13 Side Gig Ideas You Can Steal

This month, I'm looking at all of the great opportunities to make a little extra on the side. Remember, a side gig shouldn't cost you a lot of time or money to get started. It's a fun way to make some cash in addition to your normal job. And who knows? Maybe your side gig will be so profitable that you can afford to turn it into a full-time job!

1. Become a Consultant

What?

Consult in a field where you are already an expert.

How?

You can bill hourly for helping companies with your expertise. It might be a really narrow niche, but there’s still value. Take that skill you gained in your day job and use that to get paid by companies to learn what you know. This is a side gig that can easily turn into a full-time business if that’s what you want.

Potential Income:

$500-$10,000 per month.

Take Action:

Make a list of your skills, and then go hunting for consultants in that space. Create business cards. Get out to meetups and general business networking events to find clients.

2. Leverage Credit Card Points for Cash or Travel

What?

Get points that you turn into real cash or travel points. Let others use your credit cards so you get the points.

How?

My friend uses a card that gives him loads of travel points. That translates to real dollars. I use a Costco card that gives him Costco money back (in addition to the Costco Pro money he gets from Costco). He also lets an old business associate use one of his credit cards to buy inventory. That card gets charged up each month and then paid off entirely. He gets $500 per month in free Amazon money every month.

Potential Income:

$200-$500 per month

Take Action:

Research programs and get the program that maxes out what you get back. If you travel, then the travel points will be worth real money. If you don’t, then get a card that gives you real money back (or credit you can use, like Costco or Amazon).

3. Publish Niche Content to Make Money on Ads

What?

This is one of the most popular ways people generate passive income. You write about something in a niche, and publish that content with a WordPress site. Then people find that site when they search for info on that niche and you get paid from running ads on your site.

How?

List your areas of expertise and search for content around that expertise. You might even look at narrow sub-niches within that niche. Find a great domain name that’s descriptive of that information (like my Freelegalaid.com), and have someone build you a simple WordPress site (use Fiverr or Upwork). Write long articles about each subject in the niche.

Once you have a few dozen long articles, you wait for the Google system to rank you. While you wait, work on learning how to make your site more elegant (play with WordPress themes), and also sign up for Google’s Adsense and add that to your site, and learn how to optimize the ads that run on your site (Google has free tutorials when you sign up for Adsense).

Potential Income:

$50-$5,000 per month

Take Action:

Start searching for websites with content in your niche and see what they rank for in the search engines. Pick a few and get domain names. Write some articles (500-2500 words each). Get those put into a WordPress site (which you can pay someone else to do for you). You can even pay someone to write your articles for you.

4. Real Estate Management

What?

Manage real estate for a commission.

How?

If you manage long-term rentals, you probably need to be licensed as a real estate agent or broker. But, if you manage short-term rentals, you likely don’t. Look for an opportunity to manage someone’s real estate. People who rent on VRBO or Airbnb might need help if they are out of state. You can make a commission of 20% or more if you manage short-term rentals.

Potential Income:

$300-$3,000 per month

Take Action:

Look into licensing. Look for rentals in the few miles surrounding your home. For rent by owner signs are a good opportunity to offer your services for long-term rentals. Listings on Airbnb and VRBO are an opportunity for short-term management.

5. Referrals

What?

Charge a fee when you refer someone business.

How?

Look for formal opportunities in your profession to make money on referrals. If you are already in a profession, start asking colleagues about what kind of structure you can create that is mutually beneficial.

Potential Income:

$500-$5,000

Take Action:

Start doing research about industries that pay referral fees or commissions to people who refer clients.

6. Onsite Property Manager

What?

Manage property in an apartment complex in trade for all or part of your rent.

How?

With or without a real estate license, you can work for a property owner as the on-site manager. Look for small property complexes in your area and approach the owner.

Potential Income:

$400-$3,000 per month.

Take Action:

Start mapping apartment complexes in an area where you are willing to live. Hint: look for “for rent” signs that appear to be handwritten.

7. Give Lessons

What?

Teach people something you know.

How?

Teach a musical instrument. Tutor math or science. Teach writing. Tutor high school or college students. Teach martial arts, yoga, meditation, jewelry-making, etiquette, online marketing, or anything you think you can do well and that you can teach.

Potential Income:

$400-$4,000 per month

Take Action:

Check Craigslist for people doing the same thing and figure out a price. Print a flyer with your email as a “tear-off” and post it at local coffee shops. Post to Craigslist.

8. Buy in Bulk and Resell

What?

Buy a product in bulk (like construction glue), break it down into smaller units, and sell those.

How?

The real-world example we’ve used is buying 50-gallon drums of construction glue and selling 5-gallon units of the same glue. It’s a rare-sounding example, but it’s intended to give you an idea that you can take into a lot of different places. Buy beads in bulk and sell them as single units on Etsy. Buy jewelry-making supplies in bulk and sell them at a local street market.

Potential Income:

$300-$3,000 per month

Take Action:

Look into the cost of buying something in bulk that you think you can resell in smaller units. Check Etsy and eBay to see what others are selling small units for. Experiment with a small test. You can even buy small and sell small (making NO money) to be sure that you can actually sell at the price you expect. If that works, buy larger quantities at a big discount and make the big margins.

9. Write an eBook About Where You Live

What?

Write a local travel guide.

How?

People love niche travel advice. They get some of it on big platforms. But, if you know your area really well, you can write the definitive guide to all of the local bars, restaurants, shops, attractions, and more than other travel guides. Offer it as a cheap ebook, and even publish it on Amazon as a printed book that makes you money without having to do anything once the book is uploaded.

Potential Income:

$50-$500 per month

Take Action:

Start taking photos and writing notes on your phone about everywhere you think is interesting in your area.

10. Garage Sale Arbitrage

What?

Buy items on Craigslist or Offerup, and sell them on eBay.

How?

Find products that people sell cheaply on local platforms like Craigslist, local swapmeets, and garage sales, and sell those on international markets like eBay.

Potential Income:

$100-$2,000 per month

Take Action:

Start with something you know well. If you know the value of golf equipment, then forage the garage sales and swapmeets for great deals. Resell those items for more.

11. Flip Cars

What?

Buy a car from someone cheap and resell it for more.

How?

You don’t need to be mechanical to do this....but if you are, then you’ll add more value. The best deals are when someone is moving and needs to sell a car. You buy under their distress and then list it for more and wait it out. You are simply using time (which you have more of) when someone else is out of time. If you are mechanical, then you can also grab cars that have small problems, fix them, and make more on the flip.

Potential Income:

$500-$2,000 per month

12. Pet Sitting/Walking

What?

Walk pets or pet sit for a fee.

How?

People pay professional services to do home visits, dog walking, cat-sitting, and more. You can charge a fee to do this, and charge less than the doggy day camp, and even do more than one in the same area. I know of one guy who would live at the luxury home of a rich bachelor whenever he was traveling. The dogsitter got to live in a mansion for free and got paid to be the dogsitter for weeks at a time. He could still bartend at night. He saved loads of money doing this for a few years.

Potential Income:

$200-$2,000 per month

Take Action:

Print a flier and post it at the local coffee shops. Start letting neighbors know you are offering the service.

13. Copyediting/Copywriting

What?

Write articles or make money by editing other people’s articles.

How?

There is a flourishing business for content creation. That means many opportunities to get paid to write articles for businesses that want to rank in search engines or executives who want to post articles. You can ask them for outlines of the content you want, and then you do the writing. You can charge per word or a flat fee per article.

Potential Income:

$500-$3,000 per month

Take Action:

Post yourself on Fiverr and Upwork. Network with people and get the word out that you write articles. Promote yourself on a web page (even a simple Wix or Squarespace page will do).

Want to learn more about side gigs? Sign up for my newsletter at www.danarobinson.com and get access to some free downloads with more side gig ideas.