With rising inflation more and more Americans are picking up side jobs to supplement their income, bringing home an extra $483 per month on average, according to a survey by Insuranks. There are opportunities to work from your car, whether providing rides with Uber or groceries on Instacart, and countless websites to sell clothes and other second-hand goods. However, for many people the most enticing opportunities are those that can be done without leaving the house. While they won’t replace a day job, these popular side hustles can generate extra cash that adds up over time.
Even with the most high-end cameras photographers can only do so much and most photography requires some editing. Outsourcing tasks like airbrushing, cropping and resizing can help reduce the workload of a busy photographer. Photo editors make around $18 an hour on average, according to employment website Indeed. However, others suggest charging per photo, even as low as $0.10, which can add up quickly for events like weddings.
With an interest in photography selling stock photos is another option. These are high-quality, generic images or other illustrations that users, such as bloggers and designers, can purchase and resuse royalty free. There are numerous websites where you can upload your photos and get paid monthly for the images that are purchased or downloaded by subscribers. Rates vary widely with photos generally selling for only a few cents each per month, but consistently uploading new and timely content helps to increase photo sales.
Working as a medical transcriber has been a work-from-home favorite long before the pandemic. However, there are several other professions in need of people to convert voice files to text, including lawyers, journalists and market researchers. Compensation varies widely with some work paying per minute and others per line. In 2021 medical transcription work paid $14.47 per hour on average, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Thousands of new apps are launched every day, which means there's a lot of work-from-anywhere work available for people to do digital testing for apps and websites too. There's potential to earn around $30 per hour and possibly even more with experience.
Filming an online course is one way to make money on the side, along with tutoring via videoconference platforms. While teaching school subjects may require some experience, especially for college-prep topics, there is a growing number of online instructional platforms looking for teachers. Topics can vary from career development to hobbies. Average pay is around $18 per hour but many instructors and tutors are able to command as much as $50 per hour.
Experienced social media users can earn a decent income by managing the posts of various companies and organizations who don't have the time or the know-how to do it themselves. Planning strategies and content, as well as measuring and analyzing each post's success, can add up to more than a side hustle by working with multiple clients. Compensation for social media managers can range from a monthly retainer to an hourly wage, and these are estimated at $20-30 per hour or $250 per month for those who are just starting out.
Likewise, both small and large businesses often outsource their customer service tasks to remote freelancers who respond to customer concerns over online chat, email or, for some clients, phone calls. There is a large range of websites that help connect businesses with freelancers, while larger companies may directly employ part-time opportunities, especially during the holidays. Earnings will depend on job responsibilities, but on the upper end hourly rates are in the $15 to $19 range.
If you have a background with computers, or you're eager to learn more about tech, there's an even more lucrative a side hustle option helping clients resolve technical issues and troubleshooting other computer problems. As with customer service side gigs, there are opportunities via websites and apps that connect people with clients while others start their own side businesses. PayScale reports a national hourly average of $20.45, but with experience rates can be nearer $50 per hour.
Cloud-based storage, schedules and documents make the work of a traditional personal assistant easy to do from home and there are ample opportunities for virtual personal assistants, or VAs as they are often known. Along with good communication and organizational skills, assistants will need reliable Internet access. The average wage for VAs, according to software firm PayScale, is $16.44. More experienced assistants are likely to see rates closer to $30 or even as much as $50 per hour.
If you've got a knack for writing you could consider helping people with their resumes. There are various websites that help connect job seekers with those who can craft text and format their work history. Rates will vary, with an average range of $16 to $24 per hour. While others have grown their resume writing services into standalone consulting businesses charging as much as $500 a client.
Notaries earn money by overseeing signatures in transactions such as mortgages, legal documents and other verification processes. It does require some upfront investment for certification and the job requirements vary by state, but it's long been a popular side business. In fact, as much as 61% of notaries work part time, according to the National Notary Association. Increasingly these services are being offered remotely making it an even more enticing side gig. Most states set maximum fees that are on average around $5 to $10 per act, such as witnessing a signature or certifying a photocopy. But remote work is generally better paid at $10 to $25.
Like notaries, this will likely come with an upfront investment for certification or basic training in accounting practices, but those are not actually required to be a bookkeeper, especially if you've already got experience balancing the books. The work is flexible and easily done remote, and hourly rates start around $30.
While the internet has encouraged people to bypass travel agents and book their own flights, hotels and trips, there is still demand for people who can help customers with any issues they may encounter during their travels or even secure a difficult reservation. There is an upfront cost for training and fees to access airline databases for those who want to be independent. However, joining a franchise or agency can help with this, and some even pay for the training. The work is flexible and can be done alongside a full-time job. Payment is generally via commissions and Salary.com reports the average hourly wage is around $19.
If you have experience in graphic design or simply a passion for being creative, there are growing opportunities to sell digital files or “printables” online. This can be artwork buyers print and hang on their walls or an array of documents, stationery and teaching materials. There's very little documentation on average income for people selling printables, but several resources suggest around $100 a month is not uncommon once sellers have built up their product lines. The advantage with this side hustle is that once a printable is designed and listed in an online shop like Etsy, the designer generates a passive income from the same item month after month.
Another option is to sell designs and artwork on websites that will print on a variety of merchandise like T-shirts, coffee mugs and stickers. This is often referred to as print on demand or POD. These companies will then ship the products and handle any customer service needs for the order. POD companies offer varying compensation rates and perks. Redbubble, one of the more popular sites, offers a default 20% markup for artists, who can raise or lower this rate. Similar to making printables, once the designs are online they can generate a passive income, and hitting the $100 per month mark doesn't seem uncommon once people have uploaded a wide range of artwork.
A similar ecommerce option for those without art skills is dropshipping. Sellers operate an online storefront but outsource procurement, fulfilment and shipping to a third party. These online stores can have their own sites or be on well-known retailers like Amazon, eBay or Etsy. One advantage to dropshipping is that sellers aren't investing in and holding onto inventory. However, like other side hustles, it requires perseverance and patience to start generating incomes that can reach as much as $1,000 per month.
Self publishing is side hustle that may appeal to anyone with an idea for a book and the time to write it. One of the most popular options is through Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), a form of print on demand for ebooks. With the many hours needed to write, edit and proofread many authors don't make a decent hourly wage. However, once published these titles remain available for purchase or borrowing through subscriptions like Kindle Unlimited. Amazon reported more than 1,000 authors had royalties of $100,000 or more in its KDP program in 2019. However, the reality is most authors make around a 35% royalty, and most books are priced less than $5.00.
Microtask websites offer a variety of short tasks that can be performed online. These can include taking surveys, tagging photos or even completing tasks that help train artificial intelligence. While these sites often generate hourly wages that are considerably low, they allow people to earn money from home and on their own schedules. Amazon operates its own site called Mechanical Turk, paying pennies for tasks that take only a couple minutes and a 2017 study found on average people made $2 per hour.