12 Top Side Hustles You Can Do From Home, According to Career Experts
Gabrielle Olya
Updated 4 min read
Taking on a side gig is a great way to help you achieve your financial goals faster, whether you want to pay off debt, build an emergency fund or grow your retirement nest egg. And there are many lucrative side gigs that you can take on without having to even leave the house.
Sell Stock Photos If you have a photographic eye, you can turn that skill into cash by taking pictures of scenes around your home."Companies like Shutterstock need stock photos of pretty much everything," said Mitchell Stern, owner of the blog SideHustle.Tips. "You could take pictures of yourself cooking a meal, lounging at [home] or of your kids playing with toys, and then sell those pictures for cash."
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Rent Out Your Computer's Processing Power The rise of crypto has led to this relatively new side hustle you can do from home."Cryptocurrency miners will pay you to simply leave your computer running overnight," Stern said. "Basically, you're renting out your processor during the time that you aren't using it yourself. It's also completely secure."Poll: Do You Have a Side Gig or Other Hustle?
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Rent Your Personal Property Turn the unused items around your house into extra cash by renting them out."You probably have over $5,000 worth of assets sitting around your house right now," Stern said. "These include things like power tools, baby gear, camera equipment, lawnmowers and camping gear. There are online peer-to-peer lending platforms that help facilitate these transactions."
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Create and Sell Informational Products If you have expertise in an in-demand area, there are likely people willing to pay for this knowledge."Consider creating a product that teaches someone how to do something valuable," Stern said.This can be anything from an e-book to a complete online course.
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Rent Out Your Home "You can rent out portions of your own home for a variety of purposes without having to find a new place to live," Stern said. "Photographers and film crews will pay to rent out your home by the hour and will be gone by the end of the day. You can also rent out unused storage space, parking spaces, and common areas for dinner parties and other gatherings."
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Teach Online Cooking Classes If you have skills in the kitchen, consider teaching an online course for extra money."There are sites that host various online culinary experiences from around the world," Stern said. "These include online cooking classes, online mixology classes, virtual wine tastings, virtual whiskey tastings and online coffee classes."
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Create and Sell Design Templates This can be a lucrative side gig for those who are artistically gifted."Create templates for documents, websites and graphics, and then sell those templates to companies like Canva and Wix," Stern said. "They're constantly looking for new designs and all you need is a computer."
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Become a Virtual Assistant "If you're organized and have a firm understanding of Microsoft Office, you can perform freelance office work from home and get paid quickly," Stern said. "COVID has dramatically increased the demand for virtual assistant services."
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Teach English Online If you have some teaching experience — or even if you don't — you should consider a side gig teaching English online."There are hundreds of thousands of families overseas who are looking for native English speakers to tutor their children virtually," Stern said. "There are websites that can help you find work, but most require at least some teaching experience. However, there are a few that will take almost anybody who wants the job."
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Become a Search Engine Evaluator "One of the best side hustles that you can do at home is search engine evaluation," said Suzanne Howell, founder of The Remote Mom. "It's a great side gig because it doesn't require any special experience and it is very flexible."Search engine evaluators rate the accuracy of search engine results by following a set of guidelines that explain how to determine the search intent of the user."One of the best things about this flexible side job is that you can log on and work at any time that is convenient for you, as long as you complete your hours at the end of each workweek," Howell said. "All of your work is done online. This makes it a great job for stay-at-home parents and those who want to supplement their 9-to-5 job."
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Become a Proofreader Many companies hire freelance proofreaders to ensure their copy is clean and fit to publish."You can do this side hustle anytime," said Kerry Francis, owner of the blog Virtual Boss Mindset, which shares information about legitimate online jobs for stay-at-home moms. "All you need is a PC, stable internet connection and excellent grammar skills to spot errors."
