15 Side Hustles from Home You’ll Actually Want to Do

Not making enough money at your 9-to-5 to be living your best life? While getting a raise or negotiating your salary can be a great way to increase your income, you’ll probably have better luck starting side hustles from home. 

Making money using side hustles at home has never been easier. It's possible to start up an online business in just a few weeks or less and start offering your services to bring in income this month! It’s not an overnight process and will take consistency and hard work. But once you establish your side hustle, it can quickly accelerate your path to financial freedom.

While there are countless side hustles to choose from, the best ones allow you to earn from the comfort of your own home. We skipped over the usual lame side hustles everyone recommends (we all know online surveys are terrible) and found side hustles that can make you hundreds or even thousands of dollars while wearing pajamas at home!

15 Side Hustles to Make Money From Home

1. Teach English online

Whether you have some experience as a teacher or are simply a native English speaker, you can make money from home teaching English to students online. Platforms like Whales English and VIPKID allow you to teach online with only a camera, microphone, and a reliable internet connection.

You’ll usually need a bachelor’s degree to qualify, but not all platforms require a teaching credential or experience. The work hours are flexible, and there is often no minimum weekly hour commitment. Each class is 25 minutes of interactive teaching time, and you can earn anywhere from $16 to $26 per hour.

2. Freelance writing

Online content is important for growing online businesses, and many companies need writers to help grow their reach online. As a freelance writer, you don’t work full-time for any one company but can provide writing services on an as-needed basis, allowing you to work on your own time.

Whatever your expertise, there is most likely a freelance writing need. The easiest way to get started is to create a profile on an online marketplace like Fiverr or Upwork, showcase your expertise, and share some writing samples for potential clients to view. Writing jobs can earn from $25 to $100 an hour (or more), depending on your niche and relevant experience.

3. Virtual Assistant

Are you an organized person? Do you like creating systems to help your life run more efficiently? You might do well as a virtual assistant. Virtual assistants help business owners organize and manage their day-to-day business tasks.

You can help with things like research, scheduling, data entry, and even watching TikTok videos. You might also respond to emails, manage freelancers, and create presentations for business owners. 

List your services on platforms like Upwork or use social media to advertise your services to get clients.

Related: How to Start a Side Hustle

4. Creating an online course

Are you an expert on something? Do your friends and family often turn to you for advice on a certain subject? Maybe you have a hobby that you want to teach others about. An online course can be a great way to sell your expertise online and help others learn a new skill or transform their life in some way.

To create a course, you will need to choose a problem to solve or a skill to teach to a specific audience and figure out your unique solution. Choose a learning platform, like Udemy, Thinkific, or TrainerCentral, and create your course with online videos or text. Popular online courses can earn upwards of $10,000 per month!

5. Creating digital products

One of the best side hustles from home is a business based on digital products that allows you to create and upload your product online and sell it through an online shop. With platforms like Shopify and Etsy, setting up a storefront and listing your products has never been easier.

Some digital products that are easy to sell are ebooks, design templates, social media post templates, or spreadsheet templates. You can advertise your shop via a website, social media, or even paid ads. You can earn hundreds (or even thousands) per month on the side by selling digital products.

Related: How to Sell on Shopify

6. Social media manager

A social media manager creates and posts content to social media sites for brands and business owners who don’t have the time or inclination to do it themselves. You can be part-time or work on a freelance basis, giving you a flexible schedule to earn money on the side.

Once you have your systems in place, you can work with multiple clients at once, increasing your income and earnings per hour of work. You can list your services on websites like Fiverr to get your first clients, and then work from referrals to grow this side hustle.

7. Become an agency owner

While selling your services is a great way to ramp up your side hustle income, if you have limited time available, you can build an agency instead. You can still sell your services to businesses or brands, but instead of doing the work yourself, you hire a freelancer or employee to do the work for you.

To make money as an agency owner, you need to pay your freelancers or employees at competitive rates, then upcharge your services to clients, collecting the difference as profit for yourself. Some agency services that you can do from home are marketing, writing, or advertising.

8. YouTube video editor

If you know how to make epic videos and are an efficient editor, you can offer video editing services to YouTubers and charge decent money. While you can use Fiverr and other online marketplaces to offer your editing services, direct outreach might get you better clients.

Find several YouTubers that have a decent following but subpar video quality and reach out to them directly via email or DM. Let them know what you could do for their channel, and send a few samples of your work to see if they are interested. Offer a discounted rate for the first video to see if they like it, and if they do, you now have a paying client.

Related: 12 Passive Income Ideas

9. Voiceover actor

Do you have a smooth, buttery voice or perhaps a very unique sound? You can become a voiceover actor and charge well for your services. You can list your services on Fiverr or Upwork and start gaining clients right away. This work may include reading an audiobook, doing commercials, or voicing explainer videos.

You’ll want a good microphone and editing software to make your voice sound amazing. It’s also a good idea to initially take on a few clients at a discounted rate to build your portfolio of work. Once you have some good reviews and work samples, you can increase your rates and start earning great money at home. 

10. Handmade products

Are you crafty? If you love making homemade crafts and want to sell your creations, you can sell handmade products from home using platforms like Etsy or your own Shopify store. Amazon even has an artisan-only store, Amazon Handmade, where you can list your items.

You’ll want to create a few of your favorite items and get great pictures of them. Ideally, you’ll get customer reviews as well to showcase in your online store. Once your store is live, you can share it with the world through social media or advertising.

11. Coaching

If you’re an expert at something, you can offer one-on-one or group coaching to help teach others what you know. Some popular coaching niches include business coaching, financial coaching, and fitness coaching. 

To become a coach from home, you can set up a website and share your offer with others. You’ll want to get several clients to complete your program at a discounted rate (or even for free) and then share their transformations. Then you’ll have testimonials that your coaching works and you can start charging well for your services.

12. Facebook Ads

Facebook Ads are still a popular way for businesses and brands to advertise their products or services. But they can be confusing, and many business owners want to hire an expert to help them get results. Even if you don’t know much about it, you can go to the “school of YouTube” and learn a lot about it within just a few weeks.

You’ll want to build your own campaigns and spend some of your own money to practice launching Facebook Ads for yourself first (maybe just $5 per day). Once you dial in your ads to get results, you can start reaching out to local businesses or online brands to help them generate more leads. You can do this on your own schedule and make up to $1,000 per month, per client (or more).

13. Content Creator

If you love posting on social media, writing sales pages, or making videos online, businesses will pay for your content services. As a content creator, you will share helpful tips, entertain audiences, or educate them to generate leads for your clients. You can also do this for yourself and create an online brand with your own content.

Focus on one platform at first to hone your skills and become consistent at posting high-quality content. Learn everything you can about that platform to optimize your content strategy to get results. If you’re into YouTube, for example, you can take Erika’s YouTube Course to learn the exact framework that catapulted her to over 1.7 million subscribers in just a few years.

You can then use these skills to build an audience for yourself or a client, and convert them to subscribers or even paying clients. You can make money through affiliate advertising, sponsors, and ad revenue.

Related: How to Make Money on TikTok

14. Affiliate marketer

Have you ever bought something that was so amazing that you shared it with everyone you know? Congratulations, you are now qualified to be an affiliate marketer! Affiliate marketing is the process of sharing something you love with an audience and getting paid a commission if someone uses your link or code to buy it.

To become an affiliate, choose a product or service you love and simply Google “(brand) affiliate program.” You can sign up for the program and get a custom link that you can share with others. If you have an audience through social media, a website, or an email list, you can share these affiliate offers to earn money. 

The best part? You don’t have to provide the services or product yourself because you’re just spreading the word, making this a very passive income stream!

15. SEO expert

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and refers to crafting digital content that will rank well with search engines and ultimately deliver traffic to a website. Experts help businesses and brands increase their organic reach by optimizing their content and following a publishing strategy.

If you love data and learning about how the internet works, spend a few weeks on YouTube soaking up valuable info on SEO and how it works. You can then pick up a few clients for a heavily discounted (or free) rate to help them rank better in search results and get more customers. After you get your clients' results, you can start charging more for your services and take on more clients.

FAQs

What is a side hustle?

A side hustle is something you do to make money that is outside of your normal job. This could be anything from pet sitting for your neighbor to grocery delivery services.

How do I start a side hustle?

There likely isn't anything major you need to do to start a side hustle. If you are signing up for a side gig at sites like Uber or Doordash then you'll need to register on their website (or through the app) and follow the instructions.

If you are starting your own business then you probably just need to get to work, but check with your local small business administration to see if you need to file any paperwork to obtain any licenses.

Do I need to start an LLC for my side hustle?

Not necessarily. It may take some time for your side hustle to become profitable, so re-evaluate once you've begun to consistently produce profit each month.

Related: Do I Need an LLC?

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