5 Easy Side Gigs That Pay Well

Earn your way to extra money with these easy side gigs.

If you’re angling to open a second income stream, the first thing you probably want to know about any side hustle you’re considering is what it pays — but what you should be asking is how hard the money is to come by.

The most famous side hustle of all is driving for Uber or Lyft, but is chauffeuring strangers — sometimes rude or inebriated — around in your own car really for you? If you want to make money rideshare driving, you’ll have to work some long, hard hours — and the same could be said for a lot of the other most popular gigs. 

The good news is, that you can make just as much money or more with a hustle that’s less of a grind. 

Make Your Money Work Better for You

Drop Shipping

The average drop shipper makes $21 an hour or $42,657 per year, according to ZipRecruiter. It’s not free money, by any means, but there are certainly more taxing e-commerce gigs that don’t pay nearly as well.

Drop shippers are online middlemen who build websites and list products — but they don’t actually ship anything or keep any inventory on hand, which is what makes it one of the most popular side gigs. When they make a sale, they pass the customer’s information and order onto the manufacturer or wholesaler and collect a commission for their troubles.

Tutoring

Tutors make nearly as much as drop shippers — the median tutor can expect to earn $18.27 an hour, according to PayScale — and they can work with grade school kids, high schoolers, college students or adult learners.

The job doesn’t come with the stress, prep and rigor of being a teacher, and you don’t have to show up to work at a school. You can set your own hours, choose your pupils and it’s among the more scalable side gigs. Many tutors have turned their hustles into full-time jobs that pay more than most educators can hope to make.

Resume Writing

If you don’t have the skills or the desire to help people learn, you might have what it takes to help them get a job. Resume writers make an average of $21 an hour, according to ZipRecruiter — one of the highest-paying side gigs on this list. 

If you have a background in HR, career coaching, or as a hiring manager, helping job hunters put their best foot forward on paper could be a light lift for a heavy payday.

Computer Repair

If you have a knack for tech and a way with electronics, you can make even more as a computer repair technician than you would as a tutor or drop shipper. According to Salary.com, the median computer repair tech makes $30 an hour. Whether you make house calls or operate out of a home office, fixing troublesome computers requires skill, experience and concentration — and it can be stressful — but it doesn’t exactly qualify as hard work.

Renting Your Car

The easiest side gigs are the ones that deliver truly passive income, which is exactly what P2P car rental marketplaces like Turo provide. If you have a car that you drive only rarely, you can open a new revenue stream by renting it out to car-less drivers who need a vehicle but want to avoid the hassle and expense of Avis and Hertz. According to Turo, the average vehicle host earns $10,516 per year — but many hosts have gone full-time by scaling up with more cars.