15 Different Ways That People Can Bring in Extra Cash
With prices on a runaway train, people are looking for ways to earn extra cash. 115.9 million Americans aged 16 and older are working a side hustle to earn that extra money. While 69.6% of Americans report a side hustle, only 1.6% make more than $500 monthly.
Of those pursuing a side gig 72.4% were men, and 18.4% fit the Baby Boomer demographic. Of those side gig workers, 29.8% do freelance work, and 39.4% flip items to earn money. 77.2% of side hustlers are somewhat or highly dependent on this earned income.
One great aspect of having a side hustle is that your earning potential is virtually limitless. Knowing what jobs make the most money, what jobs fit your situation best, and how to utilize your side hustle to your earning advantage are all key to raking in money as fast as possible. To that end, we’ve put together fifteen of the coolest ways people earn those extra dollars.
1. Flower Delivery
One of the neatest and most lucrative ways I’ve found to make extra money was posted to Wealth of Geeks by Image Team Lead Kayla Yaden. Kayla happened upon a discussion about how flower shops hire delivery drivers during busy holidays to handle the excess orders. As Mother’s Day approached, she quickly filled out an application and spent a weekend delivering beautiful bouquets to some deserving mothers.
She made an incredible $600 in one weekend, bringing joy and love to women around her hometown. As a word of caution, this is not a job for the faint of heart. It’s jam-packed; you’ll need a level head, likely find your own orders, secure their transport, and deliver them (undamaged) on time. You’ll also work your tail off all weekend. However, if you can handle all that, it’s a nice bump to your monthly income that brings people happiness.
2. Freelance Gigs
Freelance work makes up a massive portion of those working a side gig in 2024. Whether you’re a freelance editor, writer, journalist, photographer, consultant, or other freelance category, your work averages an extra $12,689 a year.
Marketing is a big metric for freelancers, and utilizing email and social media channels helps them find paying clients. Platforms like Guru, Upwork, and Freelancer.com are also ways freelancers can find paying work. However, avenues like these are a cautionary tale, as they all charge a fee before or after one completes the job. Maximizing your audience on social media is the best way to find work you won’t have to pay a fee to complete.
3. Pet Sitting
Taking care of someone else’s furry friend can be a handful. You have to be great with animals, preferably not be allergic to pet dander, and be trustworthy with a reputation for honesty. Check to see if your town requires a permit for this job.
To help you find work, use apps like Rover or Care.com. You can also use social media to set up your contracts and bookings through a site like Calendly. As a freelance pet sitter, setting your own terms can help you earn more per hour than other avenues of finding clientele to work with.
4. Tech Savvy Setups
If you know your way around technology and electronic devices, you can make a mint helping customers who aren’t as knowledgeable. The startup costs would be minimal (as you might need a few tools you don’t already have), and having some certifications would benefit you if you’re starting out in this field.
If you want to get started with this side hustle, finding gigs on handyman apps like HelloTech and TaskRabbit will get you going. If you’d instead find your own clients, you can use Square to help with bookings and payment processing. This side gig is great for high school and college students.
5. Blogging
If you have a knack for writing, starting your blog can be a fun way to earn money. It’s important to note that this is a work-intensive job, especially if you’re the only one working on the writing side. You’ll also need to spend between $50 and $100 to purchase a domain name and a WordPress hosting service like Squarespace.
The faster and more professionally you can turn out content, the faster you’ll attract traffic. You can then monetize your blog with ads and affiliate links. Ads will pay per view, and affiliate links pay you a commission if someone completes a purchase using your link. Both are great ways to make money off your writing.
6. Elder Companion Care
Becoming a companion for an older adult is a very rewarding side gig. You can also make yourself more marketable by taking CPR (circulation, pulse, and respiration) training and Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) courses to enhance your knowledge.
Elderly companions can make $26 an hour as of 2021. For 44 hours of service per week, you’d earn around $4000 a month in compensation if you chose to become a live-in companion (which may or may not include homemaker jobs like meal preparation, transportation to and from appointments, and errand running), you could charge $250 or more a day based on your credentials and experience.
7. Personal/Virtual Assistant
As a personal or virtual assistant, you can set your schedule and pay rate based on previous experience. As such, you’ll perform many executive assistant-type jobs, usually under contract.
You may also do more mundane tasks like picking up dry cleaning, running children to and from sporting events, ordering dinner for your clientele, or managing a schedule of appointments.
If you like to work with to-do lists, prefer checking off boxes of tasks as you go, and like to be organized and busy, check out Thumbtack or TaskRabbit or set up your gig through Square.
8. Mobile Handyman Services
This job is awesome for anyone with the knowledge to fix broken things. Whether you have mechanical, plumbing, electrical, landscaping, or other helpful experience, you can charge handsomely for your services.
You can use sites like Thumbtack, Angi, or TaskRabbit to find clients, and once established, you can set your schedule, weed out clients you don’t want to work with, and sync your schedule with clients you love for a pay rate that fulfills your expectations.
9. Flea Markets and Festivals
If you’re a creative sort who likes to make things, selling at flea markets and festivals can be fun and financially rewarding. This job is best for extroverted individuals, but you can always hire someone to sell for you if you’re an introvert.
If you’re making the products you sell yourself, you could sink some cash into preparing your products before you sell. However, if you’re looking for a little quick cash, you can do well over a weekend. Obviously, if your product sells quickly, you might run out easily, and more sales means better money. So, consider the buyer’s market for what you’re selling before you book a booth.
10. Online/In-Person Tutoring
Tutoring can be a very rewarding side hustle to kick off. You’ll have the chance to further the love of learning in children and adults who need a bit of patience with a topic. Math tutors are especially needed when only 1 in 10 students get high-dosage tutoring.
As a tutor, you can set your own working hours and pay. The average tutor in the US makes $20.22 an hour as of June 2024. That pay rate can dramatically jump if you’re tutoring for an advanced topic like AP Chemistry or Physics. College-level courses can also cause you to get a significant bump in pay.
11. Online Coaching
If you are a subject matter expert (SME), you can turn your extensive knowledge into courses people pay to take. You can also offer one-on-one coaching sessions or packages that help people learn what you already know.
You’d typically price your courses and coaching packages according to what you feel your knowledge and time are worth. The average online coaching package costs around $1,500 for life and health coaching. You can double this price as a benchmark for business and high-performance coaching.
12. Digital Product Sales
Digital products are anything you buy online that can be used digitally or printed off and used. Sites like Amazon and eBay are popular for these sorts of products, and people can make thousands of dollars a month or more to create a great digital product.
If you’re looking to make a mint with digital products, you’ll need to research what’s popular in purchasing trends. For instance, if you’re good with Canva, you could create journals, to-do lists, dry-erase products, and other useables, put them up on a site like Amazon’s KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing), and create a passive income stream. On average,people make more than $2000 a month selling digital products.
13. Podcast Creator
Thankfully, for podcast creators, it’s a creator economy at the moment. The average podcast creator makes between $500 to $900 per episode with 10,000 downloads. This number can vary significantly based on audience size, ad revenue, engagement, and other monetization pathways.
On average, 177 million people in the US listen to podcasts alone. Speaking to just a fraction of that number can net you serious money if you’re willing to work hard, market your product, and invest your time and energy into creating a worthwhile, value-based podcast.
14. Selling Print-on-Demand (POD) Products
The print-on-demand market in America is valued at $1.89 billion. Globally, it skyrocketed to $7.67 billion by the end of 2023. Apparel, home decor, drinkware, accessories, and other printable materials made up an impressive array of products global citizens purchased in 2023.
By using a method called drop shipping, you can run your print-on-demand business with virtually no inventory. When someone places an order, the order goes to a third-party supplier and is then shipped to the customer. If you like the idea of print-on-demand products, you can expect to make between $200 and $3,000,000 a month. On average, a successful POD business can expect a return of $411,000 monthly.
15. Retail Arbitrage
This side hustle is perfect for anyone who knows how to find an excellent clearance or thrift item. The idea behind retail arbitrage is to take that clearance or low-cost item and resell it on a site like eBay for a profit. Many people who utilize eBay, Craigslist, or Facebook Marketplace are making financial gains by doing this same side gig.
On average, people bring in between $500 and $10,000 a month, depending solely on how much you can put up for sale that people purchase. Your hard work and social marketing can directly correlate to your earnings.
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