8 Great Side Jobs From Home: Monetize Your Free Time

Do you want to earn some extra cash but aren’t willing or able to work a traditional job? Well, stop thinking! The truth is that there are several great side jobs from home that you can use to monetize your free time. All you need is an in-demand skill – which you probably already have – and a good attitude and you’ll be up and running in no time. I’ve done it myself, and I’m one of many – read on to find the methods I’ve used and several work-at-home jobs that can be great money-makers.

1. Freelance writing

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the Internet is a voracious consumer of content and it always needs more – more copy, more blogs, more articles. If you can write a decent sentence, you can make money from that writing on the internet. Even better, if you can write well and fast, you can maximize your profits for every writing project you take on until you’re clearing several thousand dollars per month.

Because of its flexibility and income potential, freelance writing is one of the best jobs for stay-at-home moms in my opinion. You can work around your children’s nap or school schedule. You can do your work from anywhere and anytime, in most cases.

Of course, you need to know where to find the best paying writing gigs and how to deliver pitches that score you those projects. Try Gina Horki 30 Days or Less to Freelance Writing SuccessAnd consider pursuing ghostwriting, which can net you big checks per project.

2. Virtual Assistant

You probably already know that I got my start as a virtual assistant and I readily recommend it to my readers (yes, you!) as your bread and butter. A good VA is worth its weight in gold for busy (read: overwhelmed) professionals in many industries. And this is a side job that can be done online and part time.

You can get your start while working as a virtual assistant with a recruiting firm like Worldwide 101 or Belay. However, you will often discover the best money-to-time ratio and the fastest way to get hired is achieved by working independently and securing your own clients. You don’t have to pay a percentage of your income to a third party, and you can charge more than the $11-$18 per hour that most VA companies will pay you. Once you’re ready, check out this post on how to become a virtual assistant. And make sure you pick up the free 5-day email series on finding clients from Miranda Nahmias.

3. Blogging

I know you’ve heard it before, because it’s true: you can make a full-time income while blogging if you’re willing to work at it. Blogging is not something you write once a week and then collect advertising dollars – you have to have passion, be consistent and work on all the angles to make money. Give people a blog full of energy with engaging content and you’ll build a community of readers; Optimize it for SEO, and you’ll climb the search engine results and attract more readers. In the meantime, start building your mailing list and working with affiliate marketing. Find some way to add passive income – say through an ebook or web course, whatever the theme of your blog – and you’re on your way. Ready to start? Try blog by number.

4. Private labeling

Have you heard of private labeling? It’s pretty cool! Basically, you can build your own brand and sell your products online, all without doing any manufacturing or shipping yourself Instead, you have the manufacturer place your labels on the product, then ship it directly to a fulfillment center — like Amazon — who handles the rest for you.

This type of venture requires some investment up front, but once you’re all set up, you have the potential to make a nice income with little to no effort on your part (although it might be smart to do some outreach marketing yourself). To get started, check out my post Then start researching what products you want to sell and dream up your own brand.

5. Childcare

Good babysitting help is hard to come by. This is especially the case for parents who require off-hours care such as evenings or weekends. If you have the time, why not earn extra childcare for a single parent’s second job?

I recommend that you face the challenge first, then get child care insurance and take a first aid class that includes CPR for infants certification. You also need to find out if you need a license for a home childcare business. Once these items are taken care of, however, parents are certainly willing to pay a premium for a reliable and kind childcare provider – and who is more reliable than a stay-at-home mom?

6. Petcare

If you’re not good with kids, consider taking care of furkids instead! Home pedicures can also make you a pretty penny for busy traveling professionals. As with childcare, I recommend getting pet care insurance before you open your home to someone else’s beloved dog or cat. Also, if you enjoy playing with and walking dogs, consider expanding your services to include dog-walking. You can even moonlight on services like Rover. You’d be surprised how much people are willing to spend on their pets – unless you have a furkid or two and then you know what I’m talking about!

7. Retail Arbitrage

Retail arbitrage is an innovative way that you find things to buy low and sell high. Whether you’re a warrior hunting through weekend yard sales, a savvy shopper browsing the stores of big retailers, or a master at antique and thrift shopping, your primary goal is to find diamonds in the rough and buy them at the right price. Then you run to eBay or Amazon or Etsy and resell your finds for more than you cost This is another profession that takes some investment money, but if you’ve got the gift, you can bank. To get started, see my post “45 Ways to Buy Low and Sell High with Retail Arbitrage“

8. Small side jobs from home

Whether you work from home or in the office – one of the most important things to understand is that time is money. Make sure you’re earning whenever you can and that daily essentials work for you. Here’s what that means: Got some downtime while you wait for dinner in the oven or your kids finish up after-school activities? Fill out surveys, do some user testing, or choose a few microtasks and earn a few cents to tens of bucks for your time. When you’re shopping for groceries – or anything else! – Make sure you use it too Ebbets or Ibotta or a Swagbucks. And don’t forget the opportunity to earn cashback with your credit card (with responsibility, of course)!

diverse

One of the first important lessons to learn when working from home is to diversify your income streams – if you don’t have any remote employee work, and maybe even if you do, it’s important not to rely on a client or a contract job. Feed your family and keep the lights on. Instead, think creatively and set up multiple income streams.

You can start today with these work-at-home jobs while supplementing your income. Use every tool at your disposal to make a full-time income from home. The time is now!