5 Side Hustle Ideas to Start Earning Now

Having multiple sources of income is one of the best ways to reach financial stability, and often it can be really fun. However, a lot of side hustles require you to pour in a lot of time, work and money before you can start earning. Here are 5 side hustle ideas to help you start making money now.

Freelance Writing

Freelance writing is one of the best side hustles out there: it’s flexible, lucrative and it’s free to get started. Websites are constantly looking for new content, and unlike starting a blog, you don’t have to put in hundreds of hours of unpaid work before you can even think about making money. If you’re a good writer, you can expect to charge at least $0.05 per word, although you can adjust this up or down depending on your expertise.

You can start your freelance writing venture by advertising your services on freelance sites such as Fiverr, or searching for odd jobs on Reddit or Craigslist. If you have no previous experience it might be worth offering a couple of free articles to blogs to act as a portfolio. Once you have a strong portfolio built up you can create a personal website to showcase your work. While there’s a small cost to this, it’s the most professional way to attract paying customers.

One of the great aspects of freelance writing is that most websites will always need new content, so if a client is happy with your work then there’s a good chance of them purchasing another article from you. If you’re willing to put in the work it can therefore be fairly simple to build up a strong client base and start making a stable income.

Tutoring

If you did well in school or have a degree in a relevant subject, consider tutoring as a way to make money on the side. You can tutor any subject you like, but the most lucrative are maths and English. You can tutor in person, or alternatively you can offer your services on an online tutoring site. You usually charge your own rates and can expect to make between $15 and $25 per hour.

If you have no experience with teaching and don’t yet feel comfortable charging for your services, there are plenty of organisations looking for volunteer tutors. Some of these organisations will accept just 1 hour of your time per week, so it’s not too much work to build up a portfolio of experience and start making money from tutoring.

Throughout my time as a tutor I’ve met some really great kids who just need a little confidence boost before they start achieving great grades at school, and it’s so rewarding to watch their confidence grow as you continue to work with them.

Teaching English Online

If you weren’t so great in school but can speak fluent English, then becoming an online ESL teacher is a great option. Teaching English online pays well and is extremely enjoyable, so is a perfect option to make money on the side.

You’ll need to put in an initial investment to get qualified – a 120 hour online TEFL certificate is ideally the minimum qualification you should have. But with a salary of up to $25 per hour, this investment should pay itself back pretty quickly.

I got my TEFL certificate through Premier TEFL – it’s a well priced and interesting course, and it’s possible to pay off the cost of your qualification with just a few hours of teaching.

Drop shipping

If you don’t know what drop shipping is, it’s a type of business model which allows you to sell products to customers without ever seeing the product yourself. Here’s how it usually plays out:

• A customer makes a purchase from your online store.
• You notify the supplier of the sale.
• The supplier ships the product to the customer.

While a lot of people advertise drop shipping as a get rich quick scheme, in reality it’s a lot of work, especially in the beginning. However, if you’re willing to put in the work, it’s possible to start making sales almost instantly. Shopify is the most popular ecommerce platform for drop shipping, and they power over 800,000 stores.

Drop shipping is easily the most business oriented option on this list, and can be a perfect option if you’ve always wanted to own your own business but have limited funds to start. If you’re interested in drop shipping, I’d recommend finding some YouTube tutorials to get you started – there are some great case studies which allow you to follow along with the whole process, from setting up the store, to choosing a profitable product, to making your first ever sale.

Get a Part Time Job

Getting a part time job is perhaps the quickest and easiest way to start earning money. Waiting tables and pouring drinks may not be your ideal way to spend your evenings and weekends, but it’s an easy and stable way to boost your income. It’s also the most sociable option on this list, so if you’d like to make a second income while meeting new people, this is a great option for you.

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