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 data180 ideas, page 2 of 4
- Physical productsDesigned a 3D printed upgrade for a worn part in certain coffee grinders and sells it through a print-on-demand storefront. Traffic comes from repair guides.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Digital productsCreated sticker sets for a popular messaging app and earned from their sales.Under $100OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsOrdered men's bracelets with a custom logo from an overseas wholesaler and resold them on Etsy and a personal site, until dropshippers hurt the market.OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsSells custom signs to businesses, with an online sign creator for simple designs and help with more complex ones. A supplier makes and ships the signs.Part-timeOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsA website where customers tailor a writing pad to their handwriting style, sold as a physical product.OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsSells phosphorescent cosmetic modifications for synthesizers, a niche hardware accessory product.$100 to $1kOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsSelf-taught circuit board design, then sold a few products to a niche market with no marketing. Sales faded as cheap copies appeared.OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsRuns an online store focused on keto and nutrition products in Canada.OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsWrites nonfiction books on science and curiosity topics, landing book deals with publishers based on the success of an earlier title.Under $100OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsDesigns t-shirts with jokes for machine learning and data science fans and sells them through a print-on-demand storefront.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsSells genuine Intel processors on a local classifieds site in a country where import costs make online marketplaces hard to use, earning a margin on each sale.A few hours a weekOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Digital productsSells a harmonica instruction book and science fiction short story collections on Amazon, and also sells stories to magazines.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Digital productsWrites travel and lifestyle books and sells them as ebooks and print on demand on Amazon and Apple. Little ongoing work after publishing.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Digital productsA site selling themes for static site generators that has started making sales.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Services and freelancingPurchased a website that sells custom YouTube intro videos at a low price per order, and aims to grow it and hand off tasks.OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsSells high-quality pet toys, treats and collars, and started with dog-themed T-shirts printed and shipped by a supplier. Holds pet inventory at home and ships orders.OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Software and appsA few games the owner published that continue to sell a little each year without any input.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsRuns an online clothing store where ordering and fulfillment are automated. Sells meme shirts and promotes through social media only.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsDesigns and sells sketchpads for mobile and browser wireframes through a Shopify store, reordering inventory in larger batches as it sells out.$100 to $1kOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Software and appsPublishes a few small utility apps on the App Store and keeps improving them. Income comes from app sales.$100 to $1kOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Digital productsTranslates well-regarded public domain works into English and sells them as ebooks. Finding niche topics is the key.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Digital productsWrote and self-published an e-book about CSS that has kept selling a year after launch.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Digital productsWrote an ebook on starting and growing a subscription box business, drawn from running one. Sold through Gumroad, Amazon and iBooks, and still sells a little each month.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Digital productsWrites and publishes erotic stories as Kindle ebooks and earns from sales.Under $100OnlineHacker News, 2018
- Digital productsA small shop selling pre-production, storyboard and film treatment templates through an online marketplace.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Digital productsSells online courses on algorithmic trading through its own site and Udemy. Maintenance is mostly answering student emails.OnlineHacker News, 2018
- Digital productsCreated video courses on Udemy that keep earning money after the initial work.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Digital productsLists virtual machines on major cloud marketplaces that come set up for Ethereum development, with video tutorials. Revenue comes from VM sales.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Digital productsWrote and self-published a book about a game framework. Earns a small monthly income from sales.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Digital productsWriting and self-publishing a tutorial book on the Angular framework.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Software and appsPublishes several Android apps on Google Play. One got an editor's pick, which boosted sales for a while.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Digital productsProduced a video course and a book about the Flask framework. Earns ongoing royalties from sales.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Physical productsPays writers to produce books, then lists and markets them on Amazon, releasing roughly one title a month.OnlineHacker News, 2017
- Physical productsCreates sports-themed apparel designs sold through a print-on-demand marketplace, starting with a niche. Fulfillment times and prices have been the main obstacle.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2017
- Digital productsCreated a user experience design course with a friend and sells it through Udemy. Profit is split between the two creators.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Physical productsTurned public patent drawings into wall art images, cleaned up by a hired assistant and batch processed. An online store sends orders to a print and fulfillment service automatically.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Digital productsDesigned responsive device mockups and sells them on a graphics marketplace. Sales were strong early on and have tapered off since.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Software and appsBuilt a web-based synth and drum machine that is free as a demo. Sells a downloadable desktop version without the restrictions.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Software and appsSells a cross-platform desktop task manager with a Kanban-style board, through a trial-based license on Gumroad and the Mac App Store.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Physical productsDesigned a printed upgrade for a worn part in a popular coffee grinder and sells it through a print-on-demand marketplace. Traffic comes from a repair guide on a fix-it site.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Rentals and assetsHolds a portfolio of valuable domain names and sells them, using brokers to handle the deals. Income comes from large one-off sales.Over $10kHands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Digital productsWrote and published an e-book on Amazon about saving money so you can work less and pursue goals.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Digital productsWrote an ebook aimed at bootcamp graduates looking for their first developer job. It sells directly and through partnerships with a couple of online bootcamps.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Physical productsUploaded humorous fan designs to a print-on-demand merchandise site and earns small royalties when items sell.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Digital productsCo-wrote a book on user acquisition and built a video course to go with it, funded through crowdfunding backers. Income comes from sales of the book and course.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Software and appsA desktop tool that shrinks images without visible quality loss. Offered as a free version with paid upgrades, plus plugins for design software.OnlineHacker News, 2016
- Software and appsA lossless screen recording app for macOS sold through the Mac App Store and its own site. Adds features like animated GIF export to keep sales coming in.OnlineHacker News, 2016
- Directories and marketplacesSold a few domains at a profit and then launched a site selling high-quality startup names to fund other ventures.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016