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Are you struggling to make ends meet and looking for ways to bring in extra money?
Maybe it’s time that you start taking advantage of the myriad side hustles out there.
From tutoring online to picking up freelance work, there are plenty of flexible opportunities available.
We showcase 18 lucrative side hustles that can help you earn an extra $5,000 every month!
With our step-by-step guides and advice on how to get started, you’ll be able to capitalize on your skills and turn them into a sustainable source of income.
So, let’s jump right in!
Table of Contents
#1. Photography
Have a passion for snapping pictures? Don’t think that you only have to do that as a hobby.
Several users have pointed out how their love for photography has allowed them to pick up gigs that turned into well-paying clients, from weddings to proms to graduations.
This allowed them to sustain themselves and eventually turn it into their full-time gig.
#2. Selling Art
Selling art is another great way to make income on the side. You can sell your artwork directly to buyers or put it on print-on-demand items that people can buy.
Or you can take a completely different route. One person does artwork for furries and makes a lot of money.
“I would get anywhere between $250-$3000 per commission”. They drew the line at anything explicit, but there is a massive market of people looking for artwork related to this trend.
#3. Food Delivery
Food delivery might sound like a waste of time to many, but this falls into the category of people being lazy.
It’s why people sit in a long drive-thru line when it would be faster to walk into the store and order in person. Now, people don’t even want to drive to fast food restaurants. They want it delivered.
Because of this, there is a huge market. Many food delivery drivers cite that most of the money they earn comes from tips.
Some advise sticking to wealthier neighborhoods as they tip the most. But others disagree, saying the middle-class tips the best.
There are two things they agree on. First, pay attention to the section of restaurants that have a large number of deliveries to make.
This often signals that no one wants to deliver the food, as the people buying tend to be bad tippers. Second, stay close to Chick-fil-a, as there is a massive volume of business, and the people that buy tend to tip well.
Related to this is grocery shopping for people, as many would rather pay than grocery shop themselves. Instacart is the leader when it comes to this side gigs, but there are other high paying jobs like Instacart to consider.
#4. Tech Repairs
If you’re tech-savvy, there’s no shortage of side hustles at your disposal. One that you can easily do from home and grow into a full-time opportunity is tech repairs.
“Early in my career I fixed PCs for people on the side and it doubled my income. 99% of PC issues are something very simple. Since I worked desktop support anyway at the time and my boss was completely chill I’d just do it alongside my regular duties.”
Another person took a different approach. They have become the de-facto tech support person at a retirement community.
Most of the issues are simple, as the user needs help understanding how the device works. But here is the beauty in how they operate their business. They charge a low fee for repairs but ask to have the old tech they are replacing.
They then refurbish it and sell it. Most items are like-new, as they are only used for emails, video calls, etc.
#5. Landscaping and Lawn Care
via Deposit Photos.
If you’ve searched online for side hustles, you may have overlooked in-person opportunities like mowing lawns.
The reality? Many have talked about their success in landscaping and other forms of lawn care, developing their own businesses that bring them way more money in a year than they were earning with the full-time job they were working at.
And here is the best part. Many successful lawn care owners start out mowing lawns. But they quickly hire help to grow the business. Rinse and repeat, and you get to a point where you aren’t doing any manual labor.
“My nephew did this a while back, has a landscaping company now. I asked when the last time he held a shovel and he had to think for a while. Dude works in lawn care and does zero mowing any more.”
#6. Storm Clean Up
While not an easy job, there is good money to be made after a storm.
This could be cleaning trees, plowing driveways, and more.
If you are efficient with your time and can get to working right away, you will have a steady income.
#7. Cleaning Houses
A good side hustle is one where you’ll never run out of work. It’s also good if most people don’t want to do the work. What’s better at both of these than cleaning homes?
Starting your own home cleaning service only requires managing transportation and a home-cleaning supplies budget. If you can spread your business through word-of-mouth and online marketing, you can begin scaling your business and developing a lucrative full-time job in no time.
One successful person said they know a cleaner that charges by the task instead of the hour. “Floors swept and mopped was $xx dishes done and benches wiped $xx carpets vacuumed $xx bathroom cleaned $xx toilet $xx. It worked brilliantly esp for young busy working men. Having set prices for set tasks was easier for them to get their heads around than 3-4 hours cleaning.”
#8. Creating Apps or Software
Some side hustles with specific skill sets can earn you some serious cash. One such skill is coding. If you can develop your own apps or software, you can easily start doing side projects for clients willing to pay a great deal of money for a functional solution.
As one person says, “Writing apps and making equipment for a small sub-field of scientific research.”
The good news is that you can earn money with this side hustle without getting that technical.
“I had a coworker who was into bowling and couldn’t find an app he liked to track his stats, so he wrote one himself after using it, his friends started asking if he could give it to them. He put it on the App Store. Within a year close to half his income was coming from his app selling.”
#9. Wedding DJ
A wedding DJ can make up to $1,000 a night, making it a very lucrative side hustle.
As one person says, “I started a wedding DJ business and found people were willing to pay a premium for a non-cheesy DJ who doesn’t make the night or party about them. Even though I only worked Friday-Sat-Sundays due to weddings mostly being held on these days, I was making 2x my 9-5 job.”
While you need equipment to get started, you can get your foot in the door differently. My friend started out working for a DJ in town.
The DJ would give the smaller gigs to my friend and keep the higher-paying ones for himself. Of course, he would also take a small cut of the income from the gigs he gave my friend.
Over time, as my friend proved himself, the DJ scaled back on DJ’ing in person and gave everything to my friend. Basically, the DJ became management, had his weekends free, and my friend was making tremendous amounts of money.
#10. Flipping Items
From estate sales to garage sales, some people are practically giving away money. If you have an eye for a good deal and the know-how needed to fix things up, you can take products like old electronics, spruce them up, and then resell them to recoup the initial costs plus the costs of added materials and your labor.
A unique twist on this is Amazon retail arbitrage. This is when you buy something at Target and resell it for a profit.
It works because each store has different inventory needs. The Target near you might have an item on clearance, while a Target three states away doesn’t have the item.
This is a basic example, but it works by purchasing items on clearance and reselling them for a higher price on Amazon. It does take some work to get it off the ground, but you can make good money quickly.
#11. Making Swords
It’s important to remember that not all side hustles have to follow the same format. Some of them are really out there, showing that a bit of inspiration, passion, and a desire to succeed is all you need to generate some revenue.
Making swords is one of those outliers. As one successful sword maker said, “Making swords, it started as a hobby – like lets see where we can take it. It is now a company with 15 guys employed, 1500+ swords a year. Best job ever”.
The point is, don’t ignore your crazy ideas as a way to generate income. Of course, this also means not every crazy idea you have will be a way to make money.
#12. Sell Feet Pictures
Did you know that a foot fetish is the most common type out there? This means a huge market of people looking to buy images of feet is out there.
The good news is that you can remain 100% anonymous selling feet pics and don’t have to do anything explicit. You can take pictures of your bare feet and start making money.
How money? You could make six figures a year depending on your number of images and the size of your following.
#13. Tutoring
While teaching doesn’t pay well, tutoring does. And it’s not like in the old days when you had to go to the person’s house to tutor them. Now you can do this side hustle online.
“My cousin does it online. Just private English tutor, advertising through word of mouth and ESL study forums. She was a teacher, then a stay at home mom. She does maybe 10 hours over 2-3 days a week while her kids are in school, but for a different time zone. Sometimes she gets a higher level student doing exam prep or foreign student preparing to study in her country. According to her she’s making more than she was in a classroom.”
#14. Having an Online Store
Many people are making serious money online selling printables.
These are daily planners, budget worksheets, wedding checklists, and more.
They create a simple design and then offer a digital download for a few dollars.
You might think you won’t make much money doing this with such a small sale price, but many people are making thousands a month.
#15. Consulting
Consulting is one of those side hustles that’s on a meteoric rise. Rather than doing all of the work, you essentially get people to pay for your expertise, so they get better results when they do the work.
From social media marketing to graphic design, consulting has been a popular way to generate full-time income for many users.
The biggest perk most people cite is work flexibility. They decide how much they want to work and even what days, allowing them a lot of freedom.
#16. Golf Caddy
Many country clubs have caddies that carry the clubs for members.
Most get paid $20 an hour but then you get tips from the golfers.
I had a friend who would take a week off work in the summer and caddy.
He made a few grand that week alone.
#17. Become A Ride-Share Driver
One of the most popular ways to generate extra cash is by driving for a rideshare company like Uber or Lyft.
This side hustle offers flexibility and potential earnings from $15-$25 per hour, depending on your city.
You can log on and off as needed without any commitment, meaning you can easily fit this side hustle around other commitments in your life.
#18. Pet Sitting
This side hustle is perfect for pet lovers.
You can provide a service to take care of people’s pets while they are away, either on vacation or simply at work.
The pay varies depending on the type of animal you’re caring for and how long you’re doing it, but generally, you’ll make between $20-$30 per hour.
Make $1,000 Fast
Are you in need of cash fast? There are many things you can do, but a lot of the ideas out there only allow for a limited income.
Here are over 25 great ways to make up to $1,000 in a short amount of time.
Make Money While You Sleep
Yes, you can make money while you sleep. There are a handful of jobs out there that will earn you an income even after you stop working for the day.
The trick is finding the right one for you.
HOW TO MAKE MONEY WHILE YOU SLEEP
Under The Table Jobs That Pay Cash
If you need cash right away, a typical job won’t work for you. You will have to wait a week to get paid, or in some cases, two weeks.
Luckily there are other options out there. Here are the best places to make cash under the table and walk out with cash in hand at the end of the day.
BEST UNDER THE TABLE JOBS THAT PAY CASH
How To Invest In Yourself
We all know we grow wealth by investing in the stock market or putting our money into savings accounts.
But many of us are unaware that the best returns are by investing in ourselves. When we improve ourselves, we have the ability to earn a lot more money, which makes it easier to become filthy rich.
LEARN HOW TO INVEST IN YOURSELF
How to Get Out of Debt
If being in debt wasn’t bad enough, trying to dig yourself is worse.
Combine the setbacks you face and the time it takes, it’s no wonder many people feel trapped.
But there is hope.
Here is how to get yourself out of debt once and for all.
This thread inspired this article.
I have over 15 years experience in the financial services industry and 20 years investing in the stock market. I have both my undergrad and graduate degrees in Finance, and am FINRA Series 65 licensed and have a Certificate in Financial Planning.
Visit my About Me page to learn more about me and why I am your trusted personal finance expert.