12 Side Hustles You Can Easily Start Today

Side Hus.tle ~ the art of bringing in money over and above your main income usually on a part time basis.

The idea of side hustling isn’t new; however, technology has made it much easier and simpler to start at the click of a mouse and in some cases you can successfully transition a side hustle to being your main source of income.

In my book “Fabulous and Broke ~ 7 Life Hacks to Bring Order to Your Finances Today,” I talk about re-purposing the $299 purse purchase to a $299 investment in starting your own business.

Side hustle isn’t just a nice to have, but a must have. It makes you less vulnerable and more in control of planned or unplanned life events.

Before you can get a handle on this, you have to ensure that your budgets and finances are in order as this a key to success. It is important to allocate funds for a side hustle, so when opportunities present its self, you are able to take advantage and run with it.

I do make extra income from time to time selling broken electronic pieces from cellphone headsets to FitBits and I thought to myself “how many people would have thrown these away as garbage?” I allude to this in a recent post that as you declutter you will find that not all items belong in the recycle or garbage bin.

The list below is not an exhaustive list, but a start to get you thinking about what you can do to increase your cash flow ~ 12 side hustle gigs you can easily start using what you’ve got:

1. Online Tutor

Think about a subject you know you’re very good at and offer your teaching service by posting on sites like Kijiji.ca or Craigslist or speak to your local elementary / high school office and ask to place posters or better yet sign up with an online tutoring provider and your customer base just got global. You can earn anywhere from $20 per hour to $40 per hour depending on the subject and skill level elementary, high school or university. For standardized tests like PSAT or SAT or ACT you’ll be surprised that you can command $50 per hour and more

2. Teach English to ESL students

This is a huge one as there is a global demand by non-native English speakers for English speaking teachers across the world. This isn’t only a local client base. This could work to your advantage as you can teach via all the video tools out there today (FaceTime; Skype, etc.,) based on your availability. If you’re a night owl, there’s bound to be a student awake somewhere in the world needing your service. Some sites require you to get certified and you can earn anywhere from $15 /hour and up

3. Teach Mastery of Instagram / Facebook / Pinterest / Snapchat

This is a great expertise to have and could bring in a pretty penny depending on how you market.  Teach clients how to grow their followers in order to expand their customer base or simply research and teach how to use the right hashtag for specific industries or teach how to successfully post.  Some of these tasks may seem insignificant, but to others mastering any one of those items makes a big difference on their bottom line. In addition, you can manage social media accounts for clients.

4. Selling Refurbished or Old Electronics

I’m a big fan of this hustle and many know that I can’t talk enough about this. Start by decluttering in your home then ask others for their old electronics (make sure you have properly wiped off personal data of the devices). You could offer to sell your friends items for a commission. I have sold a playground set for a friend who kept complaining about needing to get rid of the set as her kids had out grown yet not having the time to list or sell, so I took up that project and I was pleasantly surprised. I felt it was more profitable, because I didn’t have to break down the set great bonus (to be honest I was worried about that, so I will always recommend you are very clear in your ads). List your ads on sites like Kijiji; Craigslist; eBay or create an Amazon store. Do check out the rules for Amazon as they are strict about certain items and wouldn’t allow some items to be sold on their site.

5. Amazon Affiliate Link

More details on Amazon. Amazon offers a myriad of products for sale, so if you blog take advantage of the Amazon Affiliate link by signing up and sharing the link to your readership. For example, Chef Nathanie that blogs about her recipes is able to recommend where she purchases her kitchen tools from especially if she gets them off Amazon. Take advantage and utilize the Amazon Affiliate link because you make a commission for any sale that goes through your link.

6. Pet Sitting /Walking

If you do not have allergies and perhaps you already have a dog that you have to take for a walk, why not bring along a canine friend or two? This is great as well for potential clients that travel a lot. Kennels and Pet day care do get pricey and these are also great side hustles for tweens and teenagers especially in the evenings or summer time.

7. Create an Online Course

Don’t be petrified if you don’t consider yourself an expert. There’s bound to be “something” in quotes that you are good at. Don’t limit your thinking to your college/university training. This could be a hobby you’re passionate about such as jewelry making or how to differentiate authentic leather from fake or how to grow your Instagram account. These may sound simple, but there is someone out there willing to pay to learn this skill. Think about this, a course you sell for $10 and 100 people purchase is $1,000 in income. Now do the math if 300 or more buy or the course is offered at $100 and you end up with 300 students. Nice right! To make this even better, you don’t have to travel and this is also passive income, so while you’re sleeping your course(s) are making you money. Get cracking. Teachable is a great platform to use for launching and offering your online course. There’s also Udemy.

  8. Swagbucks / Ebates / Usertesting

Swagbucks you don’t make a lot of money from, but it is a great side hustle for the few minutes you spend either doing a quick survey; downloading an app. You earn points for using and making Swagbucks your default search engine, meaning you would use Swagbucks like you would Google.  You earn points called Swagbucks (SB) and this can be redeemed for a lot of different types of items and for a coffee drinker like me being able to splurge once in a while on a great cup of Machiatto from Starbucks is priceless. You can start earning by signing up here.

Ebates this is another affiliate connection that you earn money from as well as save when you make purchases. Ebates shares the commission they earn with you. Get started here.

User Testing is another way to earn money from testing websites and providing feedback.

9. Fiverr

At Fiverr you are a freelancer using your skills to earn money less the Fiverr fees and merchant fees of course. But these add up and you can up-sell your services to clients. People are willing to pay for 30 second voice overs, so put that golden voice or accent to use or it could be freelancing your technical skills like logo or graphic design.  There’s no shortage on skills that you can showcase start here.

10. Photos

If you’re a great photographer then put those skills to use and make some income on the side. Companies like iStockPhoto, Fotolia; Bigstockphoto; Shutterstock will pay and you earn residual income for your original photo.

11. Provide Calligraphy Expertise

I add this because this is truly a dying art. Very few have this skill and schools are sadly phasing this out of their curriculum and I hate to see this form of penmanship die. I’m still a true die hard. Can you tell? Put those skills to use by offering your services on any of the social media platforms including Etsy. Create an online course to teach calligraphy. The key is to never think that any skill or talent is insignificant.

12. Uber Driver

This is another great side hustle that brings in a pretty penny. I heard recently about an Uber driver that his only source of income is driving with Uber. If you have a clean car less than 10years old; obtain the proper insurance coverage and make money on your availability. Click here to start your Uber career.  Not interested in driving, but need to get an Uber ride, click here.

Lyft is another ride share company that operates similar to Uber. You can sign up for Lyft here.

Bonus Side Hustles that proves that no idea or skill is insignificant:

• Participation in medical research
• Selling your hair online
• Using your car as an advertising tool
• Landscape
• Painter
• Offering Handyman services
• Facepainter (put your artistic skills to use earn up to $100 per hour)
• House sitter
• Get a part time job
• Ikea Furniture builder (yes, there are some people that will pay to have this done)
• Music Teacher
• Snow Removal
• Waitress / Waiter
• T-Shirts (create them on Zazzle.com and sell online)
• Rent out Your Home or a Room in the house (Airbnb.com)
• Chef / Baker (love to cook or bake there are lots of people that will pay to have meals cooked for them )
• Bookkeeper (love numbers there are many small businesses/Home based businesses that will appreciate that help)
• Sell your used books
• Sell old clothes (poshmark.com or Thredup.com)

Some of my side hustles have opened up opportunities beyond my wildest imagination and I hope you can experience the same and even better. One of my side hustles led me to meet Usher the singer. Yes, I was stoked and another took me to the beautiful island of Anguilla.

Still struggling with ideas or you just need to talk it over, feel free to reach out here and we can figure this out together. After all two heads are better than one.

What’s the best side hustle you’ve ever had? What’s the worst side hustle you’ve ever had? I would love to read your comments.

Till next time!