Why Side Hustles Are on the Rise
Side hustles have exploded in popularity over the last few years as a way for people to earn extra income outside of their regular 9-to-5 job. With layoffs still common and the cost of living rising, having a side gig is becoming almost a necessity for many Americans.
According to a 2022 survey by Zapier, a workflow automation tool, approximately 40% of American adults now have a side hustle. Additionally, a Bankrate study found that over 44% of Americans feel they will always need extra work to make ends meet.
With so many people turning to side hustles out of financial necessity, finding the right extra income stream is crucial. You want to maximize your earnings without taking on something overly demanding that eats up all your free time.
Why Reddit Is a Great Side Hustle Resource
Reddit has emerged as one of the best online destinations to discover new side hustle ideas and recommendations. With subreddits focused specifically on side hustles like r/sidehustle, r/WorkOnline, and r/beermoney, Reddit offers honest first-hand experiences about what gigs are actually worth doing.
Reddit‘s highly engaged communities provide trustworthy opinions about side hustle opportunities, often exposing potential scams. The answers you find on Reddit can save you from wasting time on jobs that sound too good to be true.
Essentially, if you‘re looking to start a side hustle, your first move should be heading to Reddit. With tens of thousands of members across various side hustle subreddits, you‘ll get feedback identifying great options tailored to your skills and interests.
Let‘s explore nine of the best side hustles highly recommended across Reddit.
1. Flipping Thrift Store Finds
Flipping items found at thrift stores and garage sales on sites like eBay, Mercari, and Poshmark is a longtime favorite side hustle on Reddit. Entire subreddits like r/Flipping have over 100k members dedicated to this business.
The basic concept is to source low-cost items from physical thrift/garage sales to later resell online at a higher price. While profit margins on individual pieces may be small, through volume across dozens or hundreds of flips the money can add up. Plus there‘s always potential to land very valuable items on occasion overlooked by thrift stores pricing things.
According to this popular r/sidehustle thread, Mercari and Poshmark stand out for providing easy mobile platforms to resell clothes and household goods. Meanwhile OfferUp and Facebook Marketplace better facilitate local pick-up sales of furniture or electronics.
As long as you put in the time to regularly visit thrift stores and garage sales, the consensus is this can be a lucrative and flexible side hustle. Just be prepared to invest upfront in reliable transportation and storage solutions for all your newfound inventory treasures!
2. Dropshipping
Dropshipping serves up major earning potential but does require significant sweat equity before seeing results. Essentially an ecommerce arbitrage model, dropshipping lets you set up an online storefront to sell products you don‘t actually keep in stock.
Instead, you partner with a wholesale supplier that handles shipping out orders directly once you make a sale. This frees you from logistics hassles of managing inventory, returns, etc.
According to this r/sidehustle thread, dropshipping carries major upside but scaling a profitable store brings growing pains. Choosing the right niche and effectively marketing products requires much dedication before sales volume picks up.
Still, multiple Reddit users relay eventually quitting their full-time jobs after a year or two fully focused running their dropshipping business. While quality of life may suffer initially, six-figure earning potential makes dropshipping a top side hustle choice.
3. Freelance Writing
Offering skilled services online ranks among the OG side hustles, with freelance writing especially popular according to Reddit threads like this one on r/freelanceWriters.
New writers can leverage content mill platforms like TextBroker while building a portfolio. Higher-paying gigs often source talent through expert marketplaces like ProBlogger and Contena or via cold pitching/networking.
Consensus from Reddit communities emphasizes ultimately mixing reliable base income stream clients with higher-paying but less consistent project work. This balance helps manage the common freelancer anxiety over workflow uncertainty.
Ambitious freelancers wanting to solely rely on writing as a full-time job will need to put in long hours. However, for supplemental income or as a holdover through unemployment, freelance writing holds appeal by leveraging writing skills from home.
4. Plasma Donating
If strictly judging by earnings versus time commitment, donating plasma belongs among Reddit‘s top side hustle recommendations.
The r/plassing community centers around discussions and advice for new plasma donors, with this helpful thread addressing common questions.
While clearly not as fun as other side hustles, plasma donation can be extremely lucrative. Multiple Reddit users report easily clearing $400-500+ per month through about 8 weekly visits to donation centers. Income does vary based on weight, plasma volume, and local center incentives.
Despite minor hassles from frequent health screenings and potential small scarring, plasma donating offers likely the best payout for time invested. r/plassing donors also trade tips to optimize donations, like proper hydration and avoiding fatty foods before visits.
5. User Testing
Offering opinions to improve products and services, user testing delivers streamlined income. Sites like usertesting.com coordinate paying consumers to provide feedback via interviews, surveys, even product demos.
User testing sessions range from quick 5-minute mobile app feedback forms to more intensive 60-minute interviews. According to satisfied Redditors on r/sidehustle, user testing can realistically provide $500+ per month for just a few hours a week.
Top benefits highlighted by Reddit fans include choosing your own testing projects, clear upfront pay rates detailed per test, and reliably fast pay. With PayPal payouts within a week after completing tests, user testing offers effortless passive earnings.
6. Home Garden Plant Sales
Green thumbs can grow serious side hustle income thanks to soaring demand for perennial food plants. Selling home-grown herbs, vegetables, and fruit plants leverages starter plants or gardener overflow to stock a 1-person nursery business.
This "plant IG influencer‘s" reddit post reveals selling just sunchoke and berry plants clearing over $4k monthly working ~25 hours per week. Another user even reported $35k profits YTD in September with their landscaping side business!
Leveraging existing garden plants or getting started via library seed banks lets this hobby quickly scale up profits. Home gardeners enjoy minimal costs and effort while capitalizing on the booming "grow your own" food movement.
7. Hospitality Gigs via Gigpro
Gig work provides flexible short-term roles in the local hospitality sector, making Gigpro a go-to Reddit recommendation.
This post found in r/DaveRamsey highlights a user landing a weekend bellman position at a hotel earning $25 per hour plus tips. With openings for servers, hosts, dishwashers, prep cooks and more, the platform connects you with nearby restaurant and hotel jobs providing immediate income.
Critically, workers enjoy true schedule flexibility when taking gigs. No minimum weekly commitments means grabbing just a dinner shift when your budget needs a boost. For those needing full-time work, the app also facilitates job searching hospitality openings.
8. Dog Walking
Talk about an invigorating side hustle! Regularly hitting over 20k steps while getting paid guarantees Redditors routinely praise dog walking in communities like r/sidehustle.
Local daily rates often reach $25-30 per dog walked according to this discussion. Savvy walkers recommend updating pricing tiers based on additional dogs and specialized services like overnight pet sitting. Some even share pricing as high as $100 per night for boarding multiple dogs!
While direct neighborhood networking likely works initially, dog walking platforms like Rover massively expand clientele. These apps do charge commission fees around 20-25%, but easily offset this by higher volume. Taking advantage of coveted 5-star ratings leads lots of word-of-mouth referrals too.
For animal lovers, dog walking serves up the best of both worlds – furry friend fun AND getting paid!
9. TaskRabbit
Named after its app connecting workers with odd jobs, TaskRabbit offers short-term work across numerous categories. Handymen and furniture assembly requests might stand out, but skilled Taskers can also teach, organize homes, assist moves and much more.
A typical Tasker weekday routine highlighted by this Redditor shows completing 3 jobs averaging $30 profit each. Nearly $200 for less than ~10 flexible hours of work makes for phenomenal supplemental income.
While the platform‘s cut from tasks raised frustration initially, subsequent commission decreases and tipping features won back user sentiment. As demand grows from moving season and home winterization projects, fall offers a lucrative time to signup as a new Tasker.
Why Trust Reddit for Side Hustle Recommendations?
As shown by the nine side hustle ideas outlined above, Reddit offers unparalleled advice to locate promising income opportunities perfectly matched to your skills and availability. Vetted by communities with thousands of genuine users sharing experiences, Redditors help expose risky gigs before you waste time and money.
With subreddits dedicated specifically to all types extra income streams, no other website consolidates such focused recommendations. The site‘s voting algorithms ensure the very best suggestions eventually bubble up in popular threads and forums.
Before diving headfirst into any side hustle, leverage the trustworthy perspectives from relevant Reddit channels. With everyone from casual earners to full-time entrepreneurs represented, you‘ll get an unfiltered assessment on earning potential to set realistic expectations.
Wrapping Up Reddit‘s Best Side Hustles
While juggling a side gig on top of regular work and family demands seems daunting, economic realities make having multiple income streams a smart play. Luckily Reddit offers an abundance of real-world guidance to uncover the very best opportunities matched to your abilities and schedule.
From perennial favorites like dog walking and freelance writing to more novel ideas around plasma donating and user testing, Reddit shines light on which side hustles truly deliver. Just make sure to thoroughly research any gigs before moving forward and leverage multiple subreddit perspectives to make informed choices.
With Reddit‘s best side hustles outlined above, you now have plenty of promising directions to explore kicking your extra earnings into high gear!
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a side hustle?
A side hustle refers to any additional work activity performed in order to earn extra income beyond someone‘s primary job.
Do employers allow side hustles?
Many employers permit side hustles as long as they do not interfere with your regular job or involve their competitors. Some industries (like finance, government) still discourage or prohibit them.
How many hours do side hustles require?
Time requirements fluctuate substantially based on your specific side hustle. Some may demand as little as a few hours a week while running an actual small business could require 10-15+ hours handling operations and marketing.
Where can I find side hustle ideas?
Great sources for side hustle concepts include Reddit, SideHustleNation, Entrepreneur, business idea generators, friends/family referrals, and brainstorming based on your skills and interests.
How much money can you make from side hustles?
Earning potential varies widely depending on effort and type of activity. Side incomes ranging from a few hundred to over $1,000+ monthly are reasonable for most to achieve.
