The gig economy, side hustle way of life isn't going anywhere.
With the proliferation of software, apps, and monetization of virtually every social media platform, you can make money from your smartphone doing... almost anything.
In our opinion, the best side hustles allow you to create your own schedule and can be done from the comfort of your own home (with a little help from your internet connection).
The following side hustle ideas are customized for five different prototypes of side hustles, depending on how much money someone needs and how fast.
Table of Contents
- Sell Your Stuff Side Gigs
- Spare Time Side Gigs
- Side Gigs That Work: Proven Side Gigs
- The Freelance Side Hustle
- Career-Shifting Side Gigs
Sell Your Stuff Side Gigs
You've just been laid off or fired, and your car comes to a sputtering halt in the middle of the freeway before spitting up a cloud of black smoke.
Regardless of what sort of bad luck you’re up against, rent is due in a week, and you are broke. So you need money ASAP, as in now, and you’ll do whatever it takes to get it.
1. Sell Your Clothes IRL
For immediate cash, take the bags straight to a consignment store like Buffalo Exchange or Crossroads.
Pro Tip: Having had a friend who worked at Crossroads, here’s an insider's trick: buyer frenzy is real. Don’t just throw your stuff into a garbage bag—make sure everything’s clean, ironed, and folded, then pack it all in a nice tote or at least a bag from a higher-end retail store.
Put two of your nicest, high ticket items on the top of the pile, then mix in a couple of mid-levels with another high-ticket item, then mix from there. If the buyer gets excited about the first few items, she’s more likely to buy, buy, buy.
2. Sell Your Clothes Online
If you have a little more time to spare, list your items on a digital platform like Poshmark or eBay.
You can literally list your whole closet in there. If there's something you're not *sold* on selling, list it high. You never know what could happen when the price is right.
3. Sell at Used Bookstores, Throw a Yard Sale, and Post on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace
Yes, you should unload any furniture or books you’re not using. Sites like Mercari, ThredUp, and Facebook Marketplace are great places to sell...pretty much anything.
4. Sign Up for a Fiverr Account
You can make money (not much, but it adds up!) doing almost everything on Fiverr, from copywriting to proofreading to logo design. If you have a great voice, you can even try voiceover work. The payout's not as immediate as selling all your stuff, but the cash starts to come quickly.
On Fiverr, you can get a number of jobs, including freelance writing, product photography, and much more. Check it out!
5. Stalk NextDoor for Odd Jobs
NextDoor is technically meant to serve as a digital neighborhood watch, but people often post wanted ads for various things. I've asked for a dog walker on there before. It’s super easy to reply, and it’s much less formal than the other helper apps. You can also post a listing saying you’re available as a house sitter, to mow lawns, etc.
6. Houseclean, Organize, or Run Errands
Not the most glamorous of side hustles, but great if you’ve got free hours. You can sign up to work on sites like Handy, TaskRabbit, and Postmates obviously, but another great option: if you have friends or neighbors who Airbnb, offer to help clean up after each new tenant in exchange for the cleaning fees they receive anyway.
It's one less step they have to do, and it's regular work. Embarrassing maybe, but it depends on how desperate—or unflappable—you are: I had a friend who cleaned house for several of her boyfriend's disorganized male friends when we were in college.
Spare Time Side Gigs
We see you out there with your full-time job.
You’re making enough money to pay the bills, but you’ve got a couple of big debts looming over your head. So, yeah, you can use some extra income.
Those student loan payments are no joke, and your credit card interest is atrocious. You've already considered Uber or Lyft, but what else? You’re willing to put in some serious work after your day job to get rid of that debt (or just build an emergency savings account) sooner rather than later.
7. Work as Weekend Shopgirl
Yes, in an ideal universe, work would end at 5:00 on Friday and you’d go to the beach on Saturday and eat brunch on Sunday, then come back revitalized on Monday morning. But if you’re trying to earn some extra cash temporarily, asking around your neighborhood bookstores and clothing boutiques to see if anyone is hiring weekend or evening shifts is a great option.
8. Take on Copywriting and Ghostwriting Gigs
If you’re a great writer, using a service like Upwork is an excellent choice for ongoing, albeit sporadic, work. For a few months, I ghostwrote articles for a tech site. I only got a few assignments monthly, but each one made me $125 a pop and only took me about an hour and a half to write.
If you'd like to build a portfolio of writing and make more money as a freelance writer, look to these sites to find opportunities.
9. Take Surveys
Yes, these really do pay money (as long as you're using the reliable, big survey sites). If you find you’re sitting at home after work staring at Netflix, this wouldn’t be a bad thing to do while watching whatever episode of Master of None you're on. Here’s a roundup of the best survey sites.
10. Participate in User Testing
Yep, I did this for a period (as I write this, I'm realizing how many side hustles I've actually done) and made a few hundred dollars off of it.
Basically, you get an assignment where you fiddle around on a new website and record yourself doing it, describing out loud what’s happening and any points where you have a difficult time.
Web developers use your recordings to determine edits they should make to ensure their sites are user-friendly. I had luck using UserTesting, but there are other sites as well including Userlytics and Userfeel.
Pro Tip: You'll have the best luck with these sites if you're readily available to take on tests as they come in. Typically, they need X number of participants, so if you don't say yes ASAP, you miss out.
11. Bookkeeping/Tax Prep Assistance
This is not the one for me, but if you’re using these skills at your day job, now might be a good time to offer your services after hours. Small businesses are a great target (I have a friend who's now doing this for some independent record labels because—shocker—most music world people do not love finance stuff), but so are any of your friends who hate dealing with their taxes. Just give them a “friends' discount” instead of offering to do it for free.
12. Give Local Tours
No telling how often this will flow in, but there are several sites like ToursByLocals that let you design and plan tours for visitors to your area. Especially if you live in a big city, this is a great way to get creative and get out of the house for a bit. Win-win.
Proven Side Gigs
You’re making all your ends meet, and you’re not in debt. Honestly, you could skip the side hustle thing entirely. But you wouldn’t mind a little side cash, especially since you’re going to be taking a few vacations this year. So you figure, why not? No rush exactly, but you’d love to make some extra money.
13. Airbnb Experience Host
We’re sure you’re familiar with Airbnb, and if you’ve got an extra room in your apartment, by all means, consider becoming a host for extra dough.
Or consider their Experiences section, where you can offer to host any number of activity-based opportunities—things like shared meals, yoga sessions in the park, or even city tours. If you like meeting people and event planning, this could be the option for you.
14. Turn Your Extra Space Into Money
If you have unused extra space at home, you can turn it into money by renting it out as storage or parking space with Neighbor.
Called the "Airbnb of storage", use Neighbor to rent out any spare rooms, closets, basements, garages, driveways, and sheds to store other people's stuff—and get paid for it.
15. Rent Out Your Car
Evidently, the average car sits for 22 hours a day (mine sits for more like 23). Apps like Turo are aiming to change that by letting you rent out your car when you’re not using it. Not a bad deal if you’re comfortable with that kind of arrangement.
16. Plan Budget-Friendly Flights for Non-Savvy Travelers
Are you a total wiz at finding the cheapest flights possible? Flight Fox wants you to help them. If you can complete this test, you could be the perfect fit.
17. Try Affiliate Marketing
If you have a big following on social media, this is a great option. A social media coordinator I know is an affiliate for Glossier, so she has a special referral code she shares now and again on her Instagram. Anytime they make a sale from that, she gets a kickback.
Other sites/apps offer affiliate bonuses as well (including some of our favorites like Digit and Qapital). $5 a sign-up may not sound like a lot, but if that happens 10 times, you’ve got $50 in your pocket, you know? And don't forget that Amazon has an affiliate network, too—if you're blogging about your favorite books or products, make sure to use your code for a little spare change.
18. Make Your Own Online Courses
Passive income is the best. If you are an expert on something and are willing to put a little time in before getting paid, consider setting up a few courses on Skillshare or Udemy. With a little luck, you’ll earn a constant flow of money without putting much thought in at all.
19. Work as an Online Language Tutor
Bilingual? Fantastic. You can make money just by having conversations in languages like Spanish or French online. Not bilingual? Apparently, you can also tutor non-English speakers abroad via Skype. Try Wyzant.
20. Headshot Photographer
How many of your friends compliment your LinkedIn profile picture? Now, how many of those friends know that you took the photo yourself, using a combination of good natural lighting, your smartphone, and about 43 strategically-placed books?
Improve your photography skill set by supplying all of your LinkedIn connections with a new perfect headshot.
The Freelance Side Hustle
You have a part-time gig—or enough clients—to make working for yourself full-time almost viable. You just need one more steady source of income to take the plunge. The key here is to find something that will bring in a regular paycheck without being too mundane or miserable.
21. Work as a Fitness Instructor/Personal Trainer or Coach
If you're back to hitting the gym and it's your favorite place to be, then this is a natural fit.
Requirements vary from studio to studio, but it doesn’t hurt to ask. Even if you have to invest in a certification, it might be worth it if it's a gig you can fall back on anytime a freelance client falls through.
Another option from a commenter on a side hustle on Reddit: "I referee lacrosse and ice hockey as my side gigs. I can work as much or as little as I want. The real nice is thing is that I enjoy doing both. So it's not like work to me. Getting $35-$65 a game is easy money."
22. Become a Front Desk Assistant
Hair studios, large office buildings, gyms. Most of these places hire part-time people to cover the front desks. It’s a great, low-effort side job, plus you can usually be on your computer doing other work as long as you perk up when people arrive.
You can also work in exchange for free memberships at a yoga or pilates studio.
23. Dog Sit/Dog Walk
If you’re working from home and love pets, signing up on Rover is a genius idea. You can spend your lunch hour on dog walks or offer up your house as a mellow dog daycare. And it works—my own Rover dog walker recently told me she’s paying her rent off her services.
24. Become a Virtual Assistant or Online Customer Service Rep
Outsourcing to the internet is real, so why not get in on it? Try services like Belay Solutions. This list explores some great virtual assistant options.
25. Build Squarespace Sites
Chances are you’re fairly web-savvy, but there are a ton of people who aren’t. Offer your services to people or businesses you know to get them set up on Squarespace. Especially if you’re a writer, you can help them set up their About pages and other content as well.
While you're at it, start your own blog or portfolio site. Even if you're not looking to become a full-time blogger, this hustle idea can help you promote any number of your other hustles. Start by writing a few blog posts about your niche of choice and go from there.
26. Sell Books
I have a cousin who does this as her full-time gig. Basically, you download apps that let you scan codes to determine how much a book is worth online. Then you head to thrift stores or yard sales and start scanning. If you find a book priced at $2, but you can sell it online for $5, you’re turning a profit (theoretically—if someone’s interested in buying). You do that by setting up accounts on Thriftbooks, Amazon, etc.
Pro Tip: The same technique can be applied to records if you’re a music junkie or to clothes. As a die-hard thrifter, I often find a bunch of designer stuff at Goodwill that I could turn a profit on by selling to consignment stores (Madewell stuff, designer shoes and bags, etc.).
Career-Shifting Side Gigs
These personalities are two sides of the same coin in a way, so I'm consolidating the side hustle options below. Maybe you’re not sure what you want to do next, so you want to use a side hustle to test some things out. Or maybe you know that you want to start a career as a writer or marketer but don’t have the experience, so you want to use as a side hustle to get there. Regardless, this is about learning and growing.
27. Work in Customer Service at Companies That Interest You
It’s the easiest way to get your foot in the door, and you’ll learn exactly how the company works plus improve your communication skills. Many companies let their customer service reps determine their own hours and/or work remotely, so it’s low commitment, too.
28. Offer Your Unique Skills to Small Businesses
If your goal is to get into marketing or social media specifically, approach businesses that don’t have a social media presence to help them out.
Digital marketing is an umbrella term that encompasses more and more every day. Yes, every time a new social platform is launched or a new algorithm undoes years of work, a digital marketer can learn the most up-to-date skills and save the day!
In their side hustle roundup, The Financial Diet recommends that you put together packages at different levels so they know exactly what they’re getting. Make sure to add them to your portfolio site when you’re through! The same applies to any other skills you might have—PR, finance, recruiting. Think of what skills you want to build up and offer them.
29. Learn and Grow Your Graphic Design Talents
Learn how to use Photoshop, finally. Utilize free resources like YouTube videos or blog how-tos. Simply learning how to retouch images, resize assets for the web, or format text can get you in the door, so to speak, for smaller gigs.
Once you advance to intermediate graphic design skills, you can help all of your friends' design logos for their own side hustles, build a portfolio, and create one of the more lucrative side hustles from there.
30. Serve as a Wedding Officiant
The wedding business is back and it's booming, so think about getting paid to go to weddings, which are inevitably a great place to do a little mellow networking. Not a bad way to put yourself out there.
31. Search “Remote Work” or “Work from Home” on LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and Craigslist
This is a deep dive, but you never know what you’ll find! Searching for terms like "remote" make it more likely to be a part-time gig. And here's a list we compiled with remote work opportunities.
32. Volunteer in a Field That Interests You
We prefer that every woman gets paid for her time, but if you want to get started in something, volunteering after your normal workday isn’t the worst thing for a few months.
