A side hustle is a way of earning money on the side. You may already have a full-time job, you’re a student, or you’re a full-time parent. Side hustles help you earn extra money without investing 8 hours a day 5 days a week. Once upon a time, it used to be called “moonlighting” if you already had a job.

A good side hustle allows you to earn money quickly using your skills and abilities. It’s also generally short-term and freelance in nature. It’s not the same thing as a part-time job.

You are responsible for recording income and making sure your taxes are properly paid.

What are examples of side hustles

Think about anything you can do, and it’s probably something you can do as a side hustle.

• Writing
• Editing
• Graphic design
• Tutoring or Coaching
• Babysitting
• Photography
• Videography
• Dog walking
• Surveys
• Creating items to sell online

If you’re creative, you can set up a print-on-demand shop through sites like Cafe Press where you upload your design, and people can buy it as a t-shirt, hat, mug, and more.

And if you enjoy writing, you can learn affiliate marketing and set up a blog. Affiliate marketing is where you get paid a percentage of every sale. Amazon has the most well-known affiliate program.

What are the most profitable side hustels

The more specialized the skill, the more you can charge. You won’t make much money with surveys, but you can make a lot of money if you know Photoshop or editing videos.

You can also make good money doing voiceover work, or audio transcriptions. There are a lot of blogs out there that need someone to transcribe the content so they can put it on their website.

If you can program or set up a website or help people with their computers, you can make a good profit with your side hustle.

How much can you make

Truthfully, it depends upon your hustle and the amount of time you invest.

If you’re doing arbitrage, it takes time to find items to buy and then resell. But if you’re doing something like ride share or shopping, then you can set the hours where you work.

You can also sell your services on sites like Fiverr and Upwork. You can make more there, and set limits to how much you work. Selling your services here can also help you if you want to change jobs.

For example, if you’re in customer service, and you want to move into programming or UX design, you can build up your portfolio while getting paid by helping people on these platforms.

How should you start?

First, make a list of your skills, passions, and how much time you honestly have available.

Then double-check if your current company has any rules against moonlighting. They shouldn’t, but you also need to make sure you’re not going to have a conflict of interest.

Then sit down with yourself. Remember that you’re going to make a commitment to yourself. And yes, you will be giving up some of your free time. So write down what you want and why you want. Then when things get tough, you can remember why you’re doing this.