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Whether you want to make an extra $1000 or more it doesn’t matter if you have a 9-5 job or are currently unemployed. Having some extra income is always a welcome idea to anyone.
Extra income means you can achieve your dreams, fight off debt, or save it all for a rainy day.
One of the best ways to make an extra $1000 a month is through side hustles.
Side hustles are great because they can be done on your own time and from the comfort of your home.
In this blog post, we will discuss different ways you can make money on the side so that you have some extra cash in your pocket each month!
What is a Side Hustle?
A side hustle is any job that you do on the side of your regular gig. This could be selling items online, delivering food for Uber Eats or Postmates, doing paid surveys, creating a blog with affiliate links and ads – anything!
Side hustles allow you to make more money so that you can meet any unmet needs, have some extra money for saving, or check off items on your bucket list.
The reality is that most 9-5 jobs don’t pay enough to live comfortably, so it’s crucial that you have a side hustle. This is especially true if you just started your career.
You may realize that you hardly make enough money on your 9-5 to take care of your bills, pay off debts, and still save for the unknown future.
Even worse is that earning your salary from 9-5 has a cap on how much you can make in a month. You may get a few bonuses on your job, but your earnings will always be capped as a salary.
With this in mind, starting a side hustle from home is an excellent idea as you get to make extra cash on the side.
Side hustles allow you to make money from home for hours that you would otherwise be working on your day job for little to no compensation.
You don’t need any special skills or degrees to start a side hustle. All you need is the correct information and some mentorship to help you figure things out.
Side Hustle Ideas That Will Help You Make an Extra $1000 a Month
This list of the best side hustles will help you make an extra $1000 a month.
Some of the side hustle ideas listed provide you with a quick fix to making an extra buck, while others will require a sizable investment of your time.
A side hustle that brings in quick money is excellent as it helps you live more comfortably in the short term. However, it’s important to equally focus on side hustles that can bring in benefits even in the long term.
If you are a stay at home mom, check out our list of trending stay-at-home mom jobs in 2021.
1. Dropshipping
The best way to start a side hustle is with dropshipping. Dropshipping involves selling items to your customers directly without buying any inventory.
All of the hard work is done by the supplier, and you are just taking orders from customers who purchase your products on an ecommerce website.
With drop shipping, you don’t have to worry about the overhead costs of owning a physical store or warehouse. You also don’t have to worry about looking for suppliers, arranging shipment logistics, and maintaining that inventory.
What’s more, you can start dropshipping with very little investment, as most ecommerce platforms are free to use. Once the customers make their purchase from your website, the supplier will ship the items to them.
This means you don’t have to worry about packaging or shipping either!
Successfully starting with dropshipping will often rely on whether or not you can find suppliers of high-quality items.
As a drop shipper, your primary focus will be on marketing and providing customer service. If you have a strong marketing background and can provide quality service to your online customers, then it is possible to earn a full-time income from dropshipping.
The first step to start a dropshipping business is identifying your passions. Once you know your interests, it will be easier to find a product that fits with them.
If you are passionate about gadgets, then you can make extra money on the side selling cool tech gadgets. Or, if you are passionate about makeup, then you could sell beauty products to your audience.
Social media is one of the best places to start promoting your products, interact with your audiences, and provide customer service.
The most important thing about dropshipping: stick with the same suppliers! If you are switching up your supplier regularly or making too many changes in how they ship their products, customers will notice that inconsistency.
How much money can you make Dropshipping?
The amount of money you make depends on how much effort you put into your dropshipping business. Your income is directly related to the number of products you sell in a day. It’s, therefore, your prerogative to sell as many products as possible.
2. Freelancing
Freelancing is one of the best side hustles that could help you make an extra $1000 on the side.
Freelancing allows you to make as much money as possible, depending on your schedule, as you can take on multiple freelancing gigs.
You can jump onto traditional freelancing jobs such as freelance writing or proofreading, or you could try freelancing gigs such as creating T-shirt mockups.
It’s not always that you need to have professional skills to become a freelancer. Freelancing is as easy as finding someone who needs your services, regardless of your experience.
How Much Money Can You Make Freelancing?
The amount of money you make as a freelancer in a month varies with the type of side gigs you take on and the platform you use.
For example, if you chose freelance proofreading and charge an average of $50 per gig, you only need to work 20 gigs to make $1,00 extra on the side.
However, most freelancers charge based on the value they bring and not the amount of time they put in.
Avoid undercharging as a freelancer. Undercharging is common with most freelancers and often leads to burnout due to little payoffs. Read more on our in-depth freelance writing guide.
Freelancing Tip: The key to becoming a successful freelancer is having a portfolio demonstrating your capabilities to potential clients. Fiverr, Craigslist, and Upwork are great places to start your freelancing side gigs. Higher paying freelancing sites that can help you make an extra $1000 a month on the side include Remote.co and WeWorkRemotely.
3. Become an Affiliate Marketer
Affiliate marketing is the practice of partnering with a company (becoming their affiliate) to receive a commission on a product.
Affiliate marketing is a long-term side hustle that continues to pay well as you keep on doing it over a period.
You’ll have to go through a learning curve before making any money with affiliate marketing.
Besides finding the right product to promote, you need to know how to position yourself, attract an audience, and find the right brand to partner with.
As an affiliate marketer, you can make an extra $1000 a month by promoting other people’s products and earning commissions.
Like in other side gigs, success has a lot to do with what you are passionate about. Without passion, you are prone to burnout and low performance due to a lack of interest.
How Much Money Can You Make as an Affiliate Marketer?
There are so many variables that go into how much money you can make as an affiliate marketer.
The first thing to consider is the product you are promoting.
For example, most tech companies pay anywhere between 30%-40% for every merchant you refer. For a product that sells at $109, you could potentially earn $36. That’s a fantastic income, just for referring customers to a company.
Most affiliate programs provide creator assets and resources that you can use to promote a product. These creator assets are crucial in helping you to promote affiliate products successfully.
4. Launch a Print on Demand Business
If you have an eye for catchy graphics or artwork, then you could turn your talent into a side gig that can help you make an extra $1000 a month on the side.
Print on demand is a business that allows you to create custom designs and artwork on things such as t-shirts, bags, mugs, phone cases, and more.
You can either automate the whole business by drop shipping your print-on-demand products.
In this model, you will design products and add them to your store. Once customers buy, you will take the orders and send them to your print-on-demand company for production and fulfillment.
Websites like Redbubble and Zazzle allow you to upload your creations and have them printed on various products, then shipped directly to customers.
You can also set up an account with Design by Humans or Threadless, where people submit designs that they created themselves, which are voted for by other members. If yours is chosen, you will then make a profit from the sales.
If customers love your design models, your products are printed and shipped by third-party companies, so there’s no need for any upfront capital or inventory costs.
How much money can you make from a print-on-demand business?
What you make is dependent on the product you sell, how much people like your designs, and your marketing efforts to promote your designs. With some effort, you will easily make more than $1000 in a month.
Print-on-demand tip: Seasons and calendar activities can help you make more sales with your print-on-demand business. People are willing to pay higher for retail products that match how they feel about a particular season or event in the calendar.
5. Start a Blogging Business
Blogging is now probably one of the most popular ways to make an extra $1000 a month. It can be done in so many different and creative ways, as long as you have something interesting to say or share.
Whether it’s through blogging your travel experiences around the world, sharing your recipes from time to time, or creating site-specific content, there are many ways to make a blog into your side hustle.
Blogging is an easy way to get started with some basic tech tools and little financial commitment. It might even be the perfect opportunity for moms who want something more flexible than trading time at home for money at work.
Blogging allows you to create a personal brand and create a digital asset that you can resell later at a high profit margin.
Unlike how people did it in the past, you will need to approach blogging like a business. This will involve finding solutions to an existing process.
It’s important that your blog caters to a specific niche. A niche will allow you to reach an audience that cares about and shares the same interest as you.
How Much Money Can You Make Blogging?
Unlike businesses such as freelancing that bring in cash fast, blogging is a long-term business. You’ll also need to invest a lot of time in creating content before seeing any returns.
However, most blogs start to make money within the first 8- 18 months after starting. The great thing about business blogging is that the income grows exponentially.
If you plan on quitting your full-time job and turn your part-time business blogging job into a full-time business, I highly recommend it. We have a full guide on how to start your blogging business from scratch.
Pro Tip About Blogging: There’s a considerable learning curve towards blogging. To succeed in creating a profitable business blog, you’ll need to learn and read widely about blogging. Read more about starting a profitable blogging business.
6. Sell Information Products
Another side gig that could help you make an extra $1000 a month on the side is selling information products.
Selling information products requires that skills in marketing, research, and time.
Ideally, making money selling information products involves providing information on popular topics whose information is not available freely in the public domain.
You can create information resources such as courses, ebooks or publish books on Amazon.
How Much Money Can You Make?
Several factors influence the amount of money you can make selling information resources. The niche, your marketing skills, and competition are some of the factors to consider.
You can create multiple information products such as books, courses, and ebooks, and these resources will generate passive income for a long time.
The most profitable information product businesses are those that share information that is hard to access.
If more people are trying to solve a big problem, there’s an opportunity to solve that problem.
For example, a business that teaches people how to start their online stores is likely to generate more revenue than teaching meditation.
7. Manage Social Media for Small Businesses
Many small businesses are in need of a social media manager and yet don’t have time to run or manage their social media accounts. Most small businesses also lack the expertise of managing social media and create content for social media.
As a social media manager, you will help out by taking care of the day-to-day tasks that come with running a business’s social media accounts.
Hiring an outsider for their social media needs is less expensive than paying an in-house social media manager. They also get access to professional social media managers who provide better coverage for all aspects of managing social media profiles across multiple platforms.
If you’re a social media manager, there are many ways to make some extra cash. One way is by charging for shout-outs on Twitter and Facebook. Another option is offering your services as an expert in various industries or topics (e.g., fashion). For example, if someone wants their business’ Instagram account managed, they can find someone with experience in fashion to do it.
How Much Do You Make as a Social Media Manager?
On average, the average rate of a social media manager is $17/ hour. However, the amount to charge for social media management depends on your niche, the amount of time you spend, and the frequency of output you agree to with your clients.
8. Proofreading
Proofreading is another side hustle that could help you make an extra $1000 a month on the side. Proofreading checks for errors in written content, and your rates can be as low or high as you want.
Proofreading is a great earning opportunity if you have a firm grasp of grammar and have the patience to look for errors in long-form content.
Proofreaders are a significant part of the content industry and play a critical role in ensuring that various types of content are error-free.
Suppose you are working with a company that publishes content regularly. In that case, your work as a proofreader is to make sure that content is not only error-free but also reflects the company’s voice and brand accurately and effectively.
How Much Do You Make Proofreading
Just like other types of side hustles, the amount of money you can make varies widely. Your knowledge and experience in this role influence the money you can make in a month.
Still, you can nurture your part-time proofreading gig into a full-time job that you can depend on to provide you with enough income to cater to your needs.
Caitlin Pyle of Proofread Anywhere also has a free Proofread Anywhere Workshop if you want to learn how to start proofreading and find paying clients.
9. Become a Pinterest Virtual Assistant
Pinterest is a great tool for most businesses, and you could make an extra $1000 a month on the side offering services as a Pinterest Virtual Assistant.
As a Pinterest virtual assistant, you are in charge of managing Pinterest accounts, creating Pinterest graphics, keyword research, creating pinning schedules, and optimizing images.
Gina Horkey has a cool $19 Jumpstart your VA Business course that will help you start a profitable Pinterest VA side hustle.
How Much Money Do You Make as a Pinterest Virtual Assistant?
Pinterest VA is one of the highest-paying side-hustles as most Pinterest VAs make an average of $500 per client per month. You could manage 2 to 3 clients comfortably on your part-time and make an extra $1000 a month on the side.
10. Start Working a Part-Time Job
The idea of having a side hustle is that you get to enjoy flexible schedules, but getting a regular part-time job will equally help you make an extra $1000 a month on the side.
You can find part-time jobs in many industries such as retail, customer service, and call centers.
To make the most money for your time, you will want to find a company that pays on an hourly basis rather than salary. Hourly pay is more beneficial because it can give you a higher rate per hour which translates into better pay rates throughout your workweek.
The downside to taking on a part-time job is that you will have less time for other things in life. However, it may be worth the trade-off if it helps add some extra money into your wallet.
Part-time jobs include pizza delivery, serving in restaurants, bartending, working at a bookstore, shop attendant, etc.
How Much Can You Make on This SideHustle?
On average, most part-time jobs pay anywhere between $8/hour-$15/ hour. However, in some part-time jobs such as waiting and bartending, you can make more money by receiving tips from customers you serve.
11. Petsitting and Dogwalking
If you enjoy animals, and you don’t mind looking after them, then this is a good side hustle for you.
Most people who want to go for a vacation or have busy schedules depend on a pet sitter to take care of their dogs when they are away.
Dog walking can be a great side gig for you, especially if you live in a neighborhood with many dogs.
Finding clients is also pretty easy as lots of people need help walking their dogs. Create a few flyers and slip them into mailboxes.
You can then pitch your dog walking/ pet sitting services and include your rates. Still, you can register with online dog walking companies that you can work with as a part-time dog walker/ pet sitter.
Dog walking rates vary but generally start at about $15/hour and are higher if there’s more than one dog for you to walk. Dog walking services companies such as Rover. You can make an average of $25-35 per hour with some companies.
12. Selling Services on Fiverr
This is one of the fastest ways to make an extra $1000 per month or more!
Fiverr is a platform on which you can sell your services. You offer a service (gig) for as low as $5, and if someone wants it, they buy that gig from you for just five bucks. This means they are buying what’s called a “gig.”
Fiverr allows you to offer all types of services, and you can create any service from any skills you already have.
What’s great about offering service on Fiverr is that you can get repeat or regular clients who will contract you to provide a regular output every week.
You can offer discounts on bulk orders of five or more gigs from one employer.
Common services you can offer on Fiverr include:
- Writing Articles or Blog Posts: provide articles that people can use on their site to increase web traffic. This could be product reviews, how-to tutorials, top ten lists, or anything else that will engage people to keep coming back for more.
- Promoting a Business: if you have an existing business and need help marketing your products, then this is the service for you. Offer social media management services, SEO services, ads on Facebook or Google Adwords, etc…
- SEO Services: provide professional SEO services to help you rank higher on search engines.
- Design Services: provide graphic design services such as logo creation, social media graphics, banner design, etc.
- Photography Services: if you are talented with a camera, then this service is for you. Offer your photo editing skills or offer wedding photography packages.
13. Book Keeping
Bookkeeping is a service that many small business owners would love to have but just don’t know where to find.
Bookkeeping involves you taking care of all the accounting and financial needs of your clients such as collecting and reporting financial information to help keep track of how a business makes and spends money.
If you have a background in bookkeeping and are interested in adding some extra income, then this side gig can help you make an extra $1000 a month or more.
Most virtual bookkeepers rates average $20/ hour but you can make $60/hour or more.
Conclusion
Side hustles are a great save if you want to make an extra $1000 a month on the side. Extra income means you can achieve your dreams, fight off debt, or save it all for a rainy day. Side hustles are great because they can be done on your own time and from the comfort of your home.
Remember to consider all of the pros and cons before starting any new venture, but this way, there is no harm in trying it out for yourself.
I hope that these side gig ideas will help you make some extra income. Are there other side hustles that you’ve tried? Are you running a side gig at the moment? Let us know in the comments. All the best and good luck.