10 ways to make money on the side

Whether you’ve got a 9-5 job or you’re a stay-at-home parent, there are a lot of ways you can make money on the side.

Some ‘side hustles’ require brains; others brawn. Side hustles can also occur in all sorts of places – at home, online, outdoors, in your car or at other people’s homes.

With that in mind, here are 10 diverse ways you can capitalise on your spare time:

Pawesome work for purrfect people

Dog walking and pet sitting can be a great way to indulge your love of animals and make money at the same time. If you register with websites like PetCloud, Holidog and Mad Paws, you can solve a problem for people who are too busy to walk their dog or who need someone to mind their pet while they go on holiday.

Work with children, not animals

If children are more your thing, you can sign up with Find A Babysitter, Baby Sitters Now or My Super Nanny.

Establish the Hotel de You

If you’ve got a spare room, you can use Airbnb to become a hotelier on the side. This can be a more lucrative option than renting out your room the traditional way, because short-term travellers generally pay more for accommodation that long-term tenants.

Clean the Hotel de Others

Unwilling or unable to become an Airbnb host? You can still cash in. How? Offer to do the between-guests cleaning for other hosts. It’s easy – visit the Airbnb website, find nearby properties and offer your services.

Your time, their money

Another option is to do physical tasks or skilled work in your spare time. The Airtasker platform allows you to connect with people who want to outsource gardening, cleaning, furniture assembly, photography, web development, bookkeeping, writing and countless other tasks.

Baby, you can drive your car

You know those Uber drivers who take you where you want to go? You could be one of them! “Partnering with Uber in Australia is flexible,” according to the company. “You can drive with Uber any time, day or night, 365 days a year. When you drive is always up to you.”

Taste things, say things

There’s easy money to be made in market research. Many businesses will pay ordinary Australians for advice on how to improve their products or marketing. You might be asked to do taste-testing, discuss an advertising campaign or offer your opinion on a potential new product. Sessions generally last for one to two hours and pay $50 to $150. Just register with companies like Explore Research, Farron Research and Realtime Research and wait for them to email gigs.

Be a man or woman of mystery

Mystery shopping is another way to simultaneously make money and help businesses lift their game. Mystery shoppers get paid to visit businesses, pose as customers and then file reports about their experience. You can register for gigs with companies like Retail Mystery Shopping Australia, Hoed Research and Mystery Customer.

The write stuff

If you know the difference between there, their and they’re, you might have what it takes to become an online proofreader. You can register for freelance opportunities through websites such as ProofreadingServices.com, Domainite and Gramlee.

Handy work if you can get it

We all know that genetically blessed people can make money showing off their faces or bodies, but did you know that ordinary folk can make money as a hand model? If you’ve got attractive hands, you could earn cash on the side by participating in photo shoots. Yes, really.

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