It’s that time of year again—Thanksgiving!

For the past years, I’ve celebrated the holiday with an annual roundup of some of the most creative, outside-the-box side hustle ideas and stories that have come across my desk.

These unique money-making side hustles stand out not just for their ingenuity but for the impressive income generated by ordinary people putting their skills, passions, and sheer determination to work.

This is the 6th installment of the series, so I encourage you to go check out the other episodes if you like this format:

10 Creative Side Hustles Part 1 – 2018
10 Creative Side Hustles Part 2 – 2019
10 Creative Side Hustles Part 3 – 2020
10 Creative Side Hustles Part 4 – 2021
10 Creative Side Hustles Part 5 – 2022

This year’s list features an awesome mix of unconventional side hustles spanning cleaning, gardening, rentals, social media, and more.

Each profile contains key stats, actionable ideas, and an inside look you won’t find anywhere else!

1. BBQ Cleaning

Jacob Shaidle was just 16 years old when he launched his BBQ cleaning side hustle in Ontario, Canada in 2021.

As a high school student looking to earn money for college, Jacob decided to go door-to-door offering to clean neighborhood grills and smokers.

It certainly wasn’t smooth sailing from there. In fact, Jacob reports that after the first lucky break, the next 50 homes in a row all said no to him.

As he told GlobalNews.ca:

“Even now, I’ll have up to… 200 people in a row say ‘no’”

“It’s all about persevering and looking at the light at the end of the tunnel.”

And persevere he did. By the end of his first year, Jacob had brought in an impressive $12,000 in revenue.

And in his second year, he more than doubled sales to over $16,000 for the season!

That’s an incredible accomplishment for a part-time endeavor. Just imagine earning an extra $16,000 during your summer break in high school.

In the interview, Jacob shared that he expanded beyond just grill cleaning this past year. He now offers other cleaning services like “pressure washing patios, sidewalks, driveways, and car detailing, starting around $150 a session.”

There are lots of opportunities in niche cleaning businesses. Here are other examples from our previous episodes:

Johnny Robinson’s window washing service
Josh Belk’s mobile car detailing business
Brian Winch’s parking lot litter cleanup service
Erica Krupin’s pooper scooper business

2. Selling Plant Clippings

Gardening can be much more than just a hobby—it can be a way to earn extra cash on the side too.

Brian Aleksivich from TheLotsProject.com gave us a peek into his homegrown side hustle selling comfrey root and crown cuttings online.

Photo from https://thelotsproject.com/growing-money-comfrey-consulting/

Comfrey is a perennial herb that spreads each year, with new plants sprouting from pieces of existing roots and crowns.

Brian says he first learned about comfrey’s propagation abilities from Survival Podcast with Jack Spirko discussing its many uses. He ordered some starter plants, let them establish and multiply, and soon had more than enough to share.

Brian sells his comfrey cuttings on platforms like Etsy, Facebook Marketplace, and Craigslist. He notes that he harvests each Sunday and ships out orders on Mondays. This tactic allows him to limit the time spent on this side hustle.

And the effort has paid off. Brian reports earning “a couple hundred bucks a week” from comfrey root alone. When you consider this requires just a few hours of work on Sundays, that’s an incredible return.

Brian shared that he and his wife decided to sell their Minnesota farm and embrace the full-time RV lifestyle.

To keep his comfrey side hustle going, he partnered with several individuals to help them start their own comfrey businesses using his root stock and guidance.

Brian offers guidance for anyone looking to start their own comfrey side hustle. On his website’s Services page, you can sign up for a 30-minute consultation to determine if comfrey is a good fit for you.

3. Growing Mushrooms

When the pandemic hit in 2020, many people turned to gardening, baking, and home projects to fill time at home.

For Doug Bronson of Southern New Hampshire, lockdown led to experimenting with mushroom growing.

Over the past years, Doug has grown that hobby into a basement mushroom farm generating $2,000 per week in sales.

Photo by Masood Aslami from Pexels.com

Doug told us his startup costs were actually quite high—he spent over $30,000 on equipment and supplies… but he doesn’t regret the investment.

Doug’s first client was a local mushroom farmer named Eric who runs farm tours and sells to restaurants and markets. There is high demand for mushrooms in their area, so Doug started supplying Eric wholesale.

He is grossing about $2,000 a week selling around 240 lbs of mushrooms at $8 per lb wholesale, or up to $16 retail, and it costs Doug only around $1,000 to produce each batch.

Doug is working on increasing his revenue by getting into farmer’s markets, as well as lowering his production costs. He also started a YouTube channel called SpeakeasyMyco to document his progress.

4. Headstones for Pets

Saying goodbye to a beloved pet is always hard. But Rodney Melton is trying to make honoring that lifetime of memories a little bit easier.

Rodney runs an Etsy shop called MeltonMemorials, creating custom engraved pet headstones.

In the last year alone, Rodney brought in over $200,000 in sales from his pet memorial side hustle.

And with the low overhead of running this type of online business, he pockets an estimated 65% in profits.

Rodney does have some upfront equipment costs like laser engraving machines, granite saws, and other tools for etching.

But he saves on his biggest expense: granite. How? Rodney partners with a local countertop manufacturer to pick up their discarded granite scraps.

The stone pieces aren’t big, but they are big enough to craft hundreds of pet memorials sized from bricks to mini headstones.

Since opening his Etsy shop, Rodney has made over 7,500 sales.

Pet loss is an unfortunate inevitability for most owners. But products like Rodney’s pet headstones help keep memories alive.

5. Christmas Light Installation

If those Christmas tunes get you dreaming about festive lights and decor, why not turn your enthusiasm into a seasonal side business?

That’s exactly what Jeff Jurina did over 20 years ago when he launched his Christmas light installation company, Christmas Lights By Design.

Here are some of the standout stats Jeff shared about his holiday hustle:

$70,000+ in sales each season
All earned in just 2 months of work
Startup costs: ladder
Now also sells installation training

Jeff began simply by going door-to-door in November and offering to put up neighbor’s lights. His only supplies were a ladder and some handouts.

But he provided such a valuable service that word spread, business boomed, and the orders kept flowing in year after year.

These days, Jeff is busy managing his ongoing client lights in addition to selling installation training to new entrepreneurs.

His online course teaches everything you need to know to start your own Christmas light business. Use promo code SIDEHUSTLE to save 10% off enrollment.

Christmas holiday lighting is a nice add-on sale once you’re onsite decorating a client’s home or business for the season. You provide the know-how, and they provide the materials.

You can even rent extra ladders and lifts during your busiest weeks then store them away for the rest of the year.

6. Signature Coach

Here’s a creative side hustle that takes a simple skill to the bank: redesigning signatures.

Priscilla Molina of Los Angeles has built a business around redesigning signatures. On her site Planet of Names, she charges $25-$120 per custom signature.

Each order includes 3 unique signature concepts tailored to the customer’s desired style—simple, professional, and dramatic.

Priscilla says her customers are people unhappy with their current signatures, which no longer match their personality or convey their desired image.

“They’re not happy with their signatures. They don’t relate to who they are. They don’t give the message they want to convey to the world,” she shared in an Associated Press interview.

She earns an estimated $5,000+ per month with her signature redesign service, primarily driven by her TikTok account where she has nearly 1 million followers.

Priscilla’s most popular TikTok videos demonstrate signature styles, like drawing stylized versions of a single letter. This establishes her expertise even for those with no calligraphy skills themselves.

If you think about it, this makeover side hustle model could work for other creative services too, like redesigning Zoom backdrops, fireplace mantels, sales copy, etc.

7. Renting Champagne Walls

You know how much we love unconventional rental side hustles here—something you can buy or build once, then generate income from repeatedly. Past examples on the show have included party inflatables, portable hot tubs, and mobility scooters.

Cheers to this next side hustler who dreamed up a way to cash in on weddings without actually planning any events.

Alexis McDermott is the founder of Wandering Wall Company, a decor rental business specializing in trendy champagne walls.

Alexis builds and rents out wooden walls fitted to hold staggered rows of champagne glasses. Couples can use them as self-serve bars at their receptions. Her walls rent for $450 each and have been a huge hit.

Just two years after launching her side hustle, Alexis has already decorated nearly $30,000 worth of champagne walls and other wedding props.

In addition to champagne walls, she rents seating charts, photo backdrops, welcome signs, and other wedding decor.

Speaking with Business Insider, Alexis attributed much of her success to social media, specifically strategic photography partnerships.

“Social media has played a huge role in my business success,” she said.

8. Selling Your Stock Voting Rights

If you invest in individual stocks, there’s a hidden perk you may not know about.

Shareholders get voting rights in addition to any potential dividends and appreciation, and Preston Yadegar’s company Shareholder Vote Exchange will actually pay you to exercise those rights.

Here’s a quick explainer on how it works:

Public companies hold votes on matters like electing board members and approving policies.

As a shareholder, you get a say through your voting rights.

But many individual investors don’t participate in these votes, even though they could influence outcomes. That’s where Shareholder Vote Exchange comes in.

Preston’s company purchases your voting rights for money, allowing them to cast proxy votes on your behalf. These votes are more valuable for smaller companies, where shareholders have greater sway.

According to Preston, compensation typically ranges from 0.1% to 5% of your share price.

For example, if you owned $100k worth of qualifying stock, you could earn an extra $100 to $5,000 each year!

And it takes just minutes to connect your brokerage account to start monetizing your votes.

This is one of the most unique side hustle opportunities I’ve heard in a while. Even with a modest portfolio, those unused voting rights could represent thousands in found money.

9. Mt. Rainier Watch

This next side hustle is near and dear to my heart as a native Pacific Northwesterner.

Mt. Rainier is the iconic 14,411 foot tall volcano in the Cascade Range. We even have a local saying – “the mountain is out!” anytime Rainier makes an appearance.

Back in 2013, David Lindahl decided to create @isMtRainierOut – an X (former Twitter) account simply posting daily mountain visibility updates.

And slowly but surely, David has grown this single-focus social media presence into a merchandising empire bringing in over $2,000 per month.

It took 5 years of consistent posting before David added any products. He quickly realized how passionate locals were about this legendary peak.

In 2018, he launched eCommerce merchandise like t-shirts, stickers, and mugs.

Today, the @isRainierOut Twitter account has around 38,622 followers. He now generates $2,000 per month in mountain-themed product sales online and at local events.

This is a great example of building an audience around a beloved landmark. Is there a historic building, statue, sign, bridge, or other structure in your area that stirs up community pride?

Find some way to celebrate it, and fans may want a piece of memorabilia to show their support.

10. Batting Stance Guy

Closing out our list this year is a true novelty side hustle.

Gar Ryness gained online fame as Batting Stance Guy, impersonating the batting rituals of professional baseball players in YouTube videos.

Gar himself admits mimicking batting stances is among the least marketable skills. Yet his videos have amassed over 5 million views, earning an estimated $22,000.

At the height of his popularity around 2008–2009, Gar scored TV appearances and a book deal with Scribner.

The book, Batting Stance Guy: A Love Letter to Baseball, is still available on Amazon.

While the initial hype has died down, Gar continues to offer personalized videos on Cameo for $25 each, which is what I did for this episode.

Garrett is proof that even the most random, “unmarketable” skills can be monetized.

So take stock of your own quirky talents. If you can make someone smile or marvel at your unique abilities, there is always an audience out there.

Honorable Mentions

Reselling Costco cakes in Mexico – Entrepreneurs were buying Costco sheet cakes in bulk from US stores and reselling them locally in Mexico at a premium. It became popular enough that Costco had to start limiting cake purchases.

Music for pets – became a pretty big operation and ended up selling for 10 million+ relaxing music for pets.

Wrapping Up

And that wraps up this year’s roundup of creative side hustle ideas and stories!

As you can see from these profiles, there are so many ways to turn skills and interests into cash. Maybe one of these unconventional businesses sparked an idea for you.

Sponsors

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Looking for More Side Hustle Help?

Start Your Free $500 Challenge. My free 5-day email course shows you how to add $500 to your bottom line.
Join the free Side Hustle Nation Community. The free Facebook group is the best place to connect with other side hustlers and get your questions answered.
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What are the best side hustles for tech workers?

If you’re looking to translate your in-demand skills into an extra income stream, you’re in the right place.

In this post, I’ll share my top tech side hustles based on:

My 15+ years of side hustle experience
Conversations with real tech workers
Schedule flexibility and earning power

Even though tech workers earn an average of $111,000 a year, a side hustle can still be a way to boost your savings, improve cash flow, or pay down debt.

Ready? Let’s do it!

1. Part-Time Remote Work

If you are looking for a tech side hustle, your easiest and fastest option may be to pick up some flexible, part-time work. You’ve got in-demand skills and other companies are looking for your expertise.

This is where FlexJobs comes in — it’s the leading work-from-home jobs site.

FlexJobs has over 50 career categories, including:

Computer and IT Jobs
Engineering Jobs
Science Jobs
Software Development Jobs
Web Design Jobs
and many more

And you can filter specifically for the roles that are freelance, part-time, or flexible schedules.

2. Real Estate Investing

A common question from IT professionals is where to invest their money. It’s the “how can I get paid over and over again from work I do once?” question. 

And a common answer is real estate. My friend who works at Google is a prime example of this, taking a portion of his salary and buying rental properties.

But houses are expensive — and like any landlord will tell you — they still require maintenance and attention.

Thankfully, new platforms like Arrived make it easy to invest in hands-off income-generating properties—with as little as $100.

The company pools money to buy rental properties, manages them, and then distributes the cash flow every month.

3. Web Design Service

You might be surprised, but many businesses have a really outdated-looking site — or they don’t have one at all.

If you don’t have web design skills, it’s easy to learn, especially if you have a tech background.

My advice: pick a niche to specialize in, and become the go-to provider for businesses in that space.

For example, Ryan Golgosky from 180sites.com primarily builds sites for pressure-washing companies. (Really!)

When we spoke, he shared how this strategy — and a unique pricing plan — built his web design business to $100,000 a month.

4. Build a Helpful Website

While building websites for clients is a great tech side hustle, it may be even better to build one for yourself.

Now to be totally upfront, there’s a lot to learn to make this business work, but when it does, it can be extremely lucrative.

For example:

Scott earns 6-figures a year from his bird-watching blog
Shelley earns $50k a month from her travel blogs
Andrew earned over $1.2M from his gift ideas site

Their sites are monetized with advertising and affiliate partnerships, which scale as your traffic increases.

Want to start a blog of your own? Check out my free 6-part video course on how to start your own site.

5. Tutoring

With a nationwide focus on STEM curriculum, tech workers are well-positioned to tutor students in these subjects. 

I’ve met IT professionals — including my neighbor who works at Amazon — tutoring math, science, and coding on the side. And because these are sought-after fields, they command rates of $50 an hour and up.

Platforms like Tutor.com and Wyzant can help connect you with students.

6. Teach an Online Class

While one-to-one tutoring can be rewarding and even pretty lucrative, it’s still trading time for money. One side hustle with a little more scale is to teach an online group class through a platform like Outschool.

The peer-to-peer education marketplace focuses on students ages 3-18, and has courses on nearly every topic imaginable. On The Side Hustle Show, Jade Weatherington shared how she was earning $10,000 a month on the platform, primarily teaching middle school English writing classes.

I even connected with an Outschool teacher with a series of popular video game classes!

You could teach a class on the tech skills you have or on any topic in which you have expertise.

7. Prompt Engineering

AI tools are popping up all over the place. If you have an interest in AI, this could be a great tech side hustle for you.

AI tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney spit out whatever prompt you give it, but the results vary greatly. For example, if you ask Midjourney to give you an image of a wolf in the forest, you’ll get different images of a wolf in the forest.

But if you asked Midjourney for a wolf in the forest in the style of Synthwave with colors X, Y, and Z, you’ll likely end up with better, cooler-looking results that are closer to what you’re looking for. That’s the type of prompt that people apparently pay good money for.

Marketplaces like PromptBase have already sprouted up to give people a place to buy and sell their AI prompts!

8. Software Consulting

Is there a software tool you’re an expert in? One you’re an early adopter of?

One popular side hustle is to “piggyback” on the popularity of a particular software tool, and provide training and support for it. My friend Brad Rice does this with Salesforce and earns over $200k a year part time!

As more people and companies use the software, there’s a growing demand for qualified training. This could be the perfect compliment to your tech job.

Plus, new software comes out all the time, which means even if you don’t have a software in mind today, it could be a side hustle idea for you down the road.

Check out this free challenge to see if a similar path is right for you:

9. White Label Software

Software businesses are some of the most profitable in the world, but it’s tricky to try and create your own software from scratch.

The alternative is to become a software reseller, like Chris Lollini. The self-proclaimed “recovering engineer” reported earning multi 6-figures a year white labeling reputation management software to local small businesses.

How it works is you buy “seats” to a software product at a discounted or wholesale rate, and resell them at retail prices. Start with an industry you’re familiar with and see what common pain points could be solved with existing software tools.

The advantage of this tech side hustle is you have almost no upfront risk or expense.

10. Online Focus Groups and Paid Market Research

Sites like User Interviews and Respondent help match you up with paid research studies online—and often pay $100+ an hour!

While there are some “general population” studies, most are geared toward industry professionals—perfect for people who work in tech.

The company takes a 5% processing fee, but the rest of the funds you earn will hit your PayPal account within 8-10 days of your study.

I’ve earned $395 through Respondent so far! Check out my full Respondent review to learn more.

11. On-Demand IT Support Service

John Rouda is an IT manager near Charlotte, North Carolina. He’s built a variety “for-profit hobbies,” small side hustles that bring in extra cash.

Among those is a local IT / computer maintenance service business. He charges around $200 a month to be the “on-call” tech guy for businesses like car repair shops.

After an initial set-up, he’ll handle website updates and troubleshoot other issues that come up.

12. Freelance Writing

Freelance writing in the area of your technical expertise could be a great side hustle. Many publishers are looking for people with technical expertise who can write about tech in an approachable way.

Where can you find work? Here are some resources to check out:

ProBlogger – A free remote jobs search site specifically for freelance writers.
BloggingPro – A free job board that is updated daily with paid blogging jobs, blog writing jobs, and freelance writing jobs.
Freelance Writing Jobs – A list of paid freelance writing and writing-related jobs that are hand-picked from various job sites, classified ads, and company websites. 

To learn more about making money as a writer, check out this free guide from the American Writers and Artists Institute:

13. Video or Audio Tutorials

By day, Bryan Orr helps run an air conditioning company in Central Florida, and by night he’s a father of 10. Yet somehow he’s found the time to create the super-popular HVAC School podcast in his spare time.

Tasked with training technicians at his day job, he had the idea to put the material into an on-demand audio format. On a whim, he decided to publish the content online and make it available to a wider audience.

“It just exploded. I never thought there would be an audience like the audience that I found,” Bryan said.

As his audience grew he started negotiating sponsorship deals with large companies in the HVAC niche.

In under a year, he’d built an email list of over 7500 subscribers, generated more than 500,000 podcast downloads, and was earning $11k a month in sponsorship revenue.

Tech tutorials are very popular as people try to learn how to do things for themselves.

14. Test Websites

As a website tester, you record your computer screen and your voice as you use a certain site or app. You may also need to write survey responses as part of the job or use a webcam.

This tech side hustle can be done in little pockets of time you have throughout your day or after work.

Essentially, you’re giving your opinion about the usability of a website or app with the goal of improving the user experience. You discuss your likes and dislikes, suggest improvements, and discuss any difficulties you have with the site or app.

Learn more about remote website testing jobs at these sites:

User Testing – Rewards vary based on the assignment, but average in the $20-30/hour range.
TestingTime – Earn up to $65 per every 30-90 minute study.
Trymata – Earn $5-30 per test.

15. Answering Questions

Sites like JustAnswer offer a flexible side hustle for tech workers, where you can earn $2,000-$7,000 per month.

Once you apply as an expert, JustAnswer connects you with people who have tech questions. You can set your own hours and the types of questions you’re best-qualified to answer.

You’ll get paid for each customer you help, but the big advantage is that JustAnswer does all the marketing for you.

16. Flipping Phones

The concept of flipping phones is simple—people buy used mobile devices and resell them for a profit.

For professional flippers like Jeff Duhon, it can turn into a full-time income stream. He targets $100 in profit per flip, and does dozens a month.

As with other niches, there’s a learning curve to figure out the different models and carriers to know which phones have the highest resale values.

If your tech job deals with hardware, this side hustle might be worth a shot.

17. 3D Printing

Anyone with a 3D printer would tell you it’s a lot of fun to build three-dimensional objects out of a variety of materials.

But what many people don’t know is that you can make money with a 3D printer by creating and selling prints.

As Side Hustle Nation’s resident 3D printing expert, Nikko Mendoza, put it, 3D printing is a high margin side hustle.

“It really depends on the niche, but it’s vastly underrated,” he explained.

Some of his students have earned $2,000 in a weekend selling 3D printed toys. Another earned $30,000 in a month selling 3D-printed cookie cutters!

18. Start an Email Newsletter

An email newsletter is a low-cost side hustle to start. (Tools like Substack, SendFox, and Beehiiv make it easier than ever.)

One model to consider is a daily or weekly “curation” newsletter. How it works is you source the most interesting stories in your niche, and share those with your subscribers.

For bonus points, add your own insight and commentary to each headline.

As the subscriber base grows, most newsletters eventually monetize with ads or paid subscriptions.

A well-known example in the tech space is Dan Ni’s TLDR Newsletter. 

With over 1.2M subscribers, Dan earns up to $30,000 every time he hits send! 

What’s the Best Tech Side Hustle for You?

We’ve thrown out a lot of different IT side hustles in this post. Did any resonate with you? 

As you choose the right tech side hustle for you, your skills, expertise, and interests will help you determine where to focus your time.

For some, it’s about flexibility and freedom. For others, it’s a change of careers or an entrepreneurial challenge.

It’s time to take action. Pick one and start. If your first one doesn’t work, you can always try a different one. Which one are you going to start first?

Looking for More Side Hustle Help?

Start Your Free $500 Challenge. My free 5-day email course shows you how to add $500 to your bottom line.
Join the free Side Hustle Nation Community. The free Facebook group is the best place to connect with other side hustlers and get your questions answered.
Download The Side Hustle Show. My free podcast shares how to make extra money with actionable weekly episodes.