Side hustles have become more than a way to make extra income—they are the new path to financial freedom for many. In 2024, the side hustle economy is booming, with more people turning to online businesses and entrepreneurial opportunities than ever before. Whether you’re looking for a little extra cash or want to replace your 9-to-5 job, this guide offers 19 side hustle ideas that work— proven, practical, and profitable ideas.
These aren’t just random side hustle ideas. They are based on personal experiences, success stories from friends, and extensive research. With each idea, we’ll break down how it works, what tools you need, examples of people who’ve made it work, and a rating on how easy and profitable each hustle can be.
Let’s dive into the first idea!
1. Buying and Selling Domains
Did you know that domain flipping is like digital real estate? Just like land, certain domain names grow in value over time, and you can make a fortune by flipping them.
How It Works:
Every website needs a domain, and some are more valuable than others. Your goal is to buy domain names that might increase in value due to market trends, popular keywords, or even future developments. For instance, trends like artificial intelligence, health technology, and cryptocurrency might influence the value of related domains.
You can buy domains on websites like GoDaddy or Bluehost for as little as $10 to $15, and then sell them for hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
Tools for Success:
- NameChecker.com: This helps you find available domain names and check for trending keywords.
- ExpiredDomains.net: Buy domains that have expired but still hold value.
Case Study:
A domain investor bought business.com for $345 million, but you don’t need millions to get started. A friend of mine has been flipping domains since 2010 and now earns hundreds of thousands of dollars every year. He started by buying domains for under $50 and now sells them for five or six figures.
Pro Tip:
Look for expiring domains or domain auctions, where you can buy valuable names at a lower cost.
Opportunity Score: 9/10
This is a lucrative business with relatively low upfront costs, but it does require patience and market knowledge.
2. Selling Beats Online
If you’re musically inclined—or even if you’re not—selling beats online is easier than ever. Musicians, content creators, game developers, and YouTubers all need background music.
How It Works:
You don’t need to be Kanye West to make a great beat. Simple beats or meditation sounds, like binaural beats, are highly popular. You can create beats using easy-to-learn software like FL Studio or GarageBand.
Once you create your beats, you can sell them on platforms like:
- BeatStars
- SoundCloud
- YouTube
Music producers who specialize in meditation tracks or background music for games make a killing online. You can also enable ads on YouTube and earn from the millions of views these types of beats get.
Case Study:
Some producers make over $100,000 per year by selling simple beats. You can also create binaural beats (meditation tracks that help people study or relax), which can get millions of views on YouTube and generate passive income through ads.
Pro Tip:
If you’re just starting out, focus on niche sounds like meditation or study beats. These are simpler to create and have a steady demand.
Opportunity Score: 6/10
This side hustle is more passion-driven and may take time to build up, but if you love music, it can be a rewarding endeavor.
3. Selling TikTok Accounts
With TikTok’s explosive growth, creating and selling TikTok accounts has become a lucrative side hustle. Many businesses and influencers prefer to buy established accounts rather than build them from scratch.
How It Works:
Start by growing a TikTok account in a trending niche (e.g., fashion, fitness, or food). Once you’ve gained at least 1,000 followers, you can sell the account on websites like FameSwap or 123accs.
- Accounts with just 1,000 followers can sell for $5, but niche accounts can go for hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
- Businesses often buy these accounts to launch their presence with an existing follower base.
Platforms to Use:
- FameSwap: A marketplace for buying and selling social media accounts.
- 123accs: Another platform for trading social media properties.
Pro Tip:
Focus on a niche that’s trending, like beauty, fitness, or pets. These niches attract more buyers and sell for higher prices.
Opportunity Score: 7.5/10
This hustle requires social media skills and patience, but it’s easy to get started and scale as you learn.
4. Computer Repair and Technical Support
If you have a knack for fixing computers, you can make a lot of money by offering repair and support services. As people increasingly rely on technology, the need for repairs and troubleshooting grows.
How It Works:
Offer your services to fix slow computers, perform dust cleaning, or repair hardware issues. You can also offer tech support, like setting up home offices or improving Wi-Fi setups.
Advertise your services on Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, or local Facebook groups. People prefer fixing their computers instead of paying thousands for new ones.
Income Potential:
- Computer tune-ups: $80 per session.
- Dust cleaning: $40.
- Hardware repair: $50 to $100.
- Game cartridge cleaning: $30.
If you’re skilled with tech, you can also offer podcast setups or advanced technical support, which can bring in hundreds of dollars per project.
Pro Tip:
Offer services for home office setups, which are increasingly in demand post-pandemic. Optimize their Wi-Fi, microphone, and camera setups for Zoom or podcasts.
Opportunity Score: 8.5/10
This side hustle is highly profitable if you have the technical skills, but it may require some upfront investment in tools and advertising.
5. Digital Marketing Consultant
In 2024, digital marketing is essential for businesses, and companies are always looking for specialized consultants. If you can master a specific area, you can turn this into a highly profitable business.
How It Works:
The key to success as a digital marketing consultant is specialization. Instead of being a generalist, focus on one area like:
- SEO (Search Engine Optimization): Optimizing websites to rank on Google.
- PPC (Pay-Per-Click): Running paid ads on Google or social media.
- Email Marketing: Creating and managing email campaigns.
- Social Media Ads: Running ads on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok.
Case Study:
A friend of mine specialized in SEO for e-commerce businesses and now makes over $1 million per year. He started by offering free consultations to build his portfolio and then started charging high rates as he built his reputation.
Learning Resources:
- Google Digital Garage: Free courses to learn digital marketing.
- Udemy/Coursera: Paid courses to deepen your expertise.
Pro Tip:
Focus on a niche within digital marketing, like email marketing for SaaS companies or SEO for health blogs. This allows you to charge more because you’re an expert in that field.
Opportunity Score: 9.5/10
If you can master a specific area of digital marketing, this is one of the most lucrative side hustles on the list.
6. Personal Chef or Catering
If you love cooking, turning your passion into a side business as a personal chef or caterer could be the perfect hustle for you. Busy professionals and families are willing to pay top dollar for personalized, healthy meals.
How It Works:
Offer personalized meal prep services or cater small events. You can also focus on specific dietary needs like keto, vegan, or gluten-free diets. Deliver meals directly to your clients, allowing them to enjoy restaurant-quality food at home.
Case Study:
A personal chef I know quit his full-time restaurant job and now makes more money working part-time for high-end clients. He delivers weekly meals, customized to their dietary preferences.
Platforms to Market Your Service:
- Thumbtack: A platform where personal chefs and caterers can advertise their services.
- TaskRabbit: Offer meal prep or catering services for events.
Pro Tip:
Specialize in a niche like meal prep for fitness enthusiasts or diabetic-friendly meals to stand out in a crowded market.
Opportunity Score: 8/10
This side hustle is great for anyone who enjoys cooking and has a niche, but it can be time-consuming.
7. Fitness Coaching for Seniors
Fitness coaching is booming, and catering to the senior population is a highly profitable niche. Seniors are focused on staying healthy and active, and they are willing to pay for personalized coaching.
How It Works:
Offer in-person or online coaching that focuses on low-impact exercises, strength training, and flexibility. Senior fitness is a growing market, and you can charge premium prices for personal training sessions, especially if you offer classes tailored to mobility and recovery.
Case Study:
A friend makes over $500,000 a month teaching dads how to stay in shape. He built an online course that caters to senior fitness and now sells it as a subscription program.
Income Potential:
- One-on-one sessions: Charge $70 to $180 per hour.
- Online coaching: Offer remote training via Zoom or build an online course with monthly memberships.
Pro Tip:
If you live in an area with a large elderly population, consider offering senior-specific boot camps or create an online program targeting seniors with chronic pain or mobility issues.
Opportunity Score: 8.5/10
This is a fantastic side hustle for fitness professionals, especially if you focus on online courses or recurring membership programs.
8. Gardening Services
Love the outdoors? Offering gardening or landscaping services can be a rewarding and profitable side hustle. The demand for lawn care and garden maintenance is high, especially in suburban areas.
How It Works:
Start by offering basic services like lawn mowing, planting, and garden maintenance in your local neighborhood. You can quickly scale this by adding services like landscaping design, irrigation installation, or seasonal cleanups.
Case Study:
A Reddit user shared how they built a $110,000/month landscaping business that brought in $30,000-$40,000 in profit after three years of hard work. They started with just a lawnmower and some flyers.
Income Potential:
- Beginner gardeners: $20-$30 per hour.
- Experienced gardeners: $60-$88 per hour.
Pro Tip:
Offer niche services like organic gardening or composting to attract eco-conscious clients. You can also expand into commercial services, which tend to pay more.
Opportunity Score: 8/10
Gardening is a great side hustle if you enjoy working outdoors, but it can be physically demanding.
9. Local Tour Guide
If you live in a tourist-friendly city, becoming a local tour guide is a fun way to make extra money while sharing your love for your town.
How It Works:
Offer guided tours that focus on your city’s unique history, architecture, food scene, or cultural landmarks. You can also offer themed tours like food and wine tours, ghost tours, or historical walking tours.
Platforms to Promote Your Service:
- Airbnb Experiences: Offer tours as part of their local experiences section.
- GetYourGuide: A platform for guided tours and activities.
Income Potential:
- Charge $200 to $250 for a 4-hour tour, and make tips on top of that.
- Depending on the city and the season, you can make anywhere from $50 to $80 per hour.
Pro Tip:
Specialize in a niche that tourists are interested in, like food tours or haunted history tours. You can charge a premium for themed tours that offer a unique experience.
Opportunity Score: 7/10
This hustle is location-dependent, but if you’re in a tourist-heavy area, it can be a fun and lucrative gig.
10. Personal Shopping Business
Do you love shopping? Turn your passion into a side hustle by offering personal shopping services. This is a great side hustle, especially during the holidays or for people who are too busy to shop for themselves.
How It Works:
Offer shopping services for groceries, gifts, or specific needs like holiday shopping. You can also provide wardrobe consulting or gift-buying services. Apps like Instacart allow you to shop for groceries, while platforms like TaskRabbit help connect you with personal shopping gigs.
Income Potential:
- Personal shoppers can earn between $15 to $25 per hour with platforms like Instacart.
- High-end personal shoppers or holiday gift-buyers can earn up to $100,000 annually.
Pro Tip:
Offer specialized services like fashion consulting or holiday gift shopping to differentiate yourself from other personal shoppers.
Opportunity Score: 6.5/10
This is a great side hustle for those who already love shopping, but it can be time-consuming and may not provide a steady income stream.
11. Social Media Creator
Becoming a social media creator is one of the most popular side hustles in 2024. Whether it’s YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok, you can build a personal brand and start earning money through affiliate marketing, ads, and sponsorships.
How It Works:
Create a personal brand by sharing content you’re passionate about. Whether it’s beauty, tech, fitness, or lifestyle, people want to engage with real people—not faceless brands. By creating valuable content, you can build a loyal following and monetize your efforts through:
- Affiliate marketing: Earn commissions by recommending products.
- Sponsored posts: Get paid by brands to promote their products.
- YouTube Ads: Monetize your videos through YouTube’s ad network.
Case Study:
The author of this article earns six figures a month from YouTube alone. By creating content around topics he loves, he has built a successful online business that allows him to coach others.
Pro Tip:
Choose a specific niche and stick with it. Whether it’s fitness for moms or tech reviews, people will follow you for your expertise in that area.
Opportunity Score: 9.5/10
Building a social media brand takes time, but the income potential is massive. It’s one of the most scalable side hustles out there.
12. Freelance Web Developer
Web development is one of the most in-demand skills in today’s digital world. If you can learn to code, becoming a freelance web developer can provide a steady stream of high-paying clients.
How It Works:
Learn to build websites using coding languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. You can also specialize in platforms like Shopify (for e-commerce stores) or frameworks like React (for web applications). The secret to making big money is specializing in in-demand fields like eCommerce or cloud development (AWS, Azure).
Case Study:
A friend started a Shopify web development side hustle and now makes $7,000 a month in passive income. He specialized in building and customizing Shopify stores for small businesses.
Platforms to Learn:
- Codecademy: A great place to start learning how to code.
- Udemy: Paid courses on specific frameworks and coding languages.
- Upwork: Start freelancing and gain experience by taking on small projects.
Pro Tip:
Start with Shopify or WordPress development, which has a lower barrier to entry, and work your way up to more advanced coding languages.
Opportunity Score: 9/10
Web development requires a learning curve, but once you master it, it’s one of the highest-paying side hustles on this list.
13. Resume Writer
Help people land their dream jobs by becoming a specialized resume writer. With the right skills, you can build a six-figure business writing resume for specific industries.
How It Works:
Specialize in a specific industry, like tech, healthcare, or finance, where you can use your knowledge of that field to craft highly targeted resumes. This gives you an edge over general resume writers because you know exactly what hiring managers are looking for.
Case Study:
A 35-year-old teacher turned resume writer made $2 million by specializing in writing resumes for management consultants.
Pro Tip:
Use LinkedIn to advertise your services. Offer free resume critiques and grow your following by providing helpful tips and advice.
Opportunity Score: 8.5/10
This is a high-profit, low-cost business if you specialize, but it does require strong writing skills and industry knowledge.
14. Language Tutoring
If you’re fluent in more than one language, tutoring others can be a rewarding and flexible side hustle. There’s a huge demand for English tutors globally, as well as for tutors in other languages.
How It Works:
Sign up with online platforms like Cambly, iTalki, or Preply to offer one-on-one language tutoring. There’s an enormous market for English language learners worldwide, especially in countries like China, Japan, and South Korea.
Case Study:
English with Lucy is a popular YouTube channel where the creator earns $400,000 per month by teaching English online. Although this is an exceptional case, it shows the potential of language tutoring.
Pro Tip:
Offer niche language services like business English or test preparation for higher-paying clients.
Opportunity Score: 8/10
Language tutoring is a well-established side hustle, but it’s a little saturated. Specializing in specific needs, like test prep or business English, can help you stand out.
15. Garbage Collector or Cleaner
This side hustle may not be glamorous, but it’s a highly profitable business, especially if you turn it into a full-service garbage collection or cleaning business.
How It Works:
Offer garbage cleaning services to residential or business clients. Most garbage collection companies don’t clean bins, which leaves an opportunity for you to offer a monthly cleaning service for garbage cans, recycling bins, or even large debris removal.
If you have a large vehicle, you can also offer junk hauling services to clear out large trash items for people.
Income Potential:
- Garbage collectors earn between $39,000 and $57,000 annually.
- Side business owners can earn more by offering regular cleaning services or large-item haulaways.
Pro Tip:
Offer a monthly subscription service to residential clients to clean their garbage cans regularly, ensuring a steady, recurring income.
Opportunity Score: 7.5/10
It’s not the most glamorous side hustle, but it’s highly profitable and relatively easy to start if you don’t mind getting your hands dirty.
16. Blogger
Blogging is one of the most well-known online businesses, but it’s also one of the most long-term side hustles. If you love writing and have patience, blogging can generate passive income for years.
How It Works:
Create a blog around a topic you’re passionate about. Popular niches include personal finance, health, travel, and lifestyle. Write SEO-optimized content to attract organic traffic from search engines. Once your blog starts receiving consistent traffic, you can monetize through:
- Ad revenue: Google AdSense or Mediavine ads on your blog.
- Affiliate marketing: Recommending products and earning a commission.
- Selling digital products: Create ebooks, courses, or templates.
Case Study:
Many bloggers earn $2,000 – $5,000 per month from ad revenue alone. Some have turned their blogs into full-time businesses, earning six figures annually.
Pro Tip:
Focus on evergreen content, which will continue to drive traffic for years, such as “how-to” guides or product reviews.
Opportunity Score: 8.5/10
Blogging is a long-term side hustle. It requires patience, but it’s incredibly scalable and can become passive once your content is established.
17. Interior Design Consultancy
If you have an eye for design, interior design consultancy can be a fun and profitable side hustle. Many people want to improve their home’s aesthetics but don’t know where to start.
How It Works:
Offer consulting services to help clients design their homes, pick out furniture, and create a cohesive look. You can either work in-person or offer virtual consultations to clients anywhere in the world.
Case Study:
An interior design consultant shared her success story of paying off $98,000 in debt within 25 months by starting a side business. She advertised on platforms like Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace and quickly gained clients.
Pro Tip:
Specialize in a niche like minimalist design, eco-friendly spaces, or feng shui to attract a specific clientele.
Opportunity Score: 7/10
This hustle is best for those with a natural eye for design. While it’s competitive, it’s also highly rewarding if you’re passionate about interior aesthetics.
18. Selling Stock Photos
If you love photography, selling stock photos online is a great way to turn your passion into profit. Businesses, bloggers, and content creators are always in need of high-quality, unique photos.
How It Works:
Take photos of landscapes, cities, people, or specific niches (e.g., tech or fitness). Upload your photos to stock photo websites like Shutterstock, iStock, or Adobe Stock. Every time someone downloads your photo, you earn a percentage of the sale.
Income Potential:
Professional stock photographers earn between $49,000 and $79,000 per year. While it may take time to build up a large portfolio, stock photography offers passive income as your photos continue to sell over time.
Pro Tip:
Focus on niche categories like diverse models, environmental issues, or work-from-home themes to stand out in the market.
Opportunity Score: 7/10
Stock photography can be a great passive income stream, but it requires patience to build up a large, profitable portfolio.
19. Travel Agent
If you love planning vacations and know all the best destinations and travel tips, becoming a travel agent can be an exciting and profitable side hustle.
How It Works:
Offer vacation planning services to clients, helping them book flights, accommodations, and activities. Specialize in a specific area or type of travel, such as luxury travel, eco-friendly trips, or adventure tourism.
You’ll help clients with:
- Visa and flight bookings.
- Hotel accommodations.
- Recommendations for activities and restaurants.
Case Study:
A travel agent earned over $250,000 during the pandemic by specializing in booking safe, socially-distanced vacations for high-end clients.
Pro Tip:
Specialize in an area you know well. For example, if you’re an expert on traveling in Southeast Asia, focus on offering customized tours to that region.
Opportunity Score: 7/10
This hustle is perfect for travel enthusiasts, but it requires deep knowledge of specific destinations to be successful.
Conclusion
Whether you’re looking for a side hustle that you can start this weekend or you want to build a long-term online business, these 19 side hustle ideas offer something for everyone. The key to success is picking the hustle that aligns with your skills, interests, and time availability.
Ready to start your side hustle? Choose one from this list that resonates with you, and take the first step toward financial freedom in 2024!
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