Side Hustle Ideas: 17 Ways to Make Extra Cash Every Month

A survey carried out by Zapier shows that 34% of Americans have a side hustle, 24% intend to start a side hustle, and only 27% of Americans are undecided about having another stream of income.

The cost of living has skyrocketed, but income levels remain the same. It’s, therefore, not surprising that more Americans are looking for ways to make extra money. 

Here are 17 side hustle ideas to make extra monthly cash:

1. Sign up on VIPKid Platform and teach English online.
2. Be a dog walker.
3. Sell courses online.
4. Be a social media manager.
5. Sell photos online.
6. Be a virtual assistant.
7. Driver for Uber or Lyft.
8. List your extra room on Airbnb.
9. Start a blog.
10. Produce an audiobook.
11. Prepare meals and deliver.
12. Join marketing focus groups.
13. Create YouTube tutorials.
14. Participate in medical research studies.
15. Offer technical services to freelance platforms.
16. Become a freelance article writer.
17. Rent your car.

Read on to know more about how you can earn extra cash monthly.

1. Sign Up on VIPKid Platform & Teach English Online

If you have a four-year degree in any major, you’re eligible to teach English to children on the VIPKid platform. You only need to have at least one year of teaching experience, but it doesn't have to be formal. 

You could have tutored someone or even been a mentor. Your lessons will mainly focus on listening comprehension, writing, grammar, speaking, and pronunciation.

2. Be a Dog Walker

If you love dogs, have a dog, or have the time, you can make money being a dog walker. According to Zippia, dog walkers make $11.29 hourly. The hourly rate varies, depending on the city and State. 

For example, in Hawaii, the hourly rate for a dog walker is $16.29, while in Florida, the average hourly rate is $9.96. Since you can work with multiple clients at the same time, you make much more per hour.

You can register as a dog walker or dog sitter to reach as many clients as possible.  

3. Sell Courses Online

Hundreds of people go online daily to seek more information on different issues. You can fill this gap by providing a knowledge base that other people can tap into when searching for information online. 

For example, if you’re passionate about a healthy lifestyle, exercise, 3D printing, music, and so much more, you can create lesson videos and ebooks and sell them online. Sites such as Skillshare and Udemy are great for selling your courses. 

Even better, this is a passive income since you’ll prepare the course and sell it multiple times to hundreds or thousands of people. 

How much you sell will depend on how popular your course is and how well you market it.

4. Be a Social Media Manager

Social media boosts revenue for many corporate institutions. Unfortunately, managing the various social media platforms is time-consuming, and most institutions cannot afford to have their employees sacrifice their time to follow trends and market the company. 

This task has become the work of social media managers. For example, according to Glassdoor, social media managers based in New York earn at least $51,000 a year.

If you’re always online, why not earn from it?

5. Sell Photos Online

If you have a passion for photography or have discovered that you have many amazing photos, you can sell the photos online. You don't have to have a hi-tech camera to sell your photos online. 

Some phones have excellent cameras, and sometimes, a great photo is as great as the opportunity to capture a moment. If you happen to be at the right place at the right time, you may take a photo that’ll leave people wondering how you managed to capture it. 

Such photos are highly sought after on sites such as: 

• Alamy 
• SmugMug Pro 
• iStock Photo 
• Shutterstock 
• Stocksy

There are many more sites that are great platforms for selling amateur and professional photos. You only need to find a niche and the site where your potential clients are found.

6. Be a Virtual Assistant

When you scroll through sites like Indeed, Upwork, and FlexJobs, you’ll discover several job listings seeking the services of a virtual assistant. The advantage is you only need to have great communication and organizational skills. 

Even if you have never been a virtual assistant, most companies offer training and even tell you the tasks they require you to perform. Sometimes, you can do these tasks on your own time, as long as you beat the deadline. 

So, you can easily make this your side hustle. 

Over time, you may even be a virtual assistant to more companies if you have what it takes to serve multiple masters. 

7. Driver for Uber or Lyft

You can choose to be an Uber or Lyft driver as a side hustle for extra money. 

Download the apps and register as a driver. Turn the app on when you have the time, and people close to you will request your services. 

One benefit is you get to set your daily target. For example, if you want to make $500 a day, you can do it. You only need to put your mind to it and work all the necessary hours to meet your target.

Once you do it, you turn off the app and go back to your other life. 

8. List Your Extra Room on Airbnb

If you have an extra room in your home, it could easily become a source of income if you rent it on Airbnb. This is an excellent way to make money quickly, and you get to have a reasonable income at the end of the month. 

Airbnb releases payments 24 hours after the client checks in, so if you’re lucky, you can have a sustainable source of income from space you hardly use.

9. Start a Blog

You may not make any money in the first few months from blogging, but once your blog takes off, you’ll have enough passive income that you can count on monthly. You should spare a few hours a day to build your portfolio and provide helpful information. 

Consistency and quality content is critical if you’re to turn your blog into a source of income. Use your passion to find the ideal niche, because if you love what you write about, visitors to your site will feel the passion behind your writing and may even take you as an authority on the subject.

10. Produce an Audiobook

If you have an amazing voice, are a great narrator, or even if you just enjoy talking, why not create an audiobook and sell it? If you already have an ebook, you can also turn it into an audiobook to give people who prefer to listen the chance to hear about your book.

ACX is an awesome site where you can create audiobooks, which you can sell on Audible or iTunes.

For example, you can create an audiobook to give instructions on a skill many people find difficult. 

You can talk about forex trading, accounting, foreign currency investment, online marketing, and so much more. Some people find that they understand it better when they listen to an audiobook over reading the same.  

11. Prepare Meals and Deliver

Did you know that 60% of Americans order takeout once a week? 

While food is a sensitive subject that needs to be handled with care, some people might be willing to buy healthy, homemade food from a personal chef. You can start preparing and delivering meals to friends and family, as you market your services to more people.

You can also provide services as a chef for hire. 

Since you don't have the same overhead costs as restaurants, you may offer your food at a lower price. If you’re lucky, you may capture the attention of the 40% who don’t order takeout for various reasons, including cost. 

Sites like HireAChef are great for connecting with people seeking healthy and affordable meals. In some cases, you may be asked to go and prepare the meals at your client's place. 

Whichever option you choose, becoming a personal chef can be a great side hustle.

12. Join Marketing Focus Groups

Many businesses struggle to assess consumer response to their goods and services. This makes marketing difficult, and in some cases, more expensive. Most marketing companies have focus groups tasked with studying consumer reactions to certain goods, services, and advertisements. 

If you understand products and have a passion for some, this can easily become a great source of extra monthly income.

13. Create YouTube Tutorials

YouTube is the second most popular search engine, after Google. 

Your YouTube tutorials are likely to reach a good fraction of the  2.3 billion YouTube Users. It takes a bit of time before you start earning a steady income on YouTube.

However, if you start now, you can be sure that you’ll have a reliable monthly side income from YouTube sometime in the future. 

This AmazonBasics Aluminum Tripod Stand (available on Amazon.com) is lightweight and sturdy, which makes it handy if you need to make your recordings from different locations.

It’ll also help you capture the images you need, without looking like you are trying to multitask.

14. Participate in Medical Research Studies

Before you sign up for medical research studies, it’s important to remember that you’ll be acting as a human guinea pig. However, your participation is critical because it’ll help scientists develop important treatments that ultimately save lives. 

While not all research studies pay, most do. 

The cost per research study varies, depending on the duration, how invasive it is, and the risk level. If you have the condition for which the clinical test seeks a solution, your payment will be even better.

Usually, invasive medical research pays more.  Examples of research types that offer low pay include interview-only studies and specimen collection studies. 

High-paying medical research includes investigational vaccines, medical devices, medications, and new treatments. These studies can cost thousands of dollars. 

While it may sound like it’s easy money, medical research is one of the most complicated hustles. It takes time, it may be invasive, and you may be forced to change your lifestyle before and after the trial. 

So, when signing up for clinical trials, you need to weigh the costs and risks against the benefits. 

15. Offer Technical Services to Freelance Platforms

According to Statista, 59 million people are working as freelancers in the US. A good portion of these use sites like Upwork and Fiverr to connect with potential employers.

If you’re a lawyer, imagine how many disputes such sites handle every day.  If you’re an IT systems expert, imagine what would happen if such systems crashed for a few hours? 

These freelance platforms require the services of technical experts to help them serve the millions of people who use their services daily. This can be an excellent side hustle, with the potential of bringing in a tidy sum every month.

16. Become a Freelance Article Writer

Freelance writing can be a rewarding side hustle, especially if you have a way with words. Many people are starting blogs, but they don’t have the time or skill to write articles.

You can fill this gap by writing as a ghostwriter and getting paid for it. 

One great place to start is Problogger, as it connects you with companies and clients who need your writing or editing services. Some even are willing to pay up to $100K just for writing. 

17. Rent Your Car

If you work from home and can’t even remember when you last drove your car, then it’s probably time you rented it out and let it earn its keep. After all, you still need to maintain it when it’s parked. 

Turo is a popular car listing site where vehicle owners list their cars for rent and connect with potential customers.

These companies have taken liability insurance and tow services to reduce the risk to car owners. So, if you weigh the cost against the benefits, you might find renting your car to be a great income-generating side hustle.