Want to earn extra money? Do you spare enough time and competitive skills to profit from? If yes, an online side hustle is a perfect option for you!
Side hustles have come a long way, from earning extra money to becoming part of living. Many millennials are engaged in side hustles to fulfill their needs in the era of inflation and stagnant income.
According to the survey of Side Hustle Nation, 45% of working Americans have reported a side hustle, which amounts to roughly 70 million people.
People start earning extra money for many reasons – savings, meeting daily needs, paying debts, etc.
According to Bankrate:
- 41% of Americans earn extra money to meet daily living expenses
- 26% to earn disposable income for spending
- 17% to boost saving
- 12% to pay debts
Well, whatever reason it may be to start earning extra money, many people don’t know how to start a side income or the best option.
Are you planning to earn extra money and are stuck with the same questions? If yes, you have landed at the right place.
This article will help you know some trending ideas for side hustles. But before that, it will introduce you to the term – side hustle.
What is a Side Hustle?
It is an activity of earning extra money besides your regular income. It is a side job outside your regular job to earn money. You can refer to it as a part-time job.
In addition to extra money, it helps you strengthen your skills and develop a vast network. It is the best way to live your passion and gain experience in activities you like. The best part is that most side incomes do not require educational qualifications.
Online side hustles are more flexible; you don’t have to commute and leave home. However, most of them require an internet-enabled computer or mobile device.
Why an Online Side Hustle?
Here are the top reasons why you should think of a side income:
- With the increasing inflation, financial security has become a significant concern. As the side income helps you earn extra money, you can ensure financial security.
- You get the freedom to work and have complete control over it.
- You can turn your passion into a side income. It will be an added benefit – extra income + passion.
- When you are engrossed in a side job, you make the most of your free time as you gain work experience and learn new skills.
- In a monotonous job, uncovering your creativity may be challenging. You can unleash your creativity and do something productive and valuable with a part-time job.
- Undoubtedly, a side job will help you build your credibility and network of people.
How to Start a Side Hustle?
Your skills are the first thing to consider when choosing a part-time job. When you start with something that aligns with your skills and area of interest, you will find it more exciting and enjoyable.
Enlist your abilities and areas of interest. Find out what skills of yours can help you start a side job. Once you do that, follow the below steps to learn some exciting understanding how to start a side hustle:
Market Research
Based on your skills and areas of interest, explore the market. Look at the demand for products or services you plan to offer in your side job. Please find out how your product or service benefits people or why they prefer it.
The next is to research your competitors – how they offer, what strategy they follow to gain customers, marketing strategy, etc. Finally, check the estimated average income from your part-time job.
Considering all these pointers, you will know how profitable your side gig will be.
Search for the Target Audience
It is an inevitable step in any business. Knowing the target audience beforehand allows you to sell your products or services that meet their needs.
After you conduct market research, focus on searching for the target audience. Look for people interested in buying your product or service. If needed, you can even personalize your service to gain more sales.
Plan and Set Goals
The next step is to define goals and outline a strategy to achieve them. A well-organized and balanced plan will help you keep your regular job and side gig on track. It avoids any hassle and chaos while working.
Define small, modest goals for your part-time job. Move forward as you have planned. Adapt to small changes in between to manage your work.
Perform Trails
Once you are all set, start your side gig on a small level to test whether it works. Also, this helps you understand how much your plan or strategy helps acquire customers. If needed, you can make minor adjustments or completely change it.
Further, take feedback from people who made your sales. Find out the areas of improvement and make the necessary changes to uplift customer satisfaction.
10 Best Online Side Hustles to Start From Your Home
Now you know to start a side gig. With little to no investment, you can start earning extra income with your regular job.
Here are some of the best online side hustle ideas for professionals to start from their homes:
1. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is one of the most lucrative marketing strategies professionals adopt today. It is an advertising model wherein affiliates promote the products and services of others and earn a commission for each sale.
Do you know?
The total affiliate marketing spending in the United States reached 8.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, which was $5.4 billion in 2017, according to Statista.
This side gig is easily achievable through social media platforms. However, you must thoroughly know about promoting products or services correctly.
Finding a specific product or service to promote is not enough. Besides, you must consider the appropriate and reputed brand whose products you will promote.
After choosing the brand, endorse its products or services on various social media platforms and sell them. Having a good number of followers is better, as it helps make more sales and earn more commission.
Many companies and eCommerce websites, such as Amazon and Flipkart, offer affiliate programs. Simply share the product or service links to social media platforms. When any customer completes a purchase from your affiliate link, you earn a few percent of the sale.
Moreover, you can find affiliate programs in various fields – finance, beauty and cosmetics, marketing and business, education, etc. Conduct proper research and choose the best one that pays more.
Some of the highest-paying affiliate programs are:
- Semrush: $200/subscription
- Coursera: 45% commission on eligible purchases
- Liquid Web: $150 per sale
- BigCommerce: 200% per sale
- Shopify: $58 for every merchant you refer
2. Teach Online
Teaching is yet another go-to option for a side hustle from home if you possess in-depth knowledge of a subject. This does not necessarily be an academic subject. If you are well-versed in professional dancing, know playing any musical instrument, or are an expert in yoga, Zumba, or any other skill, you can consider becoming a tutor online.
Online tutoring has gained traction during the pandemic due to social distancing. This resulted in the development of multiple online tutoring platforms.
The online tutoring services market grew from $8.36 billion in 2022 to $9.68 billion in 2023, i.e., at a CAGR rate of 15.8%.
Here are some popular online tutoring platforms where you can get started as a tutor:
3. Freelancing
Freelancing, a type of self-employment, is where people deliver services on a contract or project basis. It is one of the top side hustles opted for by people worldwide. Further, monetizing your passion, hobby, or skill is an excellent choice. Also, it allows you to choose with whom you want to work. You get paid per project, task, or hour as a freelancer.
Do you know?
According to Statista, currently, there are 73.3 million freelancers in the United States. The number is expected to grow to 86.5 million by 2027, making up 50.9% of the U.S. workforce.
You can be a freelancer and provide services at which you excel. Some standard freelancing services include graphic design, content writing, digital marketing, web development, testing, social media marketing, etc.
Also, many platforms, such as Upwork, Fiverr, etc., help freelancers find potential clients and increase their credibility. You can start with this platform and build a solid portfolio to attract new clients. Moreover, as you grow with freelancing, these platforms even help you outsource your work.
4. Dropshipping
Being lucrative yet challenging, dropshipping is one of the best online side hustles. It is an order fulfillment model where companies or entrepreneurs outsource the delivery of their products to third parties. You can become a seller and sell the products to customers without inventory.
According to Oberlo, the global market size of dropshipping in 2022 was $198.78 billion and is expected to reach $476.1 billion by 2026.
To get started with dropshipping, you require an online store or website to showcase products available from suppliers for sale. You buy the products from the suppliers only when you receive an order from a customer. The supplier will ship the order on your behalf.
Hence, this eliminates the hassle of stocking up on products and searching for a physical store.
A few things you must ensure in this business are the supplier’s trustworthiness, timely order delivery, and maximum customer satisfaction.
5. Social Media Content Creator
A social media creator creates and shares content to educate or entertain people across various social media platforms – Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Tik Tok, etc. The content can be any form– videos, images, podcasts, blog posts, etc.
Social media creators are solely focused on building audiences on social media platforms. However, initially, the major challenge is deciding which platform to choose. Every social media platform has its users and audiences. So, choosing the platform where you find your target audience is better.
Another essential point to consider is to choose a niche and stick to it. For instance, if you are passionate about cooking and baking, you can create videos and blog posts of recipes and share them with people.
According to Sproutsocial, Instagram and Facebook are the most popular social platforms marketers prefer for content creation.
6. Create an Online Course
Like becoming an online tutor, you can create an online course for the subject you are an expert at and sell it on different platforms. With the inception of several online course platforms such as Coursera, Udemy, Codecademy, etc., selling a course has become a cakewalk.
Different tools and equipment have also made creating and designing higher-quality courses easier.
The best advantage of this online side hustle is that you must create a course(s) only once and sell it repeatedly on different platforms.
The eLearning industry is booming at a more excellent pace currently. Having your course can undoubtedly be beneficial and lucrative.
According to Globe News Wire, the eLearning market size is expected to hit $848.12 billion by 2030 at a CAGR of 17.54%.
A few famous online course platforms to sell your course are:
- Udemy
- Coursera
- Chegg India
- Vedantu
- Preply
- HubSpot Academy
7. Blogging
The best yet most convenient option for an online side hustle is blogging. If writing is your passion, blogging has a lot to offer. Whether you want to make people knowledgeable, share your experiences, or help them choose the best products and services, blogging can help.
Do you Know?
According to RankIQ, food and finance are the topmost blogging niches that earn the highest income.
Writing blog posts is not enough; you need to monetize them. Various ways to monetize your blogs are using affiliate programs, publishing sponsored content, displaying ads on your blog posts, and offering premium content behind an exclusive membership.
You must remember that blog monetization takes time. However, once it is monetized, you will have a good source of side income. The more traffic your blog posts receive, the more income you can generate. To drive more traffic, you need to take care of search engine optimization (SEO).
8. Online Translator
You can leverage your language skills to earn extra money. This online side gig works only if you know more than one language. As a translator, you must be able to translate any text, audio, or video from one language to another.
Many people hire a translator to convert one language into another. You can work as a part-time translator for such people. Otherwise, you can provide your language translation service on Fiverr, Upwork, and other platforms.
9. Become a Virtual Assistant
A virtual assistant is a professional who works remotely and helps a company perform various tasks, such as administration, social media management, bookkeeping, etc. Many business owners today are actively looking for a virtual assistant to help them with various projects.
According to Market Watch, the virtual assistant industry generated $4012.5 in 2022 and is expected to $8613.5 by 2028 at a CAGR of 22.3%.
You can work in various fields and have different skills as a virtual assistant. Also, you have the flexibility to earn on an hourly, weekly, or monthly basis. The amount of wage entirely depends on the experience and skills.
10. Start a YouTube Channel
YouTube needs no introduction. Almost everyone today uses YouTube for various purposes – learning skills, gaining information, watching videos or web series, etc.
According to Hootsuite, YouTube has 1.7 billion monthly unique visitors and 14.3 billion visits per month.
This free video-sharing website has an extensive number of monthly users. Hence, it is the best way to start your YouTube channel, gain more subscribers, monetize it, and start a side income.
Stick to your skills or areas of interest to curate content for YouTube. If you have any product or service, you can promote it and reach a vast network of people.
Start Your Online Side Hustle Today!
Side hustles help you earn extra income and ensure financial security while doing well in a regular job or business. Online side jobs are an excellent option to help you turn your passion into a secondary income source.
Besides extra income, you can develop new skills and gain new experience. This results in personal growth and development.
We hope the above list of online side hustle ideas will help you choose one that best fits your skills. Despite any idea you choose, conduct market research and create a business plan beforehand.
Good Luck!
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Frequently Asked Questions
1. What are the highest-paid side hustles to start?
Many side gigs require little to no monetary investments and give good amounts in return. They are affiliate marketing, dropshipping, freelancing, creating online courses, social media management, and online teaching.
2. Are side hustles worth it?
Yes. Side gigs are a secondary income source and help people save money, pay debts, or meet the everyday living. Besides, they help you gain experience and develop skills.
3. Which is the cheapest side hustle?
The cheapest side hustle is one that does not require hefty investments. Some are online tutoring, social media marketing, dropshipping, and affiliate marketing.
