Side hustle ideas from people who actually run them
Real side businesses, described by their owners. Filter by cost, time and how they earn.
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- 651 ideas
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- Files sold online: templates, printables, ebooks, stock photos, fonts, presets, plugins, recorded courses
- A web app, SaaS, mobile app, browser extension, bot or API that people pay for or that earns from ads
- A blog, niche website, newsletter, YouTube channel, podcast or social account that earns from ads, affiliate links or sponsors
- Making, printing or reselling physical goods, online or in person
- Doing work for clients for a fee: freelance, consulting, done-for-you services, repairs, local services
- Earning from something you own: renting property, rooms, equipment, vehicles, parking, vending machines, domains
- A job board, listings site, directory or marketplace that connects buyers and sellers
- Live tutoring, lessons, workshops, coaching or cohort classes
Matching ideas
About the data22 ideas
- Physical productsA home micro bakery selling sourdough, cinnamon rolls, cookies and bagels from a front porch on Saturday mornings. Customers preorder and items sell out to lines of local buyers.$100 to $1kThe Koerner Office, 2026
- Services and freelancingSelling whole-home water filtration systems to homeowners through Facebook ads that show the price upfront, with licensed plumbers doing the installs. The channel notes that this model can require a plumbing license, for example in North Carolina.$100 to $1kOnline and in personThe Koerner Office, 2026
- Physical productsBuying underpriced lawnmowers, fixing common problems and reselling them. The operator ran it while in college.Online and in personSide Hustle Nation, 2025
- Physical productsBuys and resells collectibles, cars and sometimes collectible cars.Online and in personHacker News, 2021
- Physical productsMakes zines and artwork about fandom and adult themes, printing them at home and selling them.$100 to $1kHacker News, 2021
- Physical productsSold used but valuable computer chips in a local market, delivering in person to bakeries or by post, until import tax changes ended the margins.Online and in personHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsBuys and sells collectible trading cards such as Pokemon and Magic, managing an online store and in-person sales.Online and in personHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsTravels to the US regularly, buys phones where there is no sales tax, and resells them locally in a country where import taxes make them much more expensive.Over $10kHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsRuns a cookie bakery with mostly local delivery and some nationwide shipping, run alongside a career.Part-timeOnline and in personHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsBought rejected disk drives in bulk at auction from PC makers, tested them, and sold the working ones to shops and individuals.Online and in personHacker News, 2019
- Services and freelancingDelivered freshly baked cookies to dorms and homes near a university on rollerblades, paid per order, and built a delivery management site.Part-timeHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsDesigned and built ceiling lights with high brightness and color quality, working with manufacturers and selling to real-world customers.Online and in personHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsBuys old and mid-century furniture from thrift shops and garage sales, fixes it up and resells it on Craigslist.Online and in personHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsWith a friend, bought off-warranty corporate laptops, upgraded memory and storage or fixed keyboards, and resold them on eBay.Online and in personHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsBuys broken old computers, restores them and sells them on eBay.Online and in personHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsRan a hot sauce business with real sales until it started eating all spare time, then dropped it.Online and in personHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsBuys older luxury crossovers and hybrids, does the repairs and detailing in spare time, and sells them mainly to older buyers.Over $10kPart-timeHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsBuys and restores vintage furniture, then sells it online or to local stores as a picker.Online and in personHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsMakes pull-up bars for home fitness in a small craft business that also gives side-job work to a few people. Most customers buy only once.Online and in personHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsMakes yogurt from organic milk bought from a local dairy farmer and sells it.Hacker News, 2019
- Physical productsSells women's clothing through a direct-sales company, with help from a spouse on back office, shipping and sales, part-time assistants, and local networking for marketing.Online and in personHacker News, 2019
- Teaching and coachingTurned expertise in CSS layout into an online course and in-person workshops. Development teams buy licenses for the course, and the income funds standards work.Online and in personHacker News, 2016