In 2024, relying solely on a traditional job for employment and survival is considered outdated. This realization is crucial when considering one's career future, necessitating the exploration of alternative options to ensure financial and career stability. A multitude of factors has led millions of Americans and professionals globally to seek side gigs and establish small businesses to achieve self-sustainability and financial objectives such as savings, emergency funds, and debt reduction. The prevalence of low-paying roles, rising living costs, and increased job insecurity have made saving for the future challenging, pushing more workers to depend on their side hustles, as highlighted by CNBC in 2023.
Given these circumstances, it's important to explore the best remote side hustles for 2024. The following side hustles have been identified as the top choices through comprehensive research from various sources, including Bankrate, FlexJobs, and Upwork. These opportunities are entirely home-based, offering convenience and flexibility for individuals seeking alternative sources of income.
1. GMAT Tutoring
Online tutoring is an in-demand side hustle, which you can offer flexibly to suit your schedule. You can provide tutoring online in the evenings and on weekends, to assist students at all levels with their homework; but why not take it a step further and become a specialist tutor for higher levels of education, thus increasing your earnings?
A GMAT (graduate management admission test) is one of those specializations you can offer to students preparing for entry into a graduate management program such as an MBA. If you consider yourself to be fluent and confident with the GMAT test, already possess an undergraduate degree, and decide to concentrate on a niche subject within the test, you can find yourself in high demand, especially when approaching admissions season.
2. Freelance Writing
Freelance writing is a highly rewarding side hustle, in part because you have the potential to earn unlimited income, but most importantly because you get the opportunity to talk about what you love and are passionate about, and can write at any time of the day or night as your schedule permits. You can take on as much or as little writing projects, and depending on the writing model you opt for, your writing can help with establishing you as a credible name and authority in your field.
Some examples of freelance writing opportunities include:
- Blogging
- Guest-blogging
- Ghost-writing
- Copy writing
- Copy editing
- Contributing to magazines
3. Online Marketplaces
If you have high-quality, vintage, or rare goods sitting in storage or in your home, why not sell them instead of allowing them to fill space, cost you more money in the long run, or catch dust? Take an inventory of your home and storage and see if there are any items you can list for sale on sites such as eBay, Poshmark, or Etsy.
4. Virtual Assistance
Virtual assistants make money by offering remote support services to busy professionals and entrepreneurs, such as copywriting, social media management, customer service, and calendar and scheduling management. You and your clients can be based anywhere in the world, and this is super convenient, so long as you have a laptop and a good internet connection.
And as always, choosing to specialize within a particular industry due to your previous industry knowledge or expertise, enables you to have the flexibility to charge a premium for your services.
5. Flipping Items
Did you know that you can make money from buying and reselling products? You can purchase items for a low price, and then resell them at a higher price (albeit reasonable) to make a profit. You can charge even more if the product is rare and no longer being sold, is part of a sports memorabilia collection, or is designer clothing.
You might also be able to make more profit if you refurbish items such as toys or old furniture.
6. Career Coaching
Career coaching is an extremely fulfilling side hustle because you are able to reap the benefits of witnessing your clients' lives evolve and helping them to fulfill their untapped potential in unique ways, relevant to their career goals. You will daily be giving them sessions and services that provide industry-specific, job, and career-related advice and support. And even as a career coach, you still have the opportunity to narrow down a niche specialization, thereby increasing your chances of boosting your profits.
7. Teaching ESOL
There seems to never be a shortage of demand for tutors who can teach English as a foreign language. The language learning industry is booming, with estimates projecting up to $42.10 billion in revenue by 2028, and this presents an excellent opportunity to undertake a course for ESOL tutors, gain certification, and promote your services as an online English language teacher.
8. Online Course Creation
One of the best ways to take your expertise and share it with the world (which also generates passive income once it is set in place with a solid landing page) is through developing an online course. You can literally teach a course on anything, so long as you have extensively researched the topic and have established a strong market appetite for what you are teaching.
9. Developing Apps
If you consider yourself to be tech-oriented and developing apps is a passion of yours, consider taking your hobby and extending it into a profitable business. Offer your services to businesses, and set your own rates on freelance marketplaces such as Fiverr or Upwork.
10. Bookkeeping
Another excellent side hustle choice is to take up accounting or bookkeeping as a freelance service for small businesses, either running a full bookkeeping service on your own (creating a wrap-around support service bundle) or working as complementary support to existing financial teams.
If you have expertise as a bookkeeper within a specific sector or industry or are undertaking a career pivot into bookkeeping from another industry, say entertainment, for example, you can decide to specialize and offer your services to entertainment clients as you have existing knowledge of their specific needs.
Have you noticed an underlying theme here with many of the side hustles listed above? While all make for excellent side gig ideas, they only have the potential to be wildly successful if you undertake market research and specialize. Specialization is important, as that is what distinguishes you in an already saturated market of freelancers and others offering precisely the same product or service as you. If you can obtain or learn something that hardly anyone else does or knows, but at the same time is in demand, you've identified a gold opportunity for your side hustle idea.