15 Side Hustle Ideas to Earn Extra $$$
I often get asked how I travel so frequently while holding my full-time, 9-5 office job. It mostly comes down to money — finding ways to make MORE of it and strategically spend it.
While I’ve talked in depth about how I actually manage to travel so much (roughly 30 trips in the past 2 years) in this blog post, a huge portion of that involves making more money than your annual salary. I’m not talking about millions of extra dollars, or even an equivalent to my current salary, BUT extra hundreds of dollars that can certainly add up.
Since I’ve been earning extra income for quite a few years now, I figured I’d share my recommendations on a variety of such side hustles that can help you earn more money.
I personally choose to spend it on off-setting my travel expenses, but realistically, you can spend it however you want!
The point is, there are tons of ways to make extra money on the side of your full-time job. The key is to finding something you genuinely like doing, or that doesn’t take up a TON of your time, so that it doesn’t feel like you now have TWO full-time jobs.
Here are some side hustle ideas to get you started on earning extra income:
Freelance Writing
I’ve been a freelance writer for the last five years, mostly writing about my travel experiences and things happening around New York City. I don’t write articles every day, I don’t even write articles every month, but I make a nice buck for myself whenever I do it. If you enjoy writing and are pretty good at it, consider sharing your stories with the world (on any topic that suits you) to make some dough.
Curious where to read my stuff? Click here for all of my published articles.
Other Freelance Gigs on Fiverr or Upwork
If you’re a coder, program designer, photoshop wiz, or have any other online skill, you can find freelance digital gigs on sites like Fiverr and Upwork.
Digital Downloads on Etsy
Digital downloads are an easy way to make passive income on Etsy, because you make the digital product once and can continuously sell it again and again (as long as you have buyers that are interested in what you made).
I used to sell custom printable packing checklists, tailored to specific destinations that I’ve visited such as Morocco, Iceland and Europe!
Blogging
Everyone and anyone can start a blog today, though making income from it can be a long and more tedious project because ultimately, you need an audience in order to make money from it.
Some money-making methods include affiliate marketing, advertisements and promotional or sponsored posts.
Check out this e-course by Jacob & Esther Fu for how to make more money blogging: https://localadventurer.teachable.com/p/the-no-bullshit-guide-to-making-money-blogging
Teaching English Online
If you get TEFL (teach English as a foreign language) certified, you can teach English to kids all around the world! Thanks to time-zone differences, you can work 9-5 at your office, than come home and teach English for a few hours to children in Asia.
Social Media Management
Management of social profiles is definitely a full-time job, and people make careers out of helping others that don’t want to, or don’t have the time to, manage their own social channels. However if you’re good at it and like it, you could take on 1-2 clients of your own and manage them outside of your work day.
Airbnb
If you live in a location where Airbnb is allowed (i.e. not NYC, sorry pals) you can make money on your home or apartment while you’re traveling or not using the space. Especially if you have a property in a highly desirable and frequently visited location, you’ll have plenty of opportunity to make extra money by listing your home on sites like Airbnb.
Tutoring
If you’re a pro in science, math, english, SAT’s, or any other subject matter, consider offering your knowledge to students who need a little extra help.
Translating
Speak a foreign language (or three)? Make some money by helping translate documents or audio. You can even tutor or teach the language you speak!
Dog Walking
If you love four-legged fur babies, offer to walk them to people in your area or through sites like Rover.
Bartending
Easily something you can do outside of the work week, especially if you have prior experience bartending or table waiting.
Uber driving
If you have a car and don’t mind the extra miles you would put on by offering rides to people, you can make a good amount of money with apps like Uber, Lyft, Juno and more.
Udemy Online Course Instructor
If you’re seriously an expert at something and don’t mind being on camera, you can create an e-course via Udemy and make passive income on those that purchase and watch your video in order to learn something.
Fitness Teacher
Certified instructors can easily teach fitness and exercise classes outside of work hours. Nights and weekends are popular times for people to get their sweat on, so if you can teach yoga, Zumba, cycling, or any other kind of exercise, you can definitely make some side money (and workout while you do it).
Babysitting
An old-school option but one that people still need! If you love babies and kids, grew up watching your siblings or babysitting while in high school, there’s definitely a market for you to lend a few hours to parents that need it.