You want to make some extra money but don’t know where to start. You read about others who are developing lifestyle businesses or at least lifestyle side hustles and you want to get in on the action, too.
This is exactly how I felt two years ago. However, I didn’t just sit around and daydream about starting a side hustle — I took action. You can too.
Here are five ways you can make a little extra money online so that you can start investing!
Start a Blog
Blogging can be a very lucrative side hustle and even a full-time career. However, blogging shouldn’t be confused with easy work or a get-rich-quick plan, because it’s not.
If you have a good idea, the willingness to put in hard, unpaid work for a while, and the ability to market yourself, you’re the ideal blogging candidate. Trust me, you don’t have to be technically inclined to start a blog. You just have to have an idea and the willingness to start and persevere.
It’ll take time to earn money through a blog, maybe up to a year before you see the first dime, but the income is limitless if you’re able to successfully gain a readership.
Check out our guide on how to start a personal blog or website and get started today!
Offer Web Design
Almost everything is done online. You read the news, watch videos, take classes, and even order your pizza with the click of a mouse! Everyone is online. And, if they aren’t they need to be.
This makes web design a highly lucrative side business. If you know a thing or two about creating websites you could make a hefty profit by helping local businesses in your area develop their online presence. If you do a good job you’re bound to get referrals.
If you’re looking for the perfect side hustle and have some web design skills, offering your services is definitely a good idea.
Sell eBooks
If you have a knack for writing, whether it be fiction or nonfiction, there’s good news: self-publishing has never been easier.
You can now easily create your own books and sell them on sites like Amazon or Goodreads. Since you no longer have to seek out an agent and a publisher to sell a book you can create as many or as few as you like. You can create how-to guides, romance novels, or self-help books. Since you’re the writer and the publisher there’s no limitation on your subject matter.
Do keep in mind that to successfully sell your books you will have to be able to market yourself. Once the initial writing and marketing stage is complete your eBooks can act as a form of passive income for you.
Offer Writing Services
If you’re a writer there’s never been a better time to get paid for your skills. Businesses are trying to get found online, develop a readership, and build a stronger customer base. In order to do all of this they need content — content that you could create.
The amount of money you make will depend upon your skills, experience, and the type of businesses you write for. Start small and work your way up. If you enjoy it you could eventually turn freelance writing into a full-time career.
Start an Online Store
If your small business dreams included retail you can thank the internet for making your dreams a bit more attainable.
Depending on the route you choose to go, you can have your online store set up and running for less than a $100.
After choosing which items you’ll sell and whether you’ll hold your own stock or work with a company that drop-ships, you can then create your online store and have it up in a matter of days. You’ll have to work hard to find customers for your store, but this business is definitely doable.
Get Hustlin’
No matter which side hustle you choose you’re going to have to put in the time and work to make it profitable. Nevertheless it can be done.
Pick a side hustle, research the how-tos of your idea, and get to work. Don’t have an idea yet? Here’s a list of 50 other side hustles you can start to earn cash today.
Your new business may be a bit shaky at first but with time you’ll grow your skills and your income.
If you’re ready to put some extra money in your pocket, get started today. You’ll wish you had in a year from now.
Now get to hustlin’.
Alexa says
November 5, 2013 at 6:11 amFrom my experience the first freelance writing gig is the hardest. Once you have the first one under your belt the rest become much easier to find. Good luck!
Debt BLAG says
November 5, 2013 at 11:16 amI’ve got incomplete thoughts on this. Like a lot of people, the thing I’m best at and thus, the thing with which I have the potential to add the most to my income is my primary job — my main hustle, if you will. As it happens, I love my job, but know that a lot of people don’t. Maybe consulting using the same skills? I don’t know…
Alexa says
November 5, 2013 at 11:28 amMy thoughts are that if you like your job and that’s what you are best at, maybe you don’t need a side hustle. Perhaps you can just concentrate on earning more at your current job (if you see the need to.) I for one wasn’t happy at the day job I was at and therefore started side hustles and just recently turned them into full time work.
If you are happy with the job you currently have I think that’s awesome! And like you said, you could use the skills you have from your full time job to do some consulting.
Dear Debt says
November 5, 2013 at 10:49 pmI love side hustling. I want to make more money writing, teaching and doing whatever I can!
Phil @ PhilanthroCapitalist says
May 20, 2017 at 3:08 pmHave you ever done web design for someone else? I hear stories all the time about people getting paid $75/hr+ for building easy, free WordPress websites. I *would* do it, but it just sounds like a scam.
WordPress is so simple. Even when I booted it up on my blog, there was a “recommended” option to have an expert help me for $350. What for? To tell me to click “install”?
I feel really bad for older people (assuming that’s the demographic that sees themselves as “technologically illiterate) who fall for that.
At the same time, I don’t see my expertise with web design being worth that much. It’s a weird gray area between “beginner” and “intermediate” that I would feel uncomfortable charging for. Anyone else in the same boat?
Robert Farrington says
May 20, 2017 at 9:26 pmIt can get challenging once you want to do more custom things with your site. At that point, paying someone is definitely worth it. But as for charging – I wouldn’t unless I was comfortable doing it right.