Page Title Best Side Hustles You Can Start Today (tailored to your skills)
Meta Description If you’re looking for a list of profitable side hustle ideas, here are some of the best options (that also fit your lifestyle)
Side hustles are among the most exciting new ways people are making money in 2021.
Whether you already have plenty of side hustle ideas you want to pursue, or you’re not even sure how to get started, this post is for you.
We’ll start by identifying some of the most common, easiest, and highest-paying side hustle ideas and then help you identify your own ideas to make extra money outside of your day job.
Side Hustle Ideas that Don’t Require Experience
Not all side hustles require a ton of experience or education. In fact, millions of people are making extra money each month doing side jobs that they learned on the job.
Here are just a few side hustle ideas that don’t require previous experience:
1. Give people a ride with Über or Lyft
Über and Lyft are both great examples of money-making apps you can use to build a side hustle without much prior experience. Of course, you have to be a decent driver and have a reliable car, but with a little training, you can make a lot of money driving people around.
2. Sell on Etsy or other marketplaces
Etsy is a perfect example of one way people are making great side income — and many of them don’t have any skills that would commonly be considered “valuable.” Yet they do well selling niche products to a niche audience.
3. Complete important tasks for other people
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist or even a college degree or years of experience to make good money on the side. That’s especially true if you consider all the money you can make completing tasks on apps like TaskRabbit where customers will pay you to do anything from pick up their dry cleaning to helping them load a moving truck.
4. Shop for & deliver groceries
As long as you can tell the difference between a carrot and a tomato, you probably have all the experience you need to be someone’s personal shopper on Instacart. As a shopper, you’ll receive an order from a customer, go pick out everything they need at the store, and then deliver their groceries right to their house.
5. Flip stuff for major profit
Garage Sale Flipping has become an extremely popular side hustle idea in the last few years. Sure, some people choose to buy and sell real estate, but for your first go-round, maybe think a bit smaller.
Research high-value items typically found at garage sales like video games, Lego bricks, or vintage brand toys like Cabbage Patch. Then buy and post on sites like eBay to start building your side business.
6. Sell basic services (don’t reinvent the wheel)
I have a friend who decided to start a side hustle and he landed on window-washing. In his first year, he raked in $18,000 on the side of his well-paying job! If you’re trying to earn money, you can do well by simply brainstorming ideas that already exist in some way. No need to reinvent the wheel.
7. Get paid to walk around (yes, really)
Finally, if you literally don’t think you have enough experience to try any of the side hustle ideas I’ve already listed, there’s still hope. Since most of us have been walking around since we were toddlers*, did you know there are literally dozens of ways to make money just walking around? Sounds crazy but it’s true.
*Note: I recognize some people are unable to walk and I want to be sensitive to that. Many of the side job ideas on the list linked above can be accomplished by simply “getting around”—whether by walking, wheelchairing, or however you get from place to place.
Highest Paying Side Hustles
While the side hustle ideas previously are great if you don’t have experience or don’t want to build up any experience, let’s dive a bit deeper.
I’d like to share a few of the highest-paying side hustle ideas you can explore. This is particularly helpful for people ready to take their side-hustle full-time at some point and become their own boss.
8. Become a freelancer (i.e., charge for your talents)
Out of the 3 easiest ways to make money, the easiest way to earn money on the side is to freelance. You can start earning money immediately, you can rapidly test your offerings, and you can cut through the unnecessary work of productizing and increasing your salary.
One of my favorite personal finance books, “The Millionaire Next Door,” observes that most rich business owners work in “dull-normal” industries: carpenters, dry-cleaners, vacuum services, etc.
The same applies to freelancing. Here are a few real-life examples:
- John Z. did well on his SATs, so he started doing college prep tutoring for high school students. He got as many clients as possible, then started rapidly raising his rates until only his top clients remained. He now charges $80/hour, meaning he can work just 10 hours a week and still earn $40,000 a year.
- Bryce Conway traveled for free using credit card rewards while he was in college. When his friends and family kept asking him for travel hacking advice, he decided to turn it into a side hustle. Now he generates over $25,000 a month in revenue and passive income.
If you think you’d like to start making money as a freelancer, don’t overthink it. Identify what skills you’re good at (possibly what you do at your day job or have done at previous jobs) and then work hard to find clients.