How These 5 People Make $1k+ a Month with their Side Hustles

Side hustles can be a great way to be creative and earn extra cash. Some side hustles and after-work ventures can be particularly lucrative, netting you around $5K a month. But, oftentimes, those side hustles take a ton of time and effort to build.

On the other hand, side hustle apps or other easy-to-start side hustles could generate an extra $1,000 each month. With that extra cash, you may be on the road to paying off debt faster or reaching savings goals sooner.

If you’re willing to think outside the box, you could earn some extra cash with a side hustle. Read on to learn how much freelancers make with these fun ventures. 

Custom portraits and wedding invitations

Jamie started her side hustle, Loud Bride, in 2017. She paints watercolor portraits and designs wedding invitations to sell in her Etsy shop. 

Jamie tells Tally that her shop makes between $1,000 to $3,000 a month. “My takeaway for readers is that it takes a long time to build up a side hustle,” she says.

It’s important to pick an activity, business or product you enjoy doing because it won’t always take off immediately. If you enjoy doing something creative, like creating custom portraits or knitting, pursuing this side-gig might not even feel like work.   

Blogging and podcasting

Ami is passionate about side hustles, enough so that she built a side hustle around it. 

After a few failed ventures, she started the blog and podcast Geeks Who Get Paid. “I interview other side-giggers about their success instead,” Ami explains. “With this new side hustle, I learned from all of my mistakes and am doing way better this time around! Not quite to $1,000 a month, but I’ll be there soon enough.”

If you enjoy getting to know people, pursuing an interview podcast or content creation could be a fun project. 

Coaching

Bonny’s been a lifelong side-hustler, but one of her more lucrative gigs came from a childhood passion — swimming. 

“I earned professional athletic coaching designations very young, alongside lifeguard and swim lesson trainer. So when my local swim team needed development coaches, I jumped at the opportunity,” says Bonny. 

From there, she’s taken additional work with local young swimmers and nets about $2,500 a month coaching swimming. 

Some side-hustlers might not even realize they already have lucrative expertise to offer. If you’re proficient in an instrument or passionate about a hobby or craft, you might be able to turn teaching into cash. 

Dog walking

Sometimes making money is as easy as a walk in the park. With more people working remotely, many are home during the day and turning lunch breaks into an opportunity to make a few bucks. 

According to Emma, professional dog walker and founder of Pawsome Advice, “professional dog walkers can make upwards of $35+ per hour, whereas with Wag, you will make about half of that in the best-case scenario. The money adds up quickly, and it's easy to make a few hundred bucks per week without having to commit too many hours. Especially since you can double-up and walk more than one dog at a time if you are experienced at dog-walking.”

Whether you use personal contacts, Wag or other side hustle apps to make money, dog walking could be an option for anyone who enjoys dogs. It can be an easy way to make some money and get out of the house for a break. Even if it’s an hour at lunch or after work, you’ll be making money faster than you thought you could. 

Working on commission

Tim’s side-gig sounds like a full-time job, but it doesn’t have to be. He sells insurance and makes a commission on every sale. 

While he doesn’t do it full-time, “it’s very lucrative in the sense that one sale pays you a high commission,” explains Tim. So he may make $1,000 in a week on a single call.

Your passion may not lie in sales, but a commission gig with flexible hours you set yourself could be a way to put extra cash in your pocket. 

Voiceover work

You could make money just by speaking. With advancements in affordable home recording equipment, being a voiceover artist from the comfort of your home is more achievable than ever. The only upfront costs are for the gear. 

Recording projects can land you between $200 to $600 a gig, and with more experience and a longer résumé, you may be able to fetch even higher fees. 

If you enjoy the flexibility of hustling from home and don’t mind reading aloud, voiceover work might be the perfect side job.   

Thrift flips

If you already enjoy trips to the thrift store, you might try flipping what you’ve found. That could mean buying vintage designer pieces then selling them on Poshmark, or taking furniture, cleaning it up, and posting it on Facebook's Marketplace. 

Flipping can take a little practice and research to determine what might sell well. But, if you already enjoy thrifting, it could be a tidy way to make a few bucks. 

Hosting Airbnb experiences 

If you love playing host to friends and family, you may enjoy creating an Airbnb experience. 

Unlike hosting on Airbnb, Experiences don’t have to take place in your home. Instead, visitors book a custom experience that you create. Whether it’s taking visitors on a coffee crawl or showing them your favorite nearby hiking trails, Experiences could be a neat way to do something you love and get other people excited about it. 

With Experiences, you set the price per person, and Airbnb takes a small cut. Once your experience is approved on the platform, you can host it as often as you like. 

How much do side gigs make? It’ll vary depending on what you choose, but lack of creativity is your only limitation. Since side hustles are often after business hours, try to choose something you enjoy doing anyway. That can make the profit all the better and avoid burnout. 

If you’re looking into a side hustle to help pay down credit card debt, consider Tally†. Tally tracks credit card debt all in one place, making it easier to stay organized and develop a repayment strategy. Plus, with smart payoff tools, you could be debt-free even faster. 

†To get the benefits of a Tally line of credit, you must qualify for and accept a Tally line of credit. Based on your credit history, the APR (which is the same as your interest rate) will be between 7.90% - 29.99% per year. The APR will vary with the market based on the Prime Rate. Annual fees range from $0 - $300.