Looking for some extra income in your free time? If this is the case, online side hustles can become a source of passive income. Here are few best options to start with.
Let’s face it. No one can enjoy their dream lifestyle while working a typical 9-5 job. But, how can you make extra money after you’re drained out from a long day at work?
What if I told you that you could easily make some extra bucks from home? According to your skills and expertise, there are many online side hustles you can take up and use your free hours to generate some passive income.
Whether you’re a writer, designer, transcriber, or manager, you can find people looking for your services online if you know the right place.
See Related: Side Hustle Stack Review: Maximize your Earnings with Side Hustles
Table of Contents
The 9 Best Online Side Hustles
Here’s my list of the best side hustles you can do from your phone or home so you can get started immediately.
Taking Surveys
Taking surveys is perhaps one of the easiest and most profitable side hustles you’ll find online. All you have to do is answer some questions and get some cash transferred to your account right away.
I know what you’re thinking. Why would someone pay you for your opinions?
You see, most survey sites partner with online market research companies. These companies help brands improve their marketing strategies by collecting useful information from their consumers.
Using the data you provide in your opinion polls, the survey sites provide this information for famous brands and retailers. In return, they get paid and share their income with their users.
Although the cash prizes are relatively insignificant when it comes to survey sites, they offer other redemption options, including gift cards from your favorite brands. So, even if you don’t earn some hard cash, you can always get discounts on your everyday shopping and save some money.
However, you should always beware of falling into scams when joining survey sites. Ensure the legitimacy of your target survey site before you start spending your time on the platform.
If you don’t, you might end up wasting your time for nothing. Here are a few well-known survey sites with great earning opportunities you can take up as side hustle jobs.
Survey Junkie
Survey Junkie is a lucrative survey site that pays you for answering some of the simplest surveys. You can quickly become a member in a few minutes, after which the platform will recommend relevant surveys.
Each survey takes around 10-20 minutes to complete and pays anywhere from $0.5-$3, depending on the length and complexity. Once you reach their minimum payout threshold of $5 (500 points), you can redeem your money in cash or via a gift card.
LifePoints
LifePoints is a legit survey site that has the highest-paying surveys for online side hustlers. Their website is easy-to-use, so beginners can easily find their way around.
Most importantly, LifePoints offers short opinion polls, which you can take in the small pockets of time you have throughout the day.
You can redeem your rewards in cash or get an Amazon or iTunes gift card and get discounts on your favorite stuff.
Pinecone Research
Pinecone Research is a platform known for influencing marketing strategies for popular brands through their user data. By joining this platform, you can get a chance to improve your shopping experience with your favorite brands and get paid for it.
You can participate in their long surveys, which pay more than $10, or go for the short opinion polls whenever you have 5-10 minutes at hand.
After you reach their payout limit, you can get your money through PayPal or get gift cards from the brands you love.
Branded Surveys
If you’re looking for an online side hustle that pays well without putting in any extra effort, you should join Branded Surveys.
This platform offers the easiest opinion polls with some of the best pay rates in the industry. They don’t screen you out of surveys, so you don’t have to worry about wasting your time.
Completing Microtasks
If taking surveys is not the job for you, don’t worry. There are many other online side hustles you can do on online reward sites.
Online reward sites are quite similar to survey sites. They let you complete a wide array of tasks like playing games, watching ads, shopping through their platform, reviewing products, and conducting web searches.
Most of the time, you can make money on these platforms by merely conducting the tasks you would do every day.
Some popular sites like Swagbucks and InboxDollars offer a combination of surveys and microtasks for side hustlers who want to try out everything.
Other popular online reward sites that offer side hustle jobs include,
MyPoints
MyPoints is a legit microtask site where you can earn points by completing fun tasks like playing games and watching ads. Besides that, if you conduct all your shopping through the platform, you can get cashback and incredible discounts on the products you need.
When you collect enough points, you can get PayPal payouts or get a gift card.
KashKick
KashKick is another legit site where you can choose from multiple tasks and earn by completing the ones you like.
They let you play games, watch ads, and even take opinion polls in exchange for points. You can later redeem these points for gift cards from popular brands or withdraw cash from your PayPal account.
Selling Digital Products
Microtask sites and survey sites provide legit side hustles that pay enough to put some extra change in your pocket. But, if you want to make it big, you can use your expertise to create a digital product and sell it online.
How many times have you bought stuff like e-books, music, photographs, and courses online? If you also have a skill that can benefit others, create your product and sell it quickly on the internet.
Besides that, you can avoid the logistic costs that come with physical products by selling digital products. All you have to do is put in your time to create a high-quality product that people are willing to pay for.
This online side hustle will give you some substantial passive income because you can work on it in your free time and continue reaping its benefits.
If you’re skeptical about creating your own digital product, start with the things you’re good at. For example, if you’re a graphic designer, you can create a course teaching the basics of designing software.
Similarly, if you’re a chef, you can write a cookbook or set up a guide citing your culinary secrets. Your product can be about anything as long as it provides value.
Think about how you can turn your current skillset into a product, and start working on it.
Renting Spare Space on Airbnb
If you don’t have the time or skills to construct your own digital product, you can earn legit passive income by renting out a room on Airbnb.
You can start by registering your spare space on the website and start earning. The site pays you around 24 hours after your first guest checks in.
This is a great side hustle job for a passive income because it doesn’t require much work from your side. All you have to do is use your existing space effectively.
Especially if you live in a city with multiple tourist attractions, you can easily earn around $100 a month in side income through Airbnb. Homeowners in major cities around the world also use Airbnb as a primary source of income.
Furthermore, the quality of your rooms, your location, and the basic amenities also affect your income on the platform.
Starting a Blog
If you’re interested in creating content as an online side hustle, blogging is a profitable option for you. Start by choosing a niche you’re passionate about or one that attracts the attention of the masses.
You see, blogging is by no means a side hustle that’ll bring your instant income. Instead, you’ll have to initially put in a lot of time and effort and keep generating good content until your hard work starts paying off.
To create a blog that attracts regular traffic, you’ll need an efficient web hosting service to back your website. After that, you’ll have to promote your blog through guest posting and social media presence.
When your blog creates a substantial fanbase, you can monetize it by placing ads and affiliate links or promoting brands and products. You can also make money on your established blog by selling your own merchandise.
By investing a few hours per week initially, you can put up a blog that’ll bring you hundreds of dollars in weekly passive income. Just be patient and consistent while working on your dream.
Becoming a Virtual Assistant
Becoming a virtual assistant is one of the best side hustles to help you make money from home. Nowadays, with significant aspects of all businesses operating online, many business owners need help with their basic administrative tasks.
Your duties and requirements as an assistant will depend on your employer. However, the job usually involves scheduling meetings, lining up tasks, uploading contents, conducting research, and managing emails.
Employers may require you to work for a few hours every day or every week.
This way, you can streamline your strategy by dedicating your hours to multiple jobs at once, and earn a considerable side income.
Virtual assistants are paid anywhere from $20-$50 per hour, depending on the complexity of their work and their own skillset. You can start by pitching clients on Fiverr and Upwork and move on to create your own portfolio to attract virtual employers.
Working as a Freelance Writer
If you’re passionate about writing but don’t have the time or resources to create your blog, you should consider freelance writing as a side hustle.
You can write anything from blog posts, product descriptions, newsletters, and web content for employers who need help.
As a side hustler, freelancing gives you the flexibility you need. Apart from fixing your working hours, you can even set your rates and conditions while writing for online clients.
You can start by signing up for popular freelance sites like Freelancer and Upwork. Once you land your first client and get a positive review, you will soon get regular work through these online platforms.
The payment rate for this online side hustle is either project-based or time-based. You can charge around $20 for every project, or even $60 for every hour you spend writing as a freelancer.
Becoming a Social Media Marketer
How many times have you gasped at the followers of a particular social media account and wondered how that’s possible? Well, not everyone has what it takes to gain popularity and influence on social media.
Today, almost every brand wants to create a social media presence for themselves. This helps them target the millions of eyeballs scrolling through their phone screens every day.
If you think you can develop profitable strategies for companies to enhance their social media presence, you should consider this job.
A social media marketer can earn up to $20-$100 per hour, depending on their expertise and responsibilities.
Usually, the job requires you to create eye-catching posts, writing intriguing captions, and create a relatable brand identity for the company. You’ll also have to manage their posts across several social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
You can easily create and schedule posts for your clients in your free time and earn extra daily income.
Taking up Transcription Jobs
Becoming a transcriptionist is one of the best online side hustles for good listeners. If you think you can turn muffled audio files and voice notes into accurate, readable documents, this job is for you.
Many companies need written text for audio documents such as business meetings, podcasts, or videos. You can make around $10-$20 per hour working as an online transcriber.
It’s not as easy as it seems. The audios are usually incoherent and need to be replayed several times for accuracy.
However, if you have the patience, fast typing speed, and a good set of earphones, you can easily take up this side hustle. Start by signing up for sites like GoTranscript and download audios to transcribe.
Final Words
That concludes my list of the best online side hustles you can do from your phone or home. These side-hustle options listed above are accessible, but you should remember that nothing comes easy.
To generate a steady income while maintaining a flexible schedule, you’ll have to put in some effort initially. If you’re serious about starting a profitable side hustle, be prepared to lose a few nights of sleep.
After that, you’ll get a steady workflow, which you can complete from your phone or home whenever you’re free.