11 Best Side Hustle Ideas to Make an Extra $1,000 a Month

Article

by
Nicole Martins Ferreira

18 Jan, 2022

Money. Who couldn’t use a little bit more of it? Whether you’re saving for a down payment, planning a wedding, trying to pay off debt – ugh, will those student loans ever go away? – or putting some money aside for a rainy day, a little extra money can go a long way. Your day job might help you pay for the essentials. But a side hustle from home, that’s the game-changer that’ll make a difference in your wallet while giving you the freedom you’ve always wanted. So, here are the best side hustles that’ll help you make more money.

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What Is a Side Hustle and How Do You Make Money Through One?

A side hustle is a way to make money outside of your 9 to 5 job. It allows you to make more money that’ll give you the freedom to pursue your passions, buy things you need or want, and lower any financial worries.

Truth is, most 9 to 5 jobs don’t pay the bills. Especially if you’re just starting out in your career.

When you calculate the cost of rent, food, bills, and transportation, you might realize that you barely have anything leftover. What a bummer.

The worst part is that your financial growth is always capped. Maybe you get a bonus of a couple of hundred dollars a year with a 1 percent salary increase on your $30,000. But is that really enough to live the life you dreamed about? Maybe, but probably not.

So, you start a side hustle to make a couple extra hundred or thousand dollars a month. Something that can either help you make more money today, tomorrow or five years from now. Something that will act as your second income should you face an unexpected job loss.

Let’s dive into the best side jobs that’ll help you make more money while working from home.

How to Make Money On The Side: 10 Great Side Hustles to Pursue

#1. Start a Dropshipping Business

Dropshipping is one of the best side hustle job ideas. It allows you to sell a product directly to the customer without having to buy any inventory. Why’s that great? You don’t need to have a big startup costs budget, keeping your risk low. The manufacturer not only carries the inventory but also ships it directly to the customer for you. Your main focus should be marketing and customer service – the lifeline of the business. If you have a strong marketing background and want a side hustle that plays to your strength, this is it. It’s one of the rare side jobs that allows you to scratch a true entrepreneurial itch. You get to be the owner of your very own business.

With dropshipping, you can start a business within any of your favorite passions. Do you love stocking your kitchen? You can sell kitchen equipment on the internet. Maybe you’ve found this unique solar-powered, smartphone-cooling accessory. You can start your own one product store and implement these store ideas. If you love doing your makeup? You can sell beauty products and build an audience who follows along to your makeup tutorials. Almost any niche can be pursued with dropshipping. Plus, if you’re a creative type, you can run wild with unusual business ideas. After all, as the owner of your own business, you’ll always have final say, which makes this a great side hustle to start out.

How much money can a dropshipper make? That depends on how much effort you put into your business and marketing. You can make an extra couple thousand dollars or more.

Dropshipping Tip: Want to start your own dropshipping business? Sign up for DSers-AliExpress Dropshipping. The DSers app allows you to choose from millions of products that you can start selling on your store today. Plus, it automates several parts of the business process. You can add products in a simple click and process orders with the same swift action. To learn more about how to build your first online store, check out our dropshipping 101 course. 

#2. Start a Wholesale Business

If you like the idea of running an online business but would prefer to be a little more hands on, starting an online store using wholesale could be perfect for you. This business model means you buy products in bulk at a lower price and then sell at a higher retail price to your customers. 

Because you’re hands on with your products and suppliers, you’re able to keep a close eye on the quality of your products. Unlike dropshipping, you handle the packing and shipping, which means you don’t have deal with one of the downsides of dropshipping – the long shipping times. Instead you can take advantage of getting those products into happy customer hands faster.

Much like dropshipping you’re still able to sell products related to any niche you can think of, whether it’s your passion for home decor, or your obsession with your pets. All you need to do is use a wholesale marketplace like Handshake, find the products you want to stock, and make your purchase.

Although running a business using wholesale requires having some money upfront, most wholesale marketplaces offer net terms, which provides a nice buffer. Buying products using net terms means you can purchase products and start selling them weeks or months before you need to pay for them. 

Wholesale Tip: Want to start your own wholesale business? Sign up for Handshake on Shopify. The Handshake app allows you access to the wholesale marketplace where you can choose from thousands of products that you can purchase and sell in your store.

#3. Begin Freelancing

Does your 9 to 5 job pay fluctuate? If you don’t have a predictable income, you might need more money for some months and a little less others. If this sounds like you, you might choose to take up freelance gigs. These could be gigs that you create on Fiverr or the occasional freelance project on Upwork. You might create T-shirt mockups for a client one week and help someone build their social media following the next. The type of projects you work on could vary drastically. But if you love the variety and switching things up, this side hustle could be perfect for you.

How much money can you make with this side hustle job? You could make anywhere from $50 to $2,000 a month depending on the side gigs you take on and the platform you use. For example, if you’re looking to hit, say an extra $1,000 a month, freelance writing is a side hustle that can allow you to reach your second income goal.The secret to succeeding as a freelancer is to charge clients based on the value you’ll bring. Most freelance workers undercharge, which results in fast burnout with little payoff.

Freelancing Tip: The best freelance work opportunities are onWeWorkRemotely and Remote.co. Thousands of side job seekers visit these websites daily to find and apply to openings  . However, if you’re just starting out, you might want to focus on building your portfolio and skillset on Fiverr, Craigslist, or Upwork first, as it’s easier to land your first few clients on those websites.

#4. Moonlight as an Affiliate Marketer

Affiliate marketing is one of those side jobs that pay well over the long-term. However, you’ll need to go through a learning curve before you can start making money with affiliate marketing. It’s not just about finding the right product to sell, but also finding the right brand to partner with. . If you chose to be an affiliate marketer for ecommerce stores, your commission will likely be a lot lower than if you were to just dropship them yourself. However, there are tech companies that will pay a hefty price tag to affiliates who bring them new customers.

How much money can this side hustle make? It depends on what product you’re selling and what affiliate network you use. For example, if you were an affiliate marketer for a tech company like Shopify, you could potentially make an extra $58 for every merchant you refer. That means you could make over $500 with just 10 referrals. Sweet! 

Affiliate Marketing Tip: Ask the affiliate program or content creator for assets you can use to help you market their product. For example, there may be a lead magnet or free tool you can use to incentivize people to purchase the product. Oftentimes, a piece of content can help ease a potential customer from a cold lead into a warm one, giving you a better chance of succeeding with this side hustle.

#5. Launch a Print on Demand Store

If you like to make custom graphics and artwork in your free time, running a print on demand store could be a great side hustle for you.

Print on demand (or POD) allows you to sell your custom artwork on products like t-shirts, bags, phone cases, mugs, and more. The best part about it is that you can create and sell products under your own brand. Also, you can completely automate the logistics of the business by choosing to dropship your print on demand products. This is where you design products, add them to your store, promote them, and take orders from your customers. The orders are fulfilled by the print on demand company that prints your designs onto the products, then ships the items directly to the customer.

How much money can you make selling POD products? That depends on how much people like your designs and the effort you put into marketing your range. With a bit of work, it’s possible to make an extra couple thousand dollars each month. If you’re ready to jump in, check out this guide on how to start an online t-shirt business.

Print on Demand tip: Try to sell a profitable print on demand item like retail-quality custom tees. People are often willing to pay higher for retail quality shirts featuring their favorite designs. Find out the subjects and themes that your audience is interested in and then make custom designs based on those trends. Then find a t-shirt printing company that will print the designs onto retail-quality shirts. You could charge between $40-$150 a piece for these shirts (standard graphic tees sell for $20-$25 a piece, so the margin is pretty good).