5 Best Side Hustles of April 2024
Published March 27, 2024 at 11:11 am
If you’re looking to increase your income, starting a side hustle could be a game changer. With a side hustle, you create an additional source of revenue outside of your regular job and become your own boss in the process.
With historic rates of inflation in recent years, many households have watched their monthly budgets take a hit. This has forced many individuals to take matters into their own hands, using side hustles to earn a bit more spending money each month, boost savings and reduce debt. And you could do the same!
Side hustles are also an opportunity to explore a new career path or explore one’s dream while keeping a primary employer as a safety net, sometimes allowing those who find massive success to eventually pivot into full-time ventures. Starting a side hustle can require little to no upfront costs and as the CEO, you decide how much time to dedicate to your company.
There are tons of side hustle opportunities to choose from (both online and in-person), so it can be difficult to determine where to focus your time and efforts. The following guide features our picks for the five best side hustles for 2024 to help you pick one that suits your passions, talents and money goals.
Our Methodology Our research is designed to provide you with a comprehensive understanding of personal finance services and products that best suit your needs. To help you in the decision-making process, our expert contributors compare common preferences and potential pain points, such as affordability, accessibility, and credibility.
Our Picks - Best Overall: Freelancing
- Best for Content Creators: Starting a YouTube Channel
- Best for Experts: Selling Digital Products
- Best for Road Trippers: Driving for Lyft or Uber
- Best for Fashionistas: Reselling Thrifted Items
Best Side Hustles of 2024
Side hustles can have low upfront costs, unlimited earning potential and scheduling flexibility. With access to millions of potential customers online, you can almost instantly grow a customer base (or audience) with the right sales and marketing strategy in place. Here are the five top side hustles of 2024 and why we chose each one.
Best Overall: Freelancing
| Skills Required | Startup Cost | Where You Can Sell | Peak Times | |
| Freelancing | Varies (can involve creative skills such as writing, design or coding; technical skills; and more) | $0+ | Upwork, Fiverr, 99Designs | Year-round |
Key Features
- Work on your own schedule and at your own pace: Freelancing offers the utmost flexibility, giving you the freedom to decide where, when and how much you want to work.
- Endless freelance opportunities: Upwork, Fiverr and 99Designs are reputable freelance marketplaces that connect freelancers with legitimate opportunities in several categories, including administrative, digital marketing and creative jobs.
- Unlimited earning potential: As a freelancer, you can determine your rates and work toward a monthly goal.
- No startup costs: Starting a freelance business requires zero upfront costs. With freelance marketplaces like Upwork, you can set up a free profile and start marketing your services right away at no cost.
- Profit from your passions: Whether your passion is something on the creative or technical end, you can offer services that you enjoy doing to companies worldwide.
Why We Chose It: Freelancing is an easy way to earn extra cash, you just need a specialized talent, a laptop and your time to get started. Freelance marketplaces have emerged on the scene over the years, making it easier for part-time (and even full-time) freelancers to find work. Such platforms include Upwork, Fiverr and 99Designs, all of which enable freelancers to search jobs, offer services of their choice and set their own prices. Freelancing is especially ideal for individuals with creative or technical skills, like writing, graphic and web design, coding or digital marketing.
Pros
- Work from anywhere with an internet connection
- Flexible scheduling
- No cap on your earning potential
Cons
- No regular employee benefits, like insurance
- Potential for an unhealthy work/life balance
- No guaranteed jobs or earnings
Best for Content Creators: Starting a YouTube Channel
| Skills Required | Startup Cost | Where You Can Sell | Peak Times | |
| Starting a YouTube Channel | Content creation, script writing, video editing | $0+ | YouTube | Year-round |
Key Features
- Easy, seamless content publishing: YouTube Creator Studio has a comprehensive suite of tools for its creators, including a scheduling tool, a dashboard listing all of your latest video stats and a Creator music library.
- Free to launch and start earning: YouTube offers a free platform to upload monetizable content. All you need is your phone, an internet connection and an editing tool to start.
- Monetization opportunities to cash in on your videos: From YouTube ads to sponsorships, there are various ways to potentially earn money from a YouTube channel.
Why We Chose It: Starting a YouTube channel involves posting video content based on topics you’re passionate about, whether that’s current events or your expertise. Other YouTubers may create content to entertain and lighten the mood, such as producing funny pranks, skits or scripted web serieses for the platform. You can monetize a YouTube account once it gains enough traction, often by publishing content on a consistent schedule.
A channel with 1,000 subscribers and more than 4,000 video watch hours is typically eligible for monetization. The platform offers a range of free tools for YouTube creators, making the production process easier and more seamless, even for beginners. It’s a cool gig for creatives who don’t mind being in front of the camera or behind it, and who have a knack for creating entertaining (or informative) video content that attracts clicks and views. Some YouTubers have gone on to manage their channels full-time, raking in thousands (and sometimes millions) per month.
Brands who take notice of a growing channel may approach creators for paid sponsorships. Creatives can also attract affiliate marketing sales on the platform, by adding relevant affiliate links to their video descriptions.
Pros
- Upload unlimited videos at no cost
- No need for fancy equipment (a smartphone is enough)
- Free editing tools to help perfect content, including iMovie and Canva
Cons
- Growing an engaged subscriber base takes time
- Platform can feel saturated with creators fighting for viewership
- Must be comfortable with getting in front of the camera
Best for Experts: Selling Digital Products
| Skills Required | Startup Cost | Where You Can Sell | Peak Times | |
| Selling Digital Products | Writing, Editing, Digital product marketing | $0+ | Etsy, Kajabi, Gumbread | Year-round |
Key Features
- Intangibility: Digital products are non-physical items such as ebooks, software, music, videos or online courses. This eliminates the need for inventory storage, product sourcing and other roadblocks.
- Instant delivery: Buyers can access digital products shortly or immediately after purchase, often through download links or online platforms.
- Expanded global reach: Sellers can reach customers anywhere in the world without geographical limitations, facilitating broader market access.
- Low overhead costs: Compared to physical products, digital products typically have lower production and distribution costs, resulting in higher profit margins.
- Automation: Many aspects of selling digital products, such as payment processing and delivery, can be automated using online platforms and tools.
Why We Chose It: Digital products can be an excellent passive income stream, requiring minimal sales and marketing effort after creating the initial product and automating your marketing. Digital products that sell well on the internet include website templates, music, stock photography and informational products like e-books or online courses. All of these are hot commodities on the web, meaning that it’s a lucrative industry for creatives with ideas or information to offer.
Using free software tools like Canva, GarageBand and even Google Docs, digital product creators can produce intellectual property for various markets. Sellers can then make their products purchasable via digital download, promoting them on social media (ex., TikTok Shops), a dedicated website and digital product marketplaces like Shutterstock, Creative Market, and iTunes.
Pros
- No need to maintain a large physical inventory of products
- Online deliveries bypass the need for shipping products
- Tools like ClickFunnels can automate product sales and marketing
Cons
- Potential for others to pirate your intellectual property (often unknowingly)
- No guaranteed return-on-investment
Best for Road Trippers: Driving For Lyft Or Uber
| Skills Required | Startup Cost | Where You Can Sell | Peak Times | |
| Driving for Lyft or Uber | Driving, Following navigational directions | $40+ | Lyft, Uber | Big local happenings, holidays, weekends |
Key Features
- Working flexibility: Ridesharing drivers have the freedom to choose their own working hours, allowing them to balance driving with other commitments such as a full-time job or studying.
- Easy entry: Becoming a platform driver typically has minimal prerequisites, such as possessing a valid driver’s license, a vehicle that meets the platform’s requirements and passing a background check.
- Instant earnings: Drivers can start earning money shortly after signing up and being approved to drive, with the ability to cash out earnings daily or weekly.
- Customer interaction: Drivers engage with passengers during rides, providing opportunities for social interaction and potentially earning tips based on service quality.
- Performance-based pay: Earnings are often based on factors such as the number of rides completed, distance traveled and time spent driving, incentivizing drivers to maximize their productivity.
Why We Chose It: If you’re looking for a simple way to make money with just your car, driving for platforms like Lyft, Uber, GrubHub or even DoorDash may appeal to you. These apps depend on drivers all around the world to keep their businesses running, creating an extra source of revenue for car owners with time to spare. Drivers spend their time taking customers around town or even delivering food, while the app facilitates communication and directions for pick-up and drop-off.
Pros
- Flexible scheduling
- Additional earning opportunities during peak times
- Insurance protection while you’re on the clock
Cons
- Varying rates
- Must pay for your own gas and maintenance
- Drivers depend on tips for sustainable income
Best for Fashionistas: Reselling Thrifted Items
| Skills Required | Startup Cost | Where You Can Sell | Peak Times | |
| Reselling thrifted items | Product sourcing, photography, product description copywriting | $0+ | eBay, Poshmark, Vinted, dePop, Mercari | Holidays |
Key Features
- Variety of inventory: Thrift stores sell a wide range of products—including clothing, accessories, furniture, electronics, books and collectibles—providing ample opportunities for sales diversification.
- Thrill of the hunt: Sourcing items from thrift stores offers the excitement of treasure hunting, where valuable or unique items can be discovered at bargain prices.
- Creative flair: Successful thrift resellers often possess a keen eye for spotting valuable or trendy items, along with creativity in repurposing or styling them for resale.
- High profit margins: Since thrifted items are typically purchased at low prices, resellers can enjoy a high return when selling them at a markup.
- Ethical and sustainable: Thrift reselling promotes sustainability by giving pre-owned items a second life, reducing waste and supporting local charities or small business thrift stores.
Why We Chose It: Thrift reselling provides you with an excuse to clean your closet of things you no longer want, or scavenge through thrift store racks to find hidden gems that you can flip for cash. There’s no limit to what you can sell, either, from secondhand clothing and antiques to books and movies.
No matter what you choose to sell, you can markup your original buying price to increase profits. Get paid to sift through clothing racks at your local thrift and consignment shops, then list photos and descriptions of these items on platforms like Poshmark to reach a wide buyer audience.
Pros
- Offload unwanted items and flip them for cash
- Modern apps put your products in front of interested buyers
- Requires minimal marketing
Cons
- Poshmark and similar platforms take a percentage of your product sales
- Finding and listing products can be time-consuming
- Listing fees required for some platforms (like eBay)
Vault’s Viewpoint: Compare The Best Side Hustles of 2024
| Side Hustle Type | Skills Required | Startup Cost | Where You Can Sell | Peak Times |
| Freelancing | Varies (can involve creative skills such as writing, design or coding; technical skills; and more) | $0+ | Upwork, Fiverr, 99Designs | Year-round |
| Starting a YouTube Channel | Content creation, script writing, video editing | $0+ | YouTube | Year-round |
| Selling Digital Products | Writing, editing, design, digital product marketing | $0+ | Etsy, Kajabi, Gumbread | Year-round |
| Driving for Lyft or Uber | Driving, following navigational directions | $40+ | Lyft, Uber | Big local happenings, holidays, weekends |
| Reselling Thrifted Items | Product sourcing, photography, product description copywriting | $0+ | eBay, Poshmark, Vinted, dePop, Mercari | Holidays |
Learn More About Side Hustles
Hopefully, your creative wheels are turning with these side hustle ideas. Here are more details on side hustles in general and how they work.
What Is a Side Hustle?
A side hustle is an extra job and source of income, outside of your primary job and main source of income. Often managed on a part-time basis, side hustles let individuals be their own boss while offering unlimited earning potential. People typically resort to side hustles as a gateway to pursuing their dreams and passions, or to supplement their existing income with additional revenue.
How Do Side Hustles Work?
Side hustles require you to dedicate a portion of your time to run it properly. For instance, individuals with a full-time job may dedicate their evenings or weekends to their side hustle. These income streams require different tools and talents, too. Lyft and Uber drivers need their own car, for example, while freelancers need a computer and internet access to complete their work.
Who Are Side Hustles Best For?
Side hustles are great for 9 to 5 employees, retirees and stay-at-home parents seeking an additional source of income. They’re also a good choice for entrepreneurial-minded individuals who like the idea of building something for themselves and the generations after them.
Types of Side Hustles
- Freelancing: You can leverage your skills and talents to offer a profitable service as a freelancer. With freelancing, you can work on a contract basis, having the option to specialize in a range of fields. Popular freelance niches include writing, graphic design, web development, digital marketing, virtual assistance, consulting and more.
- Online selling: Online sales are ideal for natural-born sellers who have an inventory of products, either digital or physical, to market online. Online shop owners can run their stores on hosting platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce and WooCommerce (WordPress), or list on marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Poshmark and Etsy. Sellers can provide physical products (i.e. wholesale, dropshipped or handmade goods) or digital products.
- Service-based side hustles: Service-based side hustles involve delivering a service, either remotely or locally, to a specific target market. Examples include pet-sitting, tutoring, lawn care, house-sitting, event planning and personal training.
- Gig economy work: Laborers who want an easy side hustle that requires bare-minimum skills can choose from a variety of gig economy jobs, like driving, simple task completion and food delivery. Gig economy professionals can find work on platforms such as Lyft, Uber, Postmates, GrubHub, DoorDash and ThumbTack.
- Rental income: Ideal for property owners who don’t mind renting out their assets or possessions, this type of side hustle can be a lucrative source of both short-term income and long-term appreciation. Depending on what you own, you could rent out a party room, your entire property, car, select equipment and even bicycle rentals. Several platforms allow owners to list their assets for rent, like Turo and Airbnb.
- Creative ventures: If you have creative talents, an easy sell could be commercializing your work. This could be as simple as offering creative services or licensing your work for royalties. Creators can sell music, books, crafts, artwork and photography online.
- Digital products: If your goal is to earn passive income with minimal effort in the long term, selling digital products might be the way to go. With e-books, stock photography, online courses, templates, apps and even software, you can generate recurring income often with only upfront effort.
- Offline ventures: If you prefer a side hustle that requires you to be physically present offline, an offline entrepreneurial venture or part-time job may be your best option. These could include local tours and experiences, retail sales, performing gigs or even teaching classes and workshops in your spare time.
How To Choose a Side Hustle
Here are some things to consider and what to prioritize when choosing a side hustle.
Your Dreams and Passions
What personal interests do you enjoy and find fulfilling? What passions could you see yourself investing the most time and effort? Choosing a side hustle that you’re passionate about can help keep you motivated, increasing your chances of a successful endeavor.
Your Income Goals
Assess each side hustle’s earning potential by evaluating factors like pricing strategy, competition, market demand and scalability. When choosing a side hustle based on your income goals, you should note that some side hustles offer quick income opportunities while others require extensive time and effort to build a sustainable income stream.
Time You Can Dedicate Toward The Side Hustle
Running a side hustle often requires wearing many hats, which can be time-consuming for the average person. On top of that, most “sidepreneurs” typically have a full-time job and family commitments to tend to in addition to their new business. Thus, it’s important to choose a side hustle that’ll best work with your schedule.
Other Side Hustle Alternatives
Online Tutoring
This educational-focused side hustle offers a great deal of flexibility in terms of scheduling and location, allowing tutors to work whenever and wherever they want (as long as there’s a stable internet connection). Online tutors utilize virtual whiteboards, video conferencing platforms, chat tools and other online resources. This allows them to communicate with students, provide lessons and all of the other responsibilities involved with tutoring to extend their knowledge and expertise to students.
Child Care or Senior Care
Offering caregiving services to children or senior individuals (typically part-time) is great because it has flexible hours and scheduling. This hands-on side hustle is best suited to compassionate and nurturing individuals who like the idea of caring for children or the elderly.
Delivering Food or Groceries
Like the idea of delivering food and groceries to locals? Delivering via DoorDash, Uber Eats, Postmates or Instacart can be a great side hustle avenue. Using their own vehicles, drivers pick up orders and deliver them to customers’ specified locations.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Much Time Does It Take To Start and Run a Side Hustle?
For some people, it could take just days or weeks to start a side hustle, while it may take months for others to get things going. Running a side hustle requires you to dedicate a certain amount of time toward it, which you ultimately get to decide. Thus, it varies and is based on your commitment to it.
How Much Money Could I Potentially Earn From My Side Hustle?
Side hustles have unlimited earning potential. You could make hundreds, thousands or even millions of dollars per year. It all boils down to how much time and effort you’re willing to sacrifice, and how much of a return your side hustle offers.
What Skills or Resources Are Needed To Start a Side Hustle?
The skills or resources needed to start a side hustle will vary based on the type of side hustle you choose. For example, freelancers often need creative skills and access to a computer, while Lyft or Uber drivers need driving skills, a license and access to an eligible vehicle.
Editorial Note: Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post. We may earn a commission from partner links on Newsweek, but commissions do not affect our editors’ opinions or evaluations.
