8 Remote Side Hustles To Start At Home
Frey Chu
Table Of Contents
8 Remote Side Hustles That Actually Work
Side hustles are more necessary today than ever before. Whether you need to pay bills or you’re looking for more purpose and fulfillment than you’re getting from your full-time job, remote side hustles can improve your life dramatically. For most of us, a full-time job alone doesn’t cut it anymore.
In this article, we based our recommendations on the best remote side hustles to start on the successful side hustlers we met and interviewed.
You’ll find advice and tips from people who are actually earning money with these exact side hustle ideas from the comfort of their homes—no fluff or recycled ideas that don’t work.
That said, the first side hustle on this list is the most beginner-friendly and cheap remote side hustle. The fourth remote side hustle is the one that requires the most consistent work before earning but has the potential to earn the most money once it’s working.
Top 4 Best Side Hustles
The Best Remote Side Hustles (Our Top 4 Picks)
In the world of remote side hustles, there are countless options to choose from. How do you know which one to choose?
These are our top four earning methods, which include the easiest side hustles that require up-front experience and that can get you paid quickly, to more challenging ways to earn money that can lead to replacing your full-time income if done correctly.
⭐ Consumer Surveys
Taking Consumer surveys
$0
No
2-3
$120
Consumer surveys are a fantastic way for anyone with spare time and opinions to make an extra $100 a week in cash without spending a dime upfront.
You don’t need any money to start—just your time, an internet connection, and a device to access your survey portal for survey applications.
This remote side hustle is best for people who:
- Requires no prior experience
- Want to make money fast (pays as quickly as two business days)
- Needs to earn an extra $200-$500 a month
- Are under 18 years old (surveys welcome all ages)
- Enjoy giving their opinions and testing new products
Is This The Best Remote Side Hustle For College Students?
Surveys are perfect for people with flexible schedules, like college students, people working from home, stay-at-home parents, or anyone looking to earn some money from home. Plus, they’re super easy and convenient. You get paid to share your thoughts on products and sometimes even get to try out new stuff before it hits the shelves. It’s a win-win situation where you have your say and earn rewards for it.
Why Surveys Are The Best Side Hustle For People With No Experience
You don’t need any experience before you start to apply for surveys. Each survey has different requirements that may be based on your age, gender, or ethnicity.
As you complete surveys, you’ll get paid through gift cards. While most survey companies don’t offer cash payments, you can often get a Visa gift card that acts like cash. And you can get paid as quickly as two business days!
How David Earns $120 Weekly And Finds Trustworthy Survey Companies
So, how do you get started?
First, find reputable survey companies to sign up with.
We asked David, who has been earning $120 weekly doing consumer surveys for three years, his best recommendations for finding worthwhile survey companies.
His advice? Look up “market research facilities” on LinkedIn or Google and follow the ones with positive reviews from users. David does surveys through two market research companies, Curion and Jackson And Associates.
Most cities also have in-person market research companies where you can visit and get paid to do surveys, depending on where you’re visiting.
⭐ Become A Mentor
Become A Mentor and Sell Your Knowledge
$0
Professional
1-2
$50-$150
This remote side hustle is best for people who:
- Have had successful moments in a professional career or business
- Have a small social media following (to promote their service)
- Enjoy teaching what they know
Business Coaches and Mentors Are Real
If you’re a professional looking for a side hustle, chances are you have knowledge that people are willing to pay for.
Mentorship is becoming more popular as people’s desire to learn from successful individuals grows.
Websites like MentorCruise offer ways to earn money by mentoring people who want the results you’ve achieved in your professional career. This is a great side hustle for realtors, content creators, marketers, and any professional with successful experience in the business world.
Remember, you don’t have to be an expert. You just need to be a few steps ahead of people who are working their way to you.
Why This Remote Side Hustle Makes Sense For Professionals
For people who want to connect with others and teach what they know, this could become a high-paying side hustle that only takes a few hours a month of actual work. If you’re already offering a service to clients, this works as an upsell to grow your business income.
Simply sign up for MentorCruise, or a similar website, and set your prices to start selling your knowledge!
How Jennifer Earns $300+ Monthly On MentorCruise
We spoke to Jennifer, who spent two hours trying MentorCruise for the first time in February 2024. She earned $300 in her first month as a content creator and newsletter owner, working two hours as a mentor.
Her newsletter business is only three months old. But since newsletter businesses have become popular, people are willing to pay her over $150 for an hour of her time.
⭐ Build A Niche Website
Start A Niche Website
$35
Copywriting, SEO, & Web Design
7-10
Variable
This remote side hustle is best for people who:
- Want to build a way to earn passive income
- Have copywriting experience
- Have basic SEO knowledge
- Have built a website before
- Enjoys frontloading your work up-front and earning money with minimal effort once established
- Want an form of digital real estate that you can sell easily
- Doesn’t need to get paid immediately
- Wants the potential for replacing a full-time income
What Is A Niche Website?
A niche website is a website or blog that’s centered around a specific niche. This side hustle works by driving organic traffic to your website through SEO and monetizing it. The main ways to make money as a niche website owner include:
- Displays Ads
- Affiliate marketing
- Selling digital products
- Selling physical goods or services
- Sponsorships
If you’re a copywriter with basic website design and SEO skills, this is easily the best remote side hustle to start, especially if you want to create a side hustle that generates passive income.
As someone who has created a niche website that earns $1,500 monthly without working more than 1 hour a month, it’s well worth learning SEO and website design skills from YouTube.
How Niche Website Generate Passive Income
Have you ever visited a website with a load of ads throughout the site? While it can be annoying for the website visitor, these websites are generating passive income for the website owner.
Every niche website is different. But this is a great side hustle if you prefer front-loading your work, so you can work less and coast with your business once it’s established. Like digital real estate, they require a lot of effort initially but then let you earn money passively with little maintenance.
That said, niche websites are not as beginner-friendly compared to most remote side hustles. Not only do they take months to build, but most people often choose an unprofitable niche or give up after months of not seeing results.
That’s why choosing the right niche is crucial to your success if you go down this route.
You must also be willing to write a lot of blog content and learn how SEO works to rank your webpages on Google.
Do this, and the potential earnings for a niche website are limitless, with thousands of websites earning over $10,000 monthly from a single blog.
How Frey Earns $1500 Monthly With A Niche Website
I started a niche website in October 2022. Within eight months, I started earning $1500 monthly while working 1 hour a month to maintain it.
Today, I still get paid about $30–$50 daily from my niche website through display ads and digital product sales.
But, full disclosure, it’s not that easy. The website took over 50+ hours to build and monetize before I saw any payout.
To learn the basics of creating a niche website, and a passive income machine, check out my story, where I detail the steps I took to build my website.
⭐ Start A Faceless YouTube Channel
Start A Faceless YouTube Channel
$300
Video Editing, Storytelling
10-15
Variable
This remote side hustle is best for people who:
- Don’t want to expose their identity publicly
- Have video editing experience
- Enjoys sharing information and storytelling online
- Want to build an audience
- Don’t need money immediately
- Wants the potential for replacing a full-time income
What Is A Faceless YouTube Channel?
Faceless YouTube channels are topic-specific content businesses that can earn money through AdSense. Based on the name, you won’t need to expose your identity in your content.
With AI tools, faceless YouTube channels are exploding in popularity. This idea is worth considering if you’re looking for a remote side hustle that can grow into a highly profitable business.
Before you even qualify to advertise on your channel, you can start earning through reviewing products and earning a commission through affiliate marketing.
Who Should Start A Faceless YouTube Channel?
YouTube is still the most powerful way to build an audience, build relationships with potential customers, and get user feedback for a product or service you want to sell.
The reason YouTube channels make incredible side hustles is, despite the hard work involved to growing a following, you can monetize it in several different ways.
A faceless YouTube channel is an excellent side hustle if you love storytelling, making videos, or simply want to be a YouTuber without exposing yourself to the internet.
Since you’re not showing your face, you can create content much quicker by cutting time editing and using AI images and video clips.
To get started, decide on a niche your videos will focus on. Bonus points if you can create content around something you enjoy talking about and is frequently searched on YouTube. Using tools like TubeBuddy, you can identify which topics are too saturated and which topics are worth making a video for.
How Sam Grew His Faceless YouTube Channel To 50k Subscribers In 6 Months
We spoke to Sam, a faceless YouTuber who saw an opportunity with AI tools exploding in popularity.
He grew his channel from zero to 50,000 subscribers in under six months and quit his job to pursue it full-time.
From Adsense alone, Sam earns $2000 monthly by creating videos covering new AI tools, tutorials, and guides. His biggest advice is to stay consistent. The first 100 videos he created were terrible, but he shares that you improve dramatically over time.
When he got started, the only thing he invested a couple hundred dollars in was a decent microphone setup. Other than that, he edits his videos on Final Cut Pro and keeps his costs low.
Become A Video Editor
Video Editing For Small Businesses
Small businesses all need more video content. Whether the videos are used to refresh their website, demonstrate a product, repurpose their video clips, or create marketing and promotion content, video editing is still a valuable skill that can earn you money from anywhere in the world.
Video Editors can charge as much as $100–$300 per video, though it depends on the quantity and size of the projects.
The recommended approach for this remote side hustle is build your portfolio and testimonials by offering free video editing in the beginning. Target content creators who have an existing audience, including podcasters or YouTubers, who can refer your video editing services to others once you provide enough value.
Create UGC Content
Create User-Generated Content For Brands
Ever see those Instagram ads of people talking about a product honestly and authentically? That’s UGC content. And in the marketing world, it’s one of the highest-converting pieces of content that brands use to advertise their products.
UGC creators can work remotely, and just need a smartphone to get started. Experienced UGC creators who know how to deliver a variety of different types of UGC content can earn hundreds of dollars for each video they deliver.
To start, you’ll need to create a portfolio that showcases your ability to talk about products and their benefits. Start by creating short-form videos reviewing items and brands that you already use and love. Then, you can approach small businesses where you “look” like their target customer and pitch your UGC services.
Cold Calling
Cold Calling To Generate Leads
Good salespeople are always in need. If you have sales skills and aren’t afraid of rejection, cold calling is still a high-demand skill you can do in your free-time to generate leads for companies and get paid.
To begin, you will need outbound sales skills to generate leads. An SDR’s role is to contact a lead and generate enough interest for them to speak to a closer. In some cases, an SDR will be responsible for full-cycle sales, meaning you’re the one responsible for finding a potential lead, closing them, and everything in between.
Start by searching “Sales Development Representative” (SDR) on websites like Fiverr and Upwork to find cold calling opportunities. If you have prior experience as an SDR or BDR, you can earn up to $20–$30 an hour generating leads for clients.
Be A Virtual Assistant
Become A Virtual Assistant
Virtual assistants do a number of different tasks, including administrative work, answering emails, making calls and other small tasks business owners need but are too busy to do themselves.
You can start finding virtual assistant roles online on websites like Upwork. These roles are always in demand, and can earn you $15–$40 an hour, depending on the type of administrative tasks you’re required to do.
Final Thoughts
The Best Remote Side Hustles Depend On Your Needs
Are these the “best” remote side hustles for you? Since I don’t know your financial needs or the reason you’re starting a side hustle, it’s impossible to tell.
There are hundreds of remote side hustles you can experiment with that aren’t mentioned in this article, including being a UGC creator, social media marketer, virtual assistant, video editor, copywriter, and so much more.
You will find a successful side hustler in every type of remote business.
If you’re looking to build your way out of the 9-5, and you’re serious about starting a business, check out our stories of people who successfully turned a side hustle into a full-time business.