Hands down, freelancing is the one of the fastest ways to begin making extra money on the side.
You don’t need to build a website, create a product, or even come up with some killer business idea. All you need is to dig into your inventory of current skills, and find ONE client you can solve a problem for.
What kind of problems could you solve? In the archives here, you’ll find people freelancing their skills in:
For more, here are some of the most in-demand freelance skills.
No, it’s not as sexy as “passive income,” but it’s not as speculative either. You can start getting paid right away, and if your goal is to replace your day job income, there’s probably no faster way.
I compiled a binge-worthy selection of freelancing and service business podcast episodes from The Side Hustle Show into this playlist. I think you’ll like it!
Dive into the archives here to figure out what you can sell as a freelancer and how to get it done.
It’s no secret that more and more people are turning to freelancing on the side to earn extra money, hone their skills, and maybe even build a business of their own.
Whether you’re just looking to supplement your day job income or eventually strike out on your own, you’ll find dozens websites and marketplaces to connect you with potential clients.
Sometimes the simplest ideas can lead to remarkable success.
That’s certainly the case for Gary Grewal, founder of Cal Box Rental, a moving box rental service that has grown from a college student’s brainstorm to a successful side hustle generating $1,000 in monthly recurring revenue.
For the last 10 years, he has been renting out moving boxes with a low start-up cost, consistent and increasing demand, and only a few hours per week to run on the side of his day job.
Becoming a mystery shopper is often included in lists of ways to make extra money.
But how does mystery shopping work?
Can you really get paid to shop and test products or services?
How do you find legit mystery shopping gigs?
How much can you realistically earn as a mystery shopper?
I had the same questions — and in this post, I’ll answer them all. I even got to make some money as a mystery shopper myself!
Side Hustle Show listener Kate Johnson started her bookkeeping business in 2017, and now serves several recurring clients. She targets an effective rate of $70 an hour, and is able to work from home.
With her youngest starting preschool, Kate found herself with an extra 9 hours a week. “I wanted to be a good steward of that time,” she explained.
This episode’s guest is about to start his sophomore year in college, but he’s already making around $10k a month from his side hustle window washing side hustle.
And it all started with a $200 window cleaning kit from Amazon.
Let’s break down how Jack Leimbach (@jackexteriorcleaning) is doing it, all while balancing school.
Yes, you really can get paid to be an online friend.
I’d seen sites like RentaFriend show up in lists of ways to make money online for years, and was always curious to learn more.
When focused on this side hustle, Mike typically made anywhere from $150-300/week and has earned over $50,000 in total working on tasks right from his computer at home.
Having worked on Amazon Mechanical Turk for 2 and a half years (completely as a side hustle), he’s done over 150,000 tasks (called HITs, or Human Intelligence Tasks).
This episode is all about making use of the Piggyback Principle — why it’s easier to fill demand than to create it from scratch.
Just like how kids would rather get a piggyback ride than walk because it’s easier.
The same is true in business — this strategy allows you to ride the wave of success software products are experiencing to catch that rising tide and get better, faster results with less work.
To help illustrate this, I brought on Kristi DaSilva from DaSilvaLife.com.
DaSilva Life helps small businesses build success by setting up and integrating two popular software tools, HoneyBook and ClickUp, into their workflow and operations.
This earns her thousands of dollars per project along the way.
Roman Shmundyak didn’t intend to start a freight dispatching business. But when other trucking companies kept asking for his help, he couldn’t keep ignoring the idea.
Plus, dispatching was lower risk than owning a fleet of trucks himself — and gave him the flexibility to work remotely.
In episode 622 of The Side Hustle Show, Roman shares how to:
market a dispatch business and get your first customers
match freight with truckers that can carry it
grow your dispatch business and free up your time
A good dispatcher can earn $1,000 a month per client, and can handle several clients at once.
Today, Roman still oversees the dispatch business at Alfa X Logistics, and also helps new dispatchers learn the business at LearnDispatch.com.
If you’ve been searching the Internet for different businesses to start, chances are you’ve found thousands of ways to make money online.
But there may be an equal or greater opportunity to make money right in your own hometown with a good old-fashioned “blue collar” business idea.
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