If you’re looking for a new side hustle to make extra money, these strategies are great to earn a few extra bucks. Your side hustle doesn’t have to be a full-blown business. Even if you have a full time job, you can be earning cash in your free time!
** This post may contain ads and affiliate links.
If You Have a Car
1. Turo
How awesome would it be if your car could help pay for its own monthly payment? Turo is a service where you can rent out your car to other drivers. This is a perfect way to bring in extra cash without much effort (especially if you have more than one vehicle!).
What you can earn per day depends on your car make, model, and the city you live in. You can use Turo’s “carculator” to get an estimate of what your car could earn you. Turo even insures your car, so you can have peace of mind while your automobile earns you money.
2. Uber/Lyft
If you haven’t heard of Uber or Lyft – where have you been?! Driving for either of these companies can be an especially lucrative side hustle in a city that attracts a lot of tourism, or if you live near an airport. Have a long commute from your office? I know a woman that makes a good chunk of change driving Uber routes on her way home from work.
3. Food Delivery Driver
No, we’re not suggesting that you get a job at the local pizza shop like you did in high school. Uber Eats and Grubhub are two of the most popular food delivery apps. Driving for them could be a great side hustle – even if you don’t have a car! If you live downtown or in a compact area, ride your bike instead. What’s better than getting paid to exercise?
If you’re not into restaurant food delivery, you could also help people shop for groceries with Instacart. You can apply to be a full-service shopper and personally deliver grocery orders to peoples homes and apartments after you buy them. Alternatively, there’s the option of being an in-store shopper that picks out people’s groceries and just walks the cart out when the customer pulls up to the parking lot.
4. Amazon Flex
Amazon Prime has over 100 million subscribers – someone has to help UPS deliver all of those packages! If you’ve ever seen a random car full of Amazon boxes pull up to your neighbor’s house, it was probably an Amazon Flex driver. You can earn some extra money by delivering packages for Amazon Flex in your free time too!
Their website currently advertises an hourly rate of $18-$25 for its drivers. You must be at least 21 years old, and drive a mid-size sedan or larger (sorry Smart Car drivers!). Amazon Flex is only available in select cities. If yours isn’t listed, you can join a waitlist to be notified when it’s available in your area.
Sell Things You Already Have
5. Poshmark
Poshmark is a clothing-resale app that I’ve personally used quite a bit. It’s great being able to clear out old items from your closet without settling for low-ball resale shop offers. Simply take good quality pictures of your clothing or accessories you’d like to sell, set your prices and creating listings on the app, then ship out orders as they come in!
Poshmark provides you with pre-paid postage when you sell an item, which allows you to use free priority shipping envelopes & boxes available at USPS. This is a fantastic side hustle for college students, recent college grads, or people who change out their wardrobe often. When I was in college, I made a few hundred dollars on Poshmark selling clothes I hadn’t worn in years!
6. Stock Photos
If you have a knack for photography, or if you have old hard drives with vacation photos collecting dust, you can turn those unused photos into extra money! Submit your pictures to websites like Shutterstock, and collect money when people pay to use your photos.
Admittedly, unless you’re a professional, you probably won’t make a ton of money selling stock photos. The space has become much more saturated in the last few years, but if you take decent photos, it’s a great way to earn a few extra bucks after a small amount of up-front work.
Get Paid for Your Expertise
7. Airbnb Experiences
Are you a San Francisco or New York City local? If you’re located in any high-tourism area, you can share your expertise of the city by offering tours or experiences on Airbnb. This is a great side gig for people who love showing others their city, or for creative individuals who can offer a fun and memorable activity to visitors. You can see what others are charging for similar experiences in your area, set your own prices, and have fun being a local tour guide!
8. clarity.fm
People can always benefit from advice, coaching, and other points of view. clarity.fm is essentially a platform that lets you charge for consulting calls. Maybe you’ve worked in a certain industry for a few years, or have an abundance of knowledge on a particular topic. If you have advice that you believe would benefit other people or business owners, share your tips and tricks while earning money on a quick phone call!
9. Upwork/Fiverr
Maybe you’re a great graphic designer, social media manager, or looking to earn some extra money as a virtual assistant. You can freelance your talents through websites like Upwork or Fiverr. The platforms take a percentage of what you earn, but they make interacting and accepting payments from clients a breeze.
Unfortunately, starting in May/June 2019, Upwork will start charging freelancers a small amount to submit proposals to jobs. (There’s still no charge if a client directly sends you an invitation to their job!) This is supposed to decrease the likelihood of random, unqualified freelancers applying to jobs. This will be beneficial to freelancers already established on the platform. If you’re just starting out, Fiverr is a better option for testing the waters without any upfront costs.
