9 Best Side Hustle Ideas to Earn an Extra $4000/Month from Home

Last updated on February 26, 2022 - My Free Marketing newsletter 👀

What difference could an extra $4000 a month from a side hustle make in your life?

It could mean an extra vacation with your family or friends… Maybe that big-ass TV you’ve always wanted… Maybe some extra money saved at the end of the month.

Or maybe just a whole bunch of tacos (that’s what I’d pick).

If you’re looking for a way to make some extra money on the side, I got you! Use these side hustle ideas to start a business anywhere in the world, no matter if you're on your iPad, iPhone, or laptop.

There’s no excuses — I’m literally giving you the ideas (for free!)

BONUS: How To Start A Business While Working A 9 to 5

9 Best Side Hustles to Earn an Extra $4000/Month from Home

Best Side Hustle Idea #1: Employee Referral Bonuses (AKA a Headhunter)

When I worked at Mint, they offered $5000 for referrals and I was a hungry 25-year-old so when I wasn’t spending time working on the marketing, I was actually trying to find referrals to bring people in (so I could get the bonus).

I ended up making $10,000 by referring the lead designer and one of the lead developers!

So if you’re unemployed or maybe even working from home, go to job boards and see who’s hiring… And then go see if you have any friends that would fit any of these job roles.

If you do, I would recommend contacting the company and say, hey, you're looking to hire a person for that role and I have a friend who might be a great fit… Can I just refer them to you? If it actually works out and you end up hiring my friend, would you mind donating to me at the end of it? You could totally pay what you want if it ends up working out.

For the company, there's no risk and for your friend, you're actually hooking them up with hopefully an even better job! And you can become a headhunter for mid-level, low-level, or high-level roles.

Here’s what you need to know about starting a headhunter side hustle:

• Many big companies have Employee Referral Bonuses (and if they don’t, talk to management about setting one up)
• The average Employee Referral Bonus people got in 2020 was around $2,500 per person referred

I think this is one of the easiest side hustles to get started, and it’s also really rewarding because you're helping people find work and you're also helping companies hire great people.

It's a win-win situation for everyone.

Best Side Hustle Idea #2: Set up Email Campaigns & Auto-Responders

For AppSumo, email is our #1 marketing channel.

We’re almost a $100 million dollar revenue business so that means $50 million dollars a year is generated by us sending emails.

So go to other businesses and set up their email marketing as a side hustle!

Adam Moncrief did this and he’s done over 52 email marketing-related jobs and earned over $100k on Upwork… Wow!

The value with this side hustle is not only are you providing a great service for companies, but you’re also helping them make even more money, so it’s very easy for them to justify the ROI when they hire your services.

How to get started with an email marketing side hustle:

• First, understand email marketing before you go and sell it to other people
• Get used to email marketing tools. SendFox is a tool I created, but there’s a bunch of other email marketing tools out there
• Sign up for a bunch of online store newsletters and see if they actually send you any emails. If they don’t, then make an email for them! Don’t just email them and ask if you can… Actually make a sample email for them and send it to them and say, hey, I'd love to help you with your email marketing, here's exactly what I can do for you
• Plus, tell them you’re helping them make free money! Make it simple for them to say yes. Tell them, hey, if you send emails I'm pretty sure you'll be able to make $XXXX amount of dollars based on what I've seen

Help solve other people’s problems — that’s always a great way to get business.

Best Side Hustle Idea #3: Launch an Ebook, Course, or Template & Sell it on Appsumo!

Make an ebook, course, template, or software…

And then launch it on AppSumo!

AppSumo is one of the sites I helped start and it’s the #1 marketplace for entrepreneurs — so if you can create helpful tools for entrepreneurs, then we’ll market them for you!

You can turn any skill you have into an ebook or course or template or whatever. Maybe it’s something to do with marketing, maybe it’s finance, maybe you make really cool design templates… Whatever it is, make it and then list it and you can make recurring revenue straight from the AppSumo audience.

It’s a super simple side hustle to set up — give it a try.

DON'T MISS: My step by step guide to starting a business with a day job

Best Side Hustle Idea #4: Remote Virtual Assistant

Remote virtual assistants (or “VAs”) are super in-demand right now, and it can be a pretty cool job.

As a virtual assistant, you’ll usually handle things like:

• Calendar and schedule management
• Monitor emails
• Answering and directing calls
• Light bookkeeping/make bill payments
• Fetching and returning parcels

And it’s a really great job to do on the side while you’re in school, or maybe if you’re a stay-at-home parent because it’s super flexible and can pay around $19 to $39 per hour depending on your skill level.

I found my virtual assistant, Jamie, through a referral from a friend, but he discovered her from a site called Hire My Mom. So if you want to start a side hustle as a virtual assistant, you could list your services on there or other sites like Fiverr, Assistantly, or Upwork.

Or, just ask your friends what’s on their to-do list that you can take off their plate (for free!) for the next two weeks.

Everyone always has things they need help with and they don't have enough time to be able to do.

Best Side Hustle Idea #5: Host a Virtual Team-Building Activity on Airbnb

Kat and Alan host a popular Airbnb Online Experience with almost 2,000 reviews!

They offer virtual living room scavenger hunts for large groups of people or corporate teams, or even just for date nights!

How it works is that the person hosting the event gives out a riddle regarding something that’s common in everyone's house (like peanut butter) and the attendees have to go out and find that item. The last person to find the item loses the round, and the scavenger hunt is over when there’s just one last person standing.

See an example of how it works here.

Why this is a great side hustle idea:

• After the pandemic, a lot of companies are transitioning to remote work, and virtual team-building activities like this are a great way to bring the whole team together (we’ve actually done something like this at AppSumo before)
• It’s a great way to bring friends and families together virtually
• And it keeps date night fun and interesting!

How to get started with this side hustle:

• Find companies that have people working remotely and say hey, I’ve got a great team-building activity you can use with your team to have fun and bring people together
• Find out where you can find new clients. Make a listing on Airbnb Experiences like Kat and Alan did, or other online marketplaces so other people and companies can find you
• Go on LinkedIn and see which of your friends have companies (or work at companies) that are remote and just offer to do the first event for free. Just ask them to refer you to another company if they liked the event!

It’s that simple to get a virtual team-building side hustle up and running!

Best Side Hustle Idea #6: Sell Upcycled Items on Etsy

For this side hustle idea, sell upcycled items on Etsy.

Paula Keck owns a popular Etsy store with over 144 five-star reviews, and people send their loved-ones old clothes and she turns them into teddy bears, quilts, or pillows.

I like that she uses Etsy but you can also use Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace to do the same sort of thing.

Upcycling things is a great side hustle idea these days because people are much more environmentally conscious, and it’s an idea that would work pretty much anywhere in the world.

To get started, ask your friends if they have anything they want to get rid of and take it off their hands. Just go have fun with it — see what you can turn it into or what fun things you can build. But make sure it’s still something you can actually sell to people.

Once you've actually found a thing that people are really excited about, then I would recommend going to Etsy. First, I would go through my own network and then I would go through referrals… Then I would go to Etsy and Facebook Marketplace and other places like that to then scale-out my side hustle.

Best Side Hustle Idea #7: Host In-Person Parties with a Twist

Back in 2013, I was invited as a guest to go on Tim Ferriss’ TV show.

We helped a freelance yoga instructor start an in-person party business by combining yoga and disco.

Her yoga disco party business was able to make $1050 dollars in its first week!

People have been so cooped up from Covid that they’re dying to experience something interactive. But, instead of throwing a generic party, you can create something really unique by combining two different concepts and creating a unique party from your home.

Some examples:

• Starwars + speed dating event
• Hawaiian + wine tasting
• Glow in the dark + tango dancing

Just pick two opposite things and mash them together and find people who like doing both those things to come to your event!

How can you get your first customers?

• Text your friends! Say, yo dawg, I’m thinking about doing this thing, can you Venmo or PayPal me some money if you want to come?
• Check out Facebook groups and invite a bunch of people. Or make your own Facebook event!
• Find WhatsApp groups and get in touch with people that way

See if you can actually get people excited about it. If you actually find an activity that's working, you can then figure out how to scale it to be even bigger and better.

Remember that you can start small. You don’t have to have a super big budget or have a ton of people come to your first events. Every business starts with just a few dollars and then you can figure out how to scale it out later.

Just get your side hustle started first, then figure out how to grow it.

Best Side Hustle Idea #8: Sell Home-Baked Goods on Facebook Marketplace

Today, there are 1 billion daily active users on Facebook Marketplace… And no, it’s not just used to sell your junk.

There are tons of people selling home-baked goods like cookies, cheesecakes, or bread on there.

One of our channel producers, George, actually used to order ube tarts from Facebook Marketplace because it was actually cheaper than the ones being sold at his local bakery when he purchased them in bulk — and they tasted great!

Maybe you don’t bake ube tarts, but you could be cooking lunches and meal prepping for people!

Start posting different dishes or desserts that you already make to see if anyone else also wants some. If there's an interest, then you can actually make the item.

This is the customer-first approach (find your customers first, then get your product) which we talk about lots here.

But if baking isn’t your thing, you can pretty much sell anything (legal) on there. For example, if you’re into woodworking, you could sell standup desks. Get creative!

There's a lot you can try out, but the thing I think we should all take away from this is to look for places where there's people actively raising their hand to spend money and go see what things you're excited to make and they're excited to buy from you.

Best Side Hustle Idea #9: Photography for Pets

In 2012, J.B Shepard was hanging out at his favorite local bar and chatting with the bartender. The bartender told him that her dog was going to die soon, and she wanted to get some nice photos of her dog before it died.

There were some other pet photographers in the area, but the bartender didn’t like their flowery family portrait style, so J.B took up the gig and tried something different.

Because his first gig went well, word of mouth spread pretty quickly with other local dog owners, and J.B started getting more gigs from it. Later on, he scaled his business (now called Puptrait) by creating custom pet costumes as props for the photos so he could charge a premium price.

The pet industry in the US is a $99 billion industry, and many households have at least one type of pet. So even if you aren’t into dogs, maybe you like cats or hamsters or rabbits or something.

Just think about the pet industry like a tidal wave and how you can get your own little surfboard on it to ride a wave, and you’ll do really well.

How to get a pet photography side hustle started?

• Make a Google or Excel sheet of all your friends who have a cat or dog
• Ask them if they are willing to pay you $25 to get some professional pictures taken
• Post those pictures to your Instagram, start getting the word out even more
• Now look at any local groups on Facebook or WhatsApp or Slack and see if you can get any other people with pets interested

Maybe it’s not even pet photos, maybe you rent pet costumes or rent pets for birthday parties or events. Maybe you manage different people's pet Instagram accounts!

The point here is that photography for pets is a great starting point, especially if you want to be a photographer.

Are you going to try out one of these side hustle ideas?

There’s 9 side hustle ideas you can start today from your phone or laptop and start bringing in some extra cash on the side.

Let me know if you try any of these out or if you have any other great side hustle ideas 🙂

 

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