6 Lucrative Side Hustle Ideas to Boost Your Income

We live in a world that is constantly changing and evolving, especially in the business scenario. Hence, it is very important to have a secondary source of income or a side hustle to earn some extra income. With the recession inching closer to almost every sector of the economy, many jobs are at stake and it is best to invest some time for one or multiple side hustles (of course, depending on your bandwidth) to help you overcome unprecedented scenarios like a lay-off. A side hustle will also be helpful when you are looking for a career change or cover skill gaps.

With that being said, anybody could benefit from a side hustle and an extra income source. As mentioned before, in today's era having a full-time job is just not enough. Finding a good secondary income source can help you save enough for the future and also spend time on something you are passionate about.

Today's side hustlers come from a myriad of professional backgrounds, offering a wide range of products and services. Most of the side-hustling opportunities are experimental but flexible at the same time. You don't have to abide by stringent rules. You can work in a relaxed manner and earn some extra bucks! You just need to spare a few free hours.

Now, if you want to give it a try and turn your hobby into a source of income, then you might as well read through our article. Here, we list out 6 great gig ideas to help you set your path to becoming a side hustler.

Table of Contents

• 6 Lucrative Side Hustle Ideas to Boost Your Income
• Blogging
• Online Tutoring
• Freelance Graphic Designing
• Party/Event Planning
• Photography
• Baking
• Things to Remember Before Starting a Side Hustle

6 Lucrative Side Hustle Ideas to Boost Your Income

After doing our bit of research, we have come up with 6 of the most lucrative side hustle ideas that can get you a hefty salary/income without the need for any major upfront monetary investment. Take a look.

1) Blogging

Blogging is definitely one of the most popular side hustle activities that you will come across. If you are keen on creating valuable content for the online audience, then you can earn a considerable amount of income every month. You can charge more as the demand for your content increases. And the best part? You don't even have to work on a daily basis. You just need to put in a few hours every week to research, curate and deliver content that provides value to the audience, Having said that, you need to ensure that you are posting content on a consistent basis. Wordpress is a great platform to start your blogging gig. You can also reach out to businesses that need blogging services for their company blog via sites like Linkedin. 

You do not have to be tech-savvy to start blogging. All you need are strong language skills, and the ability to go the extra mile to research and deliver great content.

The average income from blogging: $500 - $2000 per month.

A helpful note: Organize and track the content marketing processes for your blog along with strategy planning via Retable's Content Planning Spreadsheet. Keep a tab of content details, publishing schedule,  and other metrics to run a successful content strategy for your blog.

2) Online Tutoring

Do you have the ability to transfer knowledge in an effective way? Do you love to teach? Then, online tutoring would be a great side hustle for you. When you choose online tutoring, you also get the advantage of setting the time and frequency of your tuition classes at your will. You can have as many sessions as you like. However, make it a point to help your students and provide quality services. It shouldn't affect their learning sessions. Online tuition classes can be offered for a variety of areas like academic subjects, musical instruments, digital marketing, languages, art, etc. Now, if you are not able to find students of your own you can always depend on established online platforms that offer such services and join as a part-time instructor/tutor and easily get paid on an hourly basis.

The average income per hour for online tutors: $30 - $100

3) Freelance Graphic Designing

If you are a professional graphic designer or have the knowledge and skill to deliver excellent designs, then you should consider transitioning into a freelance graphic designer for a secondary source of income. There are thousands of businesses and professionals who are in need of graphic design services. You can put your skills to good use by collaborating with them. You can create company logos, project posters, company cards, illustrations, social media posts, and images for blog posts. The list is quite long! All you need to start this side hustle venture is access to a design tool like Figma or Canva and the knowledge to use it. You can find enough clients by registering yourself on platforms like Upwork and Fiverr. Linkedin is also a great place to find clients.

Average income per hour: $29

4) Party/Event Planning

Are you a creative person who enjoys planning birthday parties or bridal showers for your close ones? Then you might want to make it into a side hustle because party/ event planning has great scope. You can collect photographs of the parties you have organized for your friends or family, find people who are looking for party planning services, and show them the photographs as your sample work. You can even post the photographs on social media to attract customers. Since you would be a newbie, it is best to start off your side gig with small birthday parties and bridal showers. You can then slowly build your reputation, learn more about planning bigger parties/events and move forward. 

You can also join as assistants to established event planners on a freelance basis and learn more about the craft.

Average salary per hour:  $12 – $75 + vendor commissions.

A helpful note: You can stay organized and on top of event/party planning with Retable's intuitive Event Planning Spreadsheet Template. With such a template in place, you can keep track of event details, guest lists, vendor contacts, budgets, and tasks for your event/party.

5) Photography

Do you have immaculate skills to capture great stills with your camera? Then why not make it into a lucrative side hustle? You will need a good-quality camera, and editing software to start the gig. Make sure you understand the elements that make a good photograph and know how to edit photographs. The next thing to do is to build a portfolio with your best work and upload it on social platforms. You can get customers from social sites. Additionally, you can also sell your photographs on stock websites such as Adobe Stock, Pexels, Shutterstock, or Etsy.

Average salary per hour: $17.44

6) Baking

If you love baking cakes and cookies or any delicacy for that matter, do consider making it into a side project. The demand for good bakers is increasing day-by-day and you could make a fortune out of it. You could set up a makeshift store at a fair or market or even simply start an online bakery to sell your baked goodies. Now, if none of the above ideas work out, just get in touch with a local bakery and collaborate with them. Again, be very careful while accepting orders. Take a limited number of orders only. Do not bite more than you can chew.

Average salary per hour: $13.71  - $15

Things to Remember Before Starting a Side Hustle

Yes, indeed side hustles are a great way to earn some extra income. However, before starting off, you will have to invest some time in a bit of legwork. Firstly, you will have to conduct in-depth research about the prerequisites needed to start your side hustle. The next step would be to check how feasible is it for you to start it or continue it. You should also see if it aligns well with your current lifestyle. The final step is to know where you can promote your services and gain enough customers to earn an ample income. 

Also, once you start your side gigs keep a tab of the projects you have to deliver along with their deadlines. You should also check if you are paid regularly for each project. Sometimes, with many projects and tasks in the pipeline, your client could miss one or two. If you find it hard to keep up with the ongoing project counts, deadlines, and payments, you can always turn to tools like Retable.io where you can depend on smart project tracking and project planning templates 

With so much done, you can easily start a side hustle and make a good living out of it.