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Want to know how to make extra money on top of your regular job? Or maybe you’re a freelancer who’s looking for another gig to keep yourself busy. No matter the reason, now is a great time to start a side hustle.
According to research, almost 70 million Americans have a side hustle. If you’re looking to have one of your own, these 17 job ideas are a great place to start.
The best part? You don’t need any extraordinary skills or upfront investment for any of these.
How to Make Extra Money
1. Taking surveys
A lot of people underestimate the option of taking online surveys to make extra money. It seems like it wouldn’t pay much considering how little is required for the job.
Here’s the truth: not everyone can simply give their feedback on a survey and earn money. If you want to make a good amount of cash doing this, you have to take a free survey first. Take it as a free trial.
By starting with a free survey, the employer will know if you’re fit for the job, and you’ll know if you want to do this more often.
It’s important to note that you should not expect quick money from taking surveys. You’ll need to be patient. With time and consistency, you’ll start making more money.
2. User testing
Businesses of all kinds hire people to give feedback on their newest developments. Most of the time, you’ll be asked to review the demo version of an app or a website.
With user testing, your job is to give your honest feedback and opinions. If you don’t like a certain feature of an app that you’re reviewing, say so. Then specify what changes might need to be made.
The pay for this job varies, but many well-known companies like TryMyUI will usually pay $10 per 20-minute session.
3. Joining focus groups
Focus groups are also a great way to make some extra money. A focus group consists of several people who share their opinions on a specific topic.
For example, your focus group might be asked to test out new products. The group will be assigned an experienced leader who is in charge of listening to and writing down your opinions. Similar to user testing, you have to be honest with what you say.
You might ask how this is different from taking surveys. Well, focus groups are mainly for research purposes. You are discussing topics on which you can’t collect data through any other means.
4. Car advertising
This option requires that you allow a company to wrap your car in the advertising of their choice. After the company is done wrapping your car in a large advert flyer, all you have to do is drive like you usually would.
The best part about this job is that you earn more when you drive more. Most people who have adopted this side hustle earn anywhere between $200-$500 per month.
5. Carpooling
By signing up with apps like Roadie, you have the opportunity to get paid every time you drive, as long as you’re willing to carpool.
Even though you’re getting paid, you have to be ok with others riding with you. Or, you can get paid to drop off someone’s pet to a designated location.
Most of the time, you won’t even have to go out of your way to give someone a ride. Their destination will fall somewhere within your route.
6. Financial coaching
Are you skilled at managing your personal finances and budget? If so, consider helping others with theirs! While you may think that managing finances is super easy, many people do not.
Some people even hire tutors who help them figure out how to save money or invest wisely. If you have a solid understanding of this, you could sign up to be a financial coach and get paid for it.
While you do not need a degree for this job, it won’t hurt to have some experience in case some clients request a free class before they hire you.
7. Selling old stuff
Go through every one of your belongings and list out the things you haven’t used in a long time. If you have not needed them for so long, you probably won’t need them in the future either.
As a general rule of thumb, when you are cleaning out your closet, ask yourself if you’ve used the item in question even once in the past three months. If the answer is yes, you can keep it and sell it at a later date. However, if the answer is no, go ahead and sell it.
Instead of letting useless things take up so much space, sell them on trusted sites like eBay to earn extra money.
8. Starting an online business
You don’t need any extraordinary skills to be a part of the business world. However, you will need a clear plan in order to succeed and make money.
By leveraging social media sites like TikTok, building an audience and selling to customers is more accessible than ever.
And for all the right reasons. Users get amazing feedback from their viewers. You could try your hand at making clay jewelry or homemade paper (yes!). If neither of those is up your alley, you could try making DIY rings and selling them. Anything that you would be excited to make and sell is a possibility.
Remember, your packaging needs to be just as appealing to the public. More often than not, online businesses flourish because they put a lot of effort into their product packaging (and because of their impeccable product quality, of course).
9. Washing cars
If you’ve got a lot of free time on your hands, you could volunteer to wash other people’s cars. You could even replace their tires for them.
Of course, you can’t do this job without knowing your way around cars. You need the correct tools and skills. To up your game and make more cash simultaneously, you could open up a car wash-on-wheels business.
10. Completing others’ tasks
People love to pay others to do jobs for them. From doing laundry to buying groceries, you can get paid to do simple everyday chores.
Some jobs might be a bit difficult at times, especially if you have a client who has a lot of demands. But you can always choose a different route if you don’t think it’s for you.
As for the pay, it strictly depends on the client and the kinds of chores you will be assigned.
11. Evaluating search engines
When you search for something on Google or Bing, all of the most relevant searches show up first. Keeping this order in check is what search engine evaluators do.
Lots of companies hire personnel for this post, and if you have good management skills and can keep up with the stress of dealing with lots of information at once, this job might be suitable for you.
Of course, you have to know about the search topics you will be covering and how the internet works if you want to do a good job. The pay rate for this job usually starts at $10 per hour.
12. Doing audio transcriptions
Do you have great listening skills? Check out audio transcription jobs on Fiverr or Upwork. Audio transcription is the process of typing out what you hear.
In this job, you will be given a file of a recording or voice message. Your job is to listen to what is being said and type out the whole conversation. A good degree of multitasking is required if you want to be an audio transcriber.
Most companies will ask you to complete a test run to see if you have what it takes to be a part of their transcribing team. If you want to make extra money doing this, make sure you brush up on your typing skills.
Companies consider a transcribing employee to be more efficient when they don’t frequently pause the recording to re-listen to what is being said. Your average pay rate should be 45 to 80 cents per minute of transcribing.
13. Selling photos
Got a camera and excellent photography skills? It’s time you put these two to work and make some extra money from it. Look up some reliable companies that will buy your photos from you.
Unfortunately, you might not get all the credit since you will be losing ownership of the photos. If you don’t want to lose all rights to a picture you took, you could upload it to websites like Unsplash.
You won’t get paid whenever someone downloads your picture, which is a real bummer. But, if you post your PayPal address or website link in your Unsplash bio, the chances of you getting more recognition increases.
14. Managing social media
Help out small businesses by applying to be their social media manager. You’ll have to be punctual and regularly review the posts on their profile. You’ll also have to create and schedule new posts that will reach a larger audience.
Make sure to follow those who work in the same niche as your company does. For a clearer concept, check out your company’s competitors and then design your posts accordingly.
15. Teaching a language
If you’re multilingual, this is your chance to make some extra money on the side. Whether you’re self-taught or you learned from a family member, you could start teaching a language to other people.
You could start by giving one-on-one lessons, and then advance to teaching multiple students at once.
16. Gaming
If you enjoy playing video games and have exceptional skills, you should definitely start earning money from it.
Live stream yourself playing your favorite video game and upload it to YouTube or Twitch. You could even make a walk-through video of a new game. Make sure you monetize your videos before you upload them so that you can earn money from them.
17. Assisting someone virtually
As a virtual assistant, you will be responsible for managing your employer’s schedules, meetings, and other tasks. You’ll need outstanding communication and organizational skills. Your exact job description will depend on who you’re working for.
Though this job requires a bit more effort than others on this list, the pay is worth it. Depending on your level of expertise and how well you do your job, you could be paid anywhere from $500-$1200 per week.
Final Words
Hopefully this list has given you a few ideas on how to make extra money from the opportunities around you. Reflect on your personal skills and interests to choose the side hustle that is best for you. No matter which one you choose, all of these opportunities can be long-term or temporary means of earning money.
If you’re looking for more side hustle ideas, be sure to check out our blog.