Side hustle jobs are everywhere these days!
There are dozens (maybe even hundreds) of different apps that all promise a different way to make extra money in your spare time.
In this post, I’ll share some of the most popular side hustle jobs, and where you can go to get started.
A Side Hustle Job vs. Starting a Business in Your Spare Time
Sometimes, the term “side hustle” carries a more entrepreneurial connotation than merely working a second job. These are the types of businesses I often cover on The Side Hustle Show, my award-winning podcast.
If you’re looking to build something a little bigger, I encourage you to check it out!
But if you’re just looking for some simple, steady, ways to earn money in your spare time, you’ve come to the right place.
That’s not to say you can’t earn a lot with a side hustle job — some of these may even be able to replace your day job income — but you’ll almost always be limited by how much time you can put in.
There’s not a lot of opportunity to build passive income or leverage here. And that’s OK!
Ready? Let’s do it!
Advantages of Side Hustle Jobs
- quick and easy to get started
- low startup costs
- very little sales or marketing involved
Disadvantages of Side Hustle Jobs
- still trading time for money
- most have a relatively low expected hourly rate
- you may not have much control of your workload
Helpful Side Hustle Job Apps
FlexJobs
FlexJobs is the leading job platform for work-from-home jobs. A portion of those are for part-time work in a wide variety of categories.
It costs a nominal fee to become a member on the site, but it’s a legit job board and you’ll easily earn it back and then some with just one job.
The best place to find legit work from home jobs. Established in 2007, FlexJobs has 1000s of listings including part-time, full-time, and freelance options in tons of industries.
The companies that advertise here are ahead of the curve. They understand they can find better talent by offering a remote work opportunity instead of limiting their search to people nearby.
Other Side Hustle Job Sites to Check Out:
- AppJobs – Aggregates a bunch of side hustle jobs in one place. Filter by city and then by the type of work you’re interested in (delivery, freelance, cleaning, handyman, etc.) to see opportunities.
- Upshift – Staffing platform that lets you pick up shift work when it works for your schedule. Check out our full Upshift review for more.
- Wonolo – This popular temp work platform connects you with immediate hourly or same day side hustle jobs.
- Clickworker – A long-running microtask site that gives you quick, low-paying jobs you can do from home. Check out our full Clickworker review to learn more.
Delivery and Driving Side Hustle Gigs
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Get paid to shop for and deliver grocery orders. |
Help get kids safely to and from school, and earn $20-30 per hour. |
Sharetown reps make money by reselling gently-used furniture and bed-in-a-box mattresses. Top reps earn $4000+ per month. |
You’ve probably heard of “driving for dollars” with services like Lyft, and these may be the quintessential side hustle jobs.
You have total control over your schedule and availability. One driver of mine on a recent trip put it this way: “When I want to make money, I turn on the app.”
Meanwhile, Uber is known for using the term “side hustle” in their ads recruiting drivers. The pioneering–if not controversial–ridesharing apps lets you essentially start your own taxi service and earn money driving your neighbors around.
Instacart
With Instacart, you’re getting paid to shop for and deliver other people’s groceries. Payments are made weekly and you’ll select your available hours in advance. Naturally, this side hustle job is limited to the hours grocery stores are open.
Check out our full Instacart Shopper review here, with insights from a side hustler earning an extra $450-500 a week.
When certain bed-in-a-box mattresses get returned, Sharetown reps pick them up for free, clean them, and resell them on Facebook Marketplace. The cool part? They only have to pay for the inventory once the item sells.
Sharetown reps make money by reselling gently-used furniture and bed-in-a-box mattresses. Top reps earn $4000+ per month.
- Low startup costs
- Great earning power
- No hunting for inventory
- Requires a truck or SUV
- Bulky items to store
- Not available in all areas
Definitely worth a look if you have a truck and the capacity to store a handful of bulky items.
HopSkipDrive
HopSkipDrive specializes in safe and transparent school transportation for kids.
Their rigorously vetted CareDrivers are “caregivers on wheels” who set their own schedule and get to support the community.
HopSkipDrive currently operates in select metro areas, but is rapidly expanding to new cities.
Requirements:
- At least 23 years old
- 5 years caregiving experience
- Background check; good driving record
- 4-door vehicle under 10 years old
Earning Power: $20-30 per hour. (Earnings vary based on location and demand, but HopSkipDrive CareDrivers can earn over $35 per trip on average, completing 7-8 trips a week.)
Shipt
Shipt is a popular grocery delivery service owned by Target. According to their site, you can earn up to $25 an hour as a shopper and delivery driver.
DoorDash
“Dashers” make up to $25 an hour as food delivery drivers with the DoorDash app. I sat down with one DoorDash driver earning $250-500 a month integrating his deliveries into his nightly commute home.
Other Delivery Job Apps
- Grubhub – Popular food delivery app.
- Amazon Flex – Earn $18-25 an hour making deliveries for Amazon in select markets.
- Rinse – Rinse valet drivers pick-up and deliver laundry and dry cleaning.
Pro Tip: Rideshare and delivery drivers might consider adding Hurdlr to your arsenal. Hurdlr helps you automatically track your mileage to save on taxes.
Teaching and Tutoring Side Hustle Jobs
If you have a passion for education and helping students learn, these side hustle jobs will be worth a look.
EF Education First
For over 50 years, Education First has been helping people around the world learn English. If you have a bachelor’s degree, live in the US or UK, and have prior teaching or tutoring experience, you can earn up to $20 an hour teaching online with EF.
As a work-from-home teacher, you’ll choose your own schedule, bring your own teaching style, and enjoy local, US and UK-based support.
Other Teaching and Tutoring Jobs
- CourseHero – The CourseHero platform helps connects more than 10 million students with tutors online. Top tutors on CourseHero earn $500 a week.
- Verbling – Set your own hourly rate for online language lessons. Most tutors appear to be in the $10-25 an hour range, and Verbling says some earn a full-time living on the platform.
- italki – Set your own hourly rate for Skype language lessons and conversation practice on this platform with more than 2,000,000 language learning students. Rates were mostly around $10/hour for English practice.
- VerbalPlanet – Another peer-to-peer language learning site where you can set your own hours and rates, though the average student payment is $22 for a 45 minute lesson. VerbalPlanet asks you to only apply to their tutoring platform if you have teaching experience.
- Preply – Earn $15 an hour and up language tutoring Preply’s audience of more than 150,000 students.
Survey and Consumer Feedback Side Hustle Jobs
It’s not really accurate to call these “jobs” since they’re not super predictable. Still, surveys and focus groups can add to your personal bottom line — especially if you have nothing better to do.
Earn $50-150/hr, with thousands of new studies added each month.
Earn an average of $75 per project, and get notified of upcoming studies you may qualify for.
Patients and caregivers can earn $120/hour while helping advance medical research.
Respondent
Respondent is the best paying online survey outfit I’ve found. The surveys usually take the shape of one-on-one interviews either in-person or over the phone / video chat, and they pay an average of $140 an hour.
(I’ve earned almost $400 through Respondent so far. Check out my full Respondent review for more.)
User Interviews
User Interviews is a great platform to get matched with remote market research studies that generally pay $50-200 an hour.
Check out my full User Interviews review for more.
Rare Patient Voice
Rare Patient Voice pays patients and caregivers $120 an hour to assist with medical research. You can browse a full list of available studies on their site—nearly all of which are phone or webcam interviews.
If you suffer from any sort of medical condition (even if it’s not super rare), this one is worth a look.
The site is open to residents of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand.
Other Survey Sites to Check Out
- Swagbucks – Earn up to $35 a survey with this mega-popular app, and get a $10 bonus just for signing up!
- Product Report Card – Get notified about higher-paying product tests, clinical trials, and online focus groups.
- KashKick – Get paid to answer surveys, test games, and try new products.
- Survey Junkie – Take 3 surveys a day and earn up to $40 a month.
- InboxDollars – Get a $5 bonus just for signing up!
- American Consumer Opinion – Join millions of free members and earn up to $50 per survey.
User Interface Testing Jobs
UserTesting
Earn $10 for every 20-minute online user test through UserTesting. You’ll be asked to review and give your opinions on websites, apps, shopping portals, and more.
Special software tracks your mouse movement while your webcam and mic record your eye movement, facial expressions, and words as you complete the questions.
You have to act fast though when new studies are released; in my experience UserTesting tests disappear very quickly.
Other “Get Paid to Review Websites” Sites:
- Intellizoom – Earn an average of $10 per test, with most tests taking around 15-20 minutes.
- Enroll – Help “make the web a better place” by testing websites before they’re published.
- UserFeel – Each test lasts 10-20 minutes and pays $10.
- TryMyUI – Try My UI pays $10 per test and tests typically last around 20 minutes.
Caregiving Side Hustle Jobs
Taking care of kids, grown-ups, pets, and houses is a huge industry — but not usually a full-time career. That’s why these gigs make for great side hustles.
Care.com
With more than 19 million members, Care.com is the largest marketplace for child care, senior care, pet care, and house sitting.
Sittercity
Sittercity is a huge marketplace for child care, with parents posting jobs every 2 minutes and rates usually in the $10-20/hour range.
UrbanSitter
If you love kids, UrbanSitter could be the perfect side hustle job. Set your own babysitting rates, availability, and geographic area you cover. Because UrbanSitter charges parents a monthly membership fee to access the directory, you keep 100% of your earnings.
Rover
Set up your own pet-sitting profile on Rover.com and take care of your neighbors’ dogs when they go out of town.
Make money walking dogs and pet sitting.
- Strong income potential
- Reputable platform and protection
- Flexible schedule
- Potentially difficult pets (and owners)
- Limited to local demand
Other Caregiving Job Sites:
- Honor – Honor specializes in elder care and requires at least 6 months of relevant caregiving experience.
- Helpr – An interesting new family support app, Helpr aims to connect parents and sitters — but employers sometimes subsidize the care.
- ConnectRN – Certified nurses can pick up extra shifts from nearby facilities in need.
Freelance Side Hustle Jobs
As more and more work shifts online and remote, the demand for talented work-from-home freelancers is only increasing. You can try your hand at landing clients through broad freelance marketplaces like Upwork, Fiverr, or FreeUp, or check out some of the more specialized options below.
Virtual Assistant
Virtual assistants provide administrative support to clients from their home office. Several companies hire work-from-home assistants, including:
The pay varies but is generally between $12-20 an hour.
If becoming a virtual assistant sounds like a good fit to your skills and personality, you may be able to earn more setting up shop on your own. To learn more about starting your own virtual assistant company, check out the free video training from my friend Abbey Ashley, who started her VA business on the side and shares:
- Where to find thousands of potential clients.
- How to make a full-time living working from home.
- What clients are really looking for in a VA. (hint: it’s not prior VA experience)
Click here to learn more about becoming a virtual assistant.
Recruiting
There’s big bucks in helping place new hires! You can earn $1333 when your referral gets hired through Hired.com.
Here’s more on how to start a recruiting business.
Drone Pilot
Certified drone pilots can register at DroneBase to take on aerial photography and inspection jobs nearby. If you love drone flying, here are some more ways to make money with a drone.
Photo Editing
FixThePhoto hires remote part-time photo re-touching and editing experts. If you’re a Lightroom or Photoshop pro, this could be worth checking out.
Editing and Proofreading Side Hustle Jobs
A few years ago, I started a non-fiction book editing side hustle, and landed my first few clients on Fiverr. It was a cool way to get paid to read books before they came out.
There are also a few marketplaces and platforms that specialize in this type of work.
Scribendi – Scribendi hires proofreaders and editors to work remotely and correct client documents.
ProofreadingServices.com – An online proofreading and English tutoring service looking for work-from-home English tutors.
Rev – Transcribe interviews and lectures on Rev.com and earn $9 an hour and up.
ServiceScape – ServiceScape is a freelance marketplace for writers, editors, translators, and graphic designers.
Scribbr – Scribbr is an academic editing and proofreading company seeking editors with language expertise. Scribbr editors work from home, design their own schedule, and can earn $25-30 an hour.
Translation Side Hustle Jobs
If one of your skills is being multi-lingual, here are some interesting translation-related gigs.
Translators Cafe – Register for free to get notified of new translation jobs on this marketplace “where linguists and their clients meet.”
ProZ – Join over 1,000,000 professional translators and customers on this big translation marketplace.
Gengo | Translate.com – If you speak multiple languages, you can earn money translating text with these services.
Customer Service Side Hustle Jobs
LiveOps
Liveops is a “cloud” call center company that hires part-time remote customer service agents to field calls from home. Pay is in the $11-15 an hour range.
NexRep
Top NexRep agents earn $15-25 an hour doing customer support and phone sales for growing businesses.
Real Estate Side Hustle Jobs
Loan Signing Agent
One popular real estate side hustle is to become a mobile notary loan signing agent. Once certified, you can make around $100 an hour for completing loan signings for new home buyers on their own schedule.
Check out Mark Wills’ Loan Signing System to learn more. Use promo code sidehustle for 10% off.
Here’s our full Loan Signing System review.
Once you know what you’re doing and are on board with a few signing services, you’ll start to get text message notifications of gigs near you. With each one, you can choose to accept or reject it based on your availability.
Airbnb Arbitrage
This is more of a gig you have to go hunt for yourself, but can be pretty lucrative. How it works is you research popular areas on Airbnb, and then approach landlords advertising traditional rentals in that area.
Your pitch to them is that you’ll sign the lease, take care of all the maintenance on the property, but you’ll turn around and list it on Airbnb.
Not every landlord is going to take that deal, but some do.
Moving and Manual Labor Side Hustle Jobs
Car Repair
Join YourMechanic and earn $40-50 an hour making “house calls” to fix cars and trucks.
Yard Care
Is there an “Uber for yardwork” yet? Both GreenPal and LawnGuru are trying to build it, and offer a cool new way for landscaping businesses to connect with customers.
Moving Service
Bellhops is a “modern moving service” and targets college students as the movers. According to the site, you can earn an average of $21 an hour with a flexible work schedule.
If you have a truck or van — and a strong back — you can earn money with Dolly‘s peer-to-peer moving platform, helping your neighbors pack and move across town.
With GoShare, you can put your truck or cargo van to work helping people move and earn up to $62 an hour.
TaskRabbit
Run errands, build furniture, wait in line, make deliveries … it’s all in a day’s work for a TaskRabbit. You can set your own areas of specialization on this odd jobs platform and increase your rates as your work history grows.
Cleaning Service
Earn up to $22 an hour as a cleaner or up to $45 as a handyperson through the Angi Services app (formerly Handy).
According to their website, top Handy pros are taking home more than $1000 a week. If you’re skilled in painting, plumbing, electrical work, or cleaning with a friendly service attitude, this could be an interesting side hustle job.
Mystery Shopping Side Hustle Jobs
Field Agent
The Field Agent app will help you find “top secret” tasks nearby, such as checking a store for certain products, photographing a display, or asking a store employee a few questions.
Each task pays $3-12 and most are relatively quick to complete. Check out my full Field Agent review for more details.
Gigwalk
Look for in-person mini-gigs on Gigwalk that can usually be completed in just a few minutes with your smartphone.
BestMark
BestMark is an industry leader in mystery shopping, connecting you (discreetly) with their clients, which include Fortune 500 companies.
Random Side Hustle Jobs
Storage Service – Make up to $10,000 a year storing other people’s stuff in your garage, attic, basement, or side yard with the popular Neighbor peer-to-peer storage platform.
Movie Extra – Movie extras can earn up to $200 a day. But be prepared, the gig probably isn’t as glamorous as you’re imagining.
Donate Plasma – As long as needles don’t bother you, you can earn $20-60 per donation.
WeGoLook – Earn $25 to $200 to “go look at stuff”–eBay purchases, cars, rental properties, or even vacant lots. “Lookers” are often asked to take pictures, verify listing information, or check damage.
Purple Ocean – Earn money delivering video psychic readings for clients via the Purple Ocean app.
TalktoMe – Talk to Me is the web’s leading phone sex directory. [link obviously NSFW.]
CuddleUp – CuddleUp is a strictly-platonic “cuddling for hire” service. In browsing the site, I found rates ranging from free to $99 an hour.
Your Turn
What’s your most viable side hustle job option?
Or, if you’re looking to build something you have more control over, I’d encourage you to subscribe to The Side Hustle Show — new part-time business ideas and growth tactics every week!
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- Start Your Free $500 Challenge. My free 5-day email course shows you how to add $500 to your bottom line.
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- Download The Side Hustle Show. My free podcast shares how to make extra money with actionable weekly episodes.
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Personally, I’ve had many side hustles myself
I can say, all of mine are present on this list- many of the ones I have considered are too present on this list.
It is definitely the real deal.
Thank you very much!
Wow, that’s a long list! You must have provided a downloadable PDF copy of this.
Great share though!
The Platform you have described is related to freelance. I am going to start to learn about it and I got many tips and ideas from your blog. Thanks for sharing this amazing and informative blog.
Document Editor
Great article! Another side hustle is https://laborjack.com/. Check them out. Hiring hourly movers to help.
Thank you so much for exploring many possibilities. You have provided ideas that I never would have thought of. Now the hard part is narrowing it down, as I have experience in many of these suggestions. Thanks again.