Side Business Ideas
Having a side business with a full time job isn’t really easy but it is becoming common now-a-days. There are plenty of side business ideas which you can start today. With a trend on the rise of mobile and freelance based work, the side business ideas is not likely to slow down.
But before that you should have a complete knowledge of How To Start A Side Business.

Here we have discussed top 20 side business ideas that you can do while having a full time job;
1. Sell used items
The items or clothes, you no longer need or you no longer find spark in them. Don’t trash them. You are still in a good position to sell them. Resell you old stuff and clear your clutter, depends upon the quality of your clothes.
This semi-passive source of income can be very attractive side business idea. Because many people sell their used items at a very good amount of money. You can sell your gently used items like jewelry, clothes, shoes, accessories online.
2. Become a virtual assistant
Virtual assistants are the professionals who provide administrative services remotely to busy entrepreneurs, professionals or business men. They typically handle phone calls, answer e-mails, manage social media, schedule appointments and much more.
There is a rapid growing trend of having mobile workforce, who works remotely and provide their professional services. The market of virtual assistant is expected to grow by $11.5 billion by 2024, compared to $1 billion in 2017.
Virtual assistants makes a huge amount of money, depending on where they live, and the company they are working for. But it is a growing trend and many companies are willing to hire virtual assistants.
To succeed as a virtual assistant, you need to have a customer service oriented mindset, good time management skills, and ability and willingness to learn complex tasks quickly.
VA’s usually find work fiverr and upwork and also on social media sites like LinkedIn.
3. Become a tutor
Tutoring is a very good way to have an extra stream of money, and it’s a very satisfying job to do. Depending on your grip on any subject and where you live, tutoring can be very good side hustle for you, and it can become a full time job for you.
Students from all classes and ages, need some sort of tutoring for their respective subjects. If you have credentials in certain subject, you can help others succeed.
For this, you can put up flyers on local schools, libraries and can post it online about it.
Within this domain, you can grow a lot and can set up your own independent tutoring agency where you can hire other subject experts to teach the students.
4. Become a coach
Coaching is all about having a desire of making difference in other lives. If you have patience, empathy and you are a good listener and highly organized. Then it is a very profitable and rewarding side business.
Both adults and children have coaches. Adults have life coaches, executive coaches, and fitness coaches.
You can become career coach for an adult where you will a hybrid between a coach and tutor. You can evaluate your clients work related goals, preferences, strengths, weaknesses, and can also help them in writing their resume, practicing their interview skills.
For a child, a coach can help them developing important skills of life, that their parents or school will not teach them or where they don’t have time to teach them. Parents also hire a coach for their child so their child can develop a certain skill set.
5. Drive for uber or lyft
You can become a part time ride share driver on uber or lyft. It is one of the most widely available side businesses. This can be very profitable side business in big cities or tourist sites where rides are always in high demand.
For this, you need to have a valid driving license, insurance proof, and at least one year of driving experience. The profitability will be highly dependent on the place and time of the day in which you drive.
It is one of the easiest way to have a side business because if you own a car, then you don’t need any startup cost. The best part of it is that you can turn on or off your availability depending upon your own schedule.
6. Rent out your space on Airbnb
If you are living in highly trafficked, tourist or vacation destination area, and you don’t mind any stranger living in your home. Your ideal business would be to become an Airbnb host. You can rent out a room, or an entire home, using Airbnb.
Airbnb acts as a connecter between the host and the guest. You can make several thousand dollars annually with this side business through Airbnb. Some people turn their whole home for paying guests and earn a healthy amount of income.
7. Offer freelance services on upwork or fiverr
You can offer freelance services for whatever skill you may have. It could be writing, editing, proofreading, graphic designing, web designing, web development, translating or any other service that is in demand.
They can lead you to nice hourly income. They can also lead you to a contractual work that you can make your side business.
8. Create and sell online courses
If you have some skill set or you have academic credentials, you can create an online course on platforms like Udemy or Teachable.
You can earn a healthy amount of income through this depending on how much time you invest, how interesting you can make your teachings, and how you can provide value to whom you deliver the courses.
9. Become a part-time chef
Are you good at cooking? If you love to cook food, you can become a personal or part-time chef and prepare meal for other people.
You can easily capture market through making your own social media platforms as well as having an own website and app where people can directly order the food.
This service will be appealing to busy professionals, senior citizens, or families, who don’t have to prepare healthy meals. You can set up a profile on Hire A Chef.
10. Write and sell eBooks
As well as with online courses, if you are having a knowledge backed by credentials and skills. Then you can turn your precious knowledge into a side business. You can easily sell ebooks, like an online course in digital printing.
You can sell them through using platforms like KDP and CreateSpace both by Amazon. It costs nothing to produce and removing all the friction of getting published.
11. Become a social media manager
Many small and medium-sized businesses are in need of a social media manager to handle their social media platforms. Most of the businesses don’t have proper knowledge or expertise on how to manage their social media accounts. You can contact a local business and handle their social media accounts for monthly fee contract.
Even if you don’t have the expertise in it, you can take online courses on Udemy. This is an easy and interesting way to have side business.
12. Become an event planner
If you are looking for a fun side business, then you can become an event planner. Start an event planning business that doesn’t need much special training. But it requires healthy personal relationships, knowledge of the vendors in your area and extroversion.
You can set up website and other social media platforms so your clients can find you. You can plan parties, events, or weddings and much more. It will be pretty fun for you if you love to plan things in detail.
13. Become SEO consultant
SEO consultant is a high demand business right now. Managing a social media is another thing but understanding SEO is totally different and important now-a-days. You can set up a business and provide SEO services to small businesses in your town and earn money through it.
14. Become online domain flipper
You can become an online domain flipper. It is an emerging business. In domain flipping, you buy an online domain and later sell it for a higher price. Well, it is better to study first about the domain name for which there can be a demand later on.
There is some investment needed and nothing else and you have to find a domain that can come into demand later on. If you buy a domain with a strategy and homework you can easily earn several thousand dollars through it. You can buy domain from Godaddy, Hostinger.
15. Set up a channel on YouTube
According to Alexa, YouTube is second most visited website after Google. This shows that there is a huge potential if you want to earn from YouTube. But it is not one of the quickest ways to make money.
YouTube can pay you sufficient amount of money if you are making content that is in demand and people like to watch it.
16. Start a photography business
Just by having a DSLR camera or renting one, you can become professional photographer for anyone. It is very effective side business. Start shooting on the side, and start building up your portfolio of work, and establish a local reputation.
You can also make money by selling your photos online, or at any event. You can become a successful wedding photographer.
17. Sell creativity
If you love to draw, designing T-shirts, have an excellent graphic designing skills, you can turn your creativity into business. You can print and sell a number of items like bags, mugs, hats, T-shirts, shoes, stamps, hoodies, skateboards and much more.
18. Become a consultant
You can become a freelance consultant in field the of your expertise, experience, knowledge and skill. Use your existing skill, and you can open a consultancy. But also avoid conflict of interest with your current job. You can also become travel consultant if you live in a tourist destination.
19. Start a blog
If you have good writing skills then blogger is an excellent way to earn money from your own website. You can monetize it through advertising. But it can take a lot of amount of time to generate traffic and make money through it.
You can also work as a guest blogger for any other website. In both cases you need to be consistent and post a quality of content regularly.
20. Sewing or altering clothes
If you know how to sew and you are skilled in altering clothes, then you can turn this skill into a side business. You can also teach it to others and set up small online or physical classes.
Final Words
Lastly, there a huge number of side business ideas that are on internet. But a side business that will work for you will be that one that matches with your interest and skill that you have. Side businesses are usually started with passion.
So, choose a side business that you are passionate about and ready to sacrifice your time, enjoy doing it, and you may find out your side business growing into a full time job.
To increase your chances of success in starting a side business, also read How To Start A Side Business and How To Write A Business Plan.
Side Business Ideas FAQ
1. Which business can give me fast money?
There are some business ideas that can give you fast money and they are;
- Drive an uber or lyft
- Blogging
- Selling used items
- Selling creativity
- Renting out your space on Airbnb
2. Which side business makes the most money?
Here are some side business ideas that makes the most money;
- Become an SEO consultant
- Start a blog
- Sell creativity
- Become a consultant
- Become a social media manager
- Become a consultant
- Create and sell online courses
- Writing and selling eBooks
3. What unique business can I start?
You can start a unique business by generating an idea for a niche market. Target that niche market, so much so that you will have little or no competitors in that niche.
4. What business can I do to earn daily?
You can do a side business through which you can earn daily like;
- Drive for uber or lyft
- Offer freelance services on upwork or fiverr
- Create and sell online courses
- Become an SEO consultant and expert
- Start a blog
5. What is a good side business idea to make money?
The best side business ideas are the those that help you earn money. It can be by providing products or services to a target market or in a niche market. The good side business can also be something that you are passionate about and you have necessary skills for it. There are plenty of options out there to start a side business.
6. What side business you can start with little money?
Driving an uber or Lyft can be one of the lowest cost business idea if you own a car because it requires no start up cost.