designs, and more. To be successful, you need a network, lots of determination, and good people skills.
The amount of money you make depends on how many items you sell each week/month.
Related Resources and Information: How to Earn Money as a Successful Direct Sales Consultant
Etsy
Selling crafts, handmade items, and digital products you create on Etsy can be a very profitable side hustle option for you. All you need to get started is a little creativity.
Related Resources and Information: How to Make Money on Etsy (Even If You Can’t Make Handmade Products)
Can I Really Make Money on Etsy?
Sell Things on eBay
There are no specific skills required to sell things on eBay. The biggest perk of selling things on eBay is that you can start by selling old items you no longer want to use and choose all the prices for your items when you list them. That way, you can declutter and earn extra money.
Related Resources and Information: The Beginner’s Guide to Selling on eBay
Sell Things on Amazon
When it comes to comparison, eBay and Amazon work in similar ways. However, with Amazon, you can automate your shipping by signing up for their service called Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA).
Related Resources and Information: Selling Items on Amazon and eBay
Garage Sales
If you’re looking to get rid of some household items that can’t really be sold online (like big furniture), you host garage sales and yard sales to make extra money. Facebook yard sales and Facebook buy, sell, and trade groups are all good ideas to get you started so you can connect with people in your area.
Selling Junk Mail
Who doesn’t like junk mail? It’s annoying and inconvenient. Now you can make money selling your junk mail.
Related Resources and Information: How to Make Money Selling Your Junk Mail
Selling Clothes Online
Selling gently-used clothes online can help you earn extra money quickly and even consistently if you invest some of your earnings into flipping thrift store clothing for a profit. The mobile app called Poshmark is a great way to get you started since it’s dedicated solely to clothing sales.
ThredUp is another company that will pay you for your used clothes. These are both great resources and useful for you and your side hustle.
Selling Scrap Metal
If you have things such as garden tools, old bicycles, old lawn mowers, leaf blowers, etc. they can all be sold for money regardless if they are broken or not. This is also a good way to get rid of some of the stuff you don’t use that was most likely just taking up space in your shed.
Related Resources and Information: How to Make Money on the Side Selling Scrap Metal
Selling Lesson Plans (Great for Teachers)
Selling lesson plans to teachers is an easy and creative way to make extra income. Before selling a lesson plan to a teacher, it will have to be looked over by the Board of Education or other authorities.
The amount of income you make off of selling lesson plans depends on the grade level you’re selling them to. For example, you would most likely get paid more selling chemistry lessons instead of selling lessons on first-grade math.
Related Resources and Information: Teachers Pay Teachers – Sell lesson plans online
Garden and Sell to Farmer’s Markets
Who would’ve ever thought that growing fruits and vegetables in your own backyard can bring in extra money to your household? Selling home-grown products can be a fun and easy side hustle.
Most farmers are interested in buying lots of fruits, vegetables, seeds, and more; although the crops in need may vary depending on where you live. The amount of money you can earn all depends on how many crops you sell and how much work you do.
Related Resources and Information: 3 Ways to Earn Money at Farmers Markets
How to Become a Vendor at Local Farmer’s Markets
Write and Sell an E-book
If you have an interesting story to tell or something to teach, you can self-publish an e-book for cheap and sell it online to make a profit. There are several successful e-books that have been launched through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing service that have become very popular and bring in money regularly.
Related Resources and Information: How to Write & Publish an eBook and Sell It for Profit
Become a Vendor at the Flea Market
If you have old items you’d like to sell, products from a direct sales company, or even your own personal creations, setting up a booth at the flea markets is an easy way for you to earn more cash.
There aren’t too many requirements to get started, but you do need to sign up as a vendor and get permission to sell at the flea market.
Related Resources and Information: Making Money at the Flea Market
How to Make Money Selling at the Flea Market
Sell Textbooks
The price of college textbooks isn’t getting any cheaper as the years go by. If you are a college student graduate who still has their books, you may be surprised at how much money you can make.
Related Resources and Information: How to Make $750 per Month Selling Used Textbooks
Rent Out Your Car
Another way you could make extra money is by renting out your car. Turo is a company that organizes the process of helping you rent out your car. They decide the price range depending on the type of car you own and what kind of shape it’s in. You could make up to $12,000 a year by renting out your car. For more information on this topic be sure to click the link below.
Related Resources and Information: How to Make Money Renting Out Your Car
Fiverr
If you have a digital service you’d like to sell, Fiverr is a great place to start marketing your services. You can pick up freelancing gigs, do research for others, or even complete creative projects.
Related Resources and Information: Fiverr.com
Zazzle
Zazzle is similar to Etsy in that it allows you to sell your own creations online. It’s cool because you can create all your products online too.
Related Resources and Information: Zazzle.com
Have you ever tried doing any of these things to earn extra money? What is something from this list that you’d like to try?
My Favorite Resources
Survey Junkie – Earn money taking surveys online
Rakuten – This is my favorite and easiest way to earn cash back for regular online shopping. Rakuten partners with most online retailers to help you apply coupons to your purchases AND cash back. They pay me a nice check every quarter with my earnings.
Become a Pinterest VA Today – Want to earn money as a Pinterest VA? My friend Kristin created this course along with Gina Horkey to help others earn a full-time income from flexible VA work.
Earn More Writing – Learn how to start freelance writing from a writer who went from $0 to $225,000 per year.
Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing – Most bloggers I know are raving about this course and that’s because it’s awesome and really works if you want to make money from affiliate marketing.
P.S. – I created a new Facebook community for My Debt Epiphany readers so we can discuss all things money and personal development on a more personal level. Click here to join the group and I’ll approve your request ASAP!
Note: Bluehost is a company I love and truly believe in. If you decided to use their services also by signing up through my link I will receive a commission. I never share services or products that won’t be be beneficial for you. Read more about my disclosure policy here.
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