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Best and most profitable side hustles

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Looking for ways to make extra money this month from side jobs?  Last year I started researching different ways to make extra income from side jobs and to my surprise, I was able to find a lot of great opportunities.  

While working full-time teaching, I decided to pick up some side jobs to save more money and to make extra money.

Over the course of months, I ended up saving around $300 -$350 per month doing different side jobs.  The best thing about making extra money on the side is that some of the jobs were actually fun and interesting and didn’t require a lot of time. Some of the jobs didn’t even require me to leave my home.

Below I have listed numerous side jobs I’ve done to increase my monthly income that you can do too.   So, if you are looking to make extra money or to pay down debt check out the list below. 

 

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20 Ways To Make Extra Money From Side Hustles

1. Start A Blog

Are you passionate about something and want to get your voice heard on topics such as personal finance, fashion, cooking, social media, or more?  If so, starting a blog might be up perfect for you!

Since I have started my blog it has seriously changed my life. I have been able to stay at home with my three children and work from home. Since starting this blog I have created 8 streams of income and turned it into a full-time business.

How can a person make a living blogger? There are a ton of ways you can make money from a blog. To find out how to make money from a blog click here.

If you are new to the blogging world and haven’t started a blog yet, you can start one today! For more information on how to set up and start a profitable blog check out my step-by-step tutorial by clicking here!

Additional Resources on Ways To Make Money Blogging:

2.  Make Money From Legit Surveys 

About a year ago I started looking into different survey sites to make extra money and some of the ones I found turned out to be legit ways to add extra money 

While working a full-time job I was able to make extra money and get gift cards from different survey sites daily.  I have used different survey sites to pay for Christmas shopping, birthdays, and more.  Below are the best survey sites to make extra money that I love.

Best Money Saving Apps

Best Cash-Back Credit Cards

Another way to earn money back each month is by having a cash-back credit card.  I am a firm believer to use credit cards responsibly and if you can this can be a great option.

If are you looking for the best cash-back credit cards check below to see the best ones right now. 

Best Small Business Credit Cards

If you have a small business you can also get a business credit card to help with the cost of supplies and growing your business. Check out the best small business credit cards below. 

3. Join Respondent

This is one best research study online sites out there and one of my favorite research websites right now to make extra money. On this site, you can make up to $300 if you qualify for a study and they have a ton of studies to apply for on a daily basis. The studies you can make money from range from product studies to technology studies and much more.

Another great way to make extra money from this site is by referring other people to apply for certain studies and if they get accepted you get paid $50! Check out Respondent by clicking here. 

 

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 4. Sign Up For Fetch Rewards

I just recently signed up for Fetch Rewards and I love them!

Fetch Reward is an app where you scan your grocery receipts to earn points towards gift cards

Every time you go to the grocery grab your receipt then scan it on the Fetch reward app. After scanning your receipt you will earn points towards gift cards. I love this app because it’s super simple to earn points that turn into gift cards. 

On this app, you can redeem points when you hit 3,000 which is super easy to do if you shop at the grocery store on a weekly basis. Currently, you can grab an extra 3000 points as a bonus when you sign up. Sign up for Fetch Rewards here!

5. Rent Out Your House or Apartment

Do you have an extra room that you aren’t using? Or maybe a guest house that nobody lives in? If so, you can totally put it up on Airbnb and make $1000+ a month just by hosting your place. 

I recently stayed at amazing Airbnb and the host makes over $3,000 a month from renting out her guest house each month. Check out Airbnb and sign up by clicking here. 

6. Virtual Assistant

Another great side job to look into is becoming a virtual assistant. About a couple of months ago, I started doing a remote Marketing Assistant gig for an on-demand storage company. Basically, I performed marketing-related tasks and assisted in the coordination of the events all while working from home.

 I made $15 hr and work this job after I got off from my full-time job. It didn’t take a lot to complete the tasks and I was in the comfy of my own home.  

Listed below are some Virtual Assistant job platforms.

7. Brand Ambassador

One of the best side jobs I have ever done was being a brand ambassador. As a Brand Ambassador, I was hired to promote brands in a positive light to the public while providing consumers with a memorable face-to-face experience.  When new events came to my town I was hired by promotion companies to help assist them with the different tasks to make sure the events ran smoothly.

The best thing about being a brand ambassador was that I could work weekends and get paid around $100 per day for the event.

Pretty Neat, Right?! Below are some of the Brand Ambassador companies I have worked with.

8 . Background Actor in TV & Film

Yup! That’s right I have done a ton of background actor work in my hometown and surrounding areas of Chicago. I have worked on television shows such as The Boss, Chicago PD, Empire, Chicago Fire, Sense 8, and more. 

I make anywhere between $75 to $150 per day depending on the background role. The casting companies normally have a great lunch or dinner set up for the background actors as well. To find these roles I normally go on Facebook and search the casting companies in Chicago and get updates every day on the new roles.

When looking for opportunities around the world I normally get email updates from a company called, Audition Free. You can check them out HERE. Please note, you will NEVER have to pay to be an extra/ background in any movie, commercial or television show.

 9. Drive Your Car

If you are looking for a weekend or part-time side job driving Uber or Lyft might be perfect for you. 

 You can make money by driving your car around your city when you sign up to become a Uber or Lyft driver. One of the quickest ways to earn extra money for the holiday season is to drive for companies such as Uber and Lyft. My husband currently makes an extra $300 driving for Uber two days a week.

 I thought it was uber awesome because he works a few hours both days which are typically Friday nights and Saturday afternoon and gets an extra $300 for the week. How cool is that? 

 If you are looking to make money QUICK joining companies like Uber and Lyft are definitely great options. Below are different ways to make extra income with your car.

10. Make Money With Your Phone 

This is one of the coolest ways to make extra income and you can do it right from your phone. You can download some of the apps listed below and start earning money today. Some of the payouts may be small, but every little bit counts, right?

11. Become A Pet Sitter With Rover

This is for all the Dog Lovers! If so you can work for places like Rover. Rover is a website and app that helps connect pet owners with pet sitters and dog walkers in their neighborhood. They currently have over 85,000 sitters and walkers nationwide.

When you sign up you have to submit a photo of yourself and photos of your home and information about your own pets. They also offer customer service 24/7 via email, phone, and online chat, which is amazing.

12. Freelance Write

If you love writing you can totally get paid to write for different places online.  Different companies will pay you to write different subjects online. The pay varies but you can get paid up to $100 for writing one article for different blogs online such as Penny Hoarder, Listverse, and more. If you are looking for other places online to get paid to write check out this post which shares over 20 places online that will pay bloggers to write by clicking here. 

13. Rent out your car

If you have more than one car or have a car that you don’t really use as much you can totally rent out your car with companies such as Turo and Just share it and Get A Round.  

The cool thing about the company Get A Round is that every trip includes $1,000,000 insurance and 24/7 roadside assistance. On the site, it also says that the average owners make an additional $6,000 per year just by renting out their car.

14.  Put Your Services On Fiverr

Do you love editing and proofreading papers or designing logos and more?  No matter what type of service you offer, you can more than likely offer it on Fiverr and the awesome thing is that you can get paid for doing so. Simply create a profile on Fiverr to showcase your work to a large amount people which in turn can turn into clients.

I know a ton of people who are making full-time income right from Fiverr by doing voiceover work, data entry work and more.  Check out Fiverr here.

15.  Do Social Media Management

One of my favorite side jobs is working as a social media manager. Similar to doing Virtual Assistant work you can do social media management for different clients around the world. I know from past experience that handling social media accounts can take a TON of time. So a lot of companies look for Social Media gurus to handle their social platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Pay varies but you can make great money while traveling doing what you do every day on social media. Sounds Fun?! Below are some places you can find social media gigs!

16. Sell Your Photos Online

Are you good at taking photos and want to make extra money? Then selling your photos might be a great side job for you. 

Photography companies are always looking for new photos to showcase on their sites.  Places like  Snapwire, Pexels and Istockphoto are places online where you can actually earn money from your photos. #Wowzers!

17. Do Voice Over Work

This is an amazing side job if you love creating different voices of characters. Ever wonder how much fun it would be to be a voice-over actor? The great thing about being a voice-over actor is that you can do it anywhere which is a huge plus for travelers and people on the go.  Different companies hire voice-over actors for radio,  the Internet, and Television gigs to do voice-over work for children’s audiobooks, cartoons, commercials, and more.

.. As a beginner, I suggest putting together a voice-over demo and you can do that by going to a professional recording studio or by setting it up yourself. If you do it yourself make sure to get a great microphone and a set of great headphones.

On the demo, you would record different voices that you can do such as cartoon characters so that the different clients that you audition for can see if you would be a good fit for the role. Your demo will be your resume for auditions! To find voice-over work you can check out these places: Freelancer, and Fiverr.

18. Help Test Out Websites 

Testing website is another side job you can add to your list to make money. I started testing websites last year, and I really like how fast I could earn extra income. Each testing site varies in terms of income. Some will pay you $10 while others might pay you $12 per test so, it depends on which ones you qualify for during that time. It should take about 15 to 30 minutes to complete each task depending on the test. Test assignments vary, but a person could make an extra $100 or more per month completing the different tests, which normally pays via PayPal.

19.Sign up for Affiliate Marketing Programs

Do you know how I made my first paycheck from blogging?   When I first started blogging I made my first check by promoting different promote through affiliate marketing. With affiliate marketing, you make a commission every time someone sign-ups or buy something through your affiliate link. 

I am currently an affiliate for different survey companies and make money every single month from affiliate marketing. I recently wrote a post on how I made over $1800 blogging in one month and most of my income for that month came from affiliate marketing!

 Some of my favorite affiliate programs to check out are  Bluehost, Shopify, IGain, and Flex Offers.

20.Focus Groups

Focus groups are another way to side hustle and make extra money. Recently,  I participated in a focus group for a new mascara product. I had to test out the new mascara for a week and give my opinion of the product at the end of the study.  I also received a $50.00 Visa Gift card for my opinions on the product! Woohoo!

I normally like to do about 1 to 2 Focus groups a month. Also, while I was pregnant with my son  I participated in a great focus group that wanted pregnant women to give their opinions on probiotics and newborns and it was amazing.

After the study, they give us a check for $250 for only 2 hours of our time. 

Below are my favorite focus group websites.

What type of side jobs are you currently doing to make extra money? 

 

 

 

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Reader Interactions

Comments

      • Hanna says

        I love all your ideas! Have you heard about selling your lessons plans through teacherspayteachers.com? I have been a member since 2013. I don’t have an extravagant store like a lot of other teachers, but my name on there is Daily Educator. Also, there used to be a blood bank in the state where I live, MS. Some people actually get $80-$150 a week for donating plasma. I use the scanner BookScouter to sell or trade in books. Lastly, I use Ebates for online shopping and Receipt Hog to keep up with copies of my receipts, which in return pays via PayPal or in amazon gift cards.

        Reply

  3. Lisa says

    Hi my name is Lisa. I am a food blogger and was looking for a way to bring in some extra money. I found it with that crazy wrap thing. So serious. These things sell themselves. I had customers before I got my site setup. If you are interested in learning more. Send me a message and I will answer any questions. In 2 months you could be making 500$ a month and that is nothing. If you want to change your life message me.

    Reply

  6. Chonce says

    I’ve done all of these except for the last one – which sounds really cool by the way. It sounds like all those T.V. opportunities were in the Chicago area? That sounds perfect for me since I live in the suburbs of Chicago. I’ve actually worked for On The Rocks Models as a brand ambassador and it was fun!

    Reply

    • Latasha says

      Oh yeah! All the TV opportunities were in Chicago which was super cool.:) & I can definitely forward you any information about the casting companies in Chicago looking for background actors if you are interested. 🙂

      Reply

      • Emily says

        Are any of these scams?? I would love to earn extra income but I’m always nervous about being paid via PayPal and getting hacked or not getting paid at all …

        Reply

        • Latasha Peterson says

          Hi, Emily!

          So sorry you had to go through that. That’s so not cool.
          All the places I listed in this post are trusted companies whom I have great experiences with. Thanks for stopping by.:)

          Reply

  8. Tennille @ Two Kids And A Budget says

    These sound like some fun ways to make a little extra money, especially the last one. Chicago Fire and Chicago PD are two of our favorite shows. You mentioned you’re in the Chicago area, I’m about three hours away in a MI/IN boarder town.

    Reply

    • Latasha says

      Hi Kala! 🙂

      Not at all. I haven’t gotten any telemarketer calls or email spam and I have been doing surveys with them for over a year!
      It’s an awesome site !:) I hope that helps! 🙂

      Reply

      • Kala says

        Thanks! That’s good to know! I started doing the survey’s a day ago. They don’t take too long either.

        Reply

  12. Katy says

    This is definitely super helpful! As a soon-to-be new mom, making a few extra bucks a month would be more than helpful. I’ll be trying a few of these out!

    Reply

  13. Rachel G says

    I think it would be so interesting to be a background actor! I wish I lived in a place where filming was more common. I’ve heard of lots of people using Swagbucks to make some extra cash!

    Reply

  22. Kimberly @ Berly's Kitchen says

    These are some great ways to make extra income. I’ve done a couple of them myself. Every little bit helps. 🙂

    Reply

  30. adriana says

    These are all such great ideas! I’ve done a few online survey things in the past and they’re surprisingly really fun. Great tips!

    Reply

  32. Brittany says

    Wow! This is a great resource list. I haven’t heard about many of the things on the list. I may have to look into them. Thank you!

    Reply

  34. Ashley says

    Wow! This is a great round up of ways to increase your income! Definitely going to check out a few of these!

    xo Ashley

    Reply

  35. Amy Lyon says

    What a wonderful list. And I love that you have personally used each and every one.
    How awesome to live in a big city and have opportunities to work on television. Same with Uber and other services. Those of us in rural areas do not have access to those services. 🙁
    Thank you for sharing this.
    *Hugs*

    Reply

  39. Cydney says

    Is post has come at the perfect time for me, Ive taken a step back from my office job and want to pursue a more flexible work lifestyle, this post is going to be super helpful for me to pursue that. Thanks so much for sharing!

    Reply

  40. Bonnie says

    Thanks so much for the ideas! I am trying to use my skills, experience, and knowledge to make money from home… and this list helped quite a bit!

    Reply

  42. Erin says

    First I want to say wow! I can’t believe you do all of this AND blogging on top of full time teaching! As a teacher myself I don’t know where you find the time for these things, but good for you! You are amazing! Thanks for these wonderful realistic ideas!

    Reply

  43. Erin says

    I clicked on one of the brand ambassador links and they say you have to already be one to work for them, how do I become a brand ambassador?

    Reply

  45. Danielle @ The Pennies We Saved says

    Hehe! I have done background acting in the past! I went to San Diego State University where the TV show Veronica Mars was filmed, so I would often participate! lol

    Reply

  46. DNN says

    The side hustle becomes a beautiful labor of love in the longrun because you get to see the fruits of your precious labor growing before your very eyes. Yes, this stuff is lots of work; creating content, maintaining your WordPress blog, having the right ads and working with big name advertisers, and most importantly…increasing affiliate commission potential.

    Reply

  47. Bridget says

    These are great! My brother did something similar to the website testing things where he tested games – Candy Crush, Pearls Peril, that sort of thing.
    It wasn’t a huge amount of money, about $9 per game but that was all he needed for a bit of cash. Pretty sure it was this one, I signed up to but never found the time to do it –
    https://www.playtestcloud.com/signup

    Reply

  48. Prin Suparat says

    It has been simply incredibly generous with you to provide openly what exactly many individuals would’ve marketed for an ebook to end up making some cash for their end, primarily given that you could have tried it in the event you wanted.

    Reply

  49. Luan says

    I will be trying some of these. I would suggest Mystery Shopper. There are some great ones. I would suggest Isecretshop, market Force and don’t sign up if a company ask you to pay to use their company. Thanks for the list.

    Reply

  50. Ellen says

    Donate Plasma. There are lots of plasma centers popping up around the NE Ohio area. I make $65 a week and if I donate 8 times in a month I get a bonus of usually $80. If you find the right Plasma center you can do this in about 3 hours a week. That is $340 extra cash a month. More on your first month. Plus you are helping people that need your plasma to make medicine to help them live a normal life. Its a WIN WIN for everyone.

    Reply

  52. Heidi says

    I love the idea of background extra. Even if you only did it for a day it would be interesting to see what goes on behind the scenes of a TV show.

    Reply

  55. Nicole Kauffman says

    Signed up for 2! These are great!! And actual ways to make money. So many times I see lists of just the survey sites and those -although slightly helpful- aren’t legitimate side hustles! Love the variety you offer here! Thanks!

    Reply

  60. Sam says

    Hi Latasha, I’ve read your article and it has some great advice for those of us who want to make money online. I love the voice over work and Fiverr seems the great place to start .
    thank you so much for sharing

    Reply

  61. Fundamental Finances says

    hi! this article was filled with a lot of great ideas so thank you. Have you personally tried being an online English teacher and if so how was the experience? I have seen this idea a few times before but have not heard many personal stories about it so I was just curious!

    Reply

  65. Joe says

    This is a very useful post! Freelancing is how I make extra cash on the side. I am grateful for the power of freelancing as it helps me a lot! Couldn’t survive without it.

    Reply

  67. Layla says

    Love the idea of starting a side business while you work and then eventually and hopefully turning it into a full-time business. It is extremely difficult to quit your job. Great post like always!!!

    Reply

  68. Bobguide says

    This article is very educative as it contains a lot of details. Thanks for sharing this wonderful post on your website as it has been very useful.

    Reply

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