25 Side Hustle ideas

It is time we start this mini-series of 25 side hustles you can do! Just to be clear, a lot of these need some sort of research. This article should serve more as an eye-opener to all the possibilities that are out there. Oftentimes what stops us from doing a side hustle, is just a simple fact we didn’t realise we could make money that way. Well, let’s change that. Without further ado, here’s the list in no particular order.

Disclaimer! This article includes affiliate links. Your purchase through them supports my work. All the products are just my recommendations. Feel free to choose different ones.

You can find which links are affiliate if they end with some sort of combination of letters and numbers. You can see where the link goes if you put your mouse over it and then look at the bottom left part of your browser.

1. Create an online course

Do you have any hobby or pretty much anything well to the point you could create a course on it? You should do so! According to how wide your knowledge is, you can either create a short course teaching one thing on a site like Skillshare or create a course covering an entire topic on sites like Udemy.

Once you create the course, it passively makes you money pretty much forever. You can even sell the course on your own website. Check those sites out! They are a great way to earn income if you like teaching.

2. Create a YouTube channel

Do you like creating video content of any kind? For some people, this is an instant yes. If you are one of them, you should create a YouTube channel. It’s an incredible source of traffic if you do it consistently and it can be a great source of income by itself. Combined with affiliate marketing this side hustle can become a full-time job pretty quick even in today’s hard-to-monetize age.

3. Become an influencer

If you like creating content but you don’t like the long format of YouTube, then becoming an influencer on social media might be a better choice for you! Many people built their brands on sites like Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and TikTok. Then, combining them with some advertised posts, advertised links or via the usage of sites like Patreon, their audience can bring a substantial amount of income in their lives.

4. Make a blog

If you’d be rather into a written content like me, a blog can be the best choice for you. You can write a blog pretty much about any hobby. Are you into technology? Make a review blog. Are you into travelling? Make a travel blog. Cooking? News? Finances? Programing? The niche is up to you.

All you need is a good hosting service, WordPress and start consistently creating for a few months. This is a slow-building side hustle, but it pays off. Once you gain a following, you can promote the services or products you like or use any of the other ways bloggers make money to gain passive income from your hard work.

5. Become a copywriter

If you like writing in general and you think you can make your creativity pay off, there is no easier way to start than becoming a copywriter. This is someone who creates written content for companies that helps to sell the product. Usually, this has some call to action.

This includes marketing articles, product descriptions, marketing emails, social media posts, marketing banners and many, many more.

All you need to do is join any freelance websites like Fiverr, Freelancer, Upwork or sites specialized for writers like Contena or Contently and Content Writing Jobs.

Before signing up for anything, check the reviews first. A good example of a site taking advantage of writers is Copify. I won’t even link them here. Stay away.

6. Become a content writer

Oftentimes confused with copywriter, content writer is exactly what it sounds like. Compared to copywriter though, your job is to create content that is not directly written to sell something. It is usually written to inform the viewer or educate. This content is on the site to create a good SEO which drives organic traffic to the website and builds trust with the reader.

This can be blog posts, how-to guides, news articles, pretty much most of the non-fiction stuff for companies fall into this category.

To find work for these, search the same sites I provided for a copywriter, i.e. Fiverr, Freelancer, Upwork, Contena, Contently and of course Content Writing Jobs.

Before signing up for anything, check the reviews first. A good example of a site taking advantage of writers is Copify. I won’t even link them here. Stay away.

7. Part-time translator

Do you know more than one language? Chances are, you probably do. According to the BBC, approximately 60 – 75% of the people in the world speak two languages. If you are one of them and you are confident in your ability to speak both (or know the grammar enough to know if Google Translate makes sense), you can start your first translating job.

Look for “translating jobs” on google and you’ll definitely find some that could provide a nice side hustle. Or you can try sites like Freelancer or Upwork.

8. Teach your language

Do you know just one language? Chances are you probably do. Seriously, though, no matter what language you speak, it is most likely desirable to someone. There are travellers that want to know the basics, people that want to work in your country or just people that are interested in the culture connected to your language.

Teaching a language is something anyone can do with some preparation. All you need then is to find a way to start teaching. This can be done in person, as many schools or companies pay for native speakers, or through online programs or mobile apps like iTalki. You can even make your own website and promote your services there.

9. Amazon FBA

FBA or Fullfilled By Amazon is a service that allows you to set up a store on Amazon, put your products in and let Amazon handle the rest for a small fee. Many people made a ton of money with this side hustle.

How it works is basically this, you go to your nearby stores with a phone app (this one for example) that tells you the price of the item on Amazon. If the price of the item in your store is lower, you buy it. Then you deliver it to Amazon and add it to your products. Someone then buys it and you get the profit.

People are willing to pay more for a product they can’t get in their area or even just for the luxury of not having to walk to the store and buy it. The delivery to their home is oftentimes worth the higher price.

10. Create a Print-on-Demand store

Have you ever seen anyone sell their merch t-shirts? Maybe you had an idea for a funny t-shirt. Luckily enough for you, nowadays you don’t need anything except for the design to start selling your t-shirts. And of course, you are not limited to t-shirts. Sites like Printful offer you mugs, hoodies, canvases and many more.

One of my side-hustles used to be owning an Etsy store with prints of my art on phone cases. Here is an exact step-by-step tutorial explaining how to do it.

You don’t even need to have artistic talent as quotes are incredibly popular things to print as well. Funny things sell as much, if not more, as pretty ones.

If you are going with mostly t-shirts, I recommend also looking into sites like Printify, teespring or redbubble, although they offer other products as well.

11. Dive into dropshipping

Do you like the idea of owning a store and selling things, but don’t actually have a product? Well, what if I’d tell you you don’t need it? You can simply find a product of someone else and serve as a middleman between you and the store.

This side hustle can actually be incredibly lucrative if done right, but it requires a lot of skills to master. Skills like finding a good product, marketing, setting up a good store website and more. If you can get through that though, it’s definitely a thing I’d recommend at least trying.

Here’s an article I wrote, that shows you how to set it up on a site like Shopify.

12. Sell art

Do you enjoy creating art of any kind? We are talking things like painting, digital art, sculpting, photography, woodcutting or pretty much anything creative. If so, you should think of selling it. There are ways to do so.

If your art is physical, I’d recommend making your own store or using sites like Etsy. You can also try a simple site like Facebook Marketplace or eBay. There are always people that might like your stuff.

If your art is digital, oh reader you’re in luck. There are hundreds of ways to sell those. For me, the most successful was Displate, but there are also sites like Gumroad, stock photo sites, you can put your art on products (see Print on Demand above) and more.

Alternatively, just read up on how artists can make money as an artist.

13. Create a mobile app

Have you ever had an idea about a mobile app? Perhaps you’ve seen an app and thought “this could be done better”. Maybe you wanted to create a game. Then why not do it?

You can earn money from an app in several ways. It can be sold upfront for a certain price. You can have in-app purchases or you can just simply have ads present inside.

If marketed well, it can be an incredible source of passive income. What? You don’t know how to program? Don’t worry, you don’t need to. If you are interested in creating an app, read this article for more information.

14. Create websites for small businesses

A few months back I wrote an article explaining that if you have a business, you should own a website. It’s shocking how many people either own a really bad website or have none at all. Even though this is just a one-time investment in most cases.

If you are willing to learn WordPress – you can literally master it in a week if you play around with it – you can go out there and communicate with these small businesses or even bigger companies, offering your services.

All you need is to create a few websites (you should be able to do so under one domain with the right hosting) to serve as your portfolio and then show your customers you can make a professional-looking website. All you basically need to do then is to find the right theme and pictures.

The hardest part of this job is the communication with the customers, but you can learn that through trial and error. For some people, it even comes naturally.

15. Affiliate marketing

A lot of services or companies selling products offer a so-called affiliate program. You basically earn money by recommending the said service or product.

Basically, you sign up for this company’s affiliate program, gain a link and then you create a site, ad, article, video or any content around this product. You can even do so through e-mail or chat groups. If anyone makes a purchase through that link, you gain a commission.

In this article alone, there are several products that have affiliate links attached to them. If you purchase anything through them (for example Displate), I get a small percentage with no cost to you.

For more information about affiliate marketing and recommended sites to start at, read this article.

16. Start streaming

Streamer became an extremely new job compared to other things. You basically stream live your game, trip, event or anything to entertain people. These people then send a donation your way to support you.

The main difference to, let’s say, YouTube videos, is that the audience can interact with you, changing your experience from talking to a camera, to talking to people behind the camera that also answer. In a weird way, it’s like being on a call with your friends (or people you hate, depends on what community you’ll build).

Even though it’s pretty hard to earn a full-time income from streaming, it can be a fun side hustle. I tried it for a year and don’t regret it in the slightest. Here you can read up on what to expect and how to start.

17. Flip social media accounts

I mentioned a few times how important it is to have a following to make money online. There are people that know the value of such an audience and are willing to pay for it. And where is demand, there are people that respond to it.

Some people build social media accounts for a certain niche and at a certain number of followers, they sell them to someone else to manage. If you’ll start with this, you might want to buy an online course or two on how to build audiences. Also, don’t forget you can buy an account that already has an audience, grow it (or not) and then sell it for more money.

18. Self-publish an e-book

Do you enjoy writing stories? Why not publish them? Today, you don’t need to go through publishers and hope you’ll be picked. You can actually write an e-book, edit it and then put it on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing to sell. The length doesn’t really matter as long as you set the appropriate price.

The books you can sell can be pretty much anything with any content. We are talking books about a skill you want to teach, fictional novels, biographies, short stories, romantic novellas and more. If you can write it, there’s probably someone who’ll buy it.

Just go through some research on how to write stuff and what to look at. Find out what a first draft is and why you should never publish it and many other writer things. Some quality is still a good idea. After all, people can return the book if they don’t like it.

19. Become a driver for Uber or a similar service

Do you like driving? You can sign up for services like Uber, Lyft or countless other regional services just like this that might work in your country. For example, in middle-east, this would be Careem. Just check around. Usually, drivers are needed all the time.

If you decide to do this job, you’ll have to sign up at the service. They will need you to provide some personal information so they can check your background and make sure you are safe for the customers (this sounds much worse than it is, but it makes sense if you think about it) and then you’ll be allowed to become their driver.

The good thing about these services as a side hustle is, that it’s pretty much up to you when and how much you will drive. You get paid by the customers. If you drive all day, you earn more money than if you drive just an hour or two after work.

20. SEO consultant

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is an incredibly important thing. If your website is SEO-friendly, it shows up higher in people’s searches for certain words. This brings organic traffic to your website without the need to pay for ads. And nobody wants to pay for ads. Not even giant companies. This is where you come in.

What you need to do for this side hustle, is to study on how SEO works. Read articles, but most importantly, read Google’s official guidelines.

Study them well and I promise you, people will want your help. Everyone does. Companies will pay good money to have someone come in once a month or so, to optimize their e-shop, their site or just come in once and teach them how to gain free traffic.

How much you earn with this depends solely up to your assertiveness. Send out e-mails to companies, look for job offerings and advertise yourself. Hell, while we are at it, create a website of your own and use your skills for people to find you.

21. Social Media specialist

As I said at the SEO consultant, free traffic is an incredibly attractive thing for companies. No matter what company it is nowadays, it is a great idea to create a business social media account. It can easily become a quick source of a targeted audience i.e. new customers.

Sadly, or maybe luckily enough, a lot of companies don’t know how to grow a social media account. If you learn how to do so and apply those skills on a few accounts to have stats to back you up, you can offer your skills to companies and earn money this way.

Why is it listed as a side hustle? Even though this sounds like a full-time job, with a lot of companies, this might mean just posting on their Instagram, Facebook and/or Twitter a few times a day. You can do this from anywhere, even from home. And of course, you can do this for more than just one company at the time.

22. Flipping items

If you like bargaining or just an idea of quick money, you can start flipping items. In other words, you find an item – usually on an auction site or on a sale – and buy it. Then you sell it for a much higher price.

This is very similar to Amazon FBA mentioned above, only here, you have a more active approach. It requires you to use auctions, places like the Facebook Marketplace or keeping your eyes on people trying to get rid of stuff. We are talking about furniture, used consoles, paintings, a lot of stuff people just don’t want anymore. You can get amazing things for amazing prices if you find people that want to get rid of them.

A good example of this is a tv show called Pawn Stars, where they do pretty much the same thing.

23. Sell a physical product

Have you ever thought of some invention you could create, that is missing in your life? Maybe you saw something that could be made better. Why not create it?

Create the first few products of your idea and then sell them to your friends or people nearby and see what they say about them. If it’s a success, create a website and drive traffic to it.

Some examples can be handmade candles, jewellery, their own brand of tea, hand-made clothes, ointments, inventions that make people’s lives easier and many more. I’ve seen a woman selling saddles for chicken that help their feathers grow correctly and protect them from injury.

If you think something can be made better, try it. It might be a nice side income or eventually even a full-blown business.

24. Sell a digital product

Many people make passive income using this side hustle. Selling a digital product can be done in many ways. I already mentioned selling art, but there are many other digital things to sell.

You can sell printables, online courses, sewing patterns, guides, applications and programs, WordPress themes, game assets, DnD maps, music and many, many, many more. Basically, if you can create anything and I mean anything, find out if you could sell it. Chances are, there is probably a demand for it. Just learn how to do it well or in acceptable quality and start selling!

25. Rent out space for AirBnB

This is one of the newest ways to make some side income. Do you own a flat no one lives in? Perhaps you just have a spare room in your house and don’t mind the idea of strangers sleeping in it. Then you should sign up as a host for AirBnB and start renting out your space. You pretty much set the price.

Not only you are making money, but you are also helping out travellers to find a suitable place to stay at, as some hotels are just hell to be at. What else, a lot of travellers prefer renting a room instead of the entire flat, because it’s usually cheaper and they can ask you about things they can find around. I know I do.

If you’ve been living in the same place for some time, the chances are you know popular places – or even better, the unpopular ones – as the back of your hand. If not, just study up. You should be able to know most of them in a week.

If you like meeting new people or looking for an easy income and have space to do so, this might be the ideal side hustle for you.

Summary

And that’s it! I must say, writing down 25 side hustles felt much easier in my head than it actually was. Well, not writing them down, that was the easy part. Describing each was not. And I am still planning on making 4 more of these articles. So, if you haven’t found a suitable side hustle, don’t worry, more are coming in the near future.

If you’ve found this article helpful or know any other side hustles, feel free to let me know in the comments below. I appreciate hearing from people. Now, whatever you picked, I wish you good luck! Remember you can always try another one if one doesn’t work out. I know I did several. Now, go out there and try them, you beautiful person!

Subscribe to my mailing list below.

First Name

Email address:

Leave this field empty if you’re human:

Pin this article! ?

?Use these premade Pinterest-friendly images to pin this article and thus support the blog. ?

• 

• 

• 

•