36 Lucrative Side Hustle Ideas to Earn Extra Cash

Side hustles are all the rage nowadays. With the gig economy on the rise, more and more people are looking for ways to supplement their income. Whether you want to pay off debt, build an emergency fund, or save up for a major purchase, a side hustle can help you achieve your financial goals faster.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore 36 of the best side hustle ideas perfect for anyone looking to earn extra money. Ranging from online gigs you can do from home to services you can provide locally, there’s something here for every skill set and schedule.

Online Side Hustles

The internet has opened a Pandora’s box of money-making opportunities. If you have marketable skills and a computer, you can earn an income without ever leaving your home.

1. Freelance Your Skills

Freelancing entails offering your services to clients on a project basis rather than being on payroll. Writers, designers, developers, and more leverage websites like Upwork, Fiverr, and Freelancer to find freelance gigs.

The income potential is uncapped. Top freelancers easily charge $100-500 per hour of work. All you need is a marketable skill, stellar portfolio, and good client feedback.

2. Sell Digital Products

Create information products like ebooks, courses, audio files, templates, and more, and sell them online. Sites like Gumroad, Teachable and Thinkific help you build and market your digital products.

Passive income products like online courses require effort up front but can pay dividends in the long run.

3. Become an Influencer

If you can build an audience on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok, you can monetize your content and become an influencer.

Promoting brands and products you genuinely like can be an easy yet profitable endeavor. Micro and nano influencers with just 1,000 followers have reported earning anywhere from $30 to $100 per post.

4. Flip Websites

Savvy digital entrepreneurs build simple websites and ecommerce stores with the goal of selling for a profit. With website builders like Wix and Shopify making it easier than ever to create professional online stores quickly, this side hustle is exploding in popularity.

Focus on high-demand niches, build authority sites rich in context, and flip for handsome amounts in as little as a few months.

5. Online Surveys

Taking online surveys in your spare time can be an effortless way to earn some money. While no one is getting rich filling out surveys, sites like Survey Junkie, Vindale Research, Pinecone Research and more make it incredibly easy to provide consumer feedback and get rewarded.

Pro tip: Avoid any site that charges a membership fee to gain access to surveys. Legitimate survey platforms allow you to keep 100% of your earnings.

6. Transcribe Audio

If you’re a quick typist with sharp listening skills, become a freelance transcriptionist. Companies and individuals always need audio files and verbal conversations turned into text documents.

Sign up on sites like Rev and GoTranscript to access jobs transcribing everything from legal interviews to medical journals.

This home-based gig pays beginners around $15-25 per audio hour but can go up to $60-90/hr with experience.

Gig Economy Side Hustles

The gig economy comprises convenient app-based platforms that connect service providers with customers on-demand. Offering rides, deliveries, and other services through these apps is an easy way to put your free time to good use.

7. Rideshare Driving

Becoming a rideshare driver for companies like Uber and Lyft allows you to give passengers rides using your personal vehicle. You enjoy complete flexibility to work as much or as little as you want.

Although factors like location and hours worked impact earnings, the average rideshare driver makes $16-23 an hour after expenses.

8. Food and Grocery Delivery

Similarly, become a delivery driver for apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats or Instacart and earn money delivering food or groceries to customers.

Working just a few hours per week, drivers typically earn $100-500+ weekly.

9. Dog Walking/Pet Sitting

Offer pet care services in your neighborhood by listing your services on Rover and Wag!. Apps like these connect you with pet owners needing someone to walk, feed, bathe or house-sit their furry friends.

Dog walkers charge around $15-25 per 30-minute walk. Expect to earn $20+ per pet visit.

10. Rent Your Car

List your car as available for rental on platforms like Turo and HyreCar and earn money whenever someone rents your vehicle. You set your own availability and rental rates.

Most Turo hosts rent their cars out for $25-85 per day, making upwards of $800 a month.

Entrepreneurial Side Hustles

If you think you’ve got the mettle for entrepreneurship outside of your regular job, explore these small business side hustle concepts.

11. Resume and Cover Letter Writing

With how competitive the job market is, quality resumes and cover letters can mean the difference between getting interviews and getting ignored. Start a resume writing service where you consult individuals and help polish their career documents to land more job opportunities.

Resume writing services typically charge $100-500 per document depending on career level and customization.

12. Cleaning Business

Launch your own cleaning company specializing in residential and commercial spaces. Offer one-time cleans and recurring appointments. Provide basic services like sweeping, mopping, dusting, etc., and upsells like interior window washing.

Most cleaning companies charge clients $25-50 per hour per cleaner.

13. Running Errands

Everyone needs help completing tedious tasks around town once in a while. Start a business where clients book you to run errands like grocery shopping, waiting in line, paying bills, returning items, and more. Market yourself as an affordable personal assistant.

Errand runners can easily charge $30-100 per trip depending on the nature and extent of tasks.

14. Moving Assistance

Help people pack up and move residences by offering your moving services. List your business on uHaul Moving Help and GoShare and provide assistance with packing boxes, disassembling furniture, lifting heavy items and more.

You can make $50-70+ per hour as a mover.

15. Home Organization

Decluttering and organizing is the perfect small business for those with a knack for order and efficiency. Help clients organize pantries, offices, garages, closets, playrooms, and more. Assist with decluttering items, building storage solutions, neatly labeling containers, maintaining systems, and redesigning spaces.

Professional home organizers typically charge $50-100 per hour.

16. Airbnb Arbitrage

Airbnb arbitrage involves renting spaces on Airbnb and listing them on the platform at a higher price to turn a profit. For example, you could rent an apartment for $100 a night and list it on Airbnb for $150 a night, pocketing $50 in profit each night.

Savvy investors are building six-figure businesses helping travelers find lodging while earning income.

Crafty Side Hustles

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to be artistic to indulge in arts and crafts. If you enjoy working with your hands and channeling creativity into charming keepsakes, explore these crafty side hustle ideas.

17. Jewelry Making

Make earrings, necklaces, bracelets and more to sell online. Use craft stores like Michael’s and Hobby Lobby for inexpensive beads and supplies. Sell your accessories on Etsy, eBay, Facebook Marketplace, and local craft fairs.

Handmade artisan jewelry makers can realistically charge $10 to $30+ per piece depending on materials and time required.

18. Embroidery Hoop Art

Create trendy wall art and decor using embroidery hoops, fabric, string, and even vinyl. Follow tutorials on YouTube and Pinterest to make beautiful pieces showcasing quotes, floral designs, abstract shapes, landscapes, and more.

These make great gifts, home decor items, and products for weddings and baby showers. Sell them for $15-50 apiece on Etsy and custom platforms like Makefully.

19. Soy Candle Making

Candle making is an enjoyable craft that can also make you extra income. Invest in soy wax flakes, essential oils, candle wicks, jars, and necessary supplies. Use silicone molds to craft gorgeous candles and market them on sites like Etsy.

Scented soy candles retail successfully at craft fairs and online marketplaces for $10-25 each.

Service-Based Side Hustles

The opportunities to profit from your skills and talents are endless. Consider providing any of these services to start earning money on the side:

20. Virtual Assistant

As a VA (virtual assistant), you provide administrative, technical, or marketing assistance to clients remotely. Answering emails, data entry, transcribing notes, scheduling appointments, designing graphics and more all fall under your purview as a VA.

Expect to earn anywhere from $15-50 per hour based on your expertise.

21. Bookkeeping

If numbers are your forte, provide bookkeeping services like accounts receivable/payable, payroll, financial reporting, tax preparation, budgeting, invoicing, and other financial services companies need.

Bookkeeping rates range from $30-100+ per hour.

22. Proofreading & Copyediting

Leverage your exceptional grasp over grammar and syntax to proofread all types of documents. Provide copyediting services for anything from blog posts and newsletters to academic papers and business proposals.

Freelance proofreaders can charge 28¢ to 5¢ per word, earning up to $50-100 per hour and significantly more for academic editing.

23. Language Translation

Translate blog posts, documents, videos, websites and other media for individuals and businesses. List your native and secondary languages in your freelancing profiles to attract work.

Professional translators make 20-50¢ per word, with overnight rush projects going as high as $1 per word.

24. Photography

If you have an eye for photography, sell your skills to clients wanting professional headshots and portraits, real estate photos, event coverage, product photography, and more.

Most freelance photographers charge $25-100 per hour or opt for incremental packages like $300 for a family portrait session.

25. Music Lessons

Teach music lessons focused on instruments like piano, guitar, violin, drums and voice. List your services on community boards and platforms like TakeLessons. Meet students at your home studio or theirs.

Music teachers set hourly lesson rates ranging from $45-100 based on factors like years of experience and music proficiency.

26. Fitness Coaching

Help clients adopt healthier lifestyles through diet and exercise programming. Offer personal training, accountability coaching, customized meal plans and nutrition advice tailored to individual circumstances and goals.

Qualified personal trainers charge $40-120 per session. Meal planning services are around $100-300 monthly.

27. Tech Support

Provide personalized tech help to small business owners, the elderly, busy individuals, and anyone needing assistance with computers, smart devices, smart home equipment, and entertainment systems. Charge hourly or package your services.

Expect to earn $40-200 per client appointment based on time and complexity of tech issues addressed.

28. Event Planning

Put your planning and coordination skills to work by launching an event planning and coordination business. Offer services for weddings, birthday parties, baby showers, corporate events and more. Provide full-service planning or specific a la carte offerings.

Event planners typically charge minimums like $1,000 to $3,000+ to plan events. Plus collect commissions from vendor bookings.

29. Landscaping

Start a seasonal landscaping company offering vital lawn and yard maintenance. Services like mowing, edging, pruning, weeding, laying sod, raking leaves, clearing snow, and cleaning gutters are lifesavers clients will pay good money for.

Most landscapers charge per service, like $30-60 per lawn cut, but offer discounts for recurring service.

30. Tutoring

Whether excel at math, science, computers, test prep, essay writing, or foreign languages, offer your teaching services as an academic tutor. Tutor students of all ages and difficulty levels.

Online platforms like Wyzant and Varsity Tutors let qualified tutors charge $25 to more than $100 per hour of instruction.

Uncommon Side Hustles

If regular side hustles seem boring, experiment with these unconventional money makers.

31. Collecting Recyclables

Believe it or not, collecting cans, bottles and certain plastics from blue recycle bins and public spaces can be profitable. Sort your loot by material type and drop it all off at your nearest recycling facility for cash.

Ten pounds of aluminum cans can fetch $5+. PET plastic is worth 13¢ per pound.

32. Donating Plasma

Plasma donation centers will actually pay you upfront for your plasma, the yellow liquid part of blood used for medical research and procedures. Walk into the nearest center, and expect to earn around $300-500 per month.

33. Medical Testing

Testing facilities will compensate you for volunteering in clinical research trials and studies trying to create new medicines, treatments, vaccines, methods, or new uses for existing ones.

Participants can earn from $100 to $10,000 depending on the drug trial and level of involvement. Search online for programs recruiting near you.

34. Product Testing

Companies will ship you brand new products for free in exchange for candid feedback. Platforms like UserTesting and TryMyUI offer product testing opportunities that pay $10 to $120 per 20-minute test.

Give honest opinions and help brands improve.

35. Search Engine Evaluation

Have an analytical mind skilled at providing objective internet search feedback? Platforms like Appen hire search engine evaluators to analyze algorithmic search engine results.

Expect part-time pay starting at $14 per hour for this remote opportunity.

36. Sign Spinning

If you’ve got boundless energy and aren’t afraid of making a spectacle, businesses will pay you handsomely to spin signs on the side of the road in that inflatable crazy balloon guy costume.

Professional human billboards earn up to $50 an hour–more if you’re willing to wear a chicken suit!

Start Your Side Hustle Journey

And there you have it! Whether you’re looking for a steady stream of side income or just some quick cash here and there, finding lucrative side hustles that match your interests and lifestyle is simpler than ever. Determine your priorities, polish relevant skills, and confidently put yourself out there.

You’ve got this! Wishing you much success on your hustling pursuits.