50+ Side Hustles You Can Start Pretty Quickly For $50 Or Less

I believe that everyone should have a side hustle. I’m here to help entrepreneurial employees who want to use their unique gifts, talents, strengths, and skills to make more income consulting or coaching on the side. Consultants use their skill and subject mastery to help companies. Coaches use their skill and subject master to help individuals. If you already have mastery, then building your side hustle is just a matter of time management, branding, and selling.

If you don’t have mastery at anything yet, you have to invest in yourself and your education to achieve it. That’s a key step to finding your next side hustle. But keep in mind, you don’t have to be the best in the world—you just have to be better at something than the people around you. As long as there is someone who needs to know or do whatever you know or are can do right now, there is an opportunity to do business. You don’t have to be a college graduate to tutor a 9th grader. You just have to be a 10th grader—meaning you know a little bit more than someone else.

Side hustlin’ is not a get-rich-quick scheme. It’s a long-term game. But if you happen to be in a situation where you need to make some quick money during the summer, below are 50+ side hustles you can start pretty quickly for $50 or less. They don’t require a lot of education or a huge investment. Most of them will just require sweat equity (focused time + energy), self-discipline, no shame or fear of failure, and hard-core hustle to get your next customer.

If you want to make lots of money while investing as little time, money, and energy as possible, play the lotto, gamble, or invest in stocks. The only problem with those is that they are based solely on luck. You have no control on the outcome. Whereas hustlin’ is based solely on you.That’s why I created The B.P.A.I.D. Program for side hustlas. You control the outcome. You deserve to be paid what you are really worth. Let’s hustle and take control of our destinies.

Services You Can Sell With A Little Money & A Little Practice:

1. Barber: If you already know how to cut your hair, you can probably cut someone else’s. All you need are some clippers, a chair, a mirror, and some sheen. There are barber colleges if you want some credentials.

2. Baker: If you know how to make cakes, pies, brownies, or cookies, why not offer your services for birthday, anniversaries, celebrations, and other events. While you’re baking your next batch, go to vistaprint.com and make some business cards too.

3. Babysitter: If you love kids and you’re a homebody, this is a great way to use your gift in the evenings when parents want to go out on a late night date and simply be with each other doing adult stuff.

4. Bartender: There are certification programs that cost $500 and up, but sometimes a bar will be willing to teach you on the spot if they really need help. The hourly pay may be low, but tips are really where it’s at when it comes to bartending, plus you meet a lot of people along the way.

5. Bike Messenger: If you already have a bike and a backpack and you find yourself at home during the business day, you can get some exercise and pay as a messenger. You can help local companies (especially legal and advertising) who do business each other and need to send original documents back and forth bypass FedEX, UPS, and USPS, saving them time and money.

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6. Blogger: It takes a while to build a blog that has enough page views to earn significant money from advertising, but you can ghost write post for busy bloggers who are getting paid, after getting a feel for their tone, message, and audience.

7. Bookkeeper: If you’re an accountant by day, you can be a bookkeeper by night. A lot of small businesses dread dealing with the IRS and they need help. Your basic knowledge of accounting can help keep the IRS off their back.

8. Car Detailer: If you’re a clean person who pays attention to detail, you can get a bucket, soap, water, towels, and Armoral and detail the interior of neighbor’s cars right in your drive way. The more visible you are doing the work, the more likely you’ll get more traffic.

9. Chef: If you love to cook, there are many people who want to learn how to cook in their home or who want a private chef for a big event or a romantic dinner. They pay for the ingredients and you bring your expertise to the kitchen.

10. Coach: There are all kinds of coaches for everything. Though the terminology came from sports, the coaching industry is expanding. There are life coaches, career coaches, food coaches, financial coaches, spiritual coaches, you name it. Whatever aspect of life you think you have mastered can be an opportunity for you to create a coaching practice. They usually charge per session or based on program packages.

11. Consultant: Consultants are similar to coaches except them oftentimes work with businesses rather than individuals, though the terminology is used interchangeably. There are strategy consultants, management consultants, image consultants, IT consultants, sales consultants, HR consultants, marketing consultants, and so on. For every function in a business, there is a consultant who advises businesses in that area. They charge by the hour or monthly retainer.

12. Day Laborer (Construction): If you really love working with your hands, but your main hustle only allows you to use your head, you can make some extra dough as a day laborer doing construction, whether that means putting up dry wall, painting, digging, building a deck, or tearing down walls.

13. DJ: Being a DJ requires more than just making a good playlist. You have to really know music and how to read the crowd. Equipment can be expensive, but a lot of DJs work from their laptops nowadays.

14. Dog Walker: If you love dogs and walking, with 5 clients and 5 leashes, you can make a pretty penny by simply walking a mile a day.

15. Editor: If you know someone writing a book or who blogs regularly, you can offer to edit for them. Writers just want to write. It’s hard to write and edit at the same time. So if you are a stickler for grammer (<<–intentional), you can make some money as an editor.

16. Event Planner: Just because someone has an event doesn’t mean they know how to plan it. From weddings to anniversaries to banquets to birthdays to baby showers, people need help planning, coordinating, and executing. If this is something you like to do, there will always be events and you will always have business.

17. Freelance Writer: Similar to a blogger, what you have to say matters and their are tons of media outlets that would value your perspective.You just have to dig deep to find whose audience would benefit from my how-to advice or opinions and then pitch them.

18. Fundraiser: What non-profit couldn’t benefit from some extra money. There are many websites that are helping non-profits raise money online and they take a percentage. You can do the same if you can get the right people in a room or organize a campaign or event that helps a non-profit you believe in raise more money to do more good work.

19. Gardener: Some people have backyards and front yards the didn’t really want. You can tell by how poorly they upkeep them. They just came with the house. Knock on the door and ask if they need help pulling out weeds, mowing, and raking. If you have the skills to plant stuff, then you have a repeat business.

20. Graphic Designer: If you know how to draw or you’re great at Photoshop or Illustrator, there is no reason you shouldn’t be making extra money designing holiday cards, book covers, websites, invitations, posters, and other images for individuals and companies.

21. Ikea Furniture Builder: It can be frustrating trying to build some of the stuff you buy at Ikea. It looks so good in the show room when it is finished, but when you bring it home in a box it comes out in 100 pieces. If you like building stuff, you can help people build stuff they bought. All you really need is a drill and a wrench.

22. Interior Decorator: People see beautiful rooms on HGTV, but they don’t know how to create them for themselves. You may have a knack for design and can help people turn their existing home into a haven with some simple touch-ups.

23. Hair Stylist: A lot of people grew up doing their siblings’ hair. Some have a passion for it and some don’t. There is a lot of money in women’s hair and design and a few heads a week could help your bank account out a lot.

24. House Sitter: When some people travel for extended periods of time, they still like their house to be occupied. Perhaps they have pets that need to be taken care of or they live in a neighborhood that isn’t the safest. Whatever the reason is, housesitting may be a good side hustle for a homebody.

25. Housekeeper: Similar to a car detailer, a good housekeeper wants to get into every nook and cranny. While there are many professional services that do this, you may have a degree of trust with a homeowner that a company doesn’t. Perhaps it’s not the whole house either—it may just be the garage, the attic, or the basement that they need help cleaning.

26. Human Advertisement: If you like to talk on your cell phone outside, then why not do it on a street corner with a sign or costume on.

27. Life Coach: If you’re that person that all of your friends come to for advice, you can start charging (other people) for your services. Your friends come to you because you’re a great listener and you appear to have everything together. People value that and may also value you because of it.

28. Massage Therapist: There are certification programs for this, but you may just be good with your hands. People are stressed and that stress manifest in their shoulders, back, and other parts of their bodies. You can make a knot or two by helping them get theirs out.

29. Mover: If you’ve had difficulty getting to the gym and have a van or truck on hand, why not use your muscles to help someone move instead of just pushing dead weight. Whereas you have to pay the gym, someone who needs help moving has to pay you. They can get the U-Haul, but you can help lift.

30. Music Teacher: If you know how to play an instrument, there is always someone out there who wants to learn. Whether it is the piano, trumpet, drum, clarinet, flute, saxophone, or violin, you can likely teach someone else.

31. Painter: So many people want to paint a wall or room in their home, but they just haven’t got around to it. Do your own room first. Take pictures. And then can pick a price you’re willing to do someone else’s wall or room for and go. They buy the paint. You bring the brushes, brown paper, and blue tape.

32. Paper Boy: Newspapers aren’t dead yet. They still have subscribers and routes that require distribution. If you’re an early bird and willing to get up and make sure that everyone has their paper when they wake up and walk out the door, this could be a good side hustle for you.

33. Party Promoter: You can make money off of entry fees, the bar, and food if you do it right. Perhaps you take over a weeknight at a club near you or you plan one big event during the summer. If you work out a deal with the venue, DJ, and security company, you may not have to pay anything up front.

34. Personal Shopper: Old people and busy people need help getting things. They don’t have the physical capacity or time to do all the necessary errands they need done for their daily life. You can help if you can find a few people who fit the criteria and have enough discretionary income to pay you for your time.

35. Personal Trainer: If you work out regularly or used to be a top high school or college athlete, you can help those who don’t have a clue what they are doing in the gym get faster physical results and offer them accountability.

36. Photographer: A quality camera doesn’t cost that much nowadays. With a little practice, YouTube, and reading, you can learn the ins and outs of any camera. The next thing you know, you could be getting paid to do head shots, take family pictures, or capture events.

37. Property Manager: Not every apartment building owner wants to be a landlord too. If you come correct, you can take over those responsibilities in your own building or elsewhere. If it’s your own building, you may get some money off rent. If it is elsewhere you could make some extra cash monthly just by taking care of things the tenants need but the landlord doesn’t want to do.

38. Recycler: Nickels add up. It’s not sexy, but beyond the grocery cart and some trash bags, there are no start-up costs. All it takes is time and no shame.

39. Scrapbooker: With the proliferation of digital cameras and camera phones, people have 1,000s of photos from weddings, graduations, birthdays, and just life, that they don’t know what to do with. Scrapbookers help them organize their photos in a meaningful way so they can relive the moments without just clicking through a Facebook album.

40. Security Guard: The only qualification for being a security guard is that you are bigger than the average person. If you can actually fight, that’s a bonus. Clubs, sporting events, and stores need them every night. It might be a good 9pm-3am gig.

41. Snow Shoveler for Cars: This is an opportunistic one, but if you’re prepared and the day comes (and it will), you can make a killing shoveling people’s cars out of the snow and their side walks (which is required by law) after a snow storm hits.

42. Subway Performer: I’ve seen teenagers get as much as $10 for a 3 minute breakdancing performance. That’s equivalent to $200 per hour. If you’re not into dancing, but you play an instrument or can sing, the subway could be a great place to get paid to practice.

43. Survey Taker: There are marketing firms that get paid to aggregate people’s opinions about a wide variety of things. They sell that research to companies who then use the information to create and sell new products.

44. Travel Agent: If you know how to find deals on trips for individuals or groups, you can help people plan out their vacations and charge a fee for doing so. A family you know may be planning a vacation, but doesn’t have the time to do their due diligence. You might find them a great package that saves them time and money on LivingSocial or Groupon or a particular airline and then get to share a piece of what you saved them.

45. Tutor: If you have subject mastery on almost anything, there is an opportunity to tutor. Common tutors include math, english, and science, but tutoring extends beyond K-12 subjects. There are also tutors for every standardized test under the sun from the SAT to the GMAT to the MCAT to the GRE. You can also tutor someone is a foreign language.

46. Uber Driver: If you have a car with four wheels, you can easily become an Uber driver. Basically, you are your own taxi company except you don’t have to pay a huge licensing fee, rent someone else’s yellow car, or be on a schedule. Whenever you have some extra time and gas, you can make some extra money.

47. User Tester: As a user tester, you can get paid $10 via PayPal for every 20-minute session you complete at UserTesting.com. All you have to do is do what you’re doing now. Surf the web or use apps so that the companies behind them can get real-time feedback on how you use their technology.

48. Virtual Assistant: A lot of entrepreneurs are overwhelmed, especially at the point where their company is starting to grow beyond what they can handle by themselves. They are tired of wearing all of the hats. In that case, you can step in and become a virtual assistant and you can serve in this capacity for various clients.

49. Waitress: People will always need to eat and even if the restaurant business is struggling, they will always need waiters and waitresses. Of the course the game isn’t about the hourly pay—it’s all about the quality of the restaurant and the tips. And if you know that going in, you can flip the game on its head by the way you serve your customers.

50. Website Designer: There are lots of people who want and need a website, but all of them don’t know how to set one up. If you know a little bit of HTML and understand the underpinning of WordPress, you can make some extra cash doing website installations and designs for individuals and new organizations.

51. Wedding Planner: Wedding planning is a niche in the event planning businesses. It requires working with couples to help them co-create the most memorable day of their lives. The bride and the groom should be in the wedding, not doing the wedding, and that’s where you can step in and help with logistics, invitations, designs, food, and hosting.

52. Yoga Instructor: Similar to a personal trainer, a yoga instructor is likely someone who make a commitment to discipline so much so that they are available and ready to teach others. If you can’t hold down a studio by yourself, you can teach at various studios throughout the week to reach different clients where they are at.

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Also, Here’s My TED Talk On Why Side Hustles Are Important

BONUS: 10 Products You Can Sell Right Now (+ Where):

1. Your (& Other’s) Stuff (Garage Sale or Craigslist): Start slangin’ your stuff. Of course, once it is gone, your business is gone too, unless you start helping other people sell their junk too. It costs you nothing to start. One man’s trash is another person’s treasure.

2. Other People’s Digital Products (Clickbank.com): If you have a blog or website with a lot of traffic and an audience that trusts you, you can sell other people’s digital products (such as ebooks, ecourse, downloads, and apps) and get a cut of what you sell.

3. Bottled Water (The Park): You can get a 24 pack of water for $6. That’s about 40 cents each. With some ice and a cooler, you can sell them for a dollar at events or busy intersections. An extra $14 for 30 minutes of work isn’t that bad.

4. Candy (The Subway): I’ve seen teenagers make $5 in revenues between one subway station and the next. In 10 stations, that’s a possible $50 in revenues in 15 minutes.

5. Cars (Ebay.com): If don’t have the cash to start flipping homes, perhaps you can get there by flipping used cars first. Selling used cars is a lot easier than selling property and requires less capital. You can find used cars at auctions, fix them up, sell them, and take home a few hundred or a few thousand dollars.

6. Jewelry (Etsy.com): Jewelry beads and wires don’t cost that much, but if you put them together the right way, they can sell for a lot. In addition to setting up a table on the curb in a high-traffic area, you can sell what you make on Etsy.com.

7. Lemonade (Your Driveway): Lemons, sugar, water, and cups. A lemonade stand is almost every kid’s first business because it is so easy to start. I don’t know if you can compete with a little kid, but if you get more advanced with your mixtures and flavors, you may be able to get $3-$5 a cup.

8. T-Shirts (Zazzle.com): If there is a phrase or image that you and your friends love, put it on a shirt and rock it. If people ask about it, point them to your website where they can buy it. There are so many renditions of the “Keep Calm & Carry On” shirt, why not create your own.

9. Your Bedroom (AirBnB.com): If you have an extra bedroom at home and you live in a decent neighborhood, you can pay your rent or have your mortgage by renting it out to travelers through AirBnB.com from $50-$150 per night.

10. Multi-Level Marketing Programs (i.e. Mary Kay, Legal Shield, Amway, Herbalife): If don’t have a product that you believe in yet, you can choose one and become a member of a Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) organization which have catalogs of products that you can sell to your existing networking.

If you liked this post, check out these related ones:

10 Reasons Everyone Should Have A Side Hustle

3 Steps To Finding Your Next Side Hustle

The Entrepreneur’s Checklist: How To Build A Company In A Year

Are You Hustling Backwards: 21 Ways You Might Be