130+ Ways to Make Extra Money on the Side (+ 5 Side Gigs to Avoid)
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Whether you’re looking to pay off debt, save for a downpayment, or just put a little more flex in your budget, pretty much everyone could use extra money.
But finding the time to earn extra money on the side can be tough.
Not to mention how much extra you’re looking to earn can make a big difference in what type of work you are willing to do on the side.
Today, I’m going to help you with both to make sure you go after the right side gig for you.
I took the time to break down what you should consider in order to be successful making money on the side and list out over 130 ways you can make extra money on the side. Guaranteed you’ll find at least one that would work for you.
Having a Solid Reason for Earning Money on The Side Will Help You Stay Motivated
Making extra money on the side means you’re doing more work, because it’s on the side. Which means you have to have a really really good reason for wanting to make that extra money.
A clear goal, including how much you want to earn to go along with why you want to earn it can act as a reminder when the going gets tough.
Are you saving to get a house? Put up a picture of your dream house (and the price), with the required down payment and make it something you see every day so when you go off to do the work on the side you’re excited about what you’re doing.
Wanting to pay off debt, debt sucks (I know) but wanting to get out of debt isn’t enough, why do you want to get out of debt? In what ways is debt holding you back? Knowing that will keep you motivated to keep hustling to make that extra money on the side. Then it’s just a matter of how much you want to put toward your debt each month and BAM! you’ve got you goal amount.
Looking to put your budget at ease? Get specific. What would it mean for you to not have to stress about your budget each month? What are the negative impacts of that stress each month that you’re looking to alleviate? Write it down, know why it is you are doing the extra work to earn the extra money.
A conscious decision about your preferred work environment will quickly narrow down the list
This post lists over 130 ways to make extra money on the side. It’s a long list and going through everything could take a long time. But if you have some idea what kind of work you’re looking for, you’ll be able to quickly and easily narrow down the list.
Do you want to work offline or online? Indoors or outdoors? Work from home or go to another location? Be in control of how much work you take on or report to someone else’s schedule?
There is no wrong answer, it’s just a matter of what will work best for you and your goal to make extra money.
Decide how much time you have to work on the side
I promise you, if you’re currently only working one full-time job, you have the time to make some extra money on the side. Though you have to decide how much of your free time your willing to sacrifice to earn that extra money.
Consider how much time you spend watching TV or playing a video game, then do less of that, voila! You’ve found time in your schedule to earn money on the side.
Chose a Side Hustle and Take action on a side gig
All that is left to do is pick a side gig and go after it. While I’ve outlined some basic information on some of the side gigs below, if you want to learn more about working a side gig, be sure to sign up for the FREE Side Gig Summit.
An online conference with 25+ Side Gig experts sharing their personal stories and secrets for succeeding with a side gig. (note the 2018 Side Gig Summit is over, but you can sign up to be the first to learn about the 2019 Summit.)
1. Become a BeachBody Coach and Get Paid to Live Healthy
If you’re a fan of BeachBody, consider becoming a BeachBody coach, you’ll get discounts on new products and have the opportunity to earn money by helping others. You can learn more about what it’s like to be a BeachBody coach from my friend, Tovah. But be wary, it’s a little MLM-lite.
Difficulty: Hard
Earnings: Depends on how hard you work
Online/Offline: Offline
2. Sell Stuff on eBay to Earn Hundreds Every Month
My friend Jason from The Butler Journal routinely makes hundreds every month buying stuff at thrift stores and then selling it on eBay. He usually spends about 10 hours a week working on it.
You can learn more about how Jason makes money selling stuff on eBay during his session of the Side Gig Summit, which airs Tuesday, August 28th. You can also check out this post to find out how he got started.
Difficulty: Medium
Earnings: Depends on how well you know your market
Online/Offline: Both, buy offline, sell online
3. Make Your Car Pay for Itself by Driving for Lyft or Uber
If you like to drive, start getting paid for it. Sign up for Lyft and/or Uber and start earning money within a couple of weeks. Learn everything you need to know about becoming a Lyft Driver. Bonus, you can usually earn a bonus by completing a certain number of rides within the first 30 days of being a driver.
Learn more about being a ride share driver from Anthony Kirlew at the FREE Side Gig Summit
Difficulty: Easy
Earnings: Average of $20/hour
Online/Offline: Offline
4. Avoid people in your car and still make money with your car with Amazon Flex
If you like driving but are not interested in shuttling around drunks, then Amazon Flex could be just ticket. Amazon Flex drivers deliver Prime Now orders, so it is limited to cities that offer Prime Now. You still get the opportunity to earn tips but you don’t have to worry about keeping your car super clean.
Difficulty: Easy
Earnings: Upwards of $15/hour
Online/Offline: Offline
5. Make People Happy By Bringing Them Stuff with PostMates
PostMates delivery drivers can make around $18 an hour and you don’t necessarily have to have a car, a bike works too. So you could potentially be paid to ride your bike around delivering stuff, typically, take out, groceries, and booze.
Difficulty: Easy
Earnings: Upwards of $18/hour
Online/Offline: Offline
6. Do a Favor, Get Paid
Be a personal assistant with Favor on your terms. Work around your schedule, so long as you have an iPhone or Android and live in a city served by Favor you can make money as a runner on Favor.
Difficulty: Easy
Earnings: Depends on the jobs you do
Online/Offline: Offline
7. Pull Double Duty Grocery Shopping with Instacart
You have to go grocery shopping anyway so why not do someone else’s grocery shopping too and get paid? Instacart lets users order their groceries and then Instacart shoppers do the shopping and deliver the groceries.
Difficulty: Easy
Earnings: Varies
Online/Offline: Offline
8. Advertise on Your Car
There are a number of companies that will pay you to put an ad on your car for a set period of time. it’s a pretty simple and easy way to make some extra money.
Difficulty: Easy
Earnings: $100/month
Online/Offline: Offline
9. Make Money Hanging Out with Dogs
You can start dog walking for neighbors or sign up on a service like Rover. I currently do both and have made upwards of $100/week just doing lunchtime walks. You could also do dog sitting for easily $30/night.
Related: A Guide to Earning Money with Rover
Learn more about starting a dog walking and sitting business from Melissa the Coach at the FREE Side Gig Summit
Difficulty: Medium
Earnings: Varies, I’ve earned over $100/week at times
Online/Offline: Offline
10. Just show up and do the work with a retail job
Retail is great because most stores expect part-time workers and it’s not unusual for their employees to have availability for just nights and weekends. It’s great because you really just have to show up and do the work and then call it a day. So it’s low responsibility, but it could also mean lower pay compared to some of the other ways to make money on this list.
Difficulty: Easy
Earnings: Usually Minimum Wage
Online/Offline: Offline
11. Have close encounters with football stars working stadium security
I used to work stadium security at Gillette Stadium. It was a great gig because while it was a weekend job it wasn’t an every weekend job. And there was actually work year round with concerts and other events. So it wasn’t just during football season. If you live near a stadium check their website for job fairs and sign up.
Difficulty: Easy
Earnings: $100/game
Online/Offline: Offline
12. Sell stuff that is literally falling into your yard
Crazy as it sounds people will buy things like fall leaves. This is a particularly good side job if you live in the New England area. One company will pay $1/perfect leaf. Bricks of snow is another route to make money from stuff literally falling into your yard.
Difficulty: Medium
Earnings: $1/leaf
Online/Offline: Offline
13. Put those photos on your phone to good use and sell them
If you are great at taking pictures, then you could make some money from them. Even just great photos made with your phone could earn you money. Same goes for videos you make. Perhaps the easiest way is through the Foap app on your phone, they share the profit with you 50/50.
Difficulty: Easy
Earnings: Varies, could be $0 if none sell
Online/Offline: Online
14. Get Paid Selling phones you don’t use anymore
If you’ve upgraded your phone lately, then make sure you cash in on your old one. Depending on how old the phone you’re selling is you can easily make a couple hundred dollars. This is especially true when you switch brands. When I decided to buy a Microsoft product, they were paying for people to get rid of apple products, so I got rid of an old iPhone and got paid $200.
Difficulty: Easy
Earnings: $50-200
Online/Offline: Offline
15. Clear the clutter in your home and make money from old CDs and DVDs
Decluttr makes it easy to clear that clutter for cash. Simply put in the barcode number and they’ll give you a price. Ship the items to them via media mail (it’s cheaper if they don’t provide you with a shipping label), and they’ll send you a check. Easy peasy.
Difficulty: Easy
Earnings: Up to a few dollars for each.
Online/Offline: Offline
16. Make space on your bookshelf by selling books you’ll never read again
I’m going to come at you with some tough love. I know all the books you have look lovely on your book shelves, but if you have books you are never going to reread or that have been sitting on your shelf for over a year, you should get rid of them.
BookScouter makes it easy to find out which site will pay you the most for your books. You can either use their app and scan your book’s barcodes, or type the barcodes in.
Difficulty: Easy
Earnings: Depends how many books you sell
Online/Offline: Online
17. Get your creative on and make money selling on Etsy
If you like to make stuff either physical or digital products, Etsy can be a great marketplace for those items. There is a low listing fee (just .20 cents per listing for 30 days). Then when you get the order, ship it out and get paid.
Difficulty: Medium/hard
Earnings: Varies
Online/Offline: Online
18. Get paid for you art with Redbubble
Are you an artist? Keep the ownership rights to your art but also make money from it with Redbubble. Decide what items you want your art on to sell, for example, a cell phone case. You’ll get a margin of sales that you decide on and Redbubble handles the rest. No making cell phone cases for you.
Difficulty: Medium
Earnings: Varies
Online/Offline: Online
19. Design T-shirts and then let Amazon Merch do the rest while you get paid.
Is there anything Amazon doesn’t do? Well with Amazon Merch, all you have to do is come up with a t-shirt design and upload it to the Amazon Merch platform. If someone buys your t-shirt design you get a cut of the profits.
Difficulty: Easy/Medium
Earnings: Varies, upwards of $15/shirt sold
Online/Offline: Online
20. Sell even more T-shirts with another platform, Tee Spring
Similar to Amazon Merch, Tee-Spring lets you create t-shirts by uploading a design, though they are limited in how long the shirts are available for sale. One person, made $100,000 doing this.
Difficulty: Easy/Medium
Earnings: Varies
Online/Offline: Online
21. Make sweet sweet cash selling items with your photos on them with Cafepress
Maybe you’re not a traditional artist but you still take great pictures – make some extra money with CafePress. Open your own online shop and design and sell merchandise. The more you sell, the more you’ll earn with Cafepress’s bonus structure.
Difficulty: Medium
Earnings: Varies
Online/Offline: Online
22. Let people buy your art on their chosen “canvas” with Society6
Similar to Cafepress or Teespring, with Society6 you can sell products with your artwork on them while retaining the rights to your work. Sell anything from bath mats to hoodies to mugs and backpacks. It’s a long list of eligible products.
Difficulty: Medium
Earnings: Varies
Online/Offline: Online
23. Put some Zazzle in your life and money in your wallet
Zazzle is all about personalized gifts, custom products and decor’. It’s kind of a cross between Society6, Etsy, and Shutterfly. You can create your own things to buy or design products to sell.
Difficulty: Medium
Earnings: Varies
Online/Offline: Online
24. Love paper folding? Get paid to wrap presents during the holidays, or birthdays, or wedding season…
If you’re like me and you take true pleasure in wrapping a present just right, why not get paid to do it? Believe it or not, not all people are good at wrapping gifts and some of those people are willing to pay others to do it for them. This is probably most profitable during the winter holidays but wedding season and birthdays could be another great way to make this a year round business. To get started just tell everyone you know it’s something you do, set a price, and maybe share some pictures of your mad wrapping skills.
Difficulty: Medium
Earnings: Up to you
Online/Offline: Offline
25. Sell your wares at craft fairs
If you’re selling on Etsy already why not take that hustle offline? Etsy in particular makes this easy to do, you can sell your item in person with the Etsy app. Making it easy to accept credit cards and it ensures the inventory listed on Etsy stays up-to-date. Check Craigslists and local community bulletin boards to find out about upcoming craft fairs then contact the organizer about getting a booth. The cost of a booth can vary widely from $50 to thousands of dollars depending on the size of the fair.
Difficulty: Hard
Earnings: Up to You
Online/Offline: Offline
26. Spread holiday cheer and get paid to put up Christmas lights
Lots of people love having Christmas lights up (sometimes year round ) but not everyone is capable of putting them up, if you are offer to do it for them in exchange for payment. Start with your neighbors and then branch out as word of mouth gets around.
Difficulty: Medium
Earnings: Up to You
Online/Offline: Offline
27. Start a Christmas Tree Farm
This takes a bit more effort and long term investment. But Christmas trees have to come from somewhere, why not your patch of land. In the same way you could grow pumpkins for halloween.
Difficulty: Hard
Earnings: Potentially Thousands
Online/Offline: Offline
28. Sit in front of the TV and complete online surveys
Perhaps the easiest way to make extra money with online surveys. They don’t typically pay a lot but if your strategic you could earn a couple hundred bucks a month.
Difficulty: Easy
Earnings: $5-$200/month
Online/Offline: Online
29. Sell your meal plans
If you’re religious about meal planning, you could help others save time by selling your meal plans. Do it on your own site or you could even sell them on a place like Etsy.
Difficulty: Easy
Earnings: $10-$20/customer/week
Online/Offline: Both
30. Self publish a book and put “Author” next your name
Self publishing is a big industry these days. Michelle from Michelle is Money Hungry recently made over $400 after deciding to write a romance novel on a whim. Amazon Kindle Direct is how she managed it.
Difficulty: Medium/Hard
Earnings: Varies
Online/Offline: Online
31. Record your chats and start a podcast
Podcasting is in no way a get rich quick scheme. But if you enjoy podcasting and are willing to put in the work you can absolutely make some extra money on the side. Be it through sponsorships, ads on your podcast site, or selling a product yourself.
Difficulty: Hard
Earnings: Up to You
Online/Offline: Online
32. Get paid make videos with a YouTube Channel
Similar to podcasting it can take time to start making money with YouTube. In fact, they require you to have 1,000 subscribers before you can monetize with ads. But that doesn’t mean you can’t monetize in other ways like with affiliate marketing.
To learn more about how to make money with YouTube sign up for the FREE Side Gig Summit and catch Tasha from One Big Happy Life’s session. She makes thousands a month from YouTube on the side
Difficulty: Medium/Hard
Earnings: Potentially thousands/month
Online/Offline: Online
34. Let Amazon Do the Heavy Lifting and Get Paid with Amazon FBA
Just because there is a Target near you doesn’t mean there is a Target near everyone. And where do people go to shop when they can’t get something near them? Amazon. [link] As an Amazon FBA seller you shop for deals, send them into Amazon and then get paid when they sell. FBA stands for Fulfilled by Amazon, so you don’t have to deal with shipping out orders or customer service
Tyler Philbrook from I Am The Future Me started doing Amazon FBA on the side and now does it full time. You can learn how to get started with Amazon FBA from him. during the Side Gig Summit, go register now, it’s free.
Difficulty: Medium/Hard
Earnings: Potentially thousands
Online/Offline: Both
34. Become a Remote Customer Service Rep
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Difficulty: Medium
Earnings: $15/hour
Online/Offline: Online
101 More Ways to Make Extra Money On the Side
- Become a Remote Customer Service Rep
- Make Money With Your Computer By Completing Task as a Mechanical Turk
- Judge Other People’s Websites by Becoming a Tester on Usertesting
- Get Paid to Play Video Games
- Decide Your Own Rates for Gigs on Fiverr
- Make Hundreds on the Side with Freelance Writing
- Design Web Pages on the Side
- Flex Your Creative Muscles with Graphic Design
- Get Your Spreadsheet Nerd On, Doing Bookkeeping on the Side
- Get Paid to Watch and Then Edit Videos
- Transcribe Audio
- Draft Podcast Show Notes
- Make Money Speaking with Voice Acting
- Proofreading
- Work as an Administrative VA
- Spend All Your Time on Social Media Making Money as a Social Media VA
- Become a Pinterest VA
- Email Marketing VA
- Manage Other People’s Blogs
- Moderate Facebook Groups and Other Online Communities
- Create Custom Content Upgrades for Bloggers
- Technical VA
- Get Paid to Hand Out Free Stuff as a Brand Ambassador
- Live for Free as a House Sitter
- Property Manager
- Referee
- Makeup Artist
- Photographer
- Mystery Shopper
- Flaunt Your Knowledge as a Tutor
- Earn a Great Commission with Sponsorship Sales
- Get Paid to Plan Parties as an Event Planner
- Temporarily Rent Out a Room On AirBnB
- Make Money by Referring People to Products and Companies You Love with Affiliate Marketing
- Make Money Blogging (How to Start a Blog)
- Sell products
- Display advertising
- Affiliate marketing
- Sponsorships
- Mix Drinks on the Side as a Bartender
- Get Your Neat Freak On and Get Paid to Clean Houses
- Be a Professional Organizer
- Groom Pets
- Work as Wait Staff During Events (caterer)
- Barista
- Put Your Sewing Machine to Good Use as a Seamstress
- Flip and Restore Furniture
- Pet Trainer
- Get Paid to Exercise as a Fitness Instructor
- Substitute Teach
- Create and Sell Courses Online
- Coach People on Whatever You’re Good At
- Teach a Community Course
- Sell Your Clothes on Threadup
- Work for Your Apartment Complex and Get a Discount on Rent
- Handyman
- Work Security on a Movie Set
- Bake Sweet Treats on the Side (cakes, cookies, cupcakes, etc.)
- Start a Water/Lemonade Stand on a Hot day
- Have a Garage Sale, Bring in Even More Customers by Organizing a Neighborhood Garage Sale
- Work as a Studio Assistant
- Laundress – Get Paid to Do Laundry
- Pick Up a Dishwashing Shift at a Local Restaurant
- Do Yard Work (shovel snow, rake leaves, weed gardens, cut grass)
- Become a Bike messenger
- Teach People How to Play a Musical Instrument
- Get Hired to Play Music at events
- Do Other People’s Hair as a Professional Hair Stylist
- Interior Painter
- Have a Great Eye? Be an Interior Designer/Consultant
- Sell Stuff Locally Using Apps (Letgo/Craigslist)
- Rent Out a Room Long Term
- Rent Out Your Stuff
- Put Together Other People’s Furniture
- Do Tasks as a Taskrabbit
- Return Recyclable Glass and Aluminum Bottles/Cans
- Sell candy/Candy Machines
- Breed and Sell Birds (like finches) to Pet Stores
- Wash and/or Detail cars
- Whip People into Shape as a Personal Trainer
- Dance Teacher
- Clean Up Dog Owner’s Yards as a Pooper Scooper
- Babysit
- Paint Houses
- Participate in Research Studies
- Be Part of a Mock Jury
- Become a Theater Usher and Watch Plays for Free
- Sell Unused Gift Cards
- Earn Cashback with apps (iBotta, checkout 51,eBates)
- Social Media Manager
- Lose Weight and Make a Bet About it with HealthyWage
- Do Odd Jobs from Craigslist
- Helps with Estate Sales
- Work Overtime at Your Current Job
- Flip Houses
- Use Earny or Paribus to Get Money Back on Purchases
- Teach English as a Second Language Online
- Help People Plan Their Trips as a Travel Planner
- Rent Out Your Clothes
- Rent Out Your Car
- Sell Your Old Technology (tablets, computers, cameras)
- Change Bank Accounts and Get a Bonus (I Use and Love Chime)
- Refinance Private Loans (I Refinanced My Bar Loan with SoFi)
- Work as a Freelance Editor
- Get Paid for Your Muscle as a Freelance Mover
Learn More About Side Gigs – Register for the FREE Side Gig Summit!
25+ Experts Share Their Personal Stories and Secrets to Success with a Side Gig
Side Gigs Covered in the Summit:
- Brand Ambassador
- Dog Walking
- House Sitting
- Ride Share Driving
- Selling on eBay
- Referee
- Makeup Artis
- Photographer
- Mystery Shopping
- YouTube
- Pinterest VA
- Graphic Design
- Event Planning
- Sponsorship Sales
- Tutoring
- Bookkeeping
- AirBnB Hosting
- Virtual Assistant
- Affiliate Marketing
- Blogging
- Bartending
- Making Money with Fiverr
- Freelance Writing
- PostMates
Also Learn How to Manage Your Extra Money (especially come tax time)
5 Side Gigs to Avoid
While it is possible to make money with multi-level marketing programs, it’s hard and requires quite the investment on your part. If you don’t sell the items you could end up with a lot of product on your hands and money out of pocket, for this reason I’d generally recommend you avoid (though there are of course exceptions to every rule):
- LulaRoe
- Jamnails
- Herbalife
- Lipsense
- Pampered Chef
*Part of Financially Savvy Saturdays on brokeGIRLrich.*
Great list! Like you said it will take a while to go through. But, I like to read these lists to get my frugal juices flowing!
That’s a lot of side gigs! It’s good because there’s something for everyone. And I completely agree about the MLM’s…there are better ways to make money.