It’s never been easier to make extra money on your own time and on your own terms.
Whether you’re looking for a side hustle idea you can turn into your primary source of income, or just for a way to make a few extra bucks, I’ve got you covered.
There’s gold in this list. I haven’t personally tested ALL of them, but I’ve used several of the ideas below to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars over the past decade.
Seriously.
Yes, we live in exciting times!
They won’t all work for you, but I’m confident something will. And remember, reading is great but results only come from taking action.
Ready? Let’s do it!
Important Note: If you landed on this page from a link referencing 200+ ideas, I’ve attempted to narrow down the list to the best / most actionable / most interesting ideas.
Too Many Choices?
Punch in your name and email below I'll send you my free guide:
The 5 Fastest Ways to Make More Money.
Please enter your name. Please enter a valid email address. I'm a Hustler!
You're in! Make sure to check your email (including spam/promotions) for your free welcome gift.
Something went wrong. Please check your entries and try again.
You'll also receive my best side hustle tips and weekly-ish newsletter. Opt-out anytime.
Table of Contents
Too Many Choices? Get Paid to Share Your Opinion Save Money From What You’re Already Doing Make Extra Money with Your Car Make Extra Money Working Online Make Money Online Find Part-Time Work Nearby Make Extra Money Tutoring Online Make Extra Money Selling Physical Products Real Estate Investing Put Your Cash to Work Make Extra Money Mystery Shopping Make Extra Money with Your Home Make Extra Money with Your Yard Make Extra Money on Your Phone Make Extra Money from Your Art, Designs, or Photos Make Extra Money with the Experience Economy Make Extra Money Freelancing Make Extra Money with Your Ideas and Inventions Sell an Online Course Make Extra Money Renting Out Your Stuff Make Extra Money with Your Voice Sell Your Body to Science Other Ways to Make Extra Money That Actually Exist Your Turn What’s Next? Frequently Asked Questions Get Paid to Share Your Opinion 1. Online and In-Person Research Studies
There are a couple online research companies I think everyone should sign up for.
Respondent is the best paying online survey outfit I’ve found. Usually the surveys are one-on-one interviews either in-person or over the phone / video chat, and they pay an average of $140 an hour.
User Interviews is another great resource for connecting with online and in-person consumer research studies. I made $40 in about 40 minutes — here’s my full User Interviews review.
2. Online Surveys
No list of money-making ideas would be complete without including an old favorite: online surveys. Power users of these apps earn $30 a month or more.
Here are some of Side Hustle Nation’s favorite options:
Survey Junkie – Earn gift cards or cash out via PayPal. Swagbucks – With this mega-popular app you can earn up to $35 a survey and get a $10 bonus just for signing up! InboxDollars – Get a $5 bonus just for signing up! Opinion Outpost – Cash out at just $5 via PayPal or Amazon gift cards. Each survey enters you into a $10,000 quarterly drawing. Military+Family Surveys – Military members, spouses, and veterans are eligible to earn points here and cash out for gift cards. Prize Rebel – Earn $10-12 an hour doing surveys or completing other tasks. Just avoid the low-paying ones. Google Opinion Rewards – Download the free app and earn PayPal credit when you give feedback on Google products.
Don’t expect to earn an amazing hourly rate with these options, but you can earn gift cards, cash, and other rewards by answering surveys, watching videos, playing games, and shopping online with several reputable apps and services.
Save Money From What You’re Already Doing
Saving money is making money! And it’s actually even more effective since it goes straight to your bottom line — meaning you don’t have to pay taxes on it like you would with extra income.
Here are some of my favorite quick n’ easy ways to save without drastically changing your lifestyle of spending habits.
3. Fetch Rewards
I like the Fetch Rewards app because it’s so easy. Fetch has partnered with over 250 popular brands, and when you buy any of those, and take a picture of the receipt, you’ll earn points.
You can then redeem points for gift cards to retailers like Best Buy, Sephora, Staples, Gap, and more. (I’ve been cashing in for Amazon gift cards.)
It’s also kind of a cool tool to track your spending across time and across different stores:
Get 3000 free points ($3) when you enter referral code APREWARDS!
4. Trim: Your Robot Negotiator
Trim is a slick new free tool that helps identify hidden leaks in your budget and opportunities to get better deals.
It takes less than a minute to set up, and lines your wallet in 3 different ways:
Getting you cash back when prices drop on stuff you bought. Negotiating better deals on your cable or Internet service. Finding and canceling subscriptions you don’t use.
Does it work? Two days after signing up I got this message:
Of course I can’t guarantee the same result but I’ll take $20 for doing almost nothing any day of the week!
A couple weeks later Trim came back saying they’d negotiated $347.88 off my Comcast bills over the next 12 months! Cha-ching!
Click here to try it out yourself.
5. Re-think Your Cell Phone Service
I recently switched to Mint Mobile for my cell phone service. It runs on the T-Mobile network and costs just $15 a month (when you pre-pay)!
I was able to keep my current phone and phone number. Making the switch from Verizon saved my wife and I over $800 a year.
6. Get Cash Back with Ibotta
The free ibotta app pays you cash for taking pictures of your receipts after you buy certain items from more than 80 chains, including Walmart, Safeway, Kroger, Publix, Costco, and Target.
The rebates normally range from $0.25 to $5. The cash will hit your Ibotta account within 48 hours and you can pull it out with PayPal, Venmo, or exchange for gift cards.
On average, Ibotta Savers who use the app every month earn over $130 a year!
7. Wikibuy
The free Wikibuy browser extension is a must for online shoppers. It automatically scours thousands of shopping bargains, offers, and coupons from retailers while you’re shopping online. If there’s a better price out there, this free tool will find it.
(Affiliate disclosure: Wikibuy compensates me when you sign up for Wikibuy using my link. Thanks!)
I’ve earned $4.28 in cash back in just a couple months, plus have saved over $100 more using their recommendations and offers.
Once you add it, you’ll notice it working automatically whenever you’re shopping online.
8. Rakuten (formerly Ebates)
Rakuten is a long-running site that pays you cash back for doing your online shopping through their portal. A recent computer purchase from Dell netted me $160 cash back! (They were running a special offer.)
They’ll even give you a free $10 bonus when you create your account!
9. Get Paid to Lose Weight
Before you start your next diet, you might want to check out HealthyWage. This cool service that lets you put a friendly wager on your weight loss.
If you meet your goal, you can cash in — to the tune of $500 or more! (Here’s our full HealthyWage review.)
Click here to see how much your prize might be.
10. Save on Car Insurance
If it’s been more than 2 years since you last shopped for car insurance, you’re paying too much.
Here’s the dirty secret of the car insurance industry: your cars are worth less every year due to depreciation, but you keep paying the same amount.
Check out Esurance for a quick and painless quote process and some of the best rates in the business. It’ll take just a few minutes (you can even do it on your phone) and could put $200 or more back to your bottom line.
11. Credit Card Sign-Up Bonuses
You’ve got to promise to use this strategy responsibly, but it’s made my wife and I thousands of dollars over the past few years.
Credit cards like the Chase Freedom Card offer up to 30% cash back as a sign-up bonus—$150 after you spend $500—with no annual fee.
Learn more and compare this card to other cash back cards here.
That’s #freemoney :)
If you know you’re gonna spend $500 in the next 3 months, it’s a no-brainer, right?
Related: Credit Card Rewards 101: How to Earn Free Cash and Travel by Spending Smarter
12. Dosh
A friend turned me onto Dosh, and I’m pretty excited about this one. It gives you cash back (generally 7-10%) for dining out at local restaurants, and up to hundreds of dollars cash back on hotels.
It’s definitely worth checking out at least to see if some of your favorite local spots are included — and for sure before you book your next trip.
Even out in the ‘burbs by me there are quite a few deals, and you can see I’m up $35 on the app already.
The cool thing about Dosh, especially for the local purchases, is the cash back credit happens automatically after you create an account and link your card. You don’t have to fumble around with the app or show a QR code to your waiter or anything like that.
They’ll even give you $5 in free starter cash when you download the app and link a credit card.
13. Get Pei’d
Pei is an app that pays you an extra 1-20% automatic cash back when you use your linked credit card at partner stores.
(Use my invite code “hustle” for a $2.50 bonus when you sign up.)
What’s great here is that it seamlessly “stacks” on top of your credit card rewards and other cash back apps.
14. Fluz
Fluz is the latest addition to my “cash back stack.” How it works is you use the app to generate a virtual gift card for the order you’re about to make.
By paying through the Fluz app, you earn an extra 1-35% cash back. You can cash out once you hit $26, but I’ve just been applying my balance to my next order. Discounted Chipotle for the win!
Make Extra Money with Your Car 15. Drive for Uber or Lyft
You’ve probably heard of “driving for dollars” with services like Uber and Lyft, and it doesn’t get much simpler than this. One Lyft driver of mine on a recent trip put it this way: “When I want to make money, I turn on the app.”
If you choose any of these driving-related side hustles, it might make sense to tack on an app like Gridwise to maximize your earnings.
16. Deliver Groceries
Get paid to shop for and deliver other people’s groceries with Instacart. Enjoy weekly payouts and a flexible schedule.
Check out our full Instacart Shopper review here, with insights from a side hustler earning an extra $450-500 a week.
17. Deliver with Postmates
Ride, drive, or walk to make local deliveries in your town with Postmates and earn up $27 an hour doing so.
Here’s our full Postmates driver review for more info.
18. Dash for Dollars
Make up to $25 an hour as a food delivery driver for DoorDash. For more, here’s our full DoorDash review.
19. Uber Eats
Uber Eats is Uber’s take-out delivery service, which could be a good fit if you like the idea of earning on your own schedule … but don’t like the idea of having strangers in your car.
20. Getaround
Getaround is a leader in the peer-to-peer car rental space. If driving people around Uber-style isn’t your jam, you might consider this as an alternative.
Top car-sharers are earning thousands of dollars a year, and every trip is covered by $1 million insurance policy.
Listing your car is simple and takes about 10 minutes.
21. Turo
Similar to Getround, Turo has car owners earning up to $10,000 a year with rental periods as short as one hour.
Your car probably sits idle at least some of the time and the idea behind Turo is to put that idle time to use — and earn $500 a month or more.
They’ve even got a cool little “carculator” on their site to estimate how much you might earn.
Naturally nicer, newer cars in popular travel destinations earn the most, and I’ve actually heard of people taking out leases on cars specifically to rent them out on Turo.
A couple friends used the Turo platform to essentially get a free Tesla!
22. HyreCar
If you have an underutilized car, HyreCar will help you rent it out. Be prepared to rack up some miles though; this company caters to rideshare drivers who don’t have a vehicle of their own.
23. Wrapify
When you sign up with Wrapify, your car gets covered with a giant advertisement and you earn money based on how far you drive. A typical commuter in a popular area could earn $50-100 a week.
Not bad for making a drive you had to make anyway!
24. Carvertise
Carvertise is a similar operator, but specializes in working with rideshare drivers to supplement your earnings. And it makes sense, these cars are often in popular areas and racking up lots of road time.
Make Extra Money Working Online
There are thousands of work from home jobs available right now. Here are some options to consider.
25. Become a Virtual Assistant
Virtual assistants provide administrative support to clients from their home office.
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.
26. FlexJobs
FlexJobs is the leading work from home jobs site. With over 50 career categories, FlexJobs has jobs ranging from entry-level to executive and freelance to full-time.
They charge a nominal monthly fee (save 30% w/ promo code FLEXLIFE) to access their listings, but you’ll easily earn that back and then some with one job.
27. Bookkeeping
Remote bookkeepers can earn $20-70 an hour and up for their work. 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.
Here’s a free training on how to get started.
28. Customer Service
Become a Crowdio customer service agent and get paid for every live chat interaction you resolve. They supply the customers and all you have to do is take good care of them.
Top NexRep agents are earning $15-25 an hour doing customer support and phone sales for growing businesses.
Liveops is a “cloud” call center company that hires part-time remote customer service agents to field calls from home. Pay is in the $11-15 an hour range.
29. Fashion Consultant
StitchFix hires part-time virtual stylists for both men and women to help customers create the perfect look.
30. Virtual Consulting
Clarity.fm is my favorite by-the-minute virtual consulting platform, and I’ve earned over $8000 lifetime through the site. You can set your own hourly rate, add your areas of expertise, and accept consulting calls in your spare time.
Related: How to Start a $100 an hour Consulting Business in 5 Minutes
31. Online Coaching
The Coach.me platform boasts more than 1 million users and you can set up an online coaching practice in the areas of leadership, health, business, habits, and more. Earn $100 an hour or more working one-on-one with clients.
Make Money Online
These aren’t great options if you need to make extra money quickly, but can build into a full-time income stream over time.
32. Blogging
Blogging is obviously a passion of mine, and can be a very effective way to reach a wide audience.
My primary revenue stream is affiliate marketing, but website creators can make money in lots of different ways, including selling their own products and services, advertising, live events, end even donations.
Click here to check out my free video course on how to start a blog.
33. Podcasting
It took a few years, but the once-a-week Side Hustle Show became a full-time income for me. Podcasting was a great medium for me, because an interview format allowed me to let other people share their stories and be the star of the show!
34. YouTube
Creating content on YouTube is a fast-track side hustle, especially compared with blogging. I believe it’s easier to “rank” videos for your target keywords, and once your channel reaches certain metrics, you can begin monetizing with ads.
(You can also use YouTube in other creative ways, like to sell a digital product or service.)
35. Build an Email Newsletter
The newsletter business model is one I’m particularly excited about right now. It’s low overhead, reasonably simple to manage, and can scale to a significant income stream.
36. Build a Local Community
Melissa Fassel-Dunn started her online business as a local Facebook group for her Boston suburb. It’s since turned into an “almost 6-figure” operation with a website, directory, and newsletter supported by local businesses.
37. Self-Publish on Amazon
Thanks to Amazon’s Kindle platform, you can publish your work and tap into a massive audience of buyers, especially if your book solves a problem in a unique way.
Self-publishing is one of my favorite and longest-running side hustles. I remember my first royalty payment from Amazon of something like $42 and being thrilled, thinking “I did it! I’m a professional author!”
Since then I’ve earned quite a bit more in author royalties — nothing lifestyle changing mind you, but a pretty awesome way to build both authority in your niche and earn passive income along the way.
Related: Here’s Everything I Did To Launch a Bestselling Book (and How Much It’s Made So Far)
Related: My Amazon author profile and book listings
Find Part-Time Work Nearby 38. Loan Signing Agent
Notary publics can make up to $100 an hour for completing loan signings for new home buyers on their own schedule. Check out Mark Wills’ Loan Signing System to learn more. Use promo code sidehustle for 10% off.
39. Litter Pick-Up
Brian Winch started his parking lot clean-up business as a side hustle in 1981, and has since built it into a multi-six-figure business. He says you can still earn $30-50 an hour part-time targeting local property management companies.
40. Steady
Steady is a cool app and website that consolidates all sorts of “gig economy” opportunities. For example, you can find work from home gigs, flexible “anytime” options, and even regular full- and part-time jobs.
In browsing through the listings, I found the usual array of delivery and rideshare gigs, but was pleasantly surprised by some of the other offerings. There were a number of local opportunities I’d never heard of in brand ambassadorship, political advocacy, mystery shopping, transcription, and more.
Steady acts as a portal to all these gigs and gives you a convenient central location to browse. After you create your account, you’ll be able to see everything available online and in your local area.
41. House Cleaning
Chris Schwab grew his DC-area residential cleaning service to $60k a month in revenue — without him ever lifting mop. More and more homeowners are outsourcing this chore, and the industry remains highly fragmented, spelling opportunity for you to win clients.
42. Drone Pilot
Certified drone pilots can make money by registering at DroneBase to take on aerial photography and inspection jobs nearby.
43. Car Repair
Join YourMechanic and earn $40-60 an hour making “house calls” to fix cars and trucks. Enjoy flexible hours and “no politics or managers!”
To take it to the next level, you might consider filming yourself (with permission) doing the repairs to create content for YouTube. Matt Bochnak did this while repairing motorcycles, and eventually turned his time-for-money side hustle into a far more passive income stream.
44. Yard Care
Both GreenPal and LawnGuru are building “the Uber for yardwork” and offer a cool new way for landscaping businesses to connect with customers. The average GreenPal vendor makes around $55 per hour mowing lawns on its system.
45. Brand Ambassador
Side Hustle Show guest Kenny Azama said you can easily earn $1000 a month repping brands at local events.
46. Craigslist Gigs
There’s a section in the lower right side of Craigslist where companies and individuals post jobs and gigs.
47. GigSalad
GigSalad is the marketplace for entertainers, DJs, photographers, bartenders and more to connect with customers hosting parties, weddings, or other events.
48. Work as a Doula
Like the name would suggest, DoulaMatch is a marketplace for doulas and those seeking them.
49. Tech Support
Are you the go-to guy or girl in your social circle for technical help? Earn up to $90 an hour making tech support, troubleshooting, and device installation house calls near you with HelloTech.
50. Dog Walking
Earn up to $25 an hour, taking pups for strolls in your spare time. You can post flyers around your neighborhood, advertise on NextDoor, or join a service like Wag Walking.
51. Pet Waste Removal
It’s not the most glamorous gig, but it can earn $50 an hour or more. In just a few months, Erica Krupin had landed 80 recurring weekly clients at around $15 apiece.
52. Babysitting
One of my original income streams as a teenager, babysitting and child care is still a viable way to make extra money. Sites like Care.com and Sittercity can help match you up with families.
53. Flyer Delivery
One listener 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!
54. Pressure Washing
Pressure washers cost around $300, but you could clear more than that on a single busy spring weekend cleaning driveways, decks, and patios in your neighborhood.
55. Personal Chef
Hire a Chef – The United States Professional Chef Association has put together this directory of personal chefs available for hire.
56. Movie Extra
Are there movie extra jobs near you? Background actors normally earn minimum wage, but you may get a meal out of the deal — and perhaps a brush with celebrity.
57. Photography Service
This is my wife’s side hustle of choice, which started as a hobby. She and her partner started out pricing low to build a portfolio, but now command around $4000 per wedding.
58. TaskRabbit
TaskRabbit is one of the largest sharing economy platforms, and you can create a profile specializing in everything from running local errands, assembling furniture, local admin temp help, and even virtual support jobs.
Rates vary widely based on what service you’re providing, but I’ve seen tasks anywhere from $15 an hour all the way up to $100 an hour or more for specialized skills.
59. Handyperson for Hire
If you’re skilled in painting, plumbing, electrical work, or cleaning with a friendly service attitude, Handy could be an interesting side hustle. According to their website, their top professionals are taking home more than $1000 a week.
60. Inspections
Earn $18 to $200 to go look at stuff like eBay purchases, cars, rental properties, or even vacant lots with OnSource or WeGoLook. Take pictures, verify information, and report back what you find.
61. Moving Service
If you have a truck or van — and a strong back — you can earn money with Dolly’s peer-to-peer moving platform. Help your neighbors pack and move across town. Similarly, GoShare will help you put your truck or cargo van to work and up to $61 an hour.
62. Tricky Deliveries
Bid on moving hard-to-ship items from Point A to Point B on CitizenShipper. Near me there was a motorcycle, a couple dogs, and a boat up for bid, with prices ranging from $500 to $1000 based on the distance.
63. Sell Your Skills on Thumbtack
Thumbtack is a unique marketplace for both virtual and in-person on-demand work. Buyers submit requests for what they need and if it seems like a fit for your skills, you pay a nominal fee to bid on the job. You’re free to set your own price and keep 100% of the proceeds.
The Thumbtack marketplace is pretty extensive, with services including accounting, house painting, voice lessons, quilting, web design, and even legal work. The company paid out over a $1 billion to their pros last year.
64. Sports Coaching
Channel your athletic glory days and help young athletes level up their game. You can set your own rate and CoachUp private coaches report earning an average of $45 an hour.
65. Personal Training
Connect with clients through your gym, NextDoor, or through a marketplace like FindYourTrainer.
66. Knife Sharpening
One of my favorite Side Hustle Show episodes featured a guy who taught himself how to sharpen knives on YouTube, and turned it into a $250-500 a month side business.
Make Extra Money Tutoring Online
Tutoring and test prep is more than a billion dollar a year industry. If you were a decent student or have some subject matter expertise, you can use these services to earn extra cash and help students at the same time.
67. Teach English
VIPKid is a unique platform to teach English online to students in China via teleconferencing sessions. According to their website, you can earn up to $22 an hour doing so.
If you’re eligible to work in the US or Canada, the only prerequisites are a bachelor’s degree and a year of educational experience.
(And the educational experience is pretty flexible: teaching, mentoring, coaching, and tutoring all count.)
Just remember to schedule your video interview immediately 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.
Note: Because of the time zones, teaching sessions are usually early in the morning Eastern time.
68. Tutor for Hire
Wyzant (pronounced “wise ant”) is a popular online and in-person tutoring platform helping students in a wide variety of subjects and grade levels.
Tutors are free to set their own schedule and rates, and the rates actually seem pretty attractive. For example, when I searched for math tutors nearby, the Wyzant search engine suggested tutors from $40-60 an hour.
Related: How to Start a Tutoring Business: How I Earn $1000/week Tutoring for the ACT
69. Sell Lesson Plans
It’s not one-on-one tutoring, but Teachers Pay Teachers is a popular marketplace for lesson plans and other educational materials by educators for educators. One blogger I know began putting some of her content on this site and now earns $5000 a month part-time.
70. One-on-One Language Lessons
With Verbling, you can set your own hourly rate for online language lessons. Most tutors appear to be in the $10-25 an hour range, and Verbling says some are earning a full-time living on the platform.
Make Extra Money Selling Physical Products
I call this the age-old “buy low, sell high” business model, and it still works today. In fact, with the distribution channels available to you today, you can reach more customers than ever.
71. Flea Market Flipping
My buddy Rob Stephenson is “the Flea Market Flipper” and makes a great living finding odd items to resell. He told me the story of finding a prosthetic leg for $40 and turning around and selling it on Ebay the next day for $1000.
There are profitable deals everywhere!
Rob and his wife Melissa consistently earn thousands of dollars a month doing this part-time. They put together a free training on how you can get started and make your first sales as fast as 2 weeks.
72. Thrifting for Profit
Apps like Poshmark can help you clear out your closet or make money from your latest thrift store finds.
73. Selling on Ebay
The auction site is still going strong and can be a good place to list your products. Side Hustle Show guest Darrel Fitzpatrick told me how he sold $100,000 worth of stuff (mostly used electronics) on Ebay by buying locally and re-selling online.
74. Flipping Books
Use the free BookScouter app to find out what books are worth — either the ones you have lying around collecting dust or ones you come across at garage sales or library book stores.
One Side Hustle Show guest reported earning up to $4000 a month flipping used books!
75. Get Rid of Old Electronics
Decluttr is an interesting service that takes the pain out of listing individual items on Ebay. Instead you scan them into Decluttr, they give you a price, and you ship everything you have (books, DVDs, electronics) to them in one box — they’ll even cover shipping.
You can definitely make more selling your stuff on your own, but the convenience factor is tough to beat.
For old phones and electronics, Gazelle may be worth a look as well.
76. Reselling on Amazon
Amazon FBA is “fulfillment by Amazon” and is Amazon’s unique way to crowdsourcing its inventory from individual sellers like you and me. Not only can you take advantage of Amazon’s world class logistics network, but you can also tap into their massive audience of buyers.
Perhaps the easiest way to get started is sourcing profitable inventory locally and then selling it via Amazon. I sat down with a successful Amazon reseller to learn more about how it works.
77. Wholesale
Wholesaling involves partnering with brands to improve or expand their Amazon strategy. You’ll strike deals to buy inventory at wholesale prices, and profit on the spread between that and your retail markup.
A spin-off on this strategy involves creating bundles of complementary products.
78. Sell Private Label Products
Another popular Amazon FBA strategy is to see what’s already selling, and try to create a better version by contracting with a manufacturer. This usually costs at least several hundred dollars to start, but popular products can turn into cash cows.
79. Etsy
Etsy is the largest peer-to-peer marketplace for handcrafted items. You’ll find thoughtful pieces for your home, office, kids, closet, and more.
My friend Kara turned her side hustle of selling wine-themed wedding decor into a full-time business.
If you’ve got an artistic and crafty side, you can tap into Etsy’s wide audience of buyers. Plus, you can now use Etsy to sell digital products or drop ship physical print-on-demand items.
80. Drop Shipping
With drop shipping, you can sell physical products online without having to buy any inventory upfront. Instead, you work out deals with the manufacturers or distributors to ship the items directly to your customers on your behalf.
On a popular episode of The Side Hustle Show, Rene Delgado broke down how he sold over $300k in his first year.
81. Sneaker Flipping
Side Hustle Nation reader JV Ortiz contributed this piece on how he earns $10k a month reselling popular limited edition Nike and Adidas shoes.
82. Storage Unit Auctions
The hype over Storage Wars has largely died down, which means profitable storage unit auctions may be easier to come by today. You have to bid based on what you can see from the outside, and hope to find some treasures to flip for a profit.
Real Estate Investing
Investing is a way to get over and over again from work you do once. If you’re looking for ways to earn extra money, consider how the cash you already have is growing (or not) on its own.
83. Commercial Real Estate
Fundrise was my first foray into “alternative” real estate investments (and I have since joined their affiliate program). They have several “eREITs” that own or hold investments in commercial properties all around the country, and have paid consistently quarterly dividends in the 6-10% yield range.
84. Apartments
DiversyFund is a newer “eREIT” that targets “value-add” apartment complexes. These are cash-flowing complexes in need of upgrades – but once the improvements are made, the value of the complex and rental incomes increase.
The strategy seems to be working. Diversyfund has seen 15%+ returns in its first couple years! It’s important to note that you should only invest money you don’t expect to need for a while; the company suggests a target 5-year holding period during normal market conditions.
DiversyFund is open to non-accredited investors with a minimum investment of just $500.
85. Short-Term Real Estate Loans
Accredited investors can make short-term rehab loans with property as collateral on the fast-growing PeerStreet platform. Interest rates are typically 7-10%.
86. Rental Properties
Rental real estate is one of the oldest side hustles in the books, and is still viable today.
If your local market is too expensive, take a look at Roofstock, a cool online marketplace built for out-of-state-investors. Many houses listed already have tenants and property management in place.
87. Raw Land Flipping
Mark “The Land Geek” Podolsky calls this “the best passive income model,” and broke down how it works on The Side Hustle Show. Later, I caught up with a student of his who was doing really well.
Related: 79 Alternative Investment Platforms to Earn Stronger Returns, Build Cash Flow, and Diversify Your Portfolio
Put Your Cash to Work 88. Earn More Interest
Online savings accounts like CIT Bank generally pay a much higher interest rate than your regular old checking account.
89. Support Veteran-Run Businesses
Invest in StreetShares‘ Veteran Business Bonds and earn a fixed 5% return. There’s just a $25 minimum to open an account.
90. Asset-Backed Bonds
I’ve been earning 5% interest on Worthy Bonds, which are fully liquid and support small businesses. These loans are backed by the businesses assets and are just $10 apiece.
Make Extra Money Mystery Shopping 91. Become a Field Agent
Field Agent presents a list of tasks you can do based on your location. If you happen to be driving around somewhere and the store in the list is near, just accept the task and start earning money.
Most of these gigs involve evaluating product displays or checking on inventory. They typically pay $3-10 apiece, depending on complexity and the time involved.
Major retailers like Costco and Walmart are listed for product surveys and audits. No purchases are necessary.
Just load the Field Agent app on your phone and start earning quick cash while on the go.
92. Collect Data
Native.io is an interesting newcomer here. They’re looking for “data collectors” — people like you and I — to perform on-the-ground tasks like checking products and prices in stores, or even interviewing people about their opinions of certain brands.
Native is currently only available on Android devices.
93. Shopkick
Shopkick is an interesting money-making app that allows you to earn rewards in multiple ways, including simply walking into a qualifying store.
Other ways to earn points (called “kicks”) include shopping with a linked card, scanning barcodes on selected products, viewing online products, watching videos, and visiting online stores. These points can then be redeemed for gift cards at stores like Starbucks, Amazon, and Target.
My guess is you find a mall or strip mall with several Shopkick retailers, you can earn several dollars just by walking around.
Download the app on iOS or Android to test it out for yourself.
94. Gigwalk
Gigwalk works on the same premise as Field Agent. The app pays you real money for completing gigs available near you.
Gig Walkers can earn anywhere from $3-100 for certain tasks, though there wasn’t much selection near me when I checked.
Make Extra Money with Your Home 95. Rent Out Your Place
Airbnb is one of the most well-known sharing economy platforms and is disrupting the entire hotel industry.
Your rates are going to be dictated by your local competition, which could be anywhere from $40 to $300 a night. And as one host pointed out on the podcast, if you have hotels in your city or town, you know there’s at least some demand.
96. Rent Out a Room
Homestay focuses on booking stays where the homeowner is present, where most of the Airbnb stays I’ve booked have been for the “whole” house or apartment. When I ran a search for an upcoming trip to San Diego, I found rates from $27-65 a night.
97. Rent Out to Hollywood
If you’re in LA, you can make $1-3k per day(!) renting your house out for TV commercials, TV pilots, and movie shoots on Production Locations.
98. Pet Sitting
Rover.com is “Airbnb for dogs,” and I’ve heard from several dog sitting hosts earning thousands of dollars a year through this site. (Meowtel is leading platform for cat-sitting.)
99. Rent Out Your Attic?
The Neighbor self-storage platform connects people with storage needs with those who have extra space. If you’ve got some excess storage capacity in your garage or elsewhere, list your space here to fill it and get paid.
According to the site, hosts are earning up to $15,000 a year running their own mini self-storage operations.
Join through my referral link and get a $50 bonus when your space gets rented!
100. Rent Out a Parking Space
If you have extra parking, why not put it to good use and get paid for it? JustPark is one platform that facilitates this.
101. Rent Out Your Pool
Swimply is helping homeowners turn their backyard pools into cash flow, with rates ranging from $30-100 an hour.
Make Extra Money with Your Yard 102. Rent Out Your Backyard
If having guests in your home Airbnb-style makes you a little uncomfortable, maybe having them outside would be a little better? With Campspace you can turn your backyard into a mini-campground and earn $10-30 per person per night.
If you have a large property, Gamping lets you “list your land” for rent to travelers and campers to turn idle space into an income stream.
103. Sell Trees
“Don’t pay to remove your trees,” SellYourTrees says. “Let us buy them from you instead!”
Make Extra Money on Your Phone
We give so much of our data away every day for free to companies like Facebook, so it may not be that far a stretch to actually get paid for what you share. Here are some options to do just that.
104. Mobilexpression
Mobilexpression is a market research panel that pays you in exchange for data from your mobile phone.
Download their app and allow it to work in the background recording your browsing habits while on your phone. By participating with Mobilexpression, you’ll earn weekly credits redeemable for gift cards to popular retailers.
Realistically, this is an un-intrusive background app that will probably earn you around $20 a year in passive income. And you’ll earn a free $5 gift card after your first week.
105. Nielsen Computer & Mobile Panel
From the same company behind National Consumer Panel, Nielsen rewards you for sharing internet usage behaviors. Simply download the app to all of your registered devices. The app is non-intrusive and won’t slow down your devices.
As they track your usage, you earn points. Users can redeem points for prizes and sweepstakes entries.
106. Honeygain
There’s been a lot of “buzz” lately around a new app called Honeygain. According to the site, you can earn up to $30 a month when you share 10 GB a day of “your unused net traffic with data scientists.”
Just install the app (available on Windows, MacOS, and Android), connect it to the Internet, and earn rewards passively. On average, it takes users 48 days to reach $20.
Get a $5 bonus to start.
Before you get started though, make sure you’re truly on an unlimited plan as it sounds like this could chew through a lot of bandwidth in hurry!
Make Extra Money from Your Art, Designs, or Photos 107. Print on Demand
Merch by Amazon makes a great side hustle. You upload your t-shirt (and other product) designs, set your price, and then let Amazon do all the work of printing and shipping your orders.
Elaine Heney made over $50,000 doing this part-time and shared some of her tips on The Side Hustle Show. (My wife made over $2k in her first year doing this in her spare time too!)
108. Cards and Invitations
Minted offers wedding invitations, stationery, home decor, and other items from independent artists and photographers like you. Earn cash prizes for one-off contests and commission on ongoing sales of your work.
Upload your designs and create your own storefront on Zazzle. When someone buys, you earn a royalty on the sale, but never have to touch the inventory or ship the product; the company does it all for you.
109. Digital Assets
If you can create website templates, WordPress plugins, stock videos, jingles, graphics, and even 3D models, Envato is the place for you. This marketplace connects creators of digital assets with those who need them.
110. Sell Stock Photos or Videos
Pond5 is a super cool site with not only photography, but also music, video, sound effects, and illustrations. As an artist, you can set your own price for your work and earn 50% royalties.
SnapWire, Foap, and Lobster are other options to sell your photos and social media images.
111. Design Tattoos
On Create My Tattoo, users submit their requests and designers come back with proposed ink designs. The customer picks their fave and the artist gets the prize money.
Make Extra Money with the Experience Economy 112. Local Tours
Vayable is a cool marketplace of unique travel experiences hosted by local insiders. If you have a passion for your city, love meeting new people, and have always wanted to be a tour guide, here’s your chance.
Options in San Francisco include a $49 “Scout for Street Art” walk with Russell, a $109 “Bike Wine Country” ride with Freida, and a $66 “Historic House Boat” tour with Victoria.
My friend Alex hosts hundreds of “urban hiking” tours a year on the side from her day job — at $49 apiece!
What unique experience can you offer travelers?
113. Airbnb Experiences
Michele Mattix has made thousands of dollars hosting a guided meditation experience via Airbnb Experiences. You can create your own experience, set your price, and Airbnb will markets your experience to travelers visiting your town.
114. Create Travel Guides
If you know the best places to stay, eat, and see, consider becoming a WildBum Guide Architect. You’ll create your own city or trip guide, set your price, and make money whenever it sells.
115. Private Dining
Platforms like EatWith “bring chefs and foodies together one meal at a time.” Set your own menu, schedule and dining experience and earn up to $700 per event.
Make Extra Money Freelancing 116. Create a Fiverr Gig
For me, Fiverr has been a fun and eye-opening side hustle experiment. Since I started on the site, I’ve earned over $13,000, met some awesome people, and found an interesting “Buy Buttons” platform.
How it works is you come up with a base “gig” — and then add relevant upsells or packages to increase your order value. One of my most popular podcast episodes was with a Fiverr seller who used the platform to launch a 6-figure freelancing business.
Related: How I Earned $7490 in My First 14 Months on Fiverr
Related: How I Got on the Homepage of Fiverr and Earned $920 in 10 Days
Related: Beyond $5: 5 Fiverr Gigs with High Average Order Values
117. Join FreeUp
Earn up to $50 an hour on FreeUp, a platform that matches you with businesses that need your help. Two rounds of Skype interviews are required to maintain the high quality of service providers on the FreeUp platform
118. Take on TopTal Projects
If you’re an expert developer, designer, finance pro, or project or product manager, and willing to put your skills to the test, you can earn great money working remotely for clients on the TopTal platform. They’re serious about the “top talent” thing though, only hiring the top 3% of applicants.
119. Photo Editing
FixThePhoto hires remote part-time photo re-touching and editing experts. If you’re a Lightroom or Photoshop pro, these could be worth checking out.
120. Freelance Writing
While I’ve connected with writers primarily through existing networks, there are lots of content-creation agencies you can join, including Scripted. Rates are all over the map, from $50 to $1000 per 1000 words.
121. Graphic Design
Turn your design skills into cash with remote graphic design jobs.
122. Mechanical Turk
Earn a small fee ($0.01 to $3) for each micro task you complete on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. It can be tedious work, but over the last couple years, Mike Naab earned over $21,000 in his spare time completing surveys and other small jobs.
123. Transcribe Audio
Transcribe interviews and lectures on Rev.com and earn $9 an hour and up. Fast freelance transcriptionists can earn more though; as this free mini-course explains.
124. Proofreading and Editing
Editing for self-published authors was a side hustle for me a few years ago. ProofreadingServices.com is an online proofreading and English tutoring service that pays $19 to 46 per hour, depending on turnaround time.
125. Translation
Multi-lingual side hustlers can join over 1,000,000 professional translators on ProZ, a big translation marketplace.
On Unbabel you can earn $8-18 an hour translating and editing one of 28 languages for customer service teams around the world.
Make Extra Money with Your Ideas and Inventions 126. Product Licensing
Serial inventor Stephen Key says companies are always looking for new products and are happy to pay licensing fees to creative people like you who bring those to them. Nate Dallas, a dentist in Georgia, netted $300,000 in royalties for the rights to a Pictionary-like card game he sold to Mattel.
127. A Modern Inventor
Quirky is a cool product licensing and invention marketplace where you can share your ideas and products and earn a revenue share on anything that sells.
128. Solve Interesting Problems
MindSumo is a cool service that asks for your input on certain questions on behalf of its corporate clients. Rewards of $550-1600 are given to the best or most creative answers. When I was browsing, I saw questions like “How would you improve the car buying experience?” and “How can we make laundry less of a hassle?”
Innocentive has more of a science/invention angle, but has paid out millions of dollars in rewards since 2008.
129. Help Companies Name Their Products
Companies post naming and branding contests on SquadHelp and you can win cash for coming up with the best name or slogan. On Namestation, a similar service, top contributors earn up to $300 a month part-time.
Sell an Online Course 130. Build a Udemy Course
With Udemy, you can create a video course in your area of expertise, and put it up for sale on their platform of more than 50 million students.
Since late 2014, I’ve earned over $20,000 on Udemy from a course I created about self-publishing.
What could you teach?
Related: The 134 Best Udemy Courses for Entrepreneurs, Freelancers, and Side Hustlers
131. Create a Course on Your Own Site
The big advantage of Udemy is a built-in audience of students. The drawback is you’ll earn very little per-student; it’s definitely a volume game.
If you have a bit of an audience of your own, or want to command higher prices, consider hosting your course on Teachable. One effective way to drive traffic and sales is to build a short demo video on YouTube, and invite people to join your email list. Nate Dodson is a pro at this, and shared how he’s grown his course business to tens of thousands of dollars a month.
Make Extra Money Renting Out Your Stuff 132. Rent Out Baby Gear
The BabyQuip “baby concierge” service is the peer-to-peer marketplace for baby gear rentals, mostly catering to traveling moms and families. The average BabyQuip Quality Provider makes $650 a month part-time.
133. Peer-to-Peer Rentals
Could you turn your seldom-used bikes, tools, and sporting equipment into cash? Several companies are competing for market share in the peer-to-peer rental space, among them:
FriendWithA FatLlama Ruckify Spinlister – Rent out your “ride” on Spinlister — your bike, your skis or snowboard, of surfboard. ShareGrid – The largest peer-to-peer site for high-end camera rentals. 134. Rent Out Your RV
Both RV Share and Outdoorsy will help you rent out your RV when you’re not using it. Typical rates range from $150-350 per day, with top renters are earning $15-30k a year.
135. Rent Out Your Boat
Sites like GetMyBoat help you turn idle boat time into cash flow, with rates ranging from $50-600 an hour!
136. Rent Out Your Good Credit History?
Selling Tradelines is a “$1000 an hour” side gig that could be a great way to make extra money if you have a strong credit history. How it works is you get paid to securely add other authorized users on your accounts.
Make Extra Money with Your Voice 137. Voice Over Acting
I think we can all agree that getting paid to talk is a pretty sweet gig, and Voices.com is the #1 marketplace for voice over talent. Voice actors and actresses can join at either the guest or premium levels ($33.25 per month, billed annually), which lets you create your own profile on the site and audition for publicly posted jobs.
138. Audiobook Narration
ACX, the Audiobook Creation Exchange, is an interesting platform to connect authors with professional narrators to — like the name suggests — create an audiobook version of their book.
Narrators can accept projects on a flat fee basis, or do the work for free in exchange for a percentage of future royalties. That option seems compelling because if you can build up a library of different titles that sell well, you can essentially earn passive or residual income from work you did once.
Sell Your Body to Science 139. Donate Plasma
As long as needles don’t bother you, you can earn $20-50 per plasma donation.
140. Clinical Trials
The National Library of Medicine runs a database of studies all across the country you may qualify for.
141. Sperm and Egg Donation
Sperm donation sounds like a lot more fun than donating plasma, but egg donation is a much more involved (and potentially risky) process. The upside is it compensates accordingly — $8000 and up.
Other Ways to Make Extra Money That Actually Exist 142. Recruiting
Earn up to $5000 per hire referring qualified job candidates through Indeed. The payout is $1333 when your referral gets hired through Hired.com.
143. Go on Dates
Calling all the single ladies! On the unique What’s Your Price dating platform, you set your price for a first date and get paid when someone takes you out.
According to their blog, women are charging anywhere from $10 to $300 for a night out — and probably getting a meal out of the deal too.
144. Friend for Rent
According to Rent a Friend, you can earn up to $50 an hour on this strictly platonic match-making site. You might get hired to accompany new “friends” to the movies, dinner, the gym, or whatever you include in your free profile.
145. Cuddle
CuddleUp is a “cuddling for hire” service. This is a real thing and people pay real money for it like therapy. In browsing the site, I found rates ranging from free up to $99 an hour. Also see Snuggle Buddies.
146. Sell Underwear
Yes, there’s a dedicated marketplace for used underwear, and there are supposedly more a million buyers.
147. Refer New Neighbors
Most apartment complexes have referral programs, and if you’re game to chat with prospective tenants, Rentgrata can help you get paid.
148. Trading Stocks and Options
I’ve been drinking the “buy and hold” Kool-Aid for decades, but with education and practice, you may be able to multiply money faster with active trading. Of course, please do your homework and don’t make any bets you can’t afford to lose!
149. Give Psychic Readings
Earn money delivering video psychic readings for clients via the Purple Ocean app.
150. Be an Expert Witness
The Expert Institute connects subject matter experts (you!) with attorneys and corporations who happily pay for your analysis and opinions.
151. Live Stream Video Games
The twitch.tv network is mostly for livestreaming video games but the most popular players are estimated to be bringing in $300,000 or more per year!
152. Find Flight Deals
FlightFox is a unique human-powered flight search engine. If you have a knack for saving money on flights, apply to join their network of part-time flight-booking gurus and earn $1500 a month or more.
Your Turn
I’m confident you can use at least ONE of these platforms to earn some job-free dollars!
Let me know which ones look the most compelling by leaving a comment below. Also feel free to chime in if I missed your favorite way to make extra money — I’ll strive to keep this resource as up-to-date as possible.
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:
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I make extra money?
There have never been more ways to make extra money! For example, you can start freelancing, begin re-selling products, or even start your own blog or YouTube channel. Be sure to check the full list at Side Hustle Nation for the latest options.
How can I make money online?
The most common ways of making money online are through freelancing, selling advertising on content you create, such as a blog, podcast, or YouTube channel, or by selling physical or digital products. You can sell these through existing marketplaces like Amazon or set up your own store.
How can I make $200 fast?
If you need to make $200 fast, you have a couple options. The first is to provide some sort of freelance service, which could be anything from mowing lawns to babysitting to painting houses to dog walking to designing websites or managing Facebook ads. The second option is to sell something you already own. OfferUp and Facebook Marketplace are popular options to unload this unwanted inventory.
*********
Note: Comments are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Comments have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
#Hustle101
