If you’re tired of wasting your time on side hustle ideas that don’t work, this post is for you. 

I have been making money online for over a decade and tried dozens of side hustles along the way. 

In this post, I will reveal my top 10 side hustle ideas and how you can start making money with them ASAP. 

#10 Start an Online Tutoring Business. 

Becoming an online tutor is a great side hustle that can become your full-time business. As a tutor, your role is to help students succeed in subjects like English, Maths and Computer Science. You can offer one-on-one or small group sessions hosted on platforms such as MyTutor, or create your own tutoring business using Zoom. 

Requirements:

Most tutors have at least a GCSE or A Level in the subject they are teaching. It’s also important to have good communication skills and no criminal record (especially if you are tutoring children).

How much can you make?

Between £22 and £50 per hour (Source: Talent.com)

How to get started: 

Decide on the subject(s) you want to tutor, and your target demographic. 

1. Sign up for a platform like MyTutor or create a website/business page. 
2. Start advertising on your socials, or contact local schools and offer the first tutoring session for free to get your first students. 
3. Plan and deliver sessions to your students. 
4. Scale your business by getting more students, offering group sessions and/or hiring other tutors.

#9 Get an Online Job. 

Online jobs enable you to work around your current job or studies and can give you the crucial experience you need to start your own business. Some of the best online jobs right now are web/graphic design, copywriting and software development. 

Requirements:

You might have to be over 18 and have relevant skills or qualifications (but this isn’t always the case).

How much can you make?

At least £9.50 per hour, but some employers pay £50 per hour or more.

How to get started:

1. Figure out what online jobs you are interested in.
2. Look for online jobs using Indeed and LinkedIn using the ‘remote’ or  ‘work from home’ keywords in your search. 
3. Research the companies you are interested in working for, and reach out to their HR teams. 
4. Go through the application process, tailoring your approach to the employer. 
5. If you get a job offer, great! If not, keep networking on LinkedIn and X until you find the right opportunity.

#8 Become a Freelancer. 

If you like the idea of getting an online job or working from home but want more flexibility, becoming a freelancer is a great side hustle idea for you. As a freelancer, you can offer your services on your terms. Some popular high-ticket services you could provide are web design, copywriting and video editing.

Requirements:

Competence in the service you’re providing, and any tools you need to fulfil the service (such as video editing software).

How much can you make?

The average Freelancer in the UK makes £15.76 per hour (Source: Indeed).

How to get started:

1. Identify your skills, and decide on what services you could offer. 

1. Decide whether you want to use a platform such as Fiverr or your own website. 
2. Sign up to Fiverr, or create your website/business page.
3. Create a portfolio by doing free work for clients in return for testimonials. 
4. Create your offer (or ‘gig’ on Fiverr) and advertise. 
5. Complete quality work, and get paid.

#7 Start a Digital Marketing Agency.

If you enjoy social media and marketing, then creating a digital marketing agency could be a great side hustle idea for you. The business model is pretty simple: you use the internet to connect businesses with customers, and you get paid either on a monthly retainer or a results-only basis. You could offer services such as social media management and content creation, or run targeted ads on platforms such as Facebook, TikTok and YouTube. 

Requirements:

Expertise in at least one platform (such as YouTube ads or Google SEO) and good at copywriting or graphic design to make ad creatives.

How much can you make?

Most freelance marketers make between £39 and £158 per hour (Source: Indeed).

How to get started:

1. Identify your niche – What types of businesses do you want to work with, and what services will you provide? 
2. Learn the business model through online courses. 
3. Practice the service you want to provide. 
4. Get your first clients by reaching out to small businesses in your area and offering to work on a pay-on-results basis. 
5. Scale your business by getting more clients and outsourcing some of the work to freelancers. 

#6 Start Dropshipping on Shopify.

Dropshipping is a business model where you sell products online without needing to fulfil them yourself. When someone buys a product from you, the order is sent to a supplier who ships it straight to the customer. Doing this using a platform like Shopify can be a lucrative side hustle if you get it right, but it does require some money to start.

Requirements:

Shopify has a free trial to get started (£1 per month for 3 months thereafter), but you need at least £100-£200 to get started (to cover product costs & ads). Knowing how to set up a Shopify store, source products and advertise them is important, too.

How much can you make?

A 30% profit margin is a good target for a Shopify store, but this depends on the product and your costs.

How to get started:

1. Learn the basics of dropshipping, such as how to create a store, research products and fulfil orders. 
2. Find profitable products by looking for what is selling but has relatively low competition. 
3. Match the product with a supplier. Many people start by looking for suppliers on AliExpress but then switch to own-brand products to scale their stores. 
4. Sign up to Shopify and create your store. 
5. Start advertising on platforms such as TikTok, and scale your ads as you receive orders. 

#5 Invest in ETFs. 

ETFs (Exchange-Traded Funds) are investments that track the performance of an index – a basket of stocks that makes up a certain region, country or sector. For example, VUSA tracks the S&P 500 index, which is made up of the top 500 companies in the USA. Investing in ETFs is much less risky than buying individual stocks because you are more diversified, and can be a great way to make some passive income.

Requirements:

A decent understanding of investing and the stock market, at least £1 to invest (£200+ per month is ideal) and a brokerage account (ideally an ISA, such as Trading 212).

How much can you make?

Whilst the stock market goes up and down, the average annual return from investing in the S&P 500 is 7-10%.

How to get started:

1. Learn the basics of investing, such as how ETFs work, and the best ETFs to invest in. I found this article very useful during my research. Please don’t invest in something you don’t fully understand. 
2. Decide on your investing goals, and plan your investing strategy. 
3. Work out how much you can afford to invest each month. 
4. Sign up for a stocks & shares ISA. I use and recommend Trading 212 as there are no platform fees or commissions, and they have the best tools on the market to automate your investing.
5. Invest consistently every month and make some passive income. 

#4 Invest in Crypto.

When I first learned about crypto, I thought it was all a big scam. 

How wrong I was! 

Cryptocurrencies are digital money that can be used to pay or receive money for low fees (often a fraction of a penny), without needing a bank. Payments are the primary use case for cryptocurrencies, but they have other utility too.

You can make money from crypto in numerous ways, including capital gains, staking and airdrops. 

Crypto investing is one of my favourite side hustle ideas and has the potential to make you a lot of money. But remember to do your research and only invest what you can afford to lose. 

Requirements:

A decent understanding of crypto, at least £1 to invest and a good crypto exchange (Such as Coinbase).

How much can you make?

Bitcoin, the biggest cryptocurrency, has had an average annual return of 230% (Source: Yahoo Finance). However, crypto is very volatile.

How to get started:

1. Learn the crypto basics basics. Good free sources for research include Coinmarketcap, YouTube and the whitepapers for each crypto project. 
2. Create your investing strategy. Decide on what cryptos you want to invest in, and how much you want to invest into each project. 
3. Create your exit strategy: what prices will you sell at? 
4. Sign up for a crypto exchange such as Coinbase or Crypto.com. 
5. Buy crypto when it reaches your target entry price, and consider moving it across to a non-custodial wallet or hardware wallet until you want to sell.

#3 Sell Digital Products.

A digital product is something you can only buy or use electronically, like an e-book, template or online course. 

Having tried dropshipping, I realised that selling digital products is much cheaper and easier than dropshipping physical products. 

Your profit margins are much higher, the products are delivered to your customers instantly, and you are in control over the quality of what you sell. 

Selling digital products is a lucrative side hustle (or even a full-time business) idea for you.

Requirements:

Relevant skills to create digital products (such as copywriting and graphic design) and a platform to sell your products on (such as Etsy, Shopify, or your website).

How much can you make?

Profit margins of up to 80%, depending on the product and costs.

How to get started:

1. Find a niche with a starving crowd. 
2. Match the needs of your target audience with your skills to decide on what kinds of products to create.  
3. Decide on the platform you want to sell on and create a profile. 
4. Create your digital products, optimising them for the platform you are selling on. 
5. Market your digital products using organic traffic or paid ads and grow your brand by getting reviews.

#2 Create a Personal Brand. 

A personal brand is a business that is based on your image and reputation. Sounds scary, but it’s as simple as providing valuable content on stuff that people care about. 

For example, my brand aims to give young people the financial education they never had at school. The idea is pretty simple – I just document what I’m doing by creating articles on my website, sending a weekly newsletter to subscribers and creating videos on YouTube. 

You don’t need a big audience or a lot of money to start a personal brand, but with a well-researched strategy and hard work, you could turn this side hustle idea into a lucrative full-time income.

Requirements:

Content creation skills (such as copywriting and video editing), and a passion for the subject you want to build your brand around. Having some money to invest in a website or in tools to create content can help you grow faster, but isn’t essential. 

How much can you make?

At least £300 per month or more within your first year, but some personal brands make millions per month. Affiliate commissions are usually the biggest source of income for personal brands, but you can also make money from ad revenue and sponsorships.

How to get started:

1. Define your niche. It’s important to match what people are searching for with your skills and interests (not the other way around!).
2. Create your brand identity and strategy. What values do you want to be known for? 
3. Decide whether you want to start with visual or written content, and what platforms you will use. I wanted to start with written content so I used WordPress and Elementor Pro for this website. 
4. Create valuable content consistently. 
5. Analyse your user analytics to improve and grow your brand. It’s also important to network and reach out to other brands to help you grow. 

#1 Start Matched Betting.

Matched betting is a way to take advantage of the sign-up offers and promotions offered by gambling companies and turn them into risk-free profits. We do this by betting on all outcomes of a sports event, using a platform like Outplayed. You can learn how this works (with an example) here. Without a doubt, matched betting is my favourite beginner-friendly side hustle idea and a great way to start making money online. 

Requirements:

You must be over 18 (as matched betting involves gambling sites), have a platform to help you find offers and place bets (I recommend Outplayed) and at least £50 to do the first few sign-up offers.  

How much can you make?

Most members make between £300 and £1000 per month, and it only takes an hour or two each day.

How to get started:

1. Sign up for Outplayed’s 7-day free trial. They will teach you everything you need to know about matched betting and walk you through the offers step-by-step. 
2. Open up a separate bank account to help you track your profits. 
3. Get access to £950+ in sign up offers, and simply follow their beginner tutorials.
4. Subscribe to Outplayed’s Platinum membership. 
5. Follow Outplayed’s guides to help you make £300-£1000 per month in risk-free profits.

How to Decide on a Side Hustle Idea.

All of the side hustle ideas on this list work, but picking one that works for you is the challenge. 

There are a few important questions to ask yourself: 

1. What side hustle ideas appeal to you? 
2. What skills do you have, and what side hustles best suit them? 
3. How much time and money do you have to invest in a side hustle? 

Remember, you don’t just have to pick one!

Creating multiple sources of income is the key to financial independence. 

If you’re stuck, I’d recommend you look into Outplayed’s free trial. 

Do I Need to Pay Tax on My Side Hustle?

You may have to pay tax on your side hustle if it puts your income above the personal tax allowance (£12,500 per year). 

If you earn under £1,000 a year from self-employment you don’t need to report it to HMRC. Anything over this and you will need to register as a sole trader (and/or fill out a self-assessment tax return).

Side Hustle Idea	Is it Taxable?
Online Tutoring	Yes.
Online Job	Yes.
Freelancing	Yes.
Digital Marketing Services Business	Yes.
Dropshipping	Yes.
ETF Investing (within an ISA)	No (can invest up to £20k/year tax-free).
Crypto Investing	Yes (if over capital gains allowance).
Digital Products	Yes.
Personal Brand	Yes.
Matched Betting	No (classed as gambling income in the UK).

Please always consult an accountant if you are unsure. 

Wrap Up. 

That’s it, my top 10 online side hustle ideas.

I hope you found some value in this post and are motivated to start your own side hustle or online business. 

If so, please consider signing up for my newsletter for weekly wealth-building insights and resources. 

Thanks for reading!