Being a student isn’t easy, and one of the biggest hardships you will face as a student is finding the finances to do things like… well… eat. Fortunately, the has never been more opportunity for students (or anyone, for that matter) to make a little extra income on the side.
In the interests of making life a little easier for our intrepid knowledge seekers and future leaders, we’ve put together a list of thirty side hustles that students can help make life a little easier while you are putting yourself through higher education.
Start a YouTube Channel
YouTube has made many people rich, and even though those people are a huge minority, there are many many more people who make a respectable side income from the platform.
And, given the popularity of YouTube, there is no shortage of advice out there to get you started. You can even start right here! You can create a channel around something you are passionate about, something you are knowledgeable about (both is a bonus) or even what you are studying.
Start a Blog
Essentially the same premise as starting a YouTube channel, just with written words instead of video! As with YouTube, you can start a blog about anything you have a passion for, special interest in, or knowledge of. It could be the subject you are studying, your favourite genre of movie or novel, or just weird facts from around the world.
If you have a talent for telling an interesting story, you can put that talent to work in blog form.
Offer Dog Walking Services
You don’t need to limit your side hustles to things online, of course. One example of a real-world side hustle is dog walking services. Pet dogs are more popular than ever, but that popularity, unfortunately, coincides with a time when more of us are out working than ever before.
Enter the intrepid dog walker.
If you like dogs, you could make a respectable side income by taking several of the furry little critters out for walkies, giving their owners some peace of mind in knowing that their best friend isn’t being neglected at home.
Become an App Tester
A lot of effort goes into making apps work, but all the effort in the world won’t make up for a lack of user feedback. App developers naturally would rather get that feedback under controlled circumstances, rather than putting an app out and waiting for the negative reviews.
That’s where app testing comes in. There are many services that provide the opportunity to be an app tester, here are a few of them;
Become a Secret Shopper
Secret shopping is the kind of side hustle that will sound like a dream come true to the right kind of person. Also called “mystery shoppers”, these are people who are paid to shop in stores or eat in restaurants with the hidden agenda of collecting information.
There isn’t a great deal of financial rewards for this side hustle, but you will typically be reimbursed for your purchases.
Take Paid Surveys
One of the older and more well-known side hustles of the Internet age is the paid survey. Exactly as the name suggests, paid survey companies will pay you a modest sum to complete a survey, with your answers being valuable to market researchers and other similar parties. Here are a few paid survey sites to get you started;
Become Part of the Machine
If you don’t have a particular skill or interest in mind for your side hustle, you could take a more generalised approach with something like Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. This is a service that operates on the principle that humans are still better than machines at some things. Essentially, people who need a large number of small tasks doing (things like tagging images) can sign up and do just that.
Offer Online Tutoring
If you’re a student, it’s safe to say you’ve at least done well through primary and secondary education. That’s great for you, but there are millions of children (and adults) who are struggling with this very thing.
You can offer online tutoring in subjects like maths. Or, if you have particular areas of expertise, you could tutor in those as well.
Start an Online Course
On the subject of areas of expertise, if you are particularly knowledgeable in something, you could create an online course around it. Again, this could be something you are just good at, or it could be something you are studying, perhaps offering an introductory level of education to a subject that you are studying at an advanced level.
Sell Old Items
Granted, you wouldn’t be able to keep selling old items forever, but there are several apps (and, of course, eBay) designed to make it easy for you to find a buyer for some of your old things, from clothes to gadgets.
Become a Reseller
Essentially, the difference between someone selling old items and this suggestion is that you will be first seeking out items to sell before you can sell them. This might mean scouring things like Facebook Marketplace and Craiglist for hidden gems, or it could even mean buying things in bulk to get the price down.
Become an Affiliate Marketer
Affiliate marketing is the process of advertising someone else’s product in exchange for a “piece of the action”, so to speak. The most well-known example of this is Amazon Affiliates, where you can link to any product on Amazon and make a little cut of any sales you generate.
This side hustle works best if you have something to pair it with, such as a YouTube channel, or a blog, but really anywhere you can promote something will work. You could even go door-to-door… but we wouldn’t recommend it.
Sell Print-on-Demand Merchandise
Got a flair for design? There are many services on the Internet that allows you to create products like t-shirts, mugs, mouse mats, and other things of that nature with little more than a click of the upload button.
Again, this works especially well if you have a popular YouTube channel to base your products on, but if you can create compelling designs, you can certainly make print-on-demand merchandise a successful side hustle in its own right.
Sell Artwork or Photography
If you do have that creative flair mentioned in the last tip, you could always put it to good use in other fields, such as selling artwork and photography. A number of sites will let you upload stock imagery so that you can profit from the licensing of those images. Just remember that once you do this, you have no control over how the image gets used, so be careful what images you choose to sell.
Write an eBook (or a physical one)
When “write a book” is suggested, the first thing people tend to think of is a novel. Now, if you have it in you to write a novel, certainly give it a go. But as side hustles go, it’s not the most effective way to make money. Given the typical time it takes to write a novel combined with how long an average publisher takes to respond (probably to say “no thanks”), you might not be a student by the time you see any money from a novel.
But you can create eBooks (or regular books) that are non-fiction and centred around something you are an expert in.
Offer Proofreading and Editing Services
Don’t fancy writing a book? What about proofreading someone else’s? Most of us can put together a blog post, but we’re not all up to a professional standard with the technical aspects of our writing.
If you are confident in your command of the English language (or any language, for that matter), you can offer your services as an editor or proofreader, checking other people’s work for mistakes.
Become an Influencer
Granted, not everyone can become an influencer, but if you have an entertaining personality and you like being in front of the camera, becoming an influencer may be a viable option for you.
Influencers typically operate through social media platforms, such as—Instagram, or Facebook—and can earn money through brand deals.
Become a Ride-Share Service Driver
If you have a car, you could consider working for a ride-share company like Uber, or Lyft. Services like this give you the ability to have complete control over the amount of time you spend working on your side hustle—a kind of flexibility that is a must for busy students.
Become a Virtual Assistant
No, we’re not suggesting you be available 24/7 to respond to questions anytime someone says “Siri” to their iPhone or “Alexa” to their Amazon Echo. Websites like PeoplePerHour.com make it possible for you to find people who need certain assistant-like tasks completed, such as email management.
Review Apps and Websites
Similar to testing apps, there are also sites that will pay you to review apps and websites. We’re not talking about being paid to review something by the company that made that thing—that would be cheating. This is typically for sites that offer consumer information, and want a large number of honest reviews.
Become a Translator
If you know more than one language, you could find work as a translator. This will typically be written word translation, but you can certainly find verbal work as well. This could even be paired with our “transcribe audio” suggestion a little further down.
Deliver Things
Similar to Uber (indeed, including Uber), there are companies that offer the delivery of things like food and other items, and they need people to make those deliveries. Unlike Uber, however, this work doesn’t necessarily need a car. It’s a common service offered in big cities and can be done on a bike.
Offer Cleaning Services
Many of us struggle to find time to keep our homes or workplaces as clean as we’d like, so why not take that load off someone’s mind by offering cleaning services! This sort of work can be done in the evening or on a weekend, so it shouldn’t affect your studies.
Sell Advertising Space on Your Car
Getting your brand in front of eyeballs is most of the battle for advertisers, but that’s good for you because it means you can get paid simply for letting advertisers use your car as an ad. Services like Carvertise will pay you as much as $500 a month to put ads on your vehicle.
Rent Out Your Car
Or you could rent out the whole thing! Car-sharing services like Getaround can connect you with people who need to rent a car, letting you earn a little extra cash. If you’re not using your car at the time, this one is a no-brainer.
Rent Out Your Parking Space
If you have a parking space you’re not using in a part of the world where it’s hard to find parking spaces (we’re looking at you, London), you could rent it out to someone, and put that land to good use.
Transcribe Audio
While speech-to-text recognition is getting better by the day, humans are still often needed to transcribe audio. You don’t need any particular skill for this, but being a good typist will make your life much easier if you decide to take on some transcription work.
Become a Freelancer
If you have a skill, you could just charge people to use it. Whether it’s copywriting, illustration, video production, and more And the good thing about freelancing is that if you like it, freelancing can always become a full career when you are done with your studies.
Become a Social Media Manager
If you have a knack for social media, there are plenty of people out there who do not that would be willing to pay you to help them grow their online presence.
Get a Part-Time Job
And, finally, the obvious one. From tending bar to stacking shelves, there is always the option to go out and get a part-time job, earning money the old fashioned way.
