11 Awesome Side Hustles Ideas You Can Start From Home!

So you want to start a side hustle but not sure where to start or what to do?

Well, you’ve come to the right place as we love side hustles at EcommerceGold (which started life as a side hustle) and in this post, we are going to list what we think are some of the the best side hustles out there.

We’ll also list the pros and cons of each side hustle to hopefully make the process of deciding which one to go for a little bit easier.

1. Start a Niche Ecommerce Site

We had to start with something we talk about a fair bit on our site, which is starting an ecommerce business.

But we aren’t just talking about starting a jack of trades ecommerce website, that has no focus and is trying to sell everything and anything just to make a buck because this world is dominated by the likes of Amazon and Walmart.

Instead, we are talking about starting a niche ecommerce website, which is focused on selling a range of products targeted at a chosen niche and there are a number of different options available, which could include selling:

• Collectibles, rare or vintage products – these types of products have people actively looking for them, meaning that sales can be quick and easy
• Handmade products – these are products that are handmade and this could be something you have made or you can sell pieces made by others
• Bespoke or custom products – people like things that are unique and bespoke or custom products fit this perfectly
• Upcycled products – giving something a new lease of life can be quite profitable

The thing with all of these products type is that they are different from mass-produced products, which means that they aren’t as likely to be in a race to the bottom in terms of price and that means more profit in your pocket.

There are also more ways to help your business stand out from the crowd, including:

• Being able to offer expert advice
• Personalize the service to the customer (learn about their situation, make individual recommendations etc)
• Sell high-quality goods
• Offer a great after-sales service (ok, Amazon is very good at this)

This is why we think starting a niche ecommerce website can be a great side hustle and in many cases, it can often be best to target things like hobbies or professions as these are often niches where people are A) prepared to spend money and B) are more likely to buy higher quality products if it makes their life easier.

2: Start A Blog

One of our favorite side hustles is to start a blog and even though this has become a more challenging side hustle over the years, there are still plenty of opportunities out there!

If selling stuff online doesn’t appeal to you but you like writing, then blogging could be a great side hustle to try as there are still plenty of opportunities to build a successful blog as there are many different types of blog that you can create, including:

• Review website – which is what we do a lot of on EcommerceGold and this is where you review and compare products to help people make a buying decision
• Information site – this could be something like a travel blog where you provide people with information about things related to your niche
• News site – this is where you post about the latest news and updates about your niche, this could include things like tech or sports

In a lot of cases, blogs will cover multiple different things, for example on EcommerceGold we do reviews and comparisons along with guides and tutorials, with the aim of being a helpful resources for people.

As with starting a niche ecommerce website, having knowledge, expertise or a willingness to learn about the niche your blog is going to be about will be very helpful and can give you an edge over the competition as you will be able to provide:

• Unique insights that others may not be able to
• First-hand experience, which shows your expertise
• A trustworthy experience for the reader

One of the things we really like about blogs as a side hustle is that you can build it as a base for so many different things and many of the other side hustles mentioned in this post can easily be added as additional ways to generate traffic or additional income sources.

3: Start A YouTube Channel

One of the best side hustles to start is a YouTube channel as the potential growth and earning potential are huge, there are many channels making over $1 million a year!

We love YouTube and not just because we like watching endless hours of video but because it has been very beneficial to the EcommerceGold business as our YouTube channel has helped us reach many more people than we would have been able to just through our site.

But from a side hustle perspective, YouTube is awesome and there are many people who have started channels as a side hustle and it’s gone on to become hugely successful, just look at people like Mr Beast, Graham Stephan and Marques Brownlee, who have created million dollar channels based on things they enjoy creating content around.

There are also numerous different channel ideas and types that you can create, including:

• Faceless YouTube channels – this is where you don’t show your face and sometimes don’t even speak
• Review channels – this is where they review products or services and give their opinion
• Tutorial channels – this is where they show how to do certain things
• Entertainment channels – these are channels that are just designed to provide you with entertainment

There really are so many options when it comes to YouTube, just make sure that you channel complies with YouTube’s terms of service so that you don’t get kicked off the platform and can start making money from your content.

It is also really easy to get started (depending on the type of channel) as you can simply take out your phone, record a video and you are good to go.

4. Selling Digital Downloads

Selling digital downloads is becoming a very popular option in the world of ecommerce and with the advancement in technology, there are many more opportunities coming available.

One of the most popular types of digital products to sell online is downloadables and while many people will probably think of things like Ebooks, there are actually many different types of downloadable products that you can sell.

But just looking at Ebooks, fiction and non-fiction are still very popular, especially if they can be used on an e-reader, just look at how popular the Amazon Kindle is!

So what type of downloads can you sell other than ebooks?

• Software – people still need software that they can use on their computers and things like video and photo editing software are still very popular
• Guides and Manuals – I’m not really talking about how-to guides but specific guides and manuals for products such as equipment, tools or cars, that might not be available anymore
• Printables – these could be printables for crafts, such as templates or even things like crosswords, word searches or coloring books
• Themes and Apps/Plugins – a lot of website themes/templates and apps/plugins need to be downloaded and then uploaded to the website, which means they definitely fall under this category
• Stock Images and Videos – with more and more content creators about, there is more need for stock footage, which is downloaded so it can be used in editors

There are many different digital products that you can sell and one of the things that you want to do to increase your chances of success is to find opportunities within a specific niche as many people who are just getting started with digital downloads target niches that are already saturated.

You can also choose to sell your digital products through marketplaces such as Etsy or launch your own store using a platform designed for digital products.

5. Print on Demand

If you want to sell your own designs or unique products but don’t want to have loads of inventory, then Print-on-Demand could be perfect for you.

Yes, Print-on-Demand (PoD) is mentioned everywhere and people automatically think about t-shirts but print-on-demand can be so much more than that!

If you are not sure what Print-on-Demand is, it is where you sell custom designs and potentially customizable designs via your website and when an order is placed, the item is printed and then shipped to the customer, which means that you don’t need to have any inventory sitting around that you hope will sell.

And while this did start with t-shirts, there are now many different items that can be printed on demand, including:

• All different types of clothing such as t-shirts, hoodies, hats and socks
• Accessories such as scarves, backpacks and tote bags
• Tablecloths and towels
• Phone cases
• Mugs
• Stickers
• Posters
• Even Jewelry

This is just a short list but there are so many different products that can be printed on demand and you can choose to outsource the printing to a third-party company that stores the blanks, prints your design and any customization but also ships it out to the customer for you.

You can also choose to do this in-house but the costs and time learning how to do this are a lot higher.

But there is one print on demand that barely gets talked about and that is 3D printed products, which can be hugely profitable when done right as many things can now be 3D printed such as:

• Miniatures
• Models
• Accessories
• Components

Once again, this can either be outsourced to third-party companies or you can choose to do this in-house but some knowledge of CAD (computer-aided design) is required in order to create the models, but you can choose to print other people’s designs as long as they allow it for commercial use.

6. Create an Online Course

One area that is going to see continued growth is the world of online education as it becomes more accepted as a way of learning new skills.

Creating educational content online has seen massive growth over the last few years and the pandemic made this way of learning become more popular as it got adopted by more ‘traditional’ educational establishments.

But the reason why creating an online course can be a great side hustle is that you can create a course on pretty much anything, with many successful creators finding success with subjects that are outside the scope of more traditional academia and this can include:

• Life skills – things such as cooking, health (yoga, home workouts etc), managing your money etc are all skills that people are looking to learn
• Professional Skills – this is very popular for skills that move quickly, such as digital marketing or coding skills that can quickly and easily be updated to match market demands but can also work for any type of professional skill
• Hobbies – whether it is getting better at playing golf, learning to play an instrument or how to get started with things like crafting or woodwork, hobby-related courses are very popular

For many people, they don’t believe that they have the skills or experience to be able to produce an online course but the successful courses are very beginner orientated (they aren’t degrees!) and if you can easily pass on your knowledge in an enjoyable and engaging way, then they can be a great side hustle.

7. Start a Newsletter

Once considered a marketing method for businesses, email newsletters are now a business themselves and have the potential to be 6 or 7 figures businesses.

Email newsletters are a side hustle that has boomed over the last few years and it has gone from being a marketing method for existing websites to a complete business in its own right.

And what is crazy is that many of the successful email newsletters are just curated bits of information that people have found online, just take the Morning Brew newsletter for example (which sold for $75 million), which grew because they curated and summarized articles from other publications and websites into one easy to digest newsletter.

Best of all, with newsletters, you are communicating directly with your audience as you are sending an email directly to their inbox, meaning you aren’t reliant on any third-party algorithms to get your content in front of your audience’s eyes.

As with many of the other side hustles mentioned on this list, you can create a newsletter around a number of different niches, including:

• Personal finance
• Making money online
• Hobbies
• Professions

There are plenty of options out there and we bet that there are many untapped niches out there.

8. Start Streaming

If you are happy to connect live with an audience, then live streaming could be the perfect side hustle for you and it is for more than just gamers!

Something that has become very popular over recent years is live streaming directly to your audience and while most people will instantly think of gamers when they think of live streaming, it has evolved far beyond this, with people now streaming around:

• Starting businesses
• Using software
• Cooking
• Crafts
• Adventures

As with any other video content, there are audiences out there for many different niches and live streaming adds something over creating videos as it is live, unfiltered and unedited and it allows much more interaction between the streamer and their audience.

There are also many platforms where you can choose to stream, with options including:

• Twitch
• YouTube
• Facebook
• Instagram

Along with more speciality platforms, such as OnlyFans for adult content.

You can choose to just be a streamer or you could combine this with something like a YouTube channel, which is something that many streamers do as this increases the chances of getting views on your content.

9. Start a Podcast

If you like talking, then starting a podcast could be perfect for you, especially if you like meeting new people as well!

It seems like everyone has got a podcast these days but they are still a great idea for a side hustle, especially if you can create a niche focused podcast.

And there is good reason why people like podcasts, as they are unscripted, especially when you are talking to a guest on the podcast and this can provide a unique insight into things and people can learn more about the guest and the host in some cases.

There are also different ways you can choose to create a podcast:

1. Audio Only – this is the ‘traditional’ podcast where you record the audio and publish it the your podcast platform of choice
2. Video Podcast – sometimes called ‘vodcasts’ and this is more the norm now as you record the podcast as a video, which you can then upload to audio-only platforms but also video platforms such as YouTube

The Video Podcast does allow you to post your podcast to more places, which can help build an audience and get more eyes and ears on it, which is always helpful.

And there are plenty of options when it comes to where you can upload your podcast to, including:

• Spotify
• YouTube
• Apple podcasts

And if your podcast grows to a large audience, you may get offered a deal to post your podcast to one platform exclusively, which can be pretty lucrative, such as Joe Rogan’s $100 million+ deal with Spotify.

10. Offer Digital Services

If you have a skill that you could offer to businesses or individuals remotely, then you could easily start this as a side hustle.

With the rise of small businesses, especially in the digital space, there are many opportunities to offer digital services, especially if you have experience in doing this as a hobby or day job and this could include:

• Virtual PA
• Copywriting
• Video editing
• Bookeeping
• Marketing
• Consulting

This coincides with the rise in the gig-economy, which has got some bad press but it works very well for small companies and solopreneurs who need/want to outsource the work they either can’t do, don’t like doing or won’t do to freelancers.

Many people get started with this by using marketplaces such as fiverr, upwork or freelancer.com and while it is a great way to get started and access a large pool of potential clients, they are also extremely competitive.

Which is why freelancers who are serious about their business, will also have their own website, which allows clients to purchase their services directly and this can be much more profitable if you build a good reputation and get referrals through word of mouth.

To offer some services you may need specialized equipment such as computers powerful enough to do editing or rendering or software that allows you to do the job but most people who do this as a job will usually have this anyway.

11. Online Tuition

This is a bit different to running an online course as doing tuition includes running live classes with students.

We mentioned online courses earlier but online tuition is slightly different as rather than creating a course and then marketing it, with online tuition, you run live classes and these can either be done:

1. One to One – this is where you run a 1 to 1 session with a single student
2. Online Class – this is where you teach a small number of students at a time

Obviously, one to one classes are going to be more expensive for the student but some people will be willing to pay for this so that they get your undivided attention.

And you can choose to do this as a standalone side hustle or combine it with an online course as an additional service, either way it can be a great way to earn money on the side.

Conclusion

I hope this list has given you some ideas of the different types of ecommerce business that you can start and possibly even informed you of some things you weren’t aware of.

There really are so many different options and potential avenues when it comes to making money from ecommerce and there are many successful businesses that combine many of these methods to create multiple streams of income.

But which one is going to be best does depend on the type of product you want to sell, your personal knowledge and expertise and also your business goals, if any of these ideas have been of interest, we have created specific guides for some of these business ideas, which should be helpful in getting started.

Paul Haywood

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Hi, I'm Paul, the Owner and Founder of EcommerceGold.
I ran my own Ecommerce Business for over 7 years and now help others start their own online retail empires!

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