Side hustle ideas from people who actually run them
Real side businesses, described by their owners. Filter by cost, time and how they earn.
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- 651 ideas
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- 14 publications and shows
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- Files sold online: templates, printables, ebooks, stock photos, fonts, presets, plugins, recorded courses
- A web app, SaaS, mobile app, browser extension, bot or API that people pay for or that earns from ads
- A blog, niche website, newsletter, YouTube channel, podcast or social account that earns from ads, affiliate links or sponsors
- Making, printing or reselling physical goods, online or in person
- Doing work for clients for a fee: freelance, consulting, done-for-you services, repairs, local services
- Earning from something you own: renting property, rooms, equipment, vehicles, parking, vending machines, domains
- A job board, listings site, directory or marketplace that connects buyers and sellers
- Live tutoring, lessons, workshops, coaching or cohort classes
Matching ideas
About the data111 ideas, page 1 of 3
- Services and freelancingA solo consultant advises teams of five to two hundred people on AI, starting with a paid inbox audit that is credited toward a longer retainer.OnlineThe Side Hustle Show, 2026
- Services and freelancingOffering AI assessments that show businesses what they can automate, then building the solutions with tools like Claude. The founders started by texting people they knew.Under $100OnlineThe Koerner Office, 2026
- Services and freelancingWriting and editing articles for companies that pay for human experience and voice, with AI tools used as helpers. Clients come from Upwork and cold outreach.Under $100Part-timeOnlineThe Koerner Office, 2026
- Content and mediaShort product review videos uploaded through the Amazon Influencer Program, which appear on product listings and earn commissions. The approach relies on filming high volumes of products found close to home.Online and in personSide Hustle Nation, 2026
- Services and freelancingWriting jingles for plumbers, roofers and pest control companies, then running them as skippable YouTube ads in the client's area. AI music and voice tools now replace the studio.OnlineThe Koerner Office, 2026
- Services and freelancingThe operator gathers one client's documents, structures them, and loads them into a custom GPT or Claude project so a specific audience can ask it questions instead of the owner. The example was a business broker whose buyers queried the assistant about a listing.Under $100Hands-offOnlineCorey Ganim (YouTube), 2026
- Services and freelancingThe operator replaces a repeated manual process with an automation built on off-the-shelf tools such as Zapier, Make or Asana, usually after a short diagnostic. It is charged as a one-off project, with a walkthrough video and a how-to-fix document handed over.OnlineCorey Ganim (YouTube), 2026
- Services and freelancingThe consultant interviews the owner of one business process, documents how it runs, cuts the wasted steps, and hands over current and future process maps. Automating the redesigned process is sold as a separate follow-on.Under $100Part-timeCorey Ganim (YouTube), 2026
- Services and freelancingVisiting homes under construction to photograph and verify progress for lenders before loan draws are released. Jobs come through inspection marketplaces, with almost no startup costs and no special license.Under $100Side Hustle Nation, 2026
- Services and freelancingThe operator organizes a client's promises, decisions, projects and preferences into a set of linked markdown notes that AI tools can read, then keeps it current with ingest and review routines. It is sold as the first engagement because later automations depend on it.Under $100OnlineBuild With AI, 2026
- Content and mediaDocuments government processes for immigrants and earns commissions on services they need, such as banking, insurance and translations, plus some consulting.Hacker News, 2026
- Services and freelancingWrites technical documentation and grant proposals, matching funding sources to institutions.Under $100OnlineHacker News, 2026
- Physical productsSold pesticide-free produce foraged from leased land and roadsides at farmers markets.In personHacker News, 2026
- Services and freelancingAn experienced operator sits in leadership meetings for companies without a technology chief, finds where AI helps, and builds or teaches the team to build it. It is billed as a monthly retainer, and a paid training day often leads into it.Part-timeOnline and in personRyan Doser, 2026
- Services and freelancingHandling building permits for property owners and developers as a niche service, using skills learned while flipping houses. Clients come by referral, with no ads or cold calling.Side Hustle Nation, 2026
- Services and freelancingA recurring dog poop cleanup service for homeowners, started with almost no money as a side project. The founder also teaches the model to others through a paid community.Part-timeIn personSide Hustle Nation, 2026
- Content and mediaPosting engaging content, much of it screenshots of other people's posts, to a Facebook page enrolled in Facebook's content monetization program. Facebook shares ad revenue with the creator.Under $100A few hours a weekOnlineSide Hustle Nation, 2025
- Digital productsA template for a note-taking app with a user guide and video course based on the owner's personal system, sold to customers.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2024
- Services and freelancingGets income to support open source maintenance from Patreon, private consulting and a company sponsorship.Under $100OnlineHacker News, 2024
- Content and mediaPublishes personal notes from nonfiction books on a site and earns some money from it.OnlineHacker News, 2024
- Digital productsWrites and self-publishes science fiction romance books on the side.Under $100OnlineHacker News, 2022
- Content and mediaRuns a newsletter that profiles the home workspaces of makers and creators, earning recurring revenue.OnlineHacker News, 2022
- Physical productsPut cartoon T-shirt designs about software error messages on craft sites.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2022
- Content and mediaRuns a small blog about cash flow that earns a modest monthly income.OnlineHacker News, 2022
- Digital productsSelf-publishes fiction and is growing a backlist and an email newsletter to increase sales.OnlineHacker News, 2022
- Digital productsSells a curated list of places to promote side projects, for makers wanting traffic, directly through Gumroad.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2021
- Teaching and coachingTutors middle and high school students in math and CS for an hourly rate.Under $100Hacker News, 2021
- Physical productsEarns twice-yearly royalties from a published book and small licensing deals for translations in other countries.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Digital productsCompiles articles and tips from a newsletter into ebooks sold on Leanpub and Amazon.OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Content and mediaA long-running blog on frontend topics that earns from ads and search visitors with only occasional new posts.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Content and mediaMoved all past writing behind Medium's paywall and removed calls to action to qualify for distribution. Earns a monthly share from reader time.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsWrote a regular expressions pocket reference for a technical publisher, earning ongoing royalties.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Content and mediaA regular newsletter about web tools that earns income and leads to paid writing work.A few hours a weekOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Teaching and coachingTeaches and mentors beginners in web development for companies and bootcamps, in evening sessions.Under $100Part-timeHacker News, 2019
- Teaching and coachingTeaches English and prepares students for standardized exams. Some students paid in food and drinks.Under $100Part-timeHacker News, 2019
- Digital productsSells a Ruby book on a self-publishing platform, first in the owner's native language and now being translated to English.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Digital productsWrote introductory programming tutorials and sells them as ebooks on Leanpub.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsBuys old and mid-century furniture from thrift shops and garage sales, fixes it up and resells it on Craigslist.Online and in personHacker News, 2019
- Services and freelancingTranslates books about magic, often old ones found along the way, for an editor. It began as a hobby and now pays.Under $100Part-timeHacker News, 2019
- Services and freelancingA CTO with hiring experience helps founders figure out who they need to hire and how to approach them, including finding co-founders.Under $100Part-timeOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Rentals and assetsRents out spare bedrooms to short-term guests through Airbnb.Online and in personHacker News, 2019
- Digital productsCreated sticker sets for a popular messaging app and earned from their sales.Under $100OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Services and freelancingOffers immersive consumer research, interviewing people and documenting their homes and daily routines, then analyzing it to give founders insight into customer behavior. Clients come by referral.Part-timeHacker News, 2019
- Services and freelancingWrites articles for other people, often on topics outside the writer's own expertise, as one of several side gigs.Under $100OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Services and freelancingA solo lawyer takes referral clients for small legal jobs like setting up LLCs, winding down or selling a business, and reviewing NDAs, charging less than larger firms.Under $100Hacker News, 2019
- Teaching and coachingTaught guitar, theory and recording part-time, and now teaches small groups online and consults with bands on production and composition.Hacker News, 2019
- Physical productsWrites nonfiction books on science and curiosity topics, landing book deals with publishers based on the success of an earlier title.Under $100OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsDesigns t-shirts with jokes for machine learning and data science fans and sells them through a print-on-demand storefront.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019