6 Side Hustle Ideas You Can Start in 2022

Build credibility, reinforce your personal brand, and earn extra money on the side.

You have a big event coming up, but aren’t sure how to save money for it. Well, here’s a simple & straightforward answer: “Start a side-hustle.” Yes, it’s that simple!

In this post, we will look at six offbeat side-hustle ideas that you can get started with in 2022.

Side hustles are basically anything you do on the side to supplement your main income while also having fun. During my college days, I started my first side hustle as a content writer. It was a convenient way for me to earn some extra cash to spend on myself.

In 2022, thanks to the accelerated penetration of the internet due to the lockdowns, side hustles have become a great way to build credibility for yourself. This is an added benefit aside from the money, of course. Also, who knows, if you enjoy it enough, it could become your full-time job.

But, before we get there, let’s take a step back and look at these six offbeat side hustles that I’ve curated for you.

If you’d like to watch a more candid form of this article in video format, here’s a link.

1. Start a service-based business

In service-based businesses, you basically offer your time and expertise in exchange for money. These skills can be anything you are extremely proficient in, such as writing, photography, or video editing. It could be just about anything that you are good at.

To get started, you must list yourself as a freelancer on websites such as Upwork, Fiverr, Freelancer, etc. All three platforms have distinct methods for onboarding and acquiring clients. A gist of it would be:

1. You create and upload your CV
2. Describe what abilities you have,
3. What positions you’re interested in, and
4. What past projects you have done in the discipline.

Then you must search for clients who are looking for somebody with these specific skills and send your pitch across. It’s as simple as that; once you discover the appropriate client, you can start working on it immediately. The payment protection of all these platforms will ensure that you get paid for any work you complete.

You can market any talent you have on these platforms, such as your love of music, videography, or photography. I have a friend who’s well-versed in a native Indian language (Odiya) and makes upwards of $5000 every month on Upwork by adding Odiya subtitles to English movies. This goes on to show that no matter what your skill is if you’re persistent enough to seek and convert good clients, you can make it an amazing side hustle.

If you love writing, here’s an excellent resource to help you earn 4 figures USD every month by blogging about whatever topic you choose.

2. Start “Pet-Sitting” in your free time

This is an excellent side hustle for anyone who loves animals and has some time to spare. There are numerous sites where you may list yourself as a pet sitter and get paid anywhere from $25 per to $100 per night, depending on the type of pet you’re taking care of.

Some dog owners will be willing to pay up to $150 every night for their high-maintenance dogs. Petsitter.com is the website where you can get started. Another popular website is petsit.com. All you have to do is search for your city and then advertise yourself as a pet sitter on these websites.

Or you can simply Google “How can I be a pet sitter in <the name of your city.>” You will find a list of several websites where you can get your journey started. There are no qualifications required to become a pet sitter, but you must pass a thorough interview where you must demonstrate to the interviewers that you genuinely love pets and are capable of caring for them.

If you pass the interview, you will be emailed a list of currently available pets. Then, if the dates when the pets need to be taken care of coincide with your availability, you can get started right away. This is one of the simplest and most enjoyable side hustles to have in 2022. If you have some spare time, you should absolutely consider becoming a pet sitter.

3. Publish an interesting newsletter

The word newsletter indicates that you must have some exceptional writing skills in order to become a newsletter writer. However, writing is not the only way to send a newsletter. You can also curate specific links of topics that interest you. All you have to do is periodically send a bunch of links that provide the reader with some value.

My friend who’s a tech fanatic sends out links to articles written in the area of her expertise to her subscribers every week. And just by doing this, she attracts some excellent sponsors and earns up to $200 to $800 every month.

Newsletter writing is an extremely lucrative business, especially now that newsletters are becoming more popular with every passing day. If you don’t already have one, you should really consider starting your own newsletter. I’ve created a detailed article on how to make money with your newsletter. I’ve also written a thorough article on several strategies to start a newsletter and grow it to your first 1000 subscribers.

Here are three ways in which you can make money with your newsletter:

1. Have a subscription model

Once you start writing newsletters, you’re going to get more readers who are interested in reading what you write. When you cross a certain threshold of, say 500 subscribers, you can put your newsletter behind a paywall.

This means you can ask your subscribers to pay a certain amount of money every month just to read your posts. If you build relationships with your readers the right way, you’ll be surprised how many of your loyal fans are willing to pay, just to support you.

2. Get sponsors for your newsletter

Like the example I mentioned previously, you can sell ad space in your newsletter and collaborate with brands and companies in a similar niche as yours.

Then, you can run those ads in your newsletter for a fixed amount that you get for every conversion that you drive to their website. This is also very lucrative. If you are looking for sponsors for your newsletter, some great places to start are:

1. Swapstack
2. #Paid
3. Who Sponsors Stuff

3. Use affiliate links in your newsletter

Affiliate links are the links that when people click on them and buy something via it, you will receive a little commission for each purchase. If you have an extensive understanding of technology or reading, you might use your newsletter to propose some tech goods or novels. Then you can utilize an affiliate link to promote that product.

Different websites have different methods for creating affiliate links. However, if you wish to use Amazon links, Amazon has a very simple affiliate scheme. All you have to do is,

1. Go to Amazon’s affiliate dashboard,
2. Register yourself as an affiliate,
3. Indicate which products you wish to advertise.

Your account will be activated within a few days, and you can immediately begin sending the affiliate links through your newsletter.

4. Selling on Instagram

Instagram is a great way for small businesses to grow their audience base and earn some extra money. I have a friend who curates jewelry, like earrings, bracelets, necklaces, and so on from local markets at a cheap rate. She then matches them with lovely dresses that give it a really good look. Then she uploads these photos and videos to her Instagram account. When people like what they see, they’re willing to pay more than three times the original price of the jewelry, thus making her a nice profit on each sale!

Now the thing is, Instagram is just one way in which you can sell or resell crafts. There are so many ways you can do the same kind of sales. You can set up a shop on Shopify, Etsy, or you go to the next step and use websites like Twitter and Reddit to sell your products. But mind it, you need to be able to click good photographs of your product. However good a product is, a bad photograph means losing a potential customer.

5. Provide Live Coaching

If you are new to this term, life coaching is basically a service that you provide where you help people solve a particular problem they are facing in their life. No, you don’t need to be a therapist. You must be someone who provides a safe space, offers a new outlook, and guide people to figure out a way out of their problems.

There are several websites like Coach.Me or ICF that provide certification for people with a penchant for helping others to become life coaches. Once certified, you may call yourself a certified life coach and start your job.

Life coaching can be quite lucrative. My acquaintance earns four figures USD every month from life counseling sessions.

But you need to make sure to genuinely help the person on the other end of the call.

Obviously, it will be difficult to attract clients at first. A fantastic approach to get started is to offer them free clarity calls. These are one-on-one sessions where a person can come and chat with you. If they enjoy your services, they can pay and hire you as their life coach.

6. Build and sell a digital product

A digital product can be anything that compiles your specialized knowledge in any niche and presents it in an easily digestible way to your target audience. A digital product can be in the form of an ebook or PDF file, a series of videos, an automated email course, a podcast, and so on.

If you’re wondering, “But how can I sell a digital product? Even if I build it successfully, I still need a website to sell it, or give away 30% of my income to Amazon,” then don’t worry. I’ve got you covered.

A great online platform where you can build beautiful landing pages without needing to pay a single penny or learn to code is Gumroad. The platform is so intuitive and user-friendly, that you can create an account and start selling with a few clicks. Here’s what the process looks like:

1. Register with your name, profile picture, and a short bio on Gumroad.
2. Go to your dashboard and select “New product.”
3. Add a cover image and logo of your product. You can design your own images or use their Unsplash plugin to add beautiful duty-free images.
4. Write the landing page copy. Gumroad has tools to bold, italicize, underline text, and make the copy look more appealing by adding lists, tables, images, etc.
5. Once the landing page is ready, select “Product,” and add your digital product. It can be a downloadable PDF, video, or audio file, or you can also upload the files at some other place like Dropbox, Google Drive, etc, and redirect buyers to that link once the payment is made.
6. Hit “Publish,” and you’re all set to start earning money.

Check this guide for a detailed, step-by-step guide on building your first digital product.

Closing thoughts: 6 off-beat side hustles you can start in 2022

Summing up, these were the six offbeat side hustles that you can get started within 2022.

1. Start a service-based online business.
2. Become a pet sitter (an added perk of the incredible company for animal lovers).
3. Start a newsletter. You can make money in three broad ways:
   a. Begin a subscription model,
   b. Sell ad space in your newsletter,
   c. Set up affiliate links that you know your target audience would enjoy.
4. Sell or resell crafts on Instagram, Etsy, Shopify, or just about any other social media platform.
5. Become a Life Coach.
6. Build and sell a digital product.

I’d love to know which of these side hustles struck a chord with you. Do let me know your thoughts in the comments.