Four years ago when I began to feel restless and miserable in my 9-to-5 job, I started Googling online side hustle ideas. After some research, I took on social media management, content creation and blogging on the side of my job until I was able to make enough from these side hustle to turn blogging into my full-time gig.
Fast-forward to 2020 and I have not only gone full-time with it, but have built a 7-figure online business and am extremely passionate about empowering others to explore how a side hustle can transform their lives as well.
(Hear the entire story of my business‘ growth here)
Having an additional stream of income is a fantastic way to bring in extra cash every month or to grow your real dream. For example, if your goal is to become a full-time social media influencer (something that takes time to make a real income from), you might have a side hustle as a social media manager or Virtual Assistant until you’re able to work as an influencer full-time.
Whether you’ve been considering starting a side hustle for fun or are wanting to make money online out of necessity, these 20 side hustle ideas will get you dreaming about what’s possible. I’ve also included resources for each one to get you started!
20 Online Side Hustle Ideas
Freelance Writer
If you love writing, this one is for you. As a freelance writer, you can get paid to write pieces for online publications that take contributors. But it can go beyond this – many bloggers and influencers want & need ghost writers for their sites, so that is an approach you can take as well.
Resources to get you started:
- Elna Cain’s guide to becoming a freelance writer
- Udemy course: The Complete Freelance Writing Online Course
Graphic Designer
As a graphic designer, you would be doing things like creating social media assets, mood boards, ebooks, etc. for businesses. You would need to have (or get!) a good understanding of programs like Canva, Adobe Photoshop and/or Adobe Illustrator.
Resources to get you started:
- My interview with Cassie & Shay from The Bucketlist Bombshells, a company that teaches women how to land clients as graphic designers
- The Bucketlist Bombshells’ Design Skills course
Web Designer
A web designer builds websites for clients (bloggers, online businesses, e-commerce businesses, etc). If you have an eye for design and branding, but don’t know how to actually build a site, don’t worry. There are plenty of resources online that will get you started with learning the skill.
Resources to get you started:
Virtual Assistant
The role of a virtual assistant involves doing various tasks for a business (ecommerce, blogger, etc.) remotely. This could include email management, bookkeeping, editing, writing, tech support or customer service. As a Virtual Assistant, you can decide which services you’ll offer based on your skillset.
Resources to get you started:
- My interview with Esther Inman, the founder of Virtual Assistant Internship
- Esther’s podcast: Teach Me How to Work Online, Esther
Social Media Manager
A social media manager is in charge of creating & scheduling social media content for a business. Sometimes, a company may want you to also focus efforts on the growth of their social media platforms as well. This job would be fantastic for you if you have a good comprehension of social media and branding!
Resources to get you started:
- My interview with Nadine Rohner, the Founder of Social Shells, a company that teaches women to be social media managers. Listen to our podcast episode here.
Pinterest Manager
Even though Pinterest is a social media platform, I’m putting it in a separate category because the techniques & knowledge that it takes to grow and manage Pinterest are completely different than other platforms like Facebook or Instagram.
Being a Pinterest manager involves managing and growing a bloggers’ or small business’ Pinterest account. This is more than having fun re-pinning posts you think are pretty, though. There’s a strategy behind Pinterest and if you know your stuff, you’ll be an invaluable asset to any business.
Resources to get you started:
- My interview with Pinterest manager Justyn Gourdin, where we discuss how to use Pinterest to grow your blog traffic and how you can get started as a Pinterest manager. Listen to our podcast episode here.
- Jenna Kutcher’s podcast episode about Pinterest growth
- Justyn’s Gourdin online course, The Pinterest Playbook
Blogger/Social Media Influencer
This is my job! Among all the side hustle ideas in this post, becoming a social media influencer or blogger by career will take the most time to develop. Growing an audience, becoming a trusted source in a particular niche (beauty, travel, etc.) and beginning to partner with brands all takes time. If you’d like to go this route, I suggest combining it with one of the other side hustle ideas on this list so that you have income while you’re growing your audience.
Resources to get you started:
- My free class: 4 Secrets to Succeeding as an Influencer in 2020
- An article for Later I wrote: 8 Tips to Becoming a Successful Social Media Influencer
- A piece for Forbes I wrote: 6 Tips for Building an Online Business as a Social Media Influencer
- This podcast episode: 3 Ways to Increase Your Revenue as a Social Media Influencer
- My online course, The Influencer Bootcamp
Freelance content creator
Most small or medium-sized brands and businesses don’t have in-house photographers creating content for them, but still have a need for new social media and marketing content. So they rely on contracting photographers and videographers outside of their company for content. As a freelance content creator, you will build up a portfolio of work and charge companies for rights to use your images.
Resources to get you started:
- My interview with Amy Seder, a travel content creator, who has created photo & video assets for some of the largest brands in the world including Hard Rock Hotels, Hilton and St. Regis. Listen to our podcast episode here, or read the summary here.
Online coach
As an online coach, you’d be providing personalized virtual coaching for your clients. This coaching could be in a variety of niches: online business, health, fitness, social media, etc. Similar to the influencer/blogger job, this is also a long game as it takes some time to build an audience and create plenty of valuable content for them to want to buy a coaching package from you.
Resources to get you started:
Online course creator
I’m of the mindset that anyone can create an online course. As long as you know more about a topic than another person (which I’m guessing you do), you can create an online course on that topic! Many people assume that you can only create an online course that will help someone grow a business and improve their social media, but the truth is that you can create a course about literally anything.
Sex coach? Make an online course about how couples can better communicate in bed.
Baker? Make an online course about how people can frost their own cakes and create designs.
As long as you are curating an audience that you know will be interested in your topic, are putting out plenty of free content to establish yourself as an expert, and have validated your course idea… You’re good to go.
Resources to get you started:
- Amy Porterfield’s podcast Online Marketing Made Easy
- Danielle Leslie’s masterclass about launching an online course
Transcriber
As a transcriber, you are listening to a video or audio and turning it into written text. This job might pay a bit less than the other jobs on this list, but if you’re in a pinch will definitely suffice!
Resources to get you started:
- Posting your services on Upwork or Fiverr
- Find transcription jobs here: https://workfromhomehappiness.com/19-transcription-jobs-online-for-beginners/
- Transcribe Anywhere’s free mini course
SEO Consulting
This involves consulting and working with companies on keyword research, their SEO strategy, etc. to help their sites rank higher on Google. If you don’t know a thing about SEO, I’d start with one of the resources below, test & validate your skills on your own site and then start finding clients!
Resources to get you started:
- Institute of Code’s SEO Masterclass
- Everything on Neil Patel’s blog
Ecommerce Business
This is another side hustle idea that would require some time to really get it off the ground, but having an ecommerce business is a fantastic way to generate an income if you do it the right way.
Resources to get you started:
- Gretta Rose van Riel and Foundr’s free ecommerce masterclass
- My interview with Kiera Rumble, the founder of Krumbled Foods
- My interview with Kat Gaskin, the founder of The Content Planner
Translating
For the last of our ONLINE side hustle ideas, there is translating. If you already know multiple languages, a remote translation job would be a great way for you to make money online.
Resources to get you started:
- Crowd Work News’ list of 14 companies offering translation jobs
- Read about what it’s like to work as a translator
Landing Clients
Most of the above jobs require that you get clients, but landing your first one is the hardest part. Here are some great tips:
- Have an online portfolio: Before you begin pitching clients, make sure you have a website with examples of work you’ve done. This not only shows to potential clients the great work you’ve done in the past, but that you’re professional as well. Not having a portfolio with testimonials and examples is a big no-no.
- Use your free work or personal work as an example: From the previous point, I know your question is, “But what if I don’t have an example of work from a previous client? Isn’t that kind of a chicken and egg situation?” I gotcha. To get your first paying client, you need to show work and results. But what work? Show what you’ve done for yourself! Or take on a client for free at first so that you can get them results and use that as the “proof” to get your first paying one.
- Do a great job so you can be referred: When you get your first client, go above and beyond. This will ensure that the person refers you to your next client, and you get to a point where you no longer need to cold pitch!
- Show up as an expert in Facebook groups: One of the best ways to start getting your name out there and getting noticed is by joining a Facebook group that is relevant to the services you’re offering. Go above & beyond to offer helpful advice, and you’ll eventually become the go-to person on the exact service you’re offering.
I talk in-depth with Cassie & Shay of The Bucketlist Bombshells about how to cold pitch to get clients as a freelancer, so you can listen to that episode of Her Life By Design here!
I also talk about it with Nadine Rohner in this episode. She gives so much valuable insight into how to make sure your client has a good experience and refers you to others.
Ok, it’s important to note that growing a side hustle takes work! All of these jobs generally take a couple weeks to a couple months to grow a portfolio and begin getting clients. The plus side, though? They are all scalable. You can increase your rates or take on more clients to up your income.
But if you’re reading through these side hustle ideas like, “But I need to make money right now” and aren’t necessarily interested in building your own online business, these are 6 ways you can make an income immediately:
Food delivery
Do delivery for Uber Eats or Postmates.
Use your car and drive for Uber, Via or Lyft.
Sell items online
Sell your belongings on websites like Ebay, Depop, Vinted, and Poshmark.
Walk dogs
Walk and dogsit pups on the apps Rover and Wag!
Clean houses
Advertise your cleaning services on Handy, Tidy and ChoreRelief.
Use TaskRabbit or Amazon Services
TaskRabbit, Handy and Amazon Services are great places to find work if you’re offering services like moving and home services.
I hope this was helpful and got your mind spinning on all the different ways you can make money online and get a new side hustle off the ground!
I would love to hear from you in the comments – Do you already have a side hustle? Which one of these would you love to start pursuing?
Saved this to my Pinterest board!! I read this awhile back when you initially posted it, but I had to come back to share how helpful this was!!
I am hoping that writing will bring in more income in addition to an online publishing course that I want to launch soon! And eventually an e-commerce store.
YAY! I’m so happy to hear that the resources in the post were helpful. Can’t wait to see those goals come to life (and work with you on them later this year 😉) xo
Thanks for the information. Really looking forward to implementing this soon!