20 Low Cost Side Hustle Ideas to Start Making Extra Money
Are you looking to start a new side hustle to make some extra money but don‘t want to break the bank getting it off the ground? With some strategic planning and effort, almost anyone can start their own business on the side while keeping costs low.
Whether you want to turn a hobby into profit, leverage specialized skills, or just make some extra cash, here are 20 budget-friendly side hustle ideas you can launch today.
1. Freelance Writing
Freelance writing is one of the most accessible side hustles to start. All you need is a computer and strong writing abilities to get started.
There is high demand for quality written content across many industries, including:
- Blog, website, and social media posts
- Newsletters and email marketing campaigns
- Advertising and marketing materials
- Research reports, whitepapers, eBooks
- Product descriptions and reviews
Experienced freelance writers can charge 20-50 cents per word or more, meaning you can make $50-100 per hour once you build your clientele. Start by creating an online portfolio showcasing your writing expertise. Then leverage platforms like Fiverr, Upwork and networking to connect with clients.
2. Virtual Assistance
If you‘re highly organized and skilled with administrative computer programs, becoming a virtual assistant allows you to offer your services to clients remotely. Common tasks virtual assistants handle include calendar management, email, data entry and analysis, customer service, and more.
Virtual assistant services are often charged by the hour, with rates typically ranging from $15-50 per hour depending on your specialty and experience. The low startup costs make this side business idea accessible, with your main expenses being any software programs you need.
3. Pet Sitting/Dog Walking
For animal lovers, pet sitting and dog walking can make an excellent local side business that can scale over time with minimal overhead expenses. You may want to start by serving neighbors and friends by feeding pets, walking dogs, cleaning litter boxes, or providing overnight stays while owners travel.
Explain your experience with animals, credentials, and policies clearly on platforms like Rover or through community Facebook groups to attract clients. Average earnings range from $15-25 per 30-minute visit as you establish your business. Purchase pet sitting insurance for further protection.
4. Sell Handmade Goods Online
Starting an Etsy shop or selling handmade items on other online platforms allows creative entrepreneurs to turn their crafting skills into profit. Consider what unique products you can offer, like jewelry, home decor items, custom clothing, candles/beauty products, artwork, or quilted goods.
Upfront costs for product materials are typically reasonable, while platform and transaction fees eat into profit margins slightly. However, dedicated crafters can realistically earn $15-25 per hour or much more by establishing their shop and building a 5-star rating.
5. Rideshare/Food Delivery
Driving for a rideshare company like Uber or Lyft allows those with qualified vehicles to easily earn extra money in their spare time without an enormous time commitment. You can drive when convenient, leveraging peak hours like weekends and rush hour for maximum profitability.
Similarly, delivering food for apps like DoorDash or GrubHub is an easy way to earn extra cash on your own flexible schedule. Average earnings per hour for rideshare and food delivery drivers range from $15-25 per hour depending on your metro area and time of day or week.
6. Language Translation
If you‘re fluent in more than one language, providing translation services is a scalable side business you can operate remotely. Platforms like Rev.com allow you to pick up translation jobs like audio recordings, videos, documents and more that pay $.05-$.20 per word.
Building a profile and translation samples on freelance job boards like Upwork can help attract direct clients as well. This unique skill can be quite lucrative, with potential to earn $20-50 per hour as you specialize and progress.
7. Social Media Management
Nearly every modern business now relies on social media to some degree for their marketing strategy. However, properly managing channels, engaging followers, creating enticing content and analyzing performance takes major time and skill.
That’s why small businesses gladly hire social media managers as an affordable outsourced solution. Experienced social media freelancers can charge around $15-50 per hour for these strategic services.
8. Fitness Coaching
Fitness enthusiasts with an inspiring and supportive presence have an opportunity to become online or personal fitness coaches. Build a website highlighting your knowledge, credentials, services offered and even free tips/videos to attract clientele.
Group fitness classes or one-on-one training sessions can range from $20-100 per hour, with repeat purchases and referral business adding significant long-term income potential. Personal traits outweigh fitness center costs for entering this market.
9. Landscaping
Do you enjoy yardwork and have a knack for helping plants thrive? Transform your hobby into profit by offering landscaping and gardening services like:
- Lawn mowing and maintenance
- Mulching, edging, weeding
- Seasonal planting and design
- Hedge/tree trimming
Invest in reliable outdoor equipment and leverage word-of-mouth marketing to build a local client base. Most standard lawn services fall around $30-60 per hour, making this a potentially lucrative side business.
10. Photography
If you own a quality camera and have an eye for photography, consider leveraging your specialized skills into a side business. Many clients need photographers for things like:
- Headshots and professional portraits
- Real estate listings
- Event/wedding photography
- Product photography
Build a stunning online portfolio of your work, then set competitive rates to start attracting clients. Depending on the niche, event, and photo package sold, professional photographers earn $50-250 per hour.
11. Music Lessons
Skilled musicians can transform their talent into income by offering private music lessons. You may teach students of all ages and skill levels, helping them progress their abilities in:
- Voice lessons
- Piano, guitar, drums and other instruments
- Music theory, songwriting, or performance techniques
Most instructors charge $20-60 per 30-60 minute lesson. While you likely invested heavily into your own music education, you can utilize your existing instrument and space to start teaching. This makes music lessons a highly profitable endeavor.
12. Sewing and Alterations
Offering clothing alterations and specialty sewing services appeals to a market always in need. Consider hemming pants, taking in garments, repairing damaged items, custom-making clothes or crafting accessories like bags.
Purchase key sewing equipment like a heavy-duty machine and mannequin to perfect your craft. Market within local communities and pricing around $20 per alteration job. Repeat business from delighted customers can quickly scale this creative side hustle.
13. Event Planning
Meticulously planning events comes naturally to some who have an affinity for organization, decisiveness and customer service. Offer your skills to coordinate any celebration:
- Weddings
- Corporate events
- Birthday parties
- Fundraisers
- Retirement parties
Build a portfolio highlighting events you’ve planned or assisted with previously. Event planning is somewhat seasonal based on typical event dates and weather conditions. However, the income potential is immense, averaging $15-40 per hour.
14. Home Cleaning
Offering home cleaning services remains a steady side business for those with top-notch attention to detail and stamina. As people grow increasingly busy, they still value coming home to a sparkling space.
Define your service area then market yourself locally through platforms like Handy or bulletin posts. Pricing is generally broken down by square footage, with additional tasks adding cost. Expect to earn around $30-50 per hour as you carefully build up your clientele and streamline your process.
15. Online Course Creation
Particularly viable for experts in a specialized niche, creating online courses allows you to sell your knowledge to an unlimited audience. Explore topics you’re specially positioned to teach comprehensively, then leverage platforms like Udemy, Podia or Teachable to market and sell your course.
Recording equipment, software, website, marketing and your worth as an industry expert make up the core startup costs, considered reasonable by most standards. But well-executed online courses can immensely lucrative, with a 50% commission per sale adding up significantly.
16. Crafting Youtube Videos
Broadcasting videos on monetized platforms like Youtube transforms your content creation skills, personality and consistency into a steady income source. Focus on an engaging niche and establish a regular upload schedule to build authority and a loyal viewership over time.
Setup costs are limited to basic filming and editing equipment. But the earning potential for viral content creators and influencers is truly uncapped. Depending how many views your channel accumulates, earnings could reasonably range from $100 to over $10k monthly.
17. Website or App Testing
Earning money testing websites, apps and devices sounds too good to be true. Yet user experience (UX) testing has become an entire industry relying on feedback from everyday people like you. Companies will provide explicit instructions then compensate you for your time trialing and assessing their digital product’s functionality.
Signup is free on well-known platforms like UserTesting, TryMyUI and Validately. While project opportunities vary, testers typically earn $10 for every 20-minute video test, conducted entirely remotely from your own device.
18. Resume Writing
Refine the specialized skill of crafting compelling, keyword-optimized resumes and cover letters to help others land more interviews and progress their careers. Share examples of successful documents you’ve written to establish expertise.
Platforms like Flexjobs, providing extensive resources and exposure to quality remote jobs, estimate resume writing freelancers can charge around $50-150 per document, factoring in the level of personalization and revisions requested by the client.
19. Peer-to-Peer Payment Processing
Apps like CashApp, PayPal, and Venmo which facilitate quick digital payments between peers have entirely transformed personal and small business transactions. The future of money itself may be headed towards blockchain and decentralized finance solutions.
Become an influencer or ambassador for your favorite money transfer platform, then earn commission or bounties based on how many new users you onboard or transaction volume your referral code produces. Depending which platform and offer you select, users are earning $10 to over $100 per referral.
20. Peer-to-Peer Rentals
The shared economy disrupted transportation with ride sharing and hospitality through home rentals. But peer-to-peer platforms now facilitate short-term rentals for almost any asset imaginable.
List surplus belongings you already own on sites like Fat Llama, NeighborGoods or Rentah. Rental inventory might include household tools, outdoor gear and recreation equipment, electronics, vintage clothing and accessories.
Naturally, establishing trust and building a strong profile with reviews enhances your rental conversion rate. But average rental earnings often fall between 20-60% of an item’s approximated value per rental period.
While launching a business on the side with minimal startup funding may prove simpler than imagined, gaining meaningful traction still requires immense effort. Follow this expert advice for best positioning your hustle for profitability:
Pick Something You’re Passionate About
Pursuing a side hustle in an industry you genuinely enjoy and bring existing skills or education towards will make the journey infinitely smoother. Persevering through frustrations that come with any new entrepreneurial endeavor proves far easier when you wholeheartedly believe in your offerings.
Set Competitive Yet Reasonable Rates
Research industry averages for the services you plan to offer so your pricing remains aligned to standard market rates. Consider boosting rates slightly above average if you possess premium expertise and deliverables. Yet don’t get ahead of yourself as an unproven provider, even if undervaluing your worth tempts you to overcompensate through quantity. Find an optimal balance between establishing value and affordability when first launching.
Master Your Side Hustle’s Digital Presence
Create a simple yet professional website, claim key social media profiles, and perhaps run Google Ads for your side business to elevate legitimacy and discoverability when prospective customers search related keywords. Produce blog, video or social content surrounding topics your target audience finds valuable. Seek recognizable certifications which apply for your niche wherever possible.
Adopt Referral-Focused Marketing
Referrals and word-of-mouth carry tremendous weight due to implicit social proof within recommendations between acquaintances. Prioritize delighting early customers with outstanding service quality, product warranties and reasonable incentivizes for referrals. Simultaneously pitching your offerings through local community newsletters, bulletins and social groups expands visibility. Think relationship-building over profit initially to organically gain momentum.
Track Finances Closely
From the outset, establish processes linking all business expenses and income through dedicated financial accounts, accurate bookkeeping practices and intuitive financial dashboards to extract key performance insights. Receipt tracking apps and accounting software help immensely with properly documenting side hustle financials for upcoming tax preparation as well. Just don’t let the numbers side of running a small business overwhelm you to the point of distraction from serving customers.
Don’t Quit Your Day Job (Yet)
Exercise patience in scaling your side hustle until monthly revenue eclipses minimum living expenses by an acceptable threshold. Many entrepreneurs dangerously leave stable employment prematurely before reaching consistent profitability. Set milestones around earning thresholds and customer reviews before transitioning any hustle into a full-time endeavor. Living comfortably should remain the top priority as you navigate a new venture.
Starting a side hustle represents an empowering pathway to financial freedom full of personal growth and purpose. Thanks to modern internet-powered marketplaces and remote work capabilities, creating a profitable business no longer requires enormous capital outlays upfront.
Hopefully the possibilities throughout this guide sparked ideas for launching your own budget-friendly hustle. Just identify an untapped market need, carve out a strategic niche, develop specialized expertise over time and progress towards service excellence through customer-centric marketing. Moving forward through struggles during the early phases will eventually transform effort into earning.
After reviewing these low cost concepts, which side hustle model resonates most with your interests, abilities and schedule? Have any questions on pragmatically validating initial demand before investing heavily? What topics would you add to our conversation around ensuring side hustle prosperity? Let us reflect on tangible next steps in the comments section below!
