Business

The Best Side Hustles

Who doesn’t like making more money? Seeking out new side hustles has been a hobby of mine for a while now and the prospect of new ways to earn some cash on the side always gets me excited.

Side hustles can help give your finances a little nudge and allow you to achieve your financial goals much faster. Whether you’re attempting to pay off student debt or add some extra money to your travel budget, a side hustle can help you accomplish that.

Everyone can benefit from having a side hustle. In fact, I’m no longer reliant on a 9-5 job and the backbone of my financial independence can be solely attributed to the network of side jobs I have cultivated over the years.

The goal in this article is to show you five profitable and easy to start side hustles that can help subsidize your income and earn you extra money every week or with a little work replace your 9-5 job altogether.

Don’t let the term side hustle throw you, many of the suggestions below have the potential to become legitimate online businesses and are perfect for those looking for legitimate ways to work from home and make money online.

What is a Side Hustle?

A side hustle is anything you do to earn money outside of a traditional job. Sometimes known as a side job or money-making hustle. Many side hustles start out small but have the potential to replace your regular job and become your main source of income.

The Best Side Hustles You Can Start Immediately

1. Creating and Selling Online Courses

Earning Potential: $1,000 – $100,000+

Long Term Growth Potential: Very High

Schedule Flexibility: Very High

The E-Learning industry has benefited from substantial growth in the past few years and entrepreneurs are seizing this opportunity. Creating and selling online courses is slowly becoming one of the most profitable online businesses anyone can start.

The idea here is simple. You choose a subject (gardening, cooking, accounting, math, parenting, etc) and build comprehensive lesson plans using course creation platforms like Teachable and Udemy.

Your online courses can consist of text, video, audio, or whatever media format you’re most comfortable using.

You don’t need to be an industry expert to create online courses either. In fact, many regular people have built successful online courses based on simple subjects like gardening and cooking.

2. Delivering Groceries with Instacart

Earning Potential – $15 – $50+ an order

Long Term Growth Potential: Low

Schedule Flexibility: High

Instacart is a nifty little app that you can use to make a few extra bucks.

Think of it as Uber for grocery delivery. Customers can log on and complete their grocery order online then sit back and wait for them to be delivered right to their door.

Of course, that means Instacart is in need of shoppers and delivery drivers and that’s where you come in.

You can easily apply to be a delivery driver through their app and once confirmed you can start accepting orders immediately.

In my opinion, delivering groceries for Instacart is a much better side hustle than driving for Uber or Lyft and that’s because of the potential for large tips. Many grocery orders can be $200 or more and when you factor in a 10% or 15% tip the amount you earn per order really starts to add up.

It’s not uncommon to earn $30 – $50 per grocery delivery order and that’s why I’m putting it on the list. Factor in the ability to work when you want for as long as you want and this is one of the best side hustles you don’t want to pass up.

3. Start a Blog

Earning Potential: $500-$100,000+ a month

Long Term Growth Potential: Very High

Schedule Flexibility: Very High

Enjoy writing and sharing your passions? Starting a blog is a fantastic way to build a long term revenue stream with unlimited growth potential.

Many blogs earn six figures or more every single month but temper your expectations because it takes a lot of work and patience to get to that point.

For new bloggers, expecting a return of $500 – $1000 a month after 6 months of consistent blogging and promotion is an attainable goal.

When starting a blog you’ll want to pick a target niche (the subject matter of your blog) and fill your new website with content related to that. Some profitable blog niches to consider are finance, technology, travel, cooking, and parenting.

4. Start a Pet Sitting Business

Earning Potential: Dog Walkers: $15 – $30 an hour/

Long Term Growth Potential: Medium

Schedule Flexibility: Medium

Pet sitting is big business and every year the industry expands to new heights. It used to be that when you needed to go out of town you’d drop your dog off at a kennel, but now people want to leave their pets in a more warm and loving environment.

It’s for reasons like this that home-based pet sitting businesses have begun to emerge, and apps like Rover make connecting pet sitters with pet owners incredibly easy.

If you want to get started pet sitting you can simply create an account with Rover or other pet sitting networks and once approved you may begin advertising your pet sitting services.

If you don’t have the space to house animals overnight, don’t worry. Dog walkers are always in demand and you can start a dog walking business using Rover or other pet sitting networks.

Easy Side Hustles to Make Money Fast

To end this list, let’s look at some quick side jobs you can do to make some quick side cash.

Rent out your Driveway

Parking is expensive and you can make some extra money on the side by renting out your driveway to work commuters or during events in your city.

Take Online Surveys

Don’t expect to get rich, but if you’re in need of a quick cash infusion you can make a few bucks an hour doing some online surveys through Swagbucks or MyPoints.