21 Lucrative Side Gigs for Those Unfulfilled with Full-Time Jobs

Recently, Reddit user ThrowRA_Top_Metal asked the community, “What side hustle has been the most lucrative for you?”

People shared the side hustles that gave them some cushion in their bank accounts. They ranged from genius to totally unexpected, and honestly, it’s inspiring for those with underpaid full-time jobs.

So, here are some clever side gigs that changed people’s lives forever and boosted their bank accounts:

1. “I was employed as a cook once and I served elegant dinners to wealthy college students while I was a student. I charged $70 for each dish. You would be shocked at how much money I made, especially once finals were underway. On Friday evenings, I would earn roughly $1,200; on Saturdays I made about $1,500; on Sundays I made about $1,300. This side job covered my housing and board, insurance, and tuition.”

— u/greatest789

2. “I sold meal preps locally before companies like Factor were around, and sold meal plans on social media as well. I made good money for the work, but it ended up becoming too time-consuming to be worth it. I never liked social media either, and deleted all my accounts and it made it impossible to make good money anymore.”

— u/Dangerous-Limit2887

3. “Digital transcriber for Christian organizations and speakers. I made about $22,000 in less than a year’s time. My parents were heavily involved in Christian ministry, so when a group needed someone to be their transcriber, I was pretty much auto-hired for the role. I take sermons (videos or recordings) and convert them into Microsoft Word transcripts, doing lots of proofreading. I transcribed about 3.6 million words for about $22,000 in pay.”

— u/SteadfastEnd

4. “I joke about how I play music to support my habit of waiting tables, but lately, I’ve been making BANK by pressing shirts for local businesses in my off-time. I started because I was always let down by other local shirt guys who could never meet a deadline. So, I decided to do it myself, and I’m now getting business from multi-million dollar companies who want services and deadlines to be met. The pressing method I use requires a learning curve, but if you’re smart enough, it’s incredibly lucrative.”

— u/4lfred

5. “For almost 30 years, I’ve collected, repaired, restored, and raced vintage and antique snowmobiles (I live in lower Michigan for context). When I first got started in the mid-’90s absolutely nobody wanted them. Most of the time folks would help me load them up for free just to get them out of the yard. I’d do my thing with them, and when the fun was over, I’d sell them or trade them. Over the years I’ve owned about 300 of them and have made anywhere between $10-$20,000 (I haven’t kept track). The secret was not buying them with a plan to flip them — I’d pick up whatever was interesting to me or cheap and go through it like I was going to keep it. Once it was finished, then I’d make the decision on what was a keeper or not.”

— u/Squarebody7987

6. “Making floating shelves. Little time on the table saw, little time each morning spraying finish coats. $100 per foot of shelves, plus an additional $20 per foot for wood type. Purpleheart wood is on the upper end because it’s so damn gummy it burns on the bevel. $100 per shelf installation — I easily make $1,500 in a weekend when business is busy. When I wanna make some really quick scratch, I’ll batch out around five floating shelves from a single sheet of nice plywood, stain ’em, build the mounts, and include all hardware to mount them and sell ’em for $300 a piece.”

— u/L192837465

7. “Reselling stuff I find at thrift stores and garage sales has been pretty good for me. It’s wild how much people will pay for things like vintage clothes or old electronics, and it’s fun to hunt for good deals. Plus, I get to keep a lot of the profit since my costs are so low.”

— u/innaxlive

8. “Donating plasma. It can hurt — if you are squeamish it may not be for you, and you have to drink a lot of water and avoid certain foods 24 hours beforehand. For eight hours a month (two one-hour sessions per week) I earned over $500. Not only did I earn money, but I got to help people like those on dialysis — it’s a win-win situation. I bought my first car when I was in college with that money and my uncle’s spouse is on dialysis, so it was really cool to talk to her about it and know that I am helping people like her out.”

— u/Shadorin

9. “I dog sit. I’ve had dogs my whole life, and when my most recent one passed away, I didn’t really want to commit to getting a new one. It occurred to me that I’m excellent with dogs and have a good house with a big, fully secure yard. I charge $50 a night to have dogs at my house, and honestly, I’d do it for free because I love dogs. People are happy to pay because they know the quality of care is good. During busier periods when I’m very in demand, I’ll put my prices up a bit and make a few hundred dollars a month.”

— u/Temporary_Race4264

10. “I help locals set up their home theater systems and other home tech stuff. It’s usually painfully easy, but people will pay me $40-$50 an hour to do it, and sometimes they’ll throw in some of their old tech (I like tube TVs and old speakers) or a six-pack of beer and a baggie of weed. Older hippies make the best fucking clients. They never ask me to explain anything, there are always bonus gifts, they pay in cash, and round up my time spent there. They never complain about my prices, they never rush me, and they always make me feel like a valued guest or dear friend in their home.”

— u/Final_Wait635

11. “I have not monetized it, but I’ve had a lot of people offer me money to make cakes. My wife and I started making elaborate cakes for our kids’ birthdays. A lot of people told us we should quit our jobs and start a business — they told us people pay hundreds of dollars for lesser cakes. But in reality, I really hate making most of them, so I’ve always refused to make them for other people. The only times I’ve done them for other people were for a company’s anniversary cake, a baby shower, a Pennywise cake for a friend who is terrified of clowns, and an erotic cake for a friend’s birthday. The erotic cake was super fun to make. The first two were kind of half-assed.”

— u/CaptainAwesome06

12. “I used to do art commissions on the side (usually in between studio contract work), most of which were from furries or people who wanted art commissions. They were usually single or double-character commissions, and they paid handsomely (I would get anywhere between $250-$3,000 per commission). Most of the customers I had were calm and polite, usually providing reference material for the characters they had and what they wanted.”

“While the commission could be anything that they like, they had to provide any reference that I needed to complete it. More characters would cost extra, as it would complicate the process.

And, while NSFW was fine to an extent (want your character in a bikini holding a volleyball? Cool!), my limit was the hardcore pornographic stuff, as it got strange very fast.

Eventually, the studio work had come in more frequently and I had to close my commission store (because trying to juggle the two was not possible). But, there was a time when I did consider making this side hustle a more permanent fixture.”

— u/Blues20XX

13. “Medicolegal consulting. I wish I could do this full-time some days when I’m stuck at the hospital. I pay for entire vacations in a few hours of work.”

— u/Five-Oh-Vicryl

14. “DJ-ing weddings. During the height of wedding season, the money is $1,600 per gig and it’s cruisy for all but the three hours the dance floor starts. But, you’ve always got ‘Dancing Queen’ by ABBA and ‘Wagon Wheel’ by Darius Rucker to get you out of any hairy spots.”

— u/MeetingArderned

15. “My wife does Poshmark, and my mom runs a chain of high-end boutiques. She gives my wife the clothes that don’t sell at the end of the season, and we make about $1,000 a month on it.”

— u/Flailing_Aimlessly

16. “I was a video editor. I edited for a couple of YouTubers and content creators. I learned to edit as a hobby and started working on it by chance. By the time I finished my engineering degree, companies offered about $500-$600 a month (I live in Mexico though, so there are different salaries and living costs). I went all in on editing, and I’m making somewhere between $3,500-$5,000 per month now. I live like a king in Mexico — I bought a brand new car on one payment, I have my dream PC, and I’m applying for a house. I’m living my dream doing what I love.”

— u/TheShosto

17. “I haven’t done any side hustles in a while, but I did start an Instagram page and accepted requests for digital art pieces for a few months and made the same (more around Christmas) than what I was making during the height of COVID. I’m not Van Gogh or anything — I just happened to have an iPad and watched tutorial videos on YouTube. I should get back into it because it’s nice to have any extra income, especially in the US (cost of healthcare, groceries, etc.). 10 drawings a month was making me enough to cover a good chunk of the essentials.”

— u/anonymous199774

18. “Painting gaming miniatures. It’s something I’d be doing anyway, so why not do it for other people and get paid for it?”

— u/SeaOwl9867

19. “I started a house cleaning business. I clean to relieve stress from my full-time job on my days off. Cleaning is like jogging or bicycling at the park for me. I’m making over $3,000 a month essentially doing a hobby of mine.”

— u/faso_marshmallows

20. “I’m a classical musician (I’m a brass player), but I work 9-5 in the arts admin world. Arts admin isn’t known for the big bucks, but it’s what I like doing and I get paid decently well for my area. As a musician, I gig semi-frequently, teach a handful of lessons, and do some minor instrument repair and cleaning work. I make lessons almost double per hour for my 9-5. Gigs depend, but upwards of 4-5x per hour compared to my 9-5 usually. They do require extra work on my own time, though, to prepare.”

— u/kth004

21. And finally, “Instacart and DoorDash. I paid off my car with Instacart before the pay went to shit (they used pay per item picked with good bonuses for heavy items, large orders, etc.). I average $30-$33 an hour with DoorDash just driving around listening to podcasts and audiobooks. Even after taxes and gas and car wear, I’m still making $22-24 an hour in take-home money. I tell my friends who are hard up for cash that if they have a car, it’s seriously an easy way to make bank. Just track your miles and get a card with good rewards for gas purchases.”

— u/Omnitographer

Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.

Source: Reddit