My 10 Favorite Side Hustles
- Special Talents
- Become a Referral Agent
- Craigslist
- Declutter and Sell Stuff
- Dog Walker / Pet Sitter
- Lawn Mowing
- Detail Cars
- House Cleaning
- Garden Watering
- Fiverr
Increase Your Monthly Income
Side hustles can be a great way to increase your monthly income. In fact, you can start businesses from side hustles.
There are side hustles out there that can take you five minutes, and there are options that you can work at for as many hours a week as you want. Whether you’re trying to make ends meet to pay the bills, fill a gap between jobs, earn some extra money for a vacation, or earn extra money to invest, side hustles are a viable option.
There are endless options for side hustles. Some pay more than others, and some seem a bit silly. But they all pay, and that’s what we’re concerned about.
Below are my top ten options for side hustles. Not that these are the best paying or the best in general. They’re just options that I’ve seen people succeed with.
Special Talents:
Can you sing and play guitar? I have a friend who has made a whole career out of acoustic music.
He plays covers at bars, restaurants, breweries, wineries, private parties, weddings, and just about anywhere else. It started as a side gig, and now he’s killing it. Seriously, he plays around 250 events a year.
I don’t know what he’s getting paid, but if you look on Thumbtack, it looks like people are getting anywhere from $100 to $1,000 per hour. There are several musicians whose prices aren’t even listed.
If you have this talent, pick up the guitar and start booking some shows! Start with a low price and let it snowball from there. If you’re good, you’ll get people in the crowd and neighboring establishments asking for your number.
Another special talent is photography.
I did real estate photography myself when I first got into real estate. I was terrible, but people paid me to do it. I was consistently hired by the same people to take listing photos. I even had people ask for newborn and family photos.
Again, I was terrible, so this didn’t go far, but I had no experience with photography. I just had a DSLR camera.
It’s a little more challenging today with how good phone cameras are, but if you’re talented, you can get ongoing work.
- Headshots
- Newborn Photos
- Family Photos
- Real Estate Photography
- Sell to Image Sites Like: https://www.istockphoto.com/
- Weddings
- Engagements
- Photographer Assistant
Real Estate Referral Agent:
I’m a realtor as my full-time career. I can’t tell you how many times people have told me that they think it would be fun to be a realtor.
It is fun! But it’s a grind, and I’ve learned that most people aren’t willing to put in the time and work it takes to succeed as a realtor. Not only that, but it’s commission only, and not everyone wants that. But we all know friends and family who end up needing a realtor.
Why not capitalize on that? You can become a licensed referral agent. You get licensed, hang your license with a local brokerage and then partner up with a full-time agent. Then, any time you know someone looking to buy or sell real estate, you refer them business and get a 25% referral commission.
Say what?! Yes, it’s that easy. You can even take it a step further and market with the agent you’re partnered with to drum up business. It’s so easy that I can’t believe more people don’t do it.
Craigslist:
Ok, this is a rabbit hole of side hustles. You can find so many different options on Craigslist. I spent no more than five minutes and found all of the options below:
- Computer
- Graphic Design
- Quickbooks Help
- Social Media
- Web Developer
- Creative
- Photography
- Haircutting
- Painting
- Writer
- Events
- Busser
- Bartender
- Server
- Farmer’s Market Help
- Labor
- Handyman
- Painting
- Landscaping
- Moving
The options for finding gigs on Craigslist are endless. The one suggestion that I would make here is to be careful with how you handle business with these unknown people.
Declutter and Sell:
Let’s face it, most people have too much stuff in their house.
I have a loose rule in my house: if it doesn’t get used in six months, it’s gone. Except for my baseball cards. They don’t get touched and have earned a lifetime spot in my house.
Other than that, use it or lose it. At first, I would just give stuff away to friends through social media. I didn’t want to deal with meeting people to sell my things. Until you have it down, it can be a pain.
The system that I use now works as follows:
- List the item on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace. I generally hide it from my friends on FB Marketplace. There’s an option for that when setting up the ad.
- I note in the ad my City and State. At the beginning of the ad, I write, “If the item is listed, it’s still for sale. I will not answer any questions about this item. If you ask questions, I will disregard your message. Please send your phone number if you would like the item, and we can coordinate pickup.”
- There is a strip mall near my house where I will meet the buyer in daylight.
How I look at it, my ad will turn many people off. But I don’t care because I was giving this stuff away before. I want to get it sold for the least amount of hassle possible. I’ll take a hit on the price. My time is better spent elsewhere.
Dog Walker / Pet Sitter:
Where I live, people constantly need dog walkers and pet sitters. Either they work too late, have happy hour, or just want someone on call just in case.
There’s always a job for a dog walker. Pet sitters are priceless. People hate boarding their pets and sometimes don’t even have that option. Not to mention that pet boarding costs a fortune.
Word of mouth is an excellent way to pick up some business here. Tell your friends, family, and neighbors. It’s also a good idea to call the local veterinary clinics.
Lawn Mowing:
I hate to tell you to steal business from your local teens, but this is a layup. There are a lot of people out there that don’t want to mow their own lawns.
Some want to mow the lawn themselves most of the time but might want someone to do it when they’re out of town or too busy. Some people like to hire people to mow their lawn for the whole season.
Pick up as many of these as you want. I started a lawn business as a senior in high school and mowed lawns until I was twenty-five. I’ve cut thousands of yards. It’s not bad, and it’s easy to find a few or more clients if you want.
Detail Cars:
This one is similar to the lawn mowing gig.
Go through any neighborhood, and you will find people who want their car detailed for the right price. The good thing about this is that once you find that customer, they will likely want to be a repeat client. Not only this, but it’s relatively easy to get them to refer you to others.
I had neighbors bring a guy onto my street, and he did six cars at once. Since it was a group package, it was pretty inexpensive. He was fantastic, and I’ve been using him since. I also refer him out like crazy now.
House Cleaning:
I’m starting to feel like I should have combined lawn mowing, car detailing, and house cleaning.
They’re all very similar services, and many people who use one of these services would use another. You can put the word out the same way or place an ad on Craigslist. My thought on all three of these services is that the closer to home you work, the better.
Garden Watering:
This one is similar to dog walking. Whenever I leave on vacation, I worry about finding someone to water my garden.
It doesn’t take long, but some things need to be watered daily, depending on how hot it is. I’ve recently installed a watering system which has saved me a lot of time, water (it’s more efficient), and the hassle of finding people to water my plants while I’m gone. However, many people are out there with a similar problem. Solve it for them!
Fiverr
This website offers a ton of small jobs that you can do online. When you go to the main page, it notes that some popular options are: Website Design, WordPress, Logo Design, and NFT Art.
You can do anything from small projects that take five minutes to larger extended projects. The person puts the project up for auction, and you bid on how much you would charge. The person requesting the work chooses who they want to hire, and then you’re off and running. I’ve used this myself for small graphic design and excel work. Here’s my guy.
Make It Happen!
These are just my top ten favorite options. There are many more options out there that I like, but these are my favorites.
