Americans continue to embrace side hustles as a way of earning some extra cash. More than half, 54% say they've adopted one in the last 12 months, according to a February 2024 MarketWatch Guides survey of 2,000 Americans.
If you are interested in building an extra income stream, there are endless options to consider. You could walk dogs, do some social media marketing, sell items online … As long you know what your interests are, there are many gigs you can do "in your own free time," says founder and CEO of Sidehusl.com Kathy Kristof.
In fact, when it comes to side hustles online, there are numerous straightforward options you could dive into immediately. Here are three easy online side hustles to consider.
Market research
Many companies do market research on their products online. Sites like Respondent and User Interviews help these companies collect feedback by paying people to share their opinions.
Respondent features an array of online surveys geared toward specific types of people — those from certain communities, with certain job experiences, with certain hobbies, etc. Users create an account and the site notifies you if you're a fit for any opportunities. Surveys can take as little as 10 minutes and can pay $25 for 10 mins, $200 per 30 mins, etc., according to the website. Pay is through PayPal.
User Interviews works similarly. You'll create your profile and either apply to studies or wait to hear from the site about which ones you have the right background for. Studies are often one-on-one interviews. Time and pay vary but the site lists examples like a 30-minute interview to test an online banking experience paying $75 and a 45-minute study for data scientists paying $200.
Some User Interviews tests pay via PayPal but many pay with gift cards to Amazon, Target, and other retailers, according to Sidehusl.com.
Teaching a language
If you have a spare hour during the day and want to lean into your English-speaking abilities, consider offering your services on Cambly, "an international site that is trying to help people master the English language," says Kristof.
You'll make an account, complete an application form then wait to be approved. Adult and kid students alike can choose the tutor they'd like to work with, "it's all on your cell phone and it's all basically chatting," says Kristof. You will need to have your camera on the entire time.
If you speak another language and want to teach that, consider tutoring on sites like Wyzant or Varsity Tutors.
There's no experience required and the site pays $10-$12 per hour.
Consulting
If you have a certain expertise — marketing, health care, anything — doing some online consulting can "actually pay you real money," Kristof says.
Maven is one site that offers these kinds of opportunities. You can create a profile, set your own hourly rate and let Maven know what your areas of expertise are. You can then look through the open jobs on the site or wait for the site to let you know about jobs. Current openings include someone looking for help optimizing a restaurant menu and another looking for litigation advice.
Users report getting gigs paying between $25 and more than $500 each, according to Sidehusl.com.
You can also try looking for consulting gigs on sites like LinkedIn. Try typing in "part-time consultant job" in LinkedIn's search tab and looking through people's posts to find opportunities, suggests Daniella Flores, founder of side hustle blog I Like to Dabble. With a lot of freelance gigs, Flores finds "people will usually post that to their page rather than put it as a job on the job search."
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