There are plenty of reasons to do a side hustle, which is a part-time, flexible job that you can do while working full-time or staying at home and caring for your kids. Read below for an extensive list of side hustles, including jobs from home, online jobs from home, creative jobs, and remote jobs.
Before you accept any contract or job offer and start working, make sure to do your due diligence and research the company! Go on mom forums and ask if anyone has worked for _____ company what their experience has been like. Google the company to read reviews online. Check websites like Fairygodboss and Glassdoor for anonymous employee reviews. If you have a funny feeling about a company, ask your contact to get the HR manager’s or owner’s direct contact info. If they refuse to provide it that’s a red flag.
There’s lots of scams out there unfortunately. I’ve done my best to vet the companies I am recommending, but I always advise to do some additional research to be on the safe side.
Remote / Contract Jobs
I’m going to start by talking briefly about www.flexjobs.com, because I used it personally to find my current contracting position. FlexJobs is a website that features flexible jobs across all industries, part and full-time, from entry-level through executive-level. The reason I love FlexJobs so much is because I know the positions and companies featured are credible (you won’t get scammed), and there are literally thousands of flexible jobs listed and updated every single day.
The Work at Home Woman offers an extensive list of products to sell online. If you are someone who is naturally great at sales and marketing and you are comfortable with or open to learning how to network and sell online, direct sales might be an area worth exploring. I know a lot of mamas who are making an amazing living (both part and full-time) from direct sales.
Before you dive in, I suggest spending some time researching products (if there is not already a product or brand that you already know and love) and reflecting on which brands speak to you and why.
Blogging
To earn money blogging, you ideally want to have a topic that you are knowledgeable of, and more importantly, passionate about. There are tons of ways to make money blogging, including affiliate advertising and marketing, selling a product (e-commerce), offering e-courses and webinars, and more!
As a blogger myself, I am sharing a couple blogs that have awesome resources for bloggers and entrepreneurs, including assistance with how to choose a blog topic, write stellar blog posts, and get your blog up and running.
Ruth Soukup and Jennifer Maker are two highly successful bloggers and they offer many FREE webinars and e-courses on starting a blog and making it successful and profitable (I have personally taken many of their free online courses and they are incredibly helpful).
Customer service
If you are more on the extroverted side and you love and get energized by talking to people over the phone, customer service is definitely an area worth exploring.
Virtual Assistant
Virtual assistant jobs are great for people who are detail-oriented and who have strong organizational, project management, and time management skills. If you already have a background or experience as an executive assistant, even better!
Education / Teaching / Tutoring
As online education platforms and programs continue to grow rapidly, teachers, counselors, tutors, and coaches have an enormous number of virtual positions and side hustles to select from.
Writing & Editing
Are you detail-oriented and do you possess exceptional writing and editing skills? If you are someone who can sit and concentrate on projects for long periods of time, then a writing or editing side hustle might be for you!
Upwork (select “find jobs” in search menu)
Marketing
Marketing positions are great for people who are good at communicating (both verbally and in writing) and love to analyze information and data and make recommendations.
Nursing and Healthcare
Are you a current or former healthcare worker or nurse looking for a more flexible position? Check out the many virtual healthcare jobs available!
UnitedHealth Group (type “virtual” in “Job Title / Keyword” box)
Chat Agents
Would you prefer doing customer-service related jobs via chat (i.e. non-phone)? Are you someone who can establish quick rapport with and communicate empathy to customers? Can you multitask, stay motivated, and organized? If you answered yes to most of these questions, you might want to consider becoming a chat agent.
Bookkeeping
If you have a background in finance or accounting, you can sign up with a staffing agency (listed below) to get contract and freelance work.
Engineering and IT
Dice (type “remote” in “Job Title / Keyword” box)
In addition to researching online, it can also be helpful to do some networking in order to gather more information about finding a side hustle. You can use social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram to send a message out to your contacts to see if anyone knows of anyone working in your targeted field and if they might be willing to connect you.
You can also use LinkedIn to find professionals directly. For example, let’s say you want to get a side hustle in marketing. You can search for and join marketing-related groups and also search through your current connections to see if there is anyone working as a marketing contractor, or any other position of interest. When you find people who are doing jobs that appeal to you, you can ask them if they would be willing to talk with you for about 15 minutes about how they got started in their side hustle and if they have any tips for you regarding how to be successful.
If your contact is a friend, you can treat them to coffee. If you don’t know the person, you can just do the info interview over the phone.
Typical questions to ask during an informational interview are:
- How did you get started in your hustle?
- How many hours per week do you typically spend doing your hustle?
- Do you know of any resources you can point me toward that will help me get started
- What do you like the most about your side gig? Anything you dislike?
After an informational interview, be sure to write a thank you note to your contact. You always want to have what I call “good career karma.”
Are you ready to go out there and get that side hustle?
I can’t think of any reasons why anyone shouldn’t start a side hustle. A side hustle can bring in extra income, and more importantly, allow you to have a special outlet and place to pour your interests and creativity. So what are you waiting for? If after this article you’re still looking to find online jobs from home, check out RemotePad, which evaluates additional job board sites.
Finally, if you’ve already started a side hustle, I’d love to hear about what you’re doing, how it’s going and how you’re working productively from home.
MGS
DO NOT WORK FOR EDITFAST!
Something is going on with EditFast and/or its owner Robert Kidd, and they have suddenly stopped paying their editors. I’ve been registered with the site for several years and taken on a variety of small projects during that time, for which I was always paid. Last year I edited two much larger projects and never received payment. All emails and follow-ups I’ve sent since have been ignored. I wanted to believe it was an honest mistake and I would eventually be paid, but after seeing recent comments on other sites about other editors also not being paid, it’s obvious this is a larger trend and I wanted to warn others before they waste their time on work they may not ever be paid for.
Lee Beaser
Hello and thank you for the feedback about EditFast! I will remove them from my list of side gig companies. That’s terrible that you didn’t get paid! Sorry that happened to you.