It is time for another instalment of the awesome side hustle ideas series. Here is the link to part 2, part 3 part 4, part 5 part 6 part 7 part 8 and part 9 as well if you missed them. And today I have got some more for you! If you want to share your unusual, weird, unheard of or well paying side hustle with my readers, please drop me a line at tdmpauline at gmail dot com, thank you!
Growing and selling produce
My best side hustle has been growing and selling produce. I have grown produce for myself for years and have always shared excess with friends and family. Last year after encouragement from friends and family I decided to expand my growing to include sales. I had more of the garden tilled to increase my planting area and purchase additional seeds and starts and the project began.
I began selling tomatoes, peppers, scallions and a few other vegetables to small restaurants and friends and picked up a number of regular customers for the season. The work can be hard without proper management but the return on investment has been fantastic. Growing season should start in the next few months again and I plan to continue my side hustle into this season.
– Lynx from Location FI
Buy at yard sales and sell online
When we were paying off our consumer debt, my favorite side hustle was buying things at yard sales and then selling those items online for a profit. I would use my phone to scan items using the Amazon app to see how much they were selling for online. I would decide to buy an item if I knew that I could make more than $20. On several occasions I would buy routers for $5 and then resell them for around $50. The margins are great, but it does take going to a lot of sales to get enough products to sell to make it worth it.
– Deacon Hayes from WellKeptWallet.com
Blogging
My favourite side hustles of all of my hustles has to be my blog, SuburbanFinance. I love it more than my other hustles because I work for myself, I set my hours, and I can work on the site in my pajamas from home! Another great thing about blogging as a side hustle is that you get to connect with other bloggers and collaborate with some great people.
I also think that blogging gets your creative juices flowing, making ideas for other businesses come to the surface. It’s amazing to know you built an income source for yourself.
– Daisy from When Life Gives You Lemons, Add Vodka
I enjoy side hustles. There is something kind of addicting about finding new and interesting ways to money. Especially when you make more money than you would in an average day in short periods of time. I’ve cleaned filthy college houses, don focus groups, and have been a Brand Ambassador.
That being said, one of my favorite side hustles is: taste testing. Yep, getting paid to eat food that I would eat for free or purchase when I’m shopping for groceries is one of my favorite side hustles. I’ve sampled: energy bars, vegetables, and hopefully I’ll get to participate in a dark chocolate survey in a couple of weeks. I sit for an hour, sample the items, offer my honest opinions, get paid, and then go home. The average is usually $50-$100. For tasting food! There are even a ton of beer surveys in Denver that I could participate in. Sadly, I don’t like beer.
– Michelle Jackson from The Shop My Closet Project
Teaching a foreign language / Helping with homework
If you have been fortunate enough (or worked hard enough) to speak more than one language, don’t let this talent go to waste.
Having moved to France in October 2012, I have been helping the children of friends and colleagues here with their English homework.
It only takes a few hours per week, and takes almost no preparation or effort. However, you can earn up to £30 per hour depending on how rich/generous the parents are!!
– Graham from MoneyStepper
How do YOU hustle? Please get in touch and share your unusual side hustle! tdmpauline at gmail dot com. Thanks!
Oh, I like the taste-testing one! I’m wondering what the catch is!
Will recently posted…What It’s like Getting Paid to Travel (Hint: It’s AMAZING!)
Maybe weird ingredients…
Oooh taste testing is a good one. Thanks for even more side hustles!
Emily @ Simple Cheap Mom recently posted…How We’re Casually Selling Our Car (Don’t Try At Home)
Glad you liked them, lmk if you want to add one!
If any of my side hustles start making a notable amount of money, I’ll let you know!
Emily @ Simple Cheap Mom recently posted…Guess How Much We Cut Our Electricity Bill
All great ideas, but I still like the steady income from an office cleaning business. You can get just the number of accounts you need, scheduled on the days you want.
I also love doing cleaning as a side job. One of the offices I clean is near where my day job is, so I usually head over as soon as I am leaving that one. I would love to make it into a business one day.
Michelle ‘s taste testing gig is pretty darn cool! I am very surprised that it pays so well actually.
Anne @ Money Propeller recently posted…What It’s Like to Own Firearms in Canada
There is no “catch” with the taste testing. The idea is to make sure that products are pleasing to focus groups before a big product rollout! It’s awesome.
Side hustles are also a good way to help kids learn about the process and value of earned money in addition to budgeting, saving and even financial planning. They’re also a great way to monetize individual skills that are not being used and that could potentially grow in to a second or even primary business later on.
I like blogging! It enables me practice my course in creative writing and make creative ideas every time I write an article. So much to explore in this hustle!
Jayson @ Monster Piggy Bank recently posted…Tools to Help Figure out Final Expenses
I like the idea of growing your own produce. To take it up a notch higher, you can make the “organic” ones as they sell a lot more expensive than the the regular ones.
How To Save Money recently posted…This Weeks Best Reads 31 October 2014
I would really like to get into language teaching but I would feel more comfortable if I could take a CELTA/TESOL course first, just to give me the basics of structuring lesson plans and the whole test-teach-test methodology. Longer-term I think it’s a great way to travel abroad and it seems to offer great flexibility.
Myles Money recently posted…Halloween #SmartMoney Roundup
I like blogging as a side income for a number of reasons. I was looking at freelance writing job postings and it just kept reminding me how much more likely it was to land a job if you had a blog. Even if you don’t write specifically about the niche you are applying for I think people are far more likely to hire you if you have a blog with some solid posts published.
DC @ Young Adult Money recently posted…The Top 10 Financial Moves for People in their 20s
Blogging back then, and we used to have those banner ads that pay a certain amount per month just to post their banners or a link in your blog. I wonder if the same services still exist now, when the youtube and facebook seems to be the best places to place banner ads.
Any ideas?
I LOVE this blog post! What a great round up, thank you for this Pauline :]
What I’ve found to be an AMAZING side hustle is Brand Ambassador/Promo work.
It’s a very flexible, fun, and lucrative side hustle if you have a friendly and outgoing personality. Basically you represent your favorite brands at awesome events (e.g. handing out Red Bull or demoing new products at high foot traffic areas) and it pays $18-$45/hr depending on the event.
I created an entire resource website on how to succeed in this industry called “Brand Ambassador World”. It has everything from resume designs, to super helpful tips and tricks, to where to find promo gigs, to a comprehensive list of agencies, etc.
You can check it out at:
http://www.brandambassadorworld.com
I hope you all find it helpful and feel free to let me know if you have any questions at all!
Kenny Azama recently posted…How Being a Brand Ambassador Adds Years to Your Life