Earning money in your free time is an appealing proposition. Who wouldn’t like some extra cash to spend on a nice restaurant, some extra clothes, or a fancy new phone? The desire for more money is why approximately 40% of workers in the UK have a side hustle. Generally, people define a side hustle as something “you get paid for in addition to doing your main job.” Many people in the UK are interested in this concept but don’t have any side hustle ideas. They don’t know where to start, or they get involved in a side hustle with an excruciatingly low ROI.
There are excellent ways to earn money when you’re not at your primary job. These aren’t get-rich-quick schemes. Instead, they’re real, honest work that you can do from the comfort of your home. If you’re looking to make money but aren’t sure where to start, consider trying one of the following ten side hustle ideas!
Top Side Hustle Idea: Freelancing
While it may have a shaky reputation, one of the best ways to make money in your spare time is to freelance. A lot of people read freelancing horror stories and get turned off reading about people working an hour for £5.
Freelancing doesn’t result in bountiful money overnight. You have to work your way up, develop a skill, and, with time, you’ll develop a clientele that can provide you with enough money to quit your day job. Don’t believe it’s possible? Consider Fasulo, a freelance writer in New York, making £300,000 ($400,000) off of Fiverr. She worked for little money at first to build up the reviews and charge more later.
You can get started, though, in your spare time. Some of the top freelance sites include Fiverr, Upwork, and Toptal. As for skills, think about what you’re good at doing! Many people can write. If you can learn a little about search engine optimisation, that will boost your income. If you can design graphics, create apps or websites, or even provide coaching, you can freelance! Think about the skills you’re good at, and offer them to others in your spare time.
To get you in the mindset these are some useful habits you should try to adopt as a successful entrepreneur.
Blogging
Blogging is another side hustle idea that you should consider. Like freelancing, this one takes time too, but you can start it in your spare time. There are many places online to create a free blog and start getting your content out there. Additionally, for just a few pounds per month, you can have a custom domain name and have complete control over your blog’s look and feel. It’s a very cheap side hustle to start.
To be successful at blogging, you need to cultivate a following. People need to follow your blog and visit it with some regularity. Once you have the traffic, you can sell ad placements or include affiliate links (so when you review that new phone, for example, you get a cut of the sale when they buy it).
Blogging is a nice side hustle because, unlike some of the other ones on this list, there are no clients. That means you can start your blog whenever you want – even right after reading this article!
YouTube Channel: A Creative Side Hustle Idea
If somebody were to ask you what the world’s most popular search engines are, what would you answer? You’d probably pick Google. That’s because it’s number one. But the runner up? That honour belongs to another Google-owned property: YouTube.
Starting a YouTube channel is the perfect way to get a piece of that pie. YouTube pays people a percentage of the ad revenue their videos create. The average YouTuber receives between £2 and £4 per 1,000 video views. If you have a channel attracting a few thousand viewers a day, you can make a decent amount of money on the side.
Additionally, you can combine a YouTube channel with the other strategies on this list to receive publicity and exposure. For example, a YouTube channel is a perfect complement to a blog (and another revenue stream).
Photography
If you have a knack for taking quality photos, photography could be a powerful way to earn some excess money in your spare time. You can sell your photos on sites like Adobe Stock for a commission (Adobe’s site has a 35% commission), or you can sell them through a custom site you make.
While that might not sound like a high ROI, consider that there are images on there that sell for hundreds of pounds. You could potentially get £100 from one sale if the photo is of high quality. That’s not bad for something you do in your spare time!
As with some other side hustle ideas on this list, consistency is critical. You don’t know how one photo will sell. However, if you do one shot per day in your spare time, eventually you’ll have a portfolio built. With that much content, you’ll reach more people and receive more regular sales.
Tutoring
Dust off those history, math, and English books as tutoring is another way to earn money in your spare time! The average maths tutor can cost £20-£22 per hour. You can partner with a tutoring company, or you can offer your services directly via the web or other marketplaces.
Tutoring is a fantastic option if you have specialised skills, like programming or advanced mathematics. Since those tutors tend to be fewer, they pay better.
A Less Common, But Very Good Side Hustle Idea: Virtual Assistant
Being a virtual assistant is a less common but compelling side hustle idea. The idea behind being a VA is that you help an individual or company manage their days, work items, calls, and so forth. Many executives hire virtual assistants to help screen their calls, respond to emails, and book and manage flights.
This side hustle can be decently lucrative, often offering above minimum wage. However, the downside to this side hustle idea is that you cannot instantly be a VA. You’ll need to find clients. Fortunately, the Society of Virtual Assistants has all the information you need to find clients and gain new business!
Dropshipping
The internet allowed some exciting business models to emerge. Dropshipping was one of those models. It’s one of the most common internet businesses to start, although many people are unfamiliar with what dropshipping is, precisely.
Consider what you need to do to open a traditional store. You’d need to rent a building, have some space to store the goods, and sell to customers. With the internet, the physical location isn’t necessary, and neither is the warehouse. You can take orders and have the manufacturer ship the product to the customer directly. Of course, since you made the sale, you take a percentage of the sale. Many sites will provide an “all-in-one” dropshipping solution that will let you build a store and connect you with wholesalers who will ship their inventory directly
A Common Side Hustle Idea: Airbnb
Some people might not think of Airbnb as a side hustle, but it does qualify. If you have a big enough flat or home, you can rent out a room or level as an Airbnb. How much you’ll earn depends heavily on where you live. If you’re in central London, you can expect to make more than if you’re out in the country somewhere.
You can post the room, do cleaning, provide keys, and all the other hospitality tasks you’ll need to do in your spare time. Of course, if you’re fortunate enough to afford a second property, you can always list it on Airbnb as well!
Sell Homemade Goods or Custom Clothing
If you have the talent to make homemade goods or custom clothing, you can always sell that online. With the right advertising and designs, it’s not too hard to make some extra side money. You’ll need to promote your goods and keep your costs under control.
One of the most popular platforms for this crafts side hustle idea is Etsy. You can list your handmade items for less than £1. Etsy takes a relatively reasonable commission that ranges from approximately 10% of the sale to 25% of it, depending on the source of the customer.
Etsy is so famous for a reason. There are quite a few reports of people making six figures off the site. That generally requires quite a bit of work, and there’s no guarantee that you’ll do that well, but if you’re into making homemade goods or clothing, Etsy’s a great place to start trying to sell them.
Podcast
If you have a microphone and some time, you can start a podcast! Much like blogging (and people often do podcasts in conjunction with their blogs), this side hustle idea requires a little bit of patience. With enough new content and promotion, you’ll begin to develop a following who will listen to your podcast with regularity.
Podcasters make money, usually, by selling advertising within their audio content. As your podcast grows, you can sell plugs for individuals and companies in your podcast’s domain. For example, if your podcast is on unique London homes, a real estate professional might pay to advertise on your podcast in the hopes that your listeners will give them business.
While it does take time to cultivate a following, podcasting is also one of the easiest ways to get started making money in your spare time.
These Side Hustle Ideas Will Earn You Money
As noted earlier, these are not get-rich-quick schemes. These side hustle ideas involve real work, and they require patience and diligence. However, each one of these ideas has the potential to turn into a six-figure income, if done correctly.
You can choose how you want to spend your spare time, but why not try one of these endeavours? Each one was low-risk and had a high potential for reward. Since each of the above side hustle ideas has minimal expenses, try them out and start earning some extra money in your spare time!
If you are looking for more side hustle ideas check out BearMoneyBlog’s on 5 side hustles in 2021
