Whether you’re looking for a side hustle to replace your day job income, or just for a way to make a few extra bucks, I’ve got you covered.
There’s gold in this list. 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!
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1. Online and In-Person Research Studies: Up to $140 an Hour
There are a couple online research companies everyone should sign up for.
User Interviews is a great resource for connecting with remote consumer research studies. I’ve made $105 in about an hour and a half so far — here’s my full User Interviews review .
Respondent is one of the best paying online survey companies 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.
Rare Patient Voice pays patients and caregivers $120 an hour to assist with medical research. You can browse a full list of available studies on their site—nearly all of which are phone or webcam interviews.
If you suffer from any sort of medical condition (even if it’s not super rare), this one is worth a look.
The site is open to residents of United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand.
2. Online Surveys: $1 a Day
No list of money-making ideas would be complete without 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:
Swagbucks – Earn up to $35 a survey with this mega-popular app, and get a $10 bonus just for signing up!
Branded Surveys – One of the best-rated survey sites with millions paid out.
Survey Junkie – Earn up to $40 a month and cash out beginning at just $5.
InboxDollars – Get a $5 bonus just for signing up!
American Consumer Opinion – Join millions of free members and earn up to $50 per survey.
Pinecone Research – Earn $3 for each 15-20 minute survey. They'll send you a $3 check after your first one.
YouGov - Long-running survey panel, with data often cited in the media.
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.
3. Virtual Bookkeeping: Up to $70/hr
Remote bookkeepers can earn $20-70 an hour and up for their work. This is a great option for people with accounting experience from school or your day job.
Here’s a free training on how to get started .
4. Resell Flea Market Finds: Up to $5000 per Flip
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.
The pioneering auction site is still going strong and can be a good place to get your products in front of 130+ million potential buyers .
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.
Pros: Low startup costs
Simple business model
Can multiply money quickly
Cons: Can be time-consuming to source inventory
Difficult to store and ship bulky items
Join the Free Workshop!
Suggested Playlist: Flipping Profits
Buying low and selling high is the fastest way to multiply money. Here's how to get it done.
Add to Spotify
5. Make Extra Money Playing Online Games
Rewarded Play (Android)
With over 170,000 reviews and a 4.3-star rating in the Google Play store, Rewarded Play is another free, legit, and fun, “get paid to play” app.
Rewarded Play is your one-stop app for casual games like Solitaire, Mahjong, Wheel of Fortune, Yahtzee, and more. As you play, choose your rewards and get your gift cards within 48 hours.
Bingo Cash
The popular Bingo Cash game app turns classic bingo from a game of luck into a game of speed and skill. Each game only takes about 2 minutes to play, and you can earn real-world rewards and cash prizes (except in AR, IA, LA, SC, and WA).
At press time, the app has a 4.7-star rating on the iOS App Store from 97,000+ reviews, with players calling it legit, fun, and addicting.
As with all gaming apps, practice for free first. Then, never put more money at risk than you can afford to lose.
6. 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 Arrived , a cool online marketplace built for busy investors. For as little as $100, you can buy shares of cash-flowing rental properties.
My friend Dustin Heiner built up his rental portfolio and was able to retire before 40 on the cash flow.
7. Commercial Real Estate
Fundrise allows you to invest in a portfolio of commercial properties all around the country. I’ve been a Fundrise investor for years and they’ve consistently paid quarterly dividends in the 5-10% yield range.
(Disclosure: when you sign up, I earn a commission. All opinions are my own.)
Plus, you can get started with as little as $10 .
8. Earn More Interest
I’ve been earning 4.75% interest with my Betterment Cash Reserve account. Of course, rates are subject to change but this is a whole lot better than the pennies a year we earn on our checking account balance.
Related: 79 Alternative Investment Platforms to Earn Stronger Returns, Build Cash Flow, and Diversify Your Portfolio
9. Start an Online Business
This probably isn’t the right path if you need to make extra money quickly, but can build into a full-time income stream over time.
My primary revenue stream is affiliate marketing, but website creators can make money in lots of different ways , including:
selling your own products and services
advertising
live events
reader donations
and more
Click here to check out my free video course on how to start a blog .
Pros: Low startup costs
Great long-term earning power
Can sell the business down the road
Cons: Slow to see results
Lots of skills to learn
Start your site!
Free Blogging Playlist
10. Self-Publish on Amazon
Thanks to Amazon’s Kindle platform, you can publish your work and tap into a massive audience of book buyers.
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 over $75,000 in author royalties, and I think books are a pretty awesome way to both build authority in your niche and earn passive income along the way.
Related: My Amazon author profile and book listings
11. Become a Mystery Shopper
Field Agent presents a list of tasks you can do based on your location. If you happen to be running errands nearby, 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.
For more info, please see my full Field Agent review .
12. 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.)
13. Babysitting
Babysitting and child care was my original income stream as a teenager , and is still a viable way to make extra money.
Sites like Care.com and Sittercity can help match you up with families.
14. Knife Sharpening
Matt Rowell taught himself how to sharpen knives on YouTube, and turned it into a $250-1500 a month side business.
15. Online Tutoring: Up to $60/hr
Tutoring and test prep is more than a billion dollar a year industry . You can start your own tutoring business to earn extra cash and help students at the same time. Bonus points if you were a decent student or have some subject matter expertise!
Wyzant is a popular online and in-person tutoring platform that connects you with students in a wide variety of subjects and grade levels.
As a tutor, you set your own schedule and rates. For example, when I searched Wyzant for math tutors nearby, I found several tutors charging $40-60 an hour.
16. Create an Outschool Class
Outschool is a marketplace for online small group classes for kids. Jade Weatherington reported earning over $10,000 a month from her virtual writing classes.
17. Sell Lesson Plans and Material
Teachers Pay Teachers is a popular marketplace for lesson plans and other educational materials. One blogger I know began putting some of her content on this site and now earns $5000 a month part-time .
18. Sign Up for Free Rewards Apps: $150+ Per Year
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.
For example, the Fetch Rewards app gives you cash back just for snapping a picture of your receipts.
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 .)
Rakuten has been giving online shoppers cash back for 20 years. A recent computer purchase from Dell netted me $160 cash back! (They were running a special offer.)
They’ll even give you a free $30 bonus when you create your account!
19. Sell Used Books
Use the free BookScouter app to find out what books are worth—either the ones you have collecting dust on your shelves or the 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 ! (He recommended the faster ScoutIQ app .)
20. Sell Printables on Etsy
Selling printables on Etsy is a great way to make extra money if you have an eye for design and love researching new niches.
For example, Rachel Jones reported earning up to $10,000 a month without any inventory .
21. Amazon Arbitrage
Amazon FBA is “fulfillment by Amazon.” This is Amazon’s unique way of crowdsourcing inventory from individual sellers like you and me. As a seller, you can take advantage of Amazon’s world class logistics network—and tap into their huge audience of buyers.
The easiest way to get started is to source good deals locally and then selling them via Amazon. I sat down with a $1 million Amazon reseller to learn more about how it works.
(You can even do this all online — sourcing products from other e-commerce retailers!)
22. Software Consulting
Is there a software that you’re a relative expert in?
One of my favorite angles is to piggyback on the popularity of a particular software tool, like Brad Rice did with Salesforce (earning over $200k a year part time! ). As adoption of the software grows, so too does the demand for qualified support.
With platforms like Clarity.fm , you can get started very quickly and earn $60/hour and up.
23. Get Paid to Lose Weight: $500+
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 .
24. Refinishing Furniture
Flipping furniture is a popular side hustle for people who like to work with their hands. Solid wood dressers are the easiest pieces to start with, and if you’re going for the “rustic farmhouse” look, your painting doesn’t need to be perfect.
Aim to buy used furniture for $50 or less, and resell it for $150-300 on Facebook Marketplace.
25. Resell Furniture Returns
If sanding and painting sounds like a lot of work, this furniture flipping side hustle is a lot easier. As a part-time Sharetown rep, you’ll pick up gently-used furniture returns from direct-to-consumer brands.
Since the items aren’t new, the companies can’t really take them back and resell them — but you can. The Sharetown reps I’ve connected with report earning $150-250 per item.
And the cool part is the inventory doesn’t cost you anything until it sells.
Check out our full Sharetown review to learn more.
Pros: Low startup costs
Great earning power
No hunting for inventory
Cons: Requires a truck or SUV
Bulky items to store
Not available in all areas
Learn More and Sign Up
Full Sharetown Review
26. Become a Virtual Assistant: Up to $40/hr
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. She 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 .
27. Parking Lot Cleanup
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.
28. House Cleaning
Anthony and Jhanilka Hartzog grew their Dallas-area residential cleaning service to $25k a month in revenue. And the best part? They hire other cleaners to do the work!
More and more homeowners outsource this chore, and the industry remains highly fragmented. Those factors spell an opportunity for you to win clients.
29. 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 .
30. 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. Here’s more on how to start a pressure washing business .
31. Delivery or Rideshare Gigs: $15-25/hr
You’ve 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.”
In fact, these “gig economy” apps have helped create a multi-hundred billion dollar a year industry . Here are some options to get your piece of the pie.
Options include:
DoorDash – Earn up to $25 an hour as a food delivery driver for. For more, here’s our full DoorDash review .
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.
Uber Eats – Make local takeout deliveries in your town with and earn up $25 an hour doing so.
Shipt – Drivers can earn up to $22 an hour shopping for and delivering fresh food and household essentials.
Pros: Easy to get started
No marketing or sales required
Can earn money quickly
