Side hustle ideas from people who actually run them
Real side businesses, described by their owners. Filter by cost, time and how they earn.
- Ideas
- 651 ideas
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- 14 publications and shows
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- 8 categories
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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 data34 ideas
- Services and freelancingThe operator audits the landing pages of established trades companies, offers AI-built funnels and booked-job systems, and wins clients through a free case-study build, mail and local meetups.Part-timeOnlineThe Startup Ideas Podcast, 2026
- Services and freelancingWriting and editing articles for companies that pay for human experience and voice, with AI tools used as helpers. Clients come from Upwork and cold outreach.Under $100Part-timeOnlineThe Koerner Office, 2026
- Services and freelancingWriting jingles for plumbers, roofers and pest control companies, then running them as skippable YouTube ads in the client's area. AI music and voice tools now replace the studio.OnlineThe Koerner Office, 2026
- Services and freelancingThe operator gathers one client's documents, structures them, and loads them into a custom GPT or Claude project so a specific audience can ask it questions instead of the owner. The example was a business broker whose buyers queried the assistant about a listing.Under $100Hands-offOnlineCorey Ganim (YouTube), 2026
- Services and freelancingThe operator replaces a repeated manual process with an automation built on off-the-shelf tools such as Zapier, Make or Asana, usually after a short diagnostic. It is charged as a one-off project, with a walkthrough video and a how-to-fix document handed over.OnlineCorey Ganim (YouTube), 2026
- Services and freelancingThe operator sets up one AI agent as an administrative helper for a small business, hosts and monitors it, and coaches the owner on working with it. The coaching proved necessary after infrastructure-only setups did not stick with clients.OnlineBuild With AI, 2026
- Services and freelancingThe consultant interviews the owner of one business process, documents how it runs, cuts the wasted steps, and hands over current and future process maps. Automating the redesigned process is sold as a separate follow-on.Under $100Part-timeCorey Ganim (YouTube), 2026
- Services and freelancingThe operator organizes a client's promises, decisions, projects and preferences into a set of linked markdown notes that AI tools can read, then keeps it current with ingest and review routines. It is sold as the first engagement because later automations depend on it.Under $100OnlineBuild With AI, 2026
- Services and freelancingWrites technical documentation and grant proposals, matching funding sources to institutions.Under $100OnlineHacker News, 2026
- Services and freelancingThe agency helps software firms get recommended by AI chat tools by cleaning up a source-of-truth site and getting listed on the pages those tools cite. Clients are mid-size SaaS companies.OnlineThe Side Hustle Show, 2026
- Services and freelancingTrains custom image generation models for customers on request using an automated pipeline, charging per commission.OnlineHacker News, 2024
- Services and freelancingA file manager supporting many storage protocols. Earns by building custom plugins such as authentication layers.OnlineHacker News, 2024
- Services and freelancingWrites custom automation runbooks for networks and provides a web platform where customers run them.Part-timeOnlineHacker News, 2021
- Services and freelancingSells commissioned art, licenses existing work from a large catalog, and puts designs on print-on-demand sites for low-effort extra income.OnlineHacker News, 2021
- Services and freelancingBuilds and schedules automations for small businesses, using knowledge gained in a day job about common business pain points.OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Services and freelancingDoes adult webcam work with an established base of private clients, using it as flexible fallback income between jobs.A few hours a weekOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Services and freelancingTranslates books about magic, often old ones found along the way, for an editor. It began as a hobby and now pays.Under $100Part-timeHacker News, 2019
- Services and freelancingA CTO with hiring experience helps founders figure out who they need to hire and how to approach them, including finding co-founders.Under $100Part-timeOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Services and freelancingRuns an audio engineering business, mixing and mastering music across many genres for new and experienced artists.Over $10kPart-timeOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Services and freelancingWrites articles for other people, often on topics outside the writer's own expertise, as one of several side gigs.Under $100OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Services and freelancingA solo lawyer takes referral clients for small legal jobs like setting up LLCs, winding down or selling a business, and reviewing NDAs, charging less than larger firms.Under $100Hacker News, 2019
- Teaching and coachingTaught guitar, theory and recording part-time, and now teaches small groups online and consults with bands on production and composition.Hacker News, 2019
- Services and freelancingDoes software consulting for a previous workplace after leaving it, adjusting the rate each year for inflation.Under $100Part-timeOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Services and freelancingCleans messy Excel data for companies and sometimes builds simple web apps to replace the spreadsheets. Bills per row, flat fee or hourly depending on the project.Under $100Part-timeOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Services and freelancingOffers business strategy consulting to startups using topographical business maps. Aims to help avoid costly mistakes and support fundraising.Part-timeOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Services and freelancingBuilt an automated system for deploying webshops for a web agency owner, in exchange for a fee on each shop deployed. The income ended when the client retired.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Services and freelancingDoes enterprise software consulting in the evenings.Under $100OnlineHacker News, 2014
- Services and freelancingDoes social media and blog content for a jewelry company from home and subcontracts the work to a lower-cost writer.Under $100OnlineHacker News, 2014
- Services and freelancingRuns a blog that has brought a steady flow of consulting opportunities.Under $100OnlineHacker News, 2014
- Software and appsBuilt a machine learning system that solves captchas, paid per captcha, so income continues after the build.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2011
- Software and appsRuns a text messaging service with low per-message pricing. Earns from message volume.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2011
- Services and freelancingDid site-to-WordPress theme conversions for clients, finding them through targeted AdWords ads.$100 to $1kPart-timeOnlineHacker News, 2011
- Services and freelancingOffers a service that helps startups write short, clear descriptions of their product for sites and their own pages.OnlineHacker News, 2011
- Services and freelancingA solo consultant interviews a small business owner about daily pain points, runs the recording through AI to match problems to existing software, and delivers a short written report plus a walkthrough call. It is sold as a fixed-price diagnosis, and the buyer can then hire the consultant for the follow-up work.Under $100Part-timeOnlineThe Startup Ideas Podcast