One of the most common questions I get is, “What if I don’t have any skills? Can I still start a side hustle?”

On the one hand, I totally get that feeling.

If you’re a teacher, tutoring might seem like an obvious side gig. If you’re an accountant, you could freelance or start a bookkeeping business.

But not everyone’s skills neatly align with a natural side hustle. So what do you do if you don’t think you have any marketable skills? Is there still a path to earning extra income on the side?

Yes, there absolutely is! And that’s what I’m breaking down in this post: four frameworks to start a profitable side hustle, even if you think you’re skill-less today.

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The Curse of Knowledge

Before we get into those four frameworks, I want to emphasize the “think” part of that last sentence. The curse of knowledge is very real—once you know something, it’s hard to imagine not knowing it.

To test if you’ve fallen victim, ask yourself: If you had to give a presentation teaching something tomorrow, what would it be on? I’ve given talks on podcasting, SEO, email marketing—none of which I learned in school, but certainly know enough about to help others.

You’ve probably picked up some valuable knowledge too after living for decades. Think about what people tend to ask you for help with—that’s an area where you have some perceived expertise.

Still not sure? Ask a few friends “What skill do you think I know more about than the average person?” You might be surprised by their answers. The big idea is to recognize that you’re probably not as skill-less as you might think.

Framework 1: Plug and Play Side Hustles

First up, “plug and play” side hustles. These are often app-based gigs that you can start pretty much immediately and they usually don’t require any specialized skills.

1. Driving and Delivery Apps

You could sign up to drive for Uber or deliver groceries with Instacart. If you can drive a car and follow basic instructions, you’re qualified!

The downside to these apps is that they’re not that difficult—meaning your earning power is limited by the hours you can put in. Still, they can be a quick and easy way to start boosting your income. 

2. Online Surveys

Jackie Mitchell recommended the online survey site Prolific, which specializes in academic research. Check out our full Prolific review to learn more.

If you like filling out surveys, here are some other popular options:

3. Mobile Game Testing

Jackie also mentioned making money playing mobile games through the Swagbucks app. How this works is you download a new game through the app — hopefully one that looks fun and interesting to you — and you get paid for reaching certain milestones in the game.

Some of these offers can pay $100 or more, which can be a fun way to monetize an activity you may already be doing in your spare time.

4. Paid Market Research

Paid focus groups and market research is one of my favorite side hustles. It pays well ($50-200/hr), and is usually pretty interesting. 

For example, I’ve gotten paid to talk about travel credit cards, video editing software, investing, business banking, and more. 

Here are some of our top picks to get matched up with higher paying market research opportunities.

5. Data Annotation

Sites like DataAnnotation and Remotasks are paying people $15-25/hr to help train the next generation of AI tools. While the work itself is somewhat tedious, it does use your brain and you can do it from anywhere.

I actually tested out Remotasks myself and earned $15 for my first hour of work.

6. Sharetown

Another plug and play side hustle is Sharetown. With Sharetown, you pick up and resell returned mattresses and furniture. 

You would need access to a truck or van and a place to store the items, but you don’t need to put up the initial cash to buy inventory. Instead, Sharetown takes care of the payment processing and you keep the spread between your selling price and what you owe the company.

Check out our full Sharetown review to learn more.

Framework 2: “Business in a Box” Side Hustles

“Business in a box” side hustles aren’t as simple as the “Plug and Play” side hustles listed above, but they do allow you to follow a specific playbook. You’ll have to do a bit more of your own marketing, but you won’t be reinventing any wheels here.

7. Vending Machines

For example, the recent vending machine business episode outlined how you can:

source a modern vending machine
find a busy location with 100+ people
keep it stocked
generate semi-passive income

8. Equipment Rentals

The equipment rental business is another plug-and-play model. Rent out mobility scooters like Lenny Tim, or follow the path of listener Brian Rautenberg who listed his rental inventory on CloudOfGoods.com to access existing demand.

9. Product Flipping

Product flipping is a side hustle you can start with the skills you already have. Look for undervalued items on Facebook Marketplace, at thrift stores, etc., and flip those for a profit.

For example, Stacy Gallego shared how she was making $7k a month from her flipping business.

10. Litter Clean-Up Service

Finally, a parking lot litter cleanup service is another “business in a box” side hustle.

If you can walk and operate a broom, you can start picking up litter from local parking lots and retail plazas like Blademir Hernandez outlined.

You can also check out Brian Winch’s Cleanlots training to learn more.

Framework 3: Learn a New Skill

The third side hustle framework is probably my favorite because it’s all about betting on yourself and increasing your earning power over time. And that is to proactively learn a new skill.

This could be a skill that’s closely related to what you already know, or something completely brand new.

11. Knife Sharpening

For example, Matt Rowell was on active duty in the Navy, deployed overseas, and basically learned knife sharpening from YouTube. He invested a small amount of money in some professional equipment and practiced his way to proficiency.

Within a few months, he was earning $200-500 a month from this side hustle, and it continued to grow from there.

12. Mobile Notary Service

Another example is Brian Schooley, who was working a low-paying weekend job to make ends meet. Brian discovered the loan signing agent side hustle, a job that helps real estate buyers and sellers complete the mountain of paperwork required at closing.

He completed the Loan Signing System training, which taught him everything he needed to know about each document in the stack and how to navigate the closing process. Within a few months, Brian was earning $1000 a month from this side hustle, and during the refinance boom, his peak month was over $8000!

13. Web Design Service

We’ve seen people use platforms like Coursera and Udemy to learn all sorts of freelance skills, like web design, proofreading, and bookkeeping.

In web design, Chris Misterek used free and inexpensive online training to land freelance work averaging $3k a month. Later he pivoted into a full-time career at more than double his previous salary.

14. Salesforce Consulting

Finally, I want to highlight Anita Smith, who completely reskilled after getting laid off from her hospitality job during the pandemic. Anita discovered the Salesforce training platform Trailhead.com and eventually joined a program called Talent Stacker to help fast-track her career pivot.

Within a few months, she landed a new remote job, doubling her old salary! If Salesforce sounds interesting to you, Brad Rice has a free 5-day Salesforce challenge you can check out.

Framework 4: Play Matchmaker

Our fourth and final framework is to “play matchmaker” — find people with problems, connect them to people who can solve those problems, and take a cut in the middle.

This is similar to an agency model, where you’re not doing the actual work, but handling the marketing, sales, project management, and quality control.

Here are some examples.

15. Residential Cleaning Service

Anthony and Jhanilka Hartzog built a residential house cleaning business, finding cleaners and customers but not doing the work themselves. When we spoke, they were booking around $25k worth of work a month. They’d pay their cleaners 60% of the revenue and take 40% for their own marketing, overhead, and profit.

16. Graphic Design

Russ Perry played matchmaker connecting people who needed graphic design to a workforce of designers at Design Pickle. In three years, the little side project was a multi-million-dollar a year operation.

17. Video Editing

Justin Tan started Video Husky, a video editing service, but didn’t do the editing himself. Instead, he built a team of qualified editors who could keep up with the workflow from clients.

The matchmaker model requires more work in terms of acquiring customers and managing your workforce. But you also avoid the trap of trading dollars for hours which plagues many freelancers.

Are you selling your time or results? Playing matchmaker lets you sell results, with more leverage and scale.

No Skills? No Problem!

Hopefully these four frameworks show there ARE viable side hustle options, even if you struggle putting your finger on any marketable skills today:

Plug and Play Gigs
Business in a Box Models
Learn New Skills
Play Matchmaker

To dive deeper on any of these side hustles mentioned, I’d encourage you to check out the full podcast episodes with these guests.

And if you’re ready to start your own money-making project, head over to hustle.show and take the quick quiz. It’ll build you a personalized playlist of Side Hustle Show episodes tailored to get you started based on your goals and interests.

That way you can add them to your device, learn what’s working for other hustlers, and actually go out and get paid!

Share Your Thoughts!

What’s holding you back from starting a side hustle?

Episode Links

Uber
Instacart
Instacart Shopper Review
Prolific.com
Prolific review
Swagbucks
DataAnnotation
Remotasks
Remotasks Review
Sharetown
How Sharetown Works
Episode 580 with Chris Torres
Episode 591 (The 10 Best Side Hustles of 2023)
Episode 564 with Lenny Tim
CloudOfGoods.com
Episode 522 with Blademir Hernandez
Episode 266 with Brian Winch
Cleanlots
Episode 308 with Matt Rowell
Episode 286 with Brian Schooley
Coursera
Udemy
Episode 388 with Chris Misterek
Episode 497 with Anita Smith
Free 5-Day Salesforce Challenge
Trailhead
Episode 441 with Brad Rice
Episode 438 with Anthony and Jhanilka Hartzog
Episode 248 with Russ Perry
Episode 540 with Justin Tan

Serious About Making Extra Money?

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.

ReceiptPal is one of several receipt-scanning apps that pays you real money for sharing your shopping receipts.

But does the app deliver?

Dedicated ReceiptPal users can earn $10-25 a year. It’s essentially free money — but is it worth the effort?

In this review, I’ll share:

How ReceiptPal works
My experience with the app so far
Some ReceiptPal alternatives to consider

We based this ReceiptPal review on:

Our personal experience with the app
Feedback from our independent app testers and public App Store reviews
Comparing with other similar receipt-scanning apps

Ready? Let’s do it!

Is ReceiptPal Legit?

Yes, ReceiptPal is legit. ReceiptPal was founded in 2013 and has over 1 million downloads and a 4-star rating from almost 40,000 reviews on Google Play.

At press time, the app had also earned a 4.5-star rating from over 20,000 reviews on the Apple App Store.

How Does ReceiptPal Work?

ReceiptPal (sometimes written as “Receipt Pal”) collects your receipts and gives you points to redeem for gift cards.

You can submit paper receipts through your smartphone camera, or connect your email and other retailer accounts to share digital receipts.

You have 7 days from the date of purchase to submit your receipts.

With ReceiptPal, all receipts are treated equally. (Other apps give you more points for larger purchases, or only work with receipts from certain stores.)

You can upload receipts from convenience stores, grocery stores, clothing stores, sporting goods stores, gas stations, and more. 

How Much Can You Make with Receipt Pal?

The Receipt Pal earning system is somewhat convoluted, but the more receipts you share, the more you can earn.

Every four receipts you submit earns you one “card.”

A card is worth 100 points.

It takes a minimum of 2200 points to cash out for a $5 reward. If my math serves me, that means each receipt is worth approximately $0.06.

(This is actually higher than some other popular receipt scanning apps.)

The average shopper could anticipate filling about 1-2 cards per week (4-8 receipts). That would earn you 100-200 ReceiptPal points each week, letting you get a $5 cash out every 3-5 months.

Over a year, ReceiptPal would be worth $12-$25, depending on your shopping habits.

How Does ReceiptPal Make Money?

ReceiptPal takes your information and combines it with information from other ReceiptPal members.

Then they sell the anonymized information to help companies better understand consumer purchase behaviors. Based on everyone’s buying patterns, brands and retailers can make better product and marketing decisions.

What are the Payout Options?

You can cash out your ReceiptPal points for an Amazon gift card or a gift card to other select retailers. There is no option to redeem for PayPal credit, bank deposit, or Venmo or Zelle transfer.

As of press time, here are the Receipt Pal payout levels: 

2,200 points = $5 gift card
4,000 points = $10 gift card
9,250 points = $25 gift card
17,250 points = $50 gift card
32,250 points = $100 gift card

Some of the non-Amazon retail gift card options include:

Apple
Chipotle
Panera
Starbucks
Target
Walmart

One potential downside to be aware of is you must connect your email account for at least 30 days to redeem any ReceiptPal reward.

How to Maximize Your Receipt Pal Earnings

The best way to maximize your ReceiptPal is to simply make it a habit to scan your receipts after every shopping trip. 

It won’t be a lifestyle-changer in terms of the extra income, but you’ll slowly build points over time.

Here are some other ways to make the most from Receipt Pal.

Connect Your Email and Retailer Accounts

ReceiptPal wants you to connect your email addresses so it can scan your inbox for online shopping receipts. That way, you’ll get points for all the shopping you do, not just the trips with paper receipts.

Important note: If you don’t want to give Receipt Pal access to your inbox, you won’t be able to cash out from the app.

You can also connect your Amazon, Instacart, Kroger, Starbucks, and Walmart accounts to earn more points.

They’ll give you a small bonus for each account you connect, plus you’ll automatically earn ReceiptPal points for every transaction through a connected account.

Sweepstakes, Bonuses, and Surveys

As you use the app regularly, you’ll notice different point bonus earning opportunities and sweepstakes entries. I’ve yet to win big here, but it is a way to earn more points and get you closer to your next cash out.

Keep your eye out for paid surveys as well.

Stack with Credit Card Rewards

At most stores, the price you pay is the same whether you’re paying with cash, a debit card, or a credit card. So you might as well get some credit card rewards while you’re shopping. 

Here are some of the best current cash back card offers. 

Stack with Other Cash Back Apps

Receipt Pal is one of several cash back apps, and there’s nothing to stop you from scanning receipts into multiple apps. 

It still won’t make you rich, but can turn pennies into more pennies.

Among my favorites are:

Fetch Rewards – Scan receipts with this app to earn rewards and cash in for free Amazon gift cards (or other stores).
Ibotta – Check your grocery receipts for special cash back offers. I’ve gotten as much as $5 back on single items so it pays to check!
Pogo – Pogo pays you for sharing your location data and linking your credit card statement. You can cash out via Venmo or PayPal. Check out our full Pogo review for more.
CoinOut – Featured on Shark Tank, CoinOut has similar functionality to Receipt Pal. Check out our full CoinOut review for more

Save Up for Better Redemption Values?

If you like a deal, you might have noticed that Receipt Pal points are worth more the more you have. 

For example, your points are worth $0.003 each when you redeem for a $100 gift card, compared to just $0.002 when you cash out at $5. 

“That’s a 50% better value!” you might be thinking. And you’d be right … but it might also take you 4+ years to save up enough points to get to that level.

My recommendation? Cash out as early and as often as you can, because you never know when the point values may change.

What We Like and Dislike About ReceiptPal

On the positive side, “It’s quite easy to use,” our independent app tester explained. “You just snap a picture and earn points. Once you add your accounts, the app automatically scans them for possible points. I like the little sweepstakes entries too.”

The $5 cash out minimum is reasonable and the value per receipt is in line with other similar apps.

We’d love to see some more cash out options, and not require an email account connection to cash out.

It’s also kind of lame that your points expire if you forget to upload a receipt for 90 days.

Other users mention the app itself can be slow, but I haven’t experienced that myself.

Receipt Pal Alternatives

ReceiptPal is one of several receipt-scanning apps I keep on my phone. After each shopping trip, it’s pretty fast to go through and take a picture with each to earn the points.

Here are some similar apps to consider, along with some other ways to get paid for your data. 

1. Fetch Rewards

The Fetch Rewards app is a favorite of mine because it’s super easy. You earn points by snapping pictures of your grocery receipts, which you can cash in for gift cards.

Pro Tip: Use referral code FETCH300 when you sign up to get 300 free bonus points added to your account.

2. Receipt Hog

Receipt Hog is a similar receipt-scanning app, where our independent app tester reported earning $25 a year. 

Here’s our full Receipt Hog review for more.

3. Ibotta

I use Ibotta every week to check for extra cash back on our grocery purchases.

The drawback is you still have to scroll through each store’s listing and choose the products you bought. Then, you snap a picture of your receipt and watch the cash back hit your account.

Ibotta Savers who use the app every month earn over $130 a year! I’ll take it. (You can cash out via gift cards or PayPal.)

4. CoinOut

CoinOut won’t replace your day job, but could pay you up to $36 a year for uploading your shopping receipts.

It’s easy to use and you can cash out for an Amazon gift card as soon as you earn your first $3 worth of coins.

Check out our full CoinOut review to learn more.

5. Pogo (iOS)

The free Pogo app is one of my latest finds. By sharing your location and credit card transaction data, Pogo gives you points that you can cash out to PayPal or Venmo.

Just enable location tracking and link your bank account credentials when you sign up. Based on my results so far, I expect Pogo to be worth around $5-20 a year.

Check out my full Pogo app review to learn more.

Is Receipt Pal Worth It?

If you’re an online shopper, Receipt Pal is an easy way to score gift cards just by granting access to your receipts via email and online retailers.

Add in the ability to upload your paper receipts too, and you could earn multiple gift cards throughout the year.

If you shop regularly — and don’t care sharing what you buy — then yes, Receipt Pal is worth it given how little time it takes to use.

But if you’re looking for a side hustle with more earning power, Receipt Pal isn’t it. Take a look at our big list of ways to make extra money for ideas that will make a bigger impact on your bottom line.

Serious About Making Extra Money?

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.