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7 Side Hustles That You Can Start With No Money
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
Everyone wants to know how to make more money — that’s why side hustles have become a big part of many people’s lives.
Here are 7 side hustle businesses you can start today without spending any money.
Dog Walking
Dog walking is a relatively easy side hustle to get into, and it can provide a good amount of flexibility.
At a bare minimum, you’ll need some good walking shoes and a dog leash to start out; though some clients may prefer that you use their supplies instead. You may also want to invest in more supplies as your business grows.
As a dog walker, you’ll generally set your own work schedule and try to find clients that match it — and your personality.
It’s a good idea to interview potential clients before committing to a job. You want to ensure that you get along well with them and their pooch. You also want to make sure to set expectations.
If the interview goes well, it may be a good idea to have the client sign a contract or a waiver of liability. You may be able to find templates for this online.
When it comes to actually finding clients for this business, there are two different methods: from scratch or by app.
If you’re building your business from scratch, you’ll have to come up with your own leads, but at least you’ll have complete control over every aspect of your business. (PS, if you go this route, you may want to purchase liability insurance!)
If you choose to work with an app such as Rover, then you’ll get to benefit from their lead generation funnel and brand familiarity.
Apps like Rover provide an easy-to-use interface for convenient scheduling and fast messaging. Companies like this may also provide partial coverage in case of an injury to a pet left in your care.
Pet Sitting
Petting sitting is very similar to Dog walking. There are two pretty significant differences, though.
First and foremost, you’re not restricted to sitting for dogs only. You can pet sit for dogs, cats, guinea pigs, rabbits — you name it.
Second, this side hustle has some serious potential for add-on sales.
Usually, you’ll start out with a base price for a stay. Depending on how you choose to run your business, pets may stay at your house, or you may stay at theirs.
If pet owners want to add additional services — for example, bathing & grooming — you can set additional rates for those services.
Like dog walking, you can build this business from scratch or partner with a reputable app such as Rover.
And some companies you choose to partner with may even provide partial liability coverage for the pets you care for.
Writing
Writing — one of the original indie contractor gigs — is still relevant today. It’s just evolved a bit with modern technology.
With this side hustle, you can make money by letting your creative juices flow; however, you may need to focus on multiple methods to build your business. Let’s talk about some of the options:
Freelance Work
Writing a book or short story is probably what most people first think of when they consider writing. Still, freelancing is the real bread and butter of this side hustle.
Freelancing allows you to advertise your services to others who will pay you to complete a project.
Some clients may ask you to write a blog post, a news article, or a YouTube video script. Whatever the case, it’s up to you to decide whether you want to accept the job.
If you choose this route, there are a few different ways to gain clients.
One of the most convenient ways to find clients is to join a site like Fiverr.
Fiverr acts as a sort of reverse job board for freelancers. When someone is looking to outsource work — like a blog post — they can search for and hire freelancers to create that content.
Another way to find clients is to search on traditional job posting sites. You’ll often see companies searching for people to create content for their business needs.
Finally, there’s the good old-fashioned pitch. Yep, that’s right. You can always pitch your work to publishers. Large websites are always in need of more content, and many of them accept submissions, though this can get quite competitive. It’s always worth a shot, though!
You can also contact local newspapers or magazine publishers to see if they accept submissions.
Licensing Work
Licensing your work can be a lucrative method in your writing business.
When you license your work, you create original content for your own personal website or blog. You then license that work out to multiple different publishers. (You know, syndication.)
Though effective, this strategy can be tough to build and will require a lot of networking and relationship-building.
Blogging
I consider blogging a necessary step in building a successful writing side hustle.
Blogging allows you to start building an audience, practice your craft, and create a portfolio of work.
A big bonus that blogging also provides is the ability to monetize your work.
One way a writer can monetize their work is by publishing on social publishing platforms that offer compensation opportunities.
Medium is an excellent example of this. Arguably the most popular social publishing platform, Medium allows you to get paid every time a paid member reads a post that you wrote.
The cool thing is that you get paid per minute of reading time, so it’s important to write engaging content that will keep paid members’ eyes on your content.
Another way that successful bloggers monetize their work is through affiliate marketing.
When a blogger becomes an affiliate marketer, they create a business relationship with either a business or affiliate network.
Affiliate marketers make money by sharing product links in their content. They receive payment when a reader clicks on a link and buys a product. (You can think of it kind of like a referral fee.)
Some of the most popular affiliate marketing programs are the Fiverr Affiliates program and the Amazon Associates program.
Amazon Associates has much higher name recognition, but getting accepted into the program can be more challenging.
To become an Amazon Associate, you must make 3 genuine sales within about 6 months, or else they will close your account. This can be a difficult task for a newly established blog.
The good news is if your account does get shut down for inactivity, you can reapply and try again later.
By comparison, the Fiverr Affiliates program is much easier to get into.
There are no real hoops to jump through to get started. You just sign up, and you’re ready to go.
The catch, though, is that you need to earn at least $100 in commissions before you get your first payment, and payments are made about every 30 days.
Self-Publishing
Thanks to the internet, book publishing has been easier to get into than ever, making this side hustle a really powerful tool.
There are two major self-publishing platforms that you can use to get started on this: Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) and IngramSpark.
Some indie publishers feel that IngramSpark has higher-quality physical products. Still, the platform also tends to have a huge learning curve.
KDP is probably the best option to get started as a newbie. Their interface is much easier to work with as a beginner, and they have less stringent design requirements.
Let me be clear, though, you do not need to be an author to publish a book. You also aren’t restricted to novels either.
Here are some options you can choose to specialize in as a self-publisher.
Blank Journals
You can create blank journals and publish them using Amazon’s KDP platform.
In fact, this is a very popular option, which might be why it’s gotten such a bad rap in recent years.
Blank journals are considered “low content” books, and by their nature, it is much quicker to produce one.
Because of that, this concept has attracted thousands of people looking to make a quick buck by producing hundreds of thousands of extremely low-quality low-content books.
This has become such a problem that the printers — KDP and IngramSpark — have begun to crack down on the practice by implementing strict rules for publishers.
So while creating blank journals is still a viable side hustle, please ensure that you are following the rules and creating quality products.
Public Domain Content
Public domain content lets you publish famous books without the author’s permission.
Public domain content is any content donated to the public domain by its author or whose copyright has expired.
Some notable examples of public domain content are The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Frankenstein, The Count of Monte Cristo, and anything written by Jane Austen.
KDP and IngramSpark have rules about publishing public domain content, so you’ll need to follow their instructions.
Also, each country has its own copyright law rules, so it’s crucial to conduct thorough research on your area’s laws.
Sometimes international copyright may apply to the project that you’re working on, so it’s best to make sure that you thoroughly investigate the copyright status of each piece of content that you wish to use.
Original Content
There’s always original content to publish in the side hustle too.
If you’ve always written as a hobby, you may want to compile that content and publish it in your own book.
If you’ve always wanted to write a book but haven’t, maybe now is the time to start.
Maybe you’ve considered writing a children’s picture book — that’s an option too.
If you know someone that is a writer who wants to publish their book, maybe you can publish it for them. (You may want to sign a royalty agreement or fee contract.)
Publishing original content can be fun and rewarding, but it can be challenging as well.
Since you’re self-publishing, you’ll need to figure out how to effectively market your books.
This can be done by leveraging social media and networking, but it will take some hustle and grit to work.
WordPress Site Builder
People need websites. Whether it’s individuals or small businesses — after all these years, many people still don’t know how to create a site on their own.
That, my friend, presents a solid opportunity to start a side hustle of building websites. (You don’t necessarily even need to know how to code!)
Sure, there are many website builder platforms out there — like Wix. But those companies generally take advantage of inexperienced consumers. Companies like Wix nickel and dime people for things that would otherwise be included in a basic web hosting package. A practice that is extremely deceptive.
Suppose you can find a way to share with your potential customers that it is much more customizable and cost-efficient for them to buy their own hosting package through a provider like Bluehost. In that case, you can start making a decent income.
Most websites use a content management system called WordPress. This system is free; you just need to install it — which is something most hosting providers will do for you anyway.
Once WordPress is installed, you can start building your website. WordPress makes it easy to customize a site by using the Appearance tab.
Content can be added to the site by adding pages and posts.
The beauty about this side hustle is that you can charge a larger one-time fee for site design, but it’s possible to get creative and add recurring services too.
For example, if a customer doesn’t want to buy their own hosting from Bluehost, you can open your own hosting account and create a subdomain for each client.
This is a service you would want to charge a monthly fee for, say, $25 or $30 per month, for example.
There is no limit on the number of subdomains your master hosting account can have, which means you can offer this service to many clients.
Just make sure to account for the cost of web hosting, domain names, and domain privacy when deciding on a pricing structure.
Social Media Manager
Are you familiar with TikTok, Instagram, and other social media platforms? Do you know what it takes to grow a following on these apps?
If so, a social media management side hustle might be perfect for you.
Truthfully, if you know what you’re doing and you can commit to posting consistently, then there are tons of businesses that may be seeking help with this.
Start reaching out to local small businesses in your area and see if they need help building their social media presence.
If you want to scale this business, you may be able to work as an independent contractor for multiple businesses at a time, all while building your portfolio and bringing in consistent income.
Course Creation
Online course creation can be a good side hustle if you have valuable knowledge in some specialty.
The possibilities for topics to teach are really endless here.
Cake baking, woodworking, creative writing, computer programming, you name it. If you have a specific skill, you can teach it.
Platforms like Thinkific make designing and creating your own professional-looking online courses easy.
Thinkific allows you to create your first course for free — you just need to make content.
Whether it’s video production, script writing, document creation, or all of the above — this side hustle requires a lot of hard work on the front end.
However, once your course is complete, it’s possible to create an income from it indefinitely.
Conclusion
These are just a few examples of side hustles you can start with no money. The truth is that there are many more out there as well.
In fact, some of the easiest side hustles to start are service businesses.
Any service that you can provide someone else that will make their life easier has the potential to become a viable side hustle.
So get creative — just keep it within the law.
© Oh Hey, It’s Ray
This article was originally published on OhHeyItsRay.com
Oh Hey, It’s Ray is a real estate investor, entrepreneur, and former real estate agent. She lives happily with her husband and two children in the Pacific Northwest. See more from Ray at her YouTube channel and on Ohheyitsray.com