5 Simple Side Hustles You Can Start Today
Who doesn’t want to make extra money on the side? Side hustles are no longer a rare occurrence. It was reported that in 2019, 45% of the American workforce claimed to have a side hustle.
If you are on the road to paying off debt, financial independence, saving for the home of your dreams… it is imperative to have a side hustle. Although you can cut down expenses in order to reach these goals, ultimately increasing your income will have the biggest impact. With that said, increasing the income with your full time job is not always easy, and there are caps to how much you can pull from it. With a side hustle, there is no cap in the money you can make outside of the time and resources you can devote to it. In fact, that side hustle can (and many do!) grow to have an income greater than your full time job!
It takes a lot of hard work and usually some time to start a successful side hustle, but the biggest obstacle is just getting started. In this post, I will give you 5 side hustles that you can start today!
Table of Contents
Virtual Assisting
Are you organized? Have the ability to carry out small tasks? Have a computer? Then virtual assisting can be a great side hustle for you! As a virtual assistant, you carry out small tasks for business owners that would normally take up their time unnecessarily. This could be
- Sorting their email inbox
- Sending invoices
- Managing their calendar
- Sending gifts to their clients
- Gathering research for their next project
The great thing about being a VA is you are essentially just completing tasks. If the person asks for it, and you have the ability to do it, then you can charge them for it! Often VA’s work by the hour, and with each client that you get more experience with you can charge more.
On that note, virtual assisting is only one freelance service you could offer. You can essentially freelance anything. If you have a skill (even a mediocre one), I bet someone will pay you for it. The thing to remember is that people are not paying you because they can’t do it. Anyone can learn anything if they try. They don’t want to try though, they don’t have time. They are paying for convenience. Even if they know exactly how to do what they are paying you to do, they are paying you to do it simply because they don’t want to. And time is quite the money maker.
Pros
- All you need is a computer
- Simple tasks
- Can charge more
- Ability to move away from hourly pricing to maximize earnings
- Lots of growth potential
Cons
- May have to learn to manage client expectations if you have a client who is over-asking
- Have to manage invoices and contracts
- Could run into a Miranda Priestly client who is demanding and rude (but you have the ability to fire clients so…)
TaskRabbit
Have you heard of TaskRabbit? TaskRabbit is a central place for people to hire others for various odd jobs. These may include delivering something, picking up groceries, sweeping their porch, ect. This is a great place for people who are older or have less mobility to get easy access to the help they may need.
The best part of being a Tasker on TaskRabbit is you don’t have to go search for clients. They are already on TaskRabbit, and you can just select the job you want to do. However, TaskRabbit is much more time-consuming. It is limited to you physically going and doing something. Additionally, these types of job sites always take a cut of your pay. Finally, since you are the designated tasker, you are limited in the fact that you can’t scale to make it more passive (have people do tasks for you while you manage the business).
Pros
- No client search
- Many possibilities for many skills
- “Easy” work
- Time flexible
Cons
- TaskRabbit takes a cut of your earnings
- You have to be the tasker which limits the ability to scale
Dog Walking
LISTEN. Have you heard what dog walkers make lately? I’ll be honest, I think this might be the best one on here. Here’s why…
Dog walking is simple, and you can do it as long as you have the ability to walk the dog. Plus, you can walk multiple dogs at one time so you are making money from multiple clients at the same time. AND you can do it all without leaving your neighborhood. But the BEST part is the scaling ability.
Once you start walking enough dogs, you will get to the point where you are limited by the fact that you physically can’t hold any more dogs. So, you hire someone else to help you. Say you charge $12 per walk per dog, and you pay them $7 per walk per dog. So now you are making $60 bucks from the 5 dogs you are currently walking and another $25 from your other personal walking another 5 dogs. You keep doing that, and soon you can be sitting at home or at your desk with your team of walkers out and about, making you money while you are sitting on your hiney.
If you are willing to put in the time to grow your business and clientele to a place where you can hire someone else, this could be a really good option! Plus, you get to work with dogs. That is an instant serotonin boost everyday!
Pros
- Scalable
- Large earning potential
Cons
- Would take up time (in the beginning?)
- Limited to how many dogs you could manage (until you grew)
Selling Domains
Did you know this was a thing? I did not, but it can actually be quite lucrative! If you did not know, when someone wants to build a website and name it whatevertheywant.com they have to buy that domain. If that domain is owned by someone else, then they can charge a pretty penny for you to take it.
It is really nice to be that someone. Buying and selling domains can be very lucrative, but it can also not be. You have to buy a domain that is in demand, or will be in demand. Domains with common names or phrases that would want to be used by businesses or others. Still, it requires very little effort, but it does require an initial investment.
Pros
- Little effort
- Easy to get into
Cons
- Requires an initial investment
- Relies on the demand of the domain
Online Thrift
Where are my deal hunters? My crafty people? Online thrifting is great for those who enjoy things that are more hands on. If you have not discovered the thrifting community on Instagram, I highly encourage you to check it out. Give yourself 10 minutes and you will see the power behind this community. I know because I followed one account and now I am following 30+… it’s a problem.
With IG thrifting it’s pretty simple… you go out and search for interesting pieces. You collect them, then you release what’s called a “drop”. It’s like a store releasing a collection. Many thrift accounts do drops every Tuesday or every Thursday, ect. You post pictures of all the items, and then your followers bid on the items. They have 24hours to bid, but a price is also provided for them to Buy It Now (BIN).
This could be super fun, and/or super draining. This requires a lot of time between searching for clothes, taking the pictures, maintaining the IG account, packing, shipping, ect. Still, it is extremely lucrative if you have an eye for cool pieces. Trust me, I have seen some crazy things bought for way more money than I would have expected.
Pros
- Creative
- Don’t need a website (could be solely on IG)
- Requires an initial investment
Cons
- Very time consuming
You can make a side hustle out of any interest or skill that you have or want to learn. Don’t get caught up in analysis paralysis and hesitate to start something if you have been thinking about it. The worst thing that can happen is it doesn’t work out, and so you try again! Every time you fail at anything, it is one step closer to your success.
Ready to start your side hustle and get new clients? Check out this blog post to get your started!
Happy Hustling!
Sarah
