15 side hustle ideas that can earn you extra money

It is no news that millions of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. According to a recent publication on CNBC, about seventy-eight percent of full-time workers in the country said they live paycheck to paycheck. About 10 percent of those that earn $100,000 or more say they can’t make ends meet, and most of the workers said they are in debt and they do not know how to get out of their debt.

There are many reasons why people are struggling in their finances, the humongous amount of debt that Americans carried is the major one. The total U.S household debt has surpassed $13 trillion, with over $8 trillion in outstanding Mortgage loans, credit card debt of over $1 trillion, auto loan exceeding $1.2 trillion and student loans of over $1.5 trillion. More troubling is the fact that many of the corporate organizations are sending available jobs overseas to save on cost and return money to the shareowners. Many American workers are overqualified for their jobs but they could not leave because they can’t find other options, there are many more people working as freelancers without the benefits that come from established organizations.

This is a precarious and alarming statistics that increases the stress in our society, and it must be promptly addressed. In my ebook, “Money Equation, “I wrote about two sides to the money equation, the income side and the expenses side. I explained how to reduce monthly expenses to have more money at the end of each month. In this post, I will be sharing 15 ideas that you can leverage to make extra income at the end of each month. If you are currently struggling to meet up with your monthly financial obligations, these ideas will help boost your income so that you can start living without financial worries that have pervaded our country.

Here are my top ten ideas that can generate extra income for you:

1. Rent out your home: If you own a home, you do not have to pay all your mortgage every month by yourself. You can reduce your monthly mortgage payment by hosting guests in your home. All you need to do is to list your house on websites like Airbnb, VRBO, Homestay. With these websites, you can earn a couple of hundreds of dollars each month depending on where you are located. Your guest is trying to save money by not going to regular hotels, what is required of you is to be available to receive your guest, make sure they have a clean room to come to, provide internet service and TV for their entertainment. Some host does throw in free cereal breakfast to attract more guests, but it is not a requirement. Be courteous and treat your guests nice, ask for a review after their stay so that you can continue to rank high and attract future guests. I once listed one of my rental property on Airbnb and I earned about $1,000 every month on my property.
2. Rent out your car: One other benefit of the sharing economy is that you can make money on your car. Yes, turn your car from a liability into an asset. Depending on your schedule, you can rent out your car on an hourly or daily basis. Think about this, when we go to work every day, we typically leave our cars packed for at least 8 hours at the parking lot. You can turn this idle hour around and let your car work for you. All you need is to list your car on websites like Turo, HyreCar, Getaround, if you have a truck, you can even make more by listing your vehicle on fluidmarket. Depending on the type of vehicle, you can make as much as $50 a day or more on Turo, and according to HyreCar website, car owners are making as much as $1,200 every month by listing the cars on the site. The great thing about this is that you do not have to worry about insurance, these companies will cover your car under their rideshare insurance. Just as with the case of renting your home, make sure your vehicle is clean and in good condition so that you can get good reviews.
3. Drive to earn: Use your daily commute to make extra income by joining the ridesharing community. You can earn money by driving with Uber or lyft. As a matter of fact, you and I can start earning money even without driving if you sign up for lyft today we each get $10. Lyft guarantee that a driver can make $1,000 per month by driving with them.
4. Notary Public: A Notary Public is an official of integrity appointed by a state government, typically by the secretary of state, to serve the public as an impartial witness in performing a variety of official fraud-deterrent acts related to the signing of important documents. You can make money by becoming a Notary official for your state, and the amount you earn depends on the papers that you sign. For example, if you sign loan documents, you can make as much as $1,500 per month.
5. Participate in Research: You can make money by participating in online research and answering some basic questions right at the comfort of your home by signing up for With this service, all you need to do is to fill out surveys and answer basic questions or give feedback about products that you already use. Click this link to get started with Respondent.today. The great thing about this service is that you can choose whether you want to attend one on one interview or you respond to questions remotely. You can make on average about $50 an hour depending on the
6. Affiliate Marketing: You can become a merchant through affiliate marketing if you have a website that can be used to promote products. Affiliate marketing is the process of making a commission by promoting other company’s products on your site. If you know of any product or service that you like, you just add your affiliate link on your website, and you earn money as people click on the links on your site. For example, I make money through the Shareasale affiliate program, and I am also an affiliate of the Bluehost website hosting company.
7. Filling online Surveys: There are numerous opportunities for making money by filling online surveys. Companies performing market research from time to time typically use these surveys to develop the strategies that they can use to attract more customers by producing better products and services. The good thing about filling online survey is that you can totally do it during your downtime, watching the TV at home or while waiting in line for a cup of coffee. Survey Junkieis the most famous of them with millions of people earning money on the website. The good thing about these websites is that you will start earning money immediately and you can make about $5 just for signing up. Other ones also provide similar benefits, Check out: Swagbucks is offering a cyber deal whereby you can earn about $10 when you sign up. I’m on Swagbucks, and you can join me there, just click the link below: Springboard America, Survey Club, and EarningStationare other popular websites where you can earn some money while filling out surveys. Please note, these surveys will not make you rich, but you can make some couple of hundred dollars during your downtime on the websites.
8. Sell online: Amazon, Alibaba, eBay, Etsy provide an opportunity to sell online. You do not have to have a product of your own. You can instead find a website where you can get an item cheaper and then sell them at a profit on these websites. I am an affiliate of Amazon, and you can use this link to get Amazon Kindle Paperwhite case.
9. Teach online: It has never been easier to share knowledge as it is right now with the various online tools that are available for you to teach other people what you know. Check out and sign up at Teachable, Udemy, or  Kajabiif you want to put training together to teach others your skills. Many people are relying on these online platforms to learn and acquire new skills, and you can deliver online training with some proper preparation. You can make a couple of thousand dollars by teaching online depending on the nature and quality of your course.
10. Sell your skills: If you have any skills in carrying out repairs in your house such as carpentry, handyman services, plumbing works, painting, or lawn care, then you should be on TaskRabbit, HomeAdvisor, and thumbtack making money by providing services to other people in your area. I use Home advisor from time to time to hire on-demand handyman services.
11. Freelance: In the gig economy, more and more people are turning to freelance websites such as Fiverr, Upwork, and elance to post jobs and apply for jobs. Tasks such as graphic designing, logo design, web developer, voice over, creative writing as well as technical writing are available on these websites. If you are committed to it, you can make a living by helping other people as a freelance. Jobs on these websites do not come with the benefits associated with traditional 9-5 work. I regularly use Fiverr for graphic design and video work, there are lots of hardworking professionals on the platform. When you sign up, just make sure you are delivering excellent customer service to improve your ratings so that you can win more customers. By the way, if you sign up for Fiverr today and get up to $100 off on your orders on the website. Click here to sign up.
12. Dog Walking/Babysitting/pet sitting: This is especially good for high school or college-bound students. You can make some side money by babysitting, or walking dogs for other people. There are many homes where they need a reliable person to help watch their babies or pets and in return make some money. If you love babies of pets at all, this is an opportunity to make money from what you enjoy. This is typically an hourly kind of side hustle where you earn around the minimum wage in the country.
13. Sell Photo: Do you enjoy taking pictures especially when you are on vacation? You can turn your hobbies into money by selling them online. You can sell photos on websites such as Foap,500px, SmugMug, Shutterstock, giving access to millions of people to download those pictures and in return pay you for uploading them on the website. The amount you make on selling photos depends on how popular the image is.
14. Become a virtual language tutor: There are now many opportunities available to teach English as a second language online. If you meet some essential qualification, you can become an online English tutor teaching people from around the world. Some of the popular websites include QKids, iTalki, VipKid, and TutorABC. After signing up with these websites, you will be matched with appropriate students, and you can start teaching them via Skype or other conferencing tools.
15. Become a Consultant: You can become a coach or consultant and by signing up as an expert on Clarity. Clarity is a platform that allows people to connect and share knowledge. For example, if you are an entrepreneur with lots of experience in starting and running a successful business if you create a profile on Clarity, other potential entrepreneurs can reach out to you and request a one on one conversation with you to learn from you. You can earn as much as $60/hour on Clarity.

Closing thoughts:

Ultimately, earning extra income as a side hustle typically takes time, you need to establish and proof yourself in the domain for people to trust you and for them to want to use your service. Whatever channel you choose to follow, you must strive to provide top-notch services to your customers so that you can earn high ratings and therefore attract more people.

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