21 Side Jobs for Women That Will Bring in Extra Cash
Women hustle. It’s in their DNA. If you’re a woman, you know how to work hard and overcome the obstacles that come up along the way. You’re willing to do what it takes to provide for your family, even if that means putting in a little more elbow grease than what most people are comfortable with.
But sometimes, because of family obligations or other life events, finding extra time can seem next to impossible. That’s where side hustles come in. And you may be wondering if there are ways for women to make money online, especially because you need to work from home. The answer to that is yes … check out No. 2 especially. And No. 6. And No. 17.
Sides hustles are great for women looking for ways to make money around their kids’ schedules, such as during school hours, nap time, or in the evenings. They give you the chance at earning some extra money on your own schedule.
21 Side Hustles for Women
In this post, we’ll show you 21 out-of-the-box ideas of side hustles for women that bring in at least $1,000 a month. The jobs are:
- 1. Freelance Writer
- 2. Virtual Assistant
- 3. Photographer
- 4. Personal Shopper
- 5. Professional Organizer
- 6. Online Tutor
- 7. Rideshare Driver
- 8. Airbnb Host
- 9. Crafter
- 10. Drop-Shipping Entrepreneur
- 11. Blogger or Podcaster
- 12. Food Delivery Driver
- 13. Storage Provider
- 14. Personal Chef
- 15. Car Rental Hustler
- 16. Stock Market Investor
- 17. Online Gamer
- 18. Eagle-Eye Shopper
- 19. Online Course Designer
- 20. Movie-Watching Moneymaker
- 21. Online Real Estate Investor
1. Freelance Writer
If you’re good at writing and it’s something you enjoy doing, freelance writing is a lucrative side hustle that’s flexible and easy to start.
Freelance writing has many benefits, especially for a stay-at-home-mom, such as:
- You don’t need any formal training.
- You can write on your own time and virtually from anywhere. Write while the kids are napping or they’re at soccer practice—there are no limitations.
- As a freelance writer, you can choose the niche you write in. That means you can write about things you’re passionate about and get paid for it. Want to write greeting cards? Go for it! Are you good at resume writing? That’s always in demand. There’s such a strong need for content creators today that you’re sure to find a writing gig in almost any niche.
How Much Do Freelance Writers Make?
Good writers make pretty decent money: the average writer rakes in a little over $63,000, according to ZipRecruiter, so making $1,000/month part-time is totally doable.
2. Virtual Assistant
What exactly do virtual assistants do? Their role is to be someone else’s right hand, be that through helping them manage their online business or just get their life in order. Some common tasks for a virtual assistant include:
- Data entry.
- Managing social media accounts and profiles.
- Sourcing, arranging and booking travel itineraries for clients.
- Organizing and scheduling meetings.
- Communicating with clients via email or phone calls.
- Preparing reports, presentations or documents for client review.
You don’t necessarily need a lot of experience to be a virtual assistant: just a strong work ethic, good communications skills, a computer, and an internet connection.
How Much Do Virtual Assistants Make?
As a virtual assistant with no experience, you can expect to make about $7/hour, in which case it would take you around 7 hours of work every day during weekdays to get to $1K per month. Not exactly a side hustle.
Once you get some more experience, though, you can expect to make an average of $32/hour, meaning you’ll be able to dedicate just 5 hours per week to reach the $1,000 monthly mark.
3. Photographer
Are you the go-to person everybody asks to take their pictures for them at parties and get-togethers? That’s a clear sign that you may have a hidden talent for photography, and your phone’s memory bank might just be a goldmine that could turn into a steady source of passive income, generating some extra cash with little to no extra effort.
All you have to do is upload your photos to different stock photography websites like Shutterstock or iStockphoto and start turning your photos into cash.
How Much Can You Make From Selling Stock Photography?
Before you get too excited, you should know that it’s a bit hard to actually start making money on these platforms since there is a lot of competition.
To give you some idea, in one case study, a contributor uploaded 444 photos to Shutterstock and, after 8 months, had only earned around $150. At that same rate, if you were to upload 1,000 photos, they would earn you only $40-$45 per month, which is nowhere near $1,000. However, do consider that this is passive income that can continue to earn for years with no additional effort.
Still, a little extra money every month never hurts, and if you dedicate a few hours per day to taking more photos, you can end up making well over $1,000 every month from these platforms alone.
4. Personal Shopper
Many women love shopping and offering others advice on what they should buy, so becoming a personal shopper is one of those side hustles to consider.
Personal shoppers provide their services to busy professionals who don’t have the time or energy to shop for themselves, but still want to look good. As a freelance personal shopper, you’ll work with clients over email, phone or video chat, visit stores, help clients choose the clothes that are best for them, and perhaps even deliver purchases directly to their home.
How Much Do Personal Shoppers Make?
According to Glassdoor, personal shoppers earn an average of $30,000/year working 25-30 hours per week, so it’s a great way to make more than just $1,000 per month in your spare time.
5. Professional Organizer
Organizing is a tough job, but somebody has to do it. If you can help the cluttered get their affairs in order, it won’t take long for word to spread and for you to gain a few clients. Professional organizers generally work from clients’ homes during the day, so keep that in mind if you don’t have the flexibility to take on more during regular work hours.
If you feel like this is something you want to try out, a great way to hit the ground running is to join a group like the National Association of Professional Organizers or NAPO. There, you’ll find like-minded people who love organizing, you can get your name added to a growing catalog of professional organizers that will help you find work, and you can even take courses to polish your skills.
How Much Can You Make as a Professional Organizer?
As an organizer with no experience but strong organizational skills, expect to earn around $22/hour. At that rate, it will take you less than 12 hours per week to make $1,000 a month.
6. Online Tutor
Studying on your own can be frustrating, even if you opt for a high-quality online course. Thankfully, there are people like you that love teaching others about their specific skill set. If you have a passion for biology, calculus or any other subject, it might be worth your while to earn some extra income by becoming an online tutor.
Tutoring is flexible work. If you’re really good, you may end up having a major positive impact on the lives of your students, while you bring in income.
In 2021, the lucrative Chinese tutoring market was closed off to American teachers and to for-profit tutoring companies. From The Penny Hoarder story: “The Chinese government announced in August a prohibition for foreign tutors to teach their children online and limited the hours students could take additional classes beyond their normal school hours.”
Still, there are online tutoring jobs and one of the more lucrative ways for women to make money.
How Much Do Online Tutors Make?
Rates vary depending on your field of expertise and years of experience, though you can expect to earn anywhere from $10/hour to $50/hour and up. If there’s any subject matter that you’re particularly good at, tutoring is a surefire way to make some extra money online.
7. Rideshare Driver
You certainly don’t need a degree or any special skills for this job. As long as you know how to drive and you can pass the companies’ background checks, then there’s nothing stopping you from making some money in your downtime driving for Uber or Lyft.
How Much Can You Make Working For Uber Or Lyft?
This is an amazing side gig because it doesn’t require much effort, unlike other jobs like being a personal shopper, which requires constant running around and being on your feet all the time. It can also pay very well, with reports of drivers earning $90 to $140 per day depending on where they’re working.
All in all, if you have a car and are looking for something temporary to do while meeting new people, this is a nice side hustle to consider.
8. Airbnb Host
You might be surprised at how easy it is to make extra money if you live in a popular tourist city. All you need are some spare rooms and an Airbnb host account.
The average Airbnb host makes about $1K/month, but these earnings vary dramatically depending on where you live, the time of year, and the size and type of home or room you have up for rent.
How Much Can You Make On Airbnb?
The global average for renting out your entire home is $110/night, while in the U.S., it’s $161/night. Of course, you’re able to set your own rate, so if you have a really nice listing with modern furniture and appliances, that increases your earning potential dramatically. When you’re ready, you might even consider making a business from your Airbnb hustle.
9. Crafter
Many of us have a hobby or particular talent we like to indulge in our spare time. Whether it’s woodworking, pottery, sewing or knitting, these hobbies can easily become a great source of extra income if you know where to sell them.
One great place to sell your crafty creations is on the world’s largest marketplace for handmade goods: Etsy. With more than 30 million unique monthly visitors and millions of items for sale in over 200 countries, you’ll find plenty of people who want to buy what you’re making.
Bonus: Over 80% of Etsy sellers are women.
How Much Do Etsy Crafters Make?
According to shmoop.com, the average income you can expect to make as a crafter selling your work on Etsy is around $44,000 though you will likely have to hustle for this. This means that you’ll be comfortably making over $1,000 a month without hassle, and you’ll have a great time in the process. After all, crafting is a fun hobby.
10. Drop-Shipping Entrepreneur
If you’re looking for more than just a side hustle — something you can turn into a real business with little upfront cost — starting a drop-shipping business may be a good way to go. You don’t need an MBA to start drop-shipping, though you do need at least somewhat of an entrepreneurial spirit. If you don’t feel confident, there are plenty of online courses out there that cover the basics.
Drop-shipping is a retail strategy that lets you get products in front of your customers without ever having the product on hand. You purchase goods from third-party vendors and have them shipped directly to buyers, bypassing the need for warehousing or stocking inventory.
One great thing about drop-shipping is that it’s always cash flow positive: you sell the product to your customer before buying it from your supplier. This simplifies many of the liquidity issues small business owners run into, and helps you set yourself up for success.
Shopify and Oberlo are two digital giants that can get you started in the e-commerce game.
How Much Do Drop-Shippers Make?
Drop-shipper earnings vary wildly, from zero to tens of thousands of dollars per month. If you manage to find a popular product with healthy margins, there’s almost no limit to what you can make.
11. Podcaster or Blogger
#1 on this list was becoming a freelance writer. But what if you love writing, but you don’t want to write for someone else? In that case, forget freelancing and start a blog of your own.
(If you aren’t ready to go out on your own, contract your services to a dentist, attorney or any other professional with a business that wants to connect with clients and potential clients. You can write their blog posts for them.)
You don’t have to limit yourself to writing alone. Content is king—no matter its format—so experiment with text, images, videos, audio, or all of them at once. If you’re more comfortable speaking than writing, becoming a YouTuber or a podcaster may be a better fit than starting your own blog.
Thousands of women run blogs to make money online on their own schedule, and they generally find it much more rewarding than being a virtual assistant or walking the neighborhood dogs.
There are a number of content management systems that can help you get your blog started, offering templates and tutoring. The pricing varies on the services you need, including hosting your blog. WordPress is probably the most popular and widely used, but there are others such as Wix and HubSpot.
How Much Can You Make Through a Blog?
Thoughtful blogs with carefully-crafted content can generate thousands of dollars of revenue per month with little overhead, which is why blogging is one of the quickest ways to hit the $1,000/month mark. It will, though, take time to build up to this amount unless you already understand the ways to make money from blogs. This post from Penny Hoarder contributor Dana Sitar explains how she uses affiliate marketing to monetize her blog.
12. Food Delivery Driver
Delivering people to where they need to go isn’t the only way to make money with your car. Those people need to eat and they want food from their favorite restaurants — and fast food places — delivered to them.
Food delivery isn’t a particularly glamorous gig, but it’s easy to get into, and allows you to work on your own time. If you’ve got kids or another job, this is definitely a side hustle worth considering.
How Much Can Food Delivery Drivers Make?
You can also join UberEats and start delivering food to earn an extra $8 to $12/hour. By dedicating five hours to this job every weekday, you’ll make about $1K/month (before accounting for gas). If you work on the weekends as well, you can earn even more.
Drivers for DoorDash can earn between $11 and $15 an hour depending on location, but those earnings aren’t guaranteed. Those hourly rates are based on how many orders are accepted by the driver and also factor in tips.
Grubhub drivers make about $12 an hour, more with tips. That’s an extra $11,000 a year if you can put in 20 hours a week. Not bad for making your own schedule that works around other obligations.
13. Storage Provider
Many of us have storage space that we don’t use or need, and that space can be monetized if it’s valuable to others. Perhaps you have a two-car garage but only one car. Why not offer the extra parking space for a monthly fee?
Another option is to offer space — perhaps garage or basement space — that a neighbor or a local business can use to store their belongings. Of course, you’ll want to consider how to keep those belongings safe, and how to give others access to a part of your home without jeopardizing your own privacy. But once you work through these temporary difficulties, it’s a great use of your excess space, and a win-win for everyone.
How Much Can You Make Renting Out Storage Space?
You’ll have to get the word out that you’ve got space to rent and Neighbor is one digital option. Another might be the bulletin board at your place of worship or community center. If you have school-age children, get the word out through the parents group. Neighbor says garage rental space could bring in $100 to $600 a month, obviously depending on how much room you have and how difficult storage space is to find in your area.
14. Personal Chef
Does everyone praise your cooking every time you have someone over for dinner? Would you love to start making money from your passion in the kitchen, but don’t have the money to start a restaurant? Working as a personal chef is a fun and great way to use those spare evenings while making a good bit of money on the side.
To be clear, personal chefs don’t only cook for millionaires in their mansion, though that is certainly possible. You can also offer your services as a freelance chef on a website or on social media. That way, when someone wants to host a special dinner party or gathering, they can create a unique experience and take the stress of cooking off their hands.
Or you might even provide weeknight meals a couple of times a week for several of your friends and their families.
How Much Does A Personal Chef Make?
The national average for full-time starting chefs is about $15 an hour, and wages move up rapidly from there. In fact, chefs usually earn between $70K and $90K per year. So, if you can get a few regular clients that have you working on the weekends and one or two nights per week, you can reach $1,000 a month without too much trouble.
15. Car Rental Hustler
We’ve already seen two different ways to make money out of your car, but both of them involve you driving it. That means you’re investing your time — but what if your car could earn you money without requiring any of your time?
It may sound inconvenient to be without a car but if you’re working from home, how much are you using it anyway?
A couple of websites that can help facilitate renting out your care are RelayRides.com and GetAround.com.
There are more than a few apps that let you rent your car out to others, who pick it up, drive it, and deliver it back to you. While this has some obvious inherent risks, the companies behind the apps generally include car insurance to keep your vehicle protected.
How Much Will You Make Renting Your Car Out?
It all depends on your vehicle’s make, model, and year, but if you rented your vehicle out 20 days per month at $50/day, that’s $1,000 right there.
16. Stock Market Investor
Investing in the stock market can be intimidating, especially since you risk losing some of your money. However, investing is also a great way to make a decent income once you learn the ropes.
If you’re not sure how to get started, subscribing to an investment newsletter — either a free or a paid one — is a good way to see how experienced traders are making money in the markets. There are many women making thousands of dollars per month from their investments, but it’s important to educate yourself on how the markets work before jumping in.
If investing is something you’d like to try out, you’ll need to start by choosing a broker. There are many out there that offer different perks and features. And there are apps like Stash that help you invest your money in stocks, ETFs and other assets with little or no commissions. Apps that charge commission offer other benefits in return.
Want to know more about Stash? Check out The Penny Hoarder review of Stash.
With most brokers, you can generally make practice investments using virtual money inside of a demo account. This protects your hard-earned cash but allows you to learn the lessons to turn you into a stronger, more profitable investor.
How Much Can You Make in the Market?
As I said, investing in the stock market is risky business. Some people end up losing money rather than making it. This makes giving an accurate estimate of how much you actually stand to earn very difficult. As proof of that, estimated salaries tend to vary a lot, depending on who you ask. ZipRecruiter, for example, puts the average at around $54K, while Glassdoor shows an average of $75K and some salaries that go as high as $300K. Not bad at all but it would be smarter to think and start smaller.
17. Online Gamer
Who doesn’t like the idea of winning real money when killing time with online games? Imagine if we’d been getting paid for playing solitaire on those old Windows 98 PCs from back in the day! You can actually earn money these days by playing online games, and a very popular one is, in fact, Solitaire Cash.
Solitaire Cash is a free app that pays you every time you reach the top-three spots of any given tournament. It’s that simple! No catch, no strings attached. You earn money based on your skills in the game and on your ability to beat other players on the same deck of cards you were dealt.
This is an extremely easy way to make money in your spare time if you have what it takes to finish solitaire games quickly.
How Much Can You Make Playing Games?
Ok, so this is another case that is very dependent on both your skills and the time you put into playing. To put things in perspective, professional gamers haul in an average of $60K a year. While you probably won’t start at that level, it seems very doable to reach $1,000 a month by playing every time you take a break from your chores, the kids, or even your regular day job.
18. Eagle-Eye Shopper
A penny saved is a penny earned, as the saying goes, so as we near the end of our list of ways to earn more money, it’s worth mentioning how you can save, too. Earning cash back on your purchases is one great way to do exactly that.
There are many different ways to earn cash back. You’ll find that many good credit cards offer cash back rewards on certain spending categories like food and travel, while others offer it on gas or by shopping at specific retailers.
Others still, like Aspiration, throw in extra perks like planting trees on your behalf, supporting eco-friendly and ethical businesses, and even doubling all your cash back rewards if you become carbon neutral.
How Much Can This Side Gig Bring In?
Saving money with cash back depends heavily on two things: your spending habits and which cash back program you join. It is worth noting, though, that saving (read earning) $1,000 every month implies spending a lot of money on a monthly basis. While this is a way to make $1,000 per month on particular occasions, but probably not every month.
19. Online Course Designer
An alternative to online tutoring that requires less time yet is still a good source of passive income is selling online courses. Video courses are particularly attractive, since many students prefer learning visually over reading. There are dozens of platforms where you can market your courses: some general, some more niche, and each with their own payout structure.
If you’re good at something and you enjoy teaching it to others, launching your own online course is an ideal side hustle for you.
How Much Can You Make from Your Online Course?
So, obviously this depends on how many courses you have to offer, many people end up buying it, and what your price point is. Suppose you have a blog that receives 1,000 visitors per month (very low bar) and you publish your course offering it at $20 a pop. This means that you would only have to convert 5% of your audience to make $1,000 every month, without any additional effort.
20. Movie-Watching Moneymaker
Surveys aren’t our favorite way to make money, but if you’re just vegging out on the couch — or sitting through Moana with your toddler for the 27th time — why not click a couple of buttons and earn a few bucks?
We’ve tried many paid survey sites, but two of the best we’ve found are InboxDollars and Swagbucks, which is run by a company rated A by the Better Business Bureau.
How Much Can You Make?
Considering that you can make, on average $0,4 to $2 per survey on Swagbucks, it’s very easy to reach the average $100 per month. If you’re thinking, “Hey! That’s missing a zero,” it’s because it is. Making $100 in Swagbucks is easy, but making $1,000 takes work. However, it is doable, which is what really matters.
21. Online Real Estate Investor
Want to try real-estate investing without playing landlord? We found a company that helps you do just that.
Oh, and you don’t have to have hundreds of thousands of dollars, either. You can get started with a minimum investment of just $500. Fundrise does all the heavy lifting for you.
Through the Fundrise Starter Portfolio, your money will be split into two portfolios that support private real estate around the United States.
This isn’t an obscure investment, though. You can see exactly which properties are included in your portfolios — like a set of townhomes in Snoqualmie, Washington, or an apartment building in Charlotte, North Carolina.
You can earn money through interest payments and property income (e.g., rent). You’ll get paid via quarterly distributions, plus extra periodic distributions if properties are sold.
How Much Can You Make as an E-commerce Real Estate Investor?
According to millionacres, real estate investors make an average income of over $70K per year., which translates to almost $6,000/month. This means that, if you choose online real estate as your next side hustle, you shouldn’t have any issues reaching $1,000 per month. As a matter of fact, odds are you’ll end up transitioning from side gig to a full-time job before you know it.
The Bottom Line
There are so many different side hustles that are ideal for women that there’s really no reason you can’t start making more money today. If you choose one or more options from this list, it won’t be long until your worries about money go away. We’ve given you 21 ways to answer the question, “how to make money as a woman?”
It doesn’t matter if you choose to become a virtual assistant or a food delivery driver: you can start making a full-time income on a part-time job with some of the side hustle ideas listed above.
Contributor Jordan Bishop writes about personal finance and hospitality topics. He is the founder of Yore Oyster, a website specializing in financial products review that includes a regular newsletter.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.
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