Let’s face it, there isn’t a single person out there who wouldn’t like a little bit of extra money in their pockets. Sure, working a full time job only can suffice for some people, but others want to make some money on the side.
In fact, statistics show that tens of millions of people in the United States alone have a side hustle that they use to make money in addition to their full time job. If you want to do the same, there are many different routes you can take. This article will take a closer look at some of the best and most popular ways to make extra money.
Flipping
Flipping is an increasingly popular way of making a little bit of money on the side. It involves buying something (or getting it for free), fixing it up and bringing it back to life, and then selling it for a large profit. While some people do it with big items such as homes and cars, you can really do it with anything you like.
Furniture, pieces of technology, clothing and basically anything else you can think of can be flipped. While you used to have to sell these things in the classifieds or in garage sales, the internet has changed the entire market. Sites like eBay and Craigslist make it easy for you to find and sell flipped (or flippable) items from all around the world. In addition to flipping, you can also just sell some items you already own to make some cash.
Sell and Market Your Talent
Everyone has something that they are incredibly good at. While some people use these skills or talents at their full time jobs, others do not. As a result, there is a huge opportunity for many people to not only show their talent off to the world, but to also get paid for it.
It could be anything from writing, drawing, singing, to sculpting or anything else. These are not only talents you can use to impress your friends and family, they can also make you a fair amount of money. There are many online services (Fiverr, Etsy, etc…) where you can essentially create things for others. Once you have some experience, you can even move away from these sites and seek out your own clients via social media or other methods.
Start a Blog
Starting a blog is a popular way for people to not only share their thoughts or feelings with the world, but also make a little bit of money too. You can essentially choose any single topic to blog about and there are no rules to what can and will become successful. A blog can be on anything from pet care tips, to technological how-tos and anything else you could think of.
While a blog won’t start making money as soon as you create it, it does have a chance of eventually becoming quite lucrative if done correctly. If you are interested in creating a blog or improving your current blog, finding a guide on how to set up a blog can be quite useful.
Become a Freelancer
Working as a freelancer is increasingly popular seeing as over a third of the American workforce is making income online. This is quite surprising to some but is showing just how much technology and the internet have changed the workforce. People can become freelancers in a number of different niches such as writing, development, programming, web design, transcription and many more.
The best thing about being a freelancer is being able to set your own hours, rate and only do the work that you want to do. This means starting up as a freelancer will be flexible enough to work around your current full-time job and who knows, becoming a freelancer could soon turn into your main source of income.
Take Online Surveys
While this might not net you as much as some of the other options we have explored, there are many sites out there that offer an abundance of online surveys. These surveys are generally quite quick and will often pay you out in the form of gift cards, cash, PayPal or a variety of other methods.
These are a solid choice if you are looking for something that doesn’t require a lot of hard work or expertise. Just about anyone can do these and they don’t depend on you having any specific skills. While that leads payouts to be relatively small, they are better than nothing and can easily be done on your phone or your computer.
Publish an EBook
There is a good chance that you have some experience or skills in a certain marketable subject. Whether you have worked as a social media manager for a few years, or have graduated with a degree in finance, there are likely people out there that know less than you and would love to learn from you.
Even if you don’t have any previous experience, publishing an ebook is still an option. Plenty of people write and sell sci-fi books, romance novels and other works of fiction. So if you have a love for being creative and telling stories, this could be the perfect side gig for you.
Take Up Photography
Because of how mobile phone technology has advanced over the years, most of us carry around a very good camera in our pockets. That means we all have the potential to take amazing photos and capture some truly brilliant moments.
If you are particularly interested in taking photos and feel you are good at it, you can definitely make some money with photography. Instead of just being a “photographer” you should market yourself more specifically. Maybe you’ll shoot weddings, maybe you’ll be a sports photographer or maybe you’ll do couples/headshot photography.
While you will often need a better camera than a typical cell phone to shoot weddings, head shots and other events, it will be an investment that will pay for itself as you get more and more work. If you’d prefer to stay with just a phone camera, there are plenty of apps and websites where you can sell the photos you take.
These are only a few of the near-endless amount of ways to make money on the side in 2018, so there are plenty of opportunities that await you. Many of these can be done with only a phone or a computer and a little bit of time.