digital side hustles

15 Best Digital Side Hustles To Start In 2024

Presented byTom Blake Hours Fresh Since

Over the last few years, I've made all of my income from working online and with various digital side hustles. And let me tell you, I absolutely love the flexibility and freedom it brings.

However, for the last couple of years, I've tested out dozens of ways to make money online. Most of these ideas didn't work or didn't make nearly as much as I thought.

The truth is that there's tons of side hustles out there. But a lot of them aren't worth your time or take forever to actually make money.

So today, I'm covering some legit digital side hustles you can try out if you want to begin making money online.

The Best Digital Side Hustles

1. Freelance Writing

Freelance writing is one of my favorite digital side hustles because it's how I make a lot of my income these days. It's also what let me quit my office job to begin traveling the world as a digital nomad, making money on my laptop.

Lions Head hike South Africa
From Lions Head hike in Cape Town, South Africa. Writing has helped me travel while still making money.

Brands and publications all need content to market their products and services. As a freelance writer, this means there's immense opportunities to make money if you become an authority in your niche.

For me, I became a freelance personal finance writer around 2018. My first writing gigs were all ghostwritten content that paid about $0.05 per word.

But as I gained experience and met more editors, I slowly increased my rates. Within a year, I was making about $5,000 a month from freelance writing and left my office job behind.

I also know dozens of other freelance writers making excellent money, all in various niches. And it's a flexible, fun job that also lets you be your own boss.

To get started, you can ask people in your network if they know of any writing leads. But looking for beginner jobs on Upwork, Fiverr, and  remote job sites like FlexJobs is also an excellent starting point.

2. Online Survey Taker

If you want to make money online as a beginner, one digital side hustle you can try is to answer surveys for money.

Paid survey sites and get-paid-to websites are actually one of the main ways I made money in college. In fact, I've earned thousands of dollars over the years with these sites and have tested dozens of them.

Several popular survey sites and apps you can use to make money include:

My YouTube video shares some other paid survey sites you can use if you really want to dive into this money-making idea.

👉 Get started with Freecash!

3. Blogging

Like freelance writing, blogging is another one of my main income streams. And I like this digital side hustle because the income potential is immense.

For example, I started WebMonkey in 2018. The site only made $1,700 in its first year. But with consistent effort and content, WebMonkey ended up making $272,000 in 2022.

Most of my blogging income comes from Mediavine advertisements and affiliate marketing. I also earn money with sponsorship deals once in a while.

20k a month blogging
Some of my Mediavine income for the last 30 days.

Mediavine income alone is about $20,000 a month. And a lot of this is autopilot income at this point since posts I wrote years ago still get views and generate revenue. Plus, I think blogging is a great digital side hustle because it's a low cost side hustle.

I mean, you can start blogging on WordPress for free to learn the ropes. When you're ready to invest a bit, you can find affordable domain names and hosting with companies like SiteGround.

Ultimately, blogging isn't quick money, and you need to put in the work and time to grow an audience. However, blogging has been my most successful digital side hustle to date, and it's also incredibly rewarding to help other people.

4. Play Games For Money

Do you enjoy playing games on your mobile phone? If the answer is yes, one online side hustle you can try is to use apps that pay you for playing games.

There are actually tons of game apps that pay cash or free gift cards these days. All you have to do is download them and then play sponsored apps to earn rewards.

Several gaming reward apps I've tested and like include:

My YouTube video also covers some more ideas you can try to make money playing video games.

Cash Giraffe is my favorite app for Android. And you can use platforms like Freecash to find even more games that pay as well.

Just note that this digital side hustle doesn't pay very much. It's passive income if you already spend time gaming anyways, but don't expect hundreds of dollars.

5. Print On Demand

With print on demand (POD), you upload your designs to different products to then sell online. When you make a sale, your POD partner manufactures the product for you and ships it to your customer. They take a cut of the sale, and then the rest is your profit.

This business model is similar to dropshipping since you never touch or ship your own products. This also means you can spend time focusing on growing your store and coming up with new designs.

POD selling was actually a college side hustle of mine. I tried running an Etsy + Printify POD shop where I sold funny meme mugs to people.

printify-mug-setup
Creating products with Printify.

The store actually got two sales, and I really like working with Printify since it has 100+ products you can upload designs to. And, its design tool is also super beginner-friendly. Check out my Printify review for all the details!

But Etsy is just one option for selling your print on demand products. A lot of people I know prefer selling through ecommerce platforms like Shopify or Sellfy, both of which support popular POD integrations.

You still need unique and eye-catching designs for this to work. But I think it's an excellent digital side hustle if you're creative and enjoy designing new products.

6. Make Money On YouTube

Making money on YouTube is also something I've been doing for the last few years. I began my channel back in 2020, and since then, it's passed over 18,000 subscribers, which is pretty incredible to me.

YouTube 2022 IncomeI like YouTube since it's a pretty fun side hustle; you get to design thumbnails, edit videos, and come up with captivating scripts for your own content.

Plus, YouTube is a pretty nice passive income source. Even my small channel makes $50 a day or so in Google AdSense revenue, and even some of my old videos make money.

You don't need to spend a fortune to start this digital side hustle either. A simple smartphone, phone microphone, and tripod are all you need to get your channel off the ground.

7. Online Tutoring

Parents are willing to pay for tutors to help their children succeed. And even older students often pay for private tutoring or test preparation help to do well in college.

There are also plenty of ways to start. For example, online tutoring gigs like BookNook pay U.S. tutors around $15 to $22 per hour to tutor students in math and English. And you can work on your own schedule, so it's flexible.

BookNook Tutor

If you prefer teaching ESL students, you can also apply to companies like Qkids or VIPKid to teach English.

These tutoring gigs require having a degree in many cases, so keep this in mind. But hourly pay is high, and the work is also rewarding.

8. Make Money With Freelancing

Personally, I make most of my income through freelance writing. But writing is just one of many skills you can sell online for your next online side hustle.

In fact, plenty of other industries and online jobs are quite lucrative for freelancing. Some popular examples include:

average-rates-industry
Courtesy of Clockify.me – average hourly freelancer earnings by field.

All of these gigs can easily pay $25 to $50+ per hour depending on your experience level. And with a handful of clients, it's possible to make full-time income just from freelancing.

I actually did this during and after school with paid advertising and SEO consulting. Making $3,000 a month or more was very manageable, even while finishing school and holding down a day job.

👉 Pro Tip: Get 3 free classes from Bookkeepers.com to learn how to launch a massively profitable bookkeeping business!

9. Start An Ecommerce Store

I already mentioned print on demand selling, but starting a general ecommerce business is another route you can take.

People do this all the time by selling physical or digital products on their own Shopify store. But you could also explore other ideas, like dropshipping, Amazon FBA, or online reselling.

I made a video that outlines some of my favorite online business ideas you can watch if you want a bit of inspiration to get started.

I know a few people who resell clothing and shoes online. And they're able to make a few hundred dollars a month with this type of flipping side hustle.

But all you really need is a product idea, dedication, and marketing. It takes time to grow and scale an ecommerce side business, but it's certainly one digital side hustle with immense income potential.

10. Sell eBooks & Courses

Do you have an audience or following on social media? If you do, another online side hustle idea you can try is to sell eBooks and courses.

I know plenty of bloggers who do this in several niches. And some of them make six figures just by selling printables, eBooks, and niche courses to their followers.

And even if you don't have an existing following, you still have options for selling courses or eBooks online.

For example, you can write eBooks and publish them on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing. This is a low-cost way to get into the eBook market, and you gain access to Amazon's massive marketplace of readers.

Creating and selling courses on online education platforms like Udemy is also an option. This lets you get paid for your advice, and you don't have any startup costs whatsoever.

11. Virtual Assistant

Virtual assistants, or VAs, help business owners manage day-to-day operations and administrative tasks. Some of their common roles include:

  • Answering emails
  • Scheduling meetings
  • Planning trips and booking flights and hotels
  • Social media posting
  • Various marketing tasks

Virtual-Assistant-Salary

According to Indeed, virtual assistants earn about $1,000 a week. But I know of VAs who earn more or even start their own business and hire several VAs to work under them.

Overall, it's an excellent online job for beginners. And a few clients are all you need to make decent money each month. My post on the best side gigs that pay weekly has even more ideas you can check out!

12. Write On Medium

Medium.com is a free blogging platform where you can write stories and articles under your own author profile. And if you want to make money with writing without starting a blog, it's the perfect platform to try.

I've been writing on Medium since 2019, and even though I stopped to focus on WebMonkey, it was a nice source of extra income.

In fact, I made over $1,000 a year just by republishing a few stories from this blog on Medium. But the top Medium writers have tens of thousands of followers and can easily make six figures.

Earnings-from-Medium
My Medium earnings.

Making money on Medium is also easy. Once you sign up, you get paid whenever paying Medium members read your content.

It's basically a pay-per-view kind of system, so the more readers you have, the more you earn. This means a viral post can earn hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Plus, you don't have to worry about the technical side of running your own blog by using sites like Medium.

13. Sell Artwork

If you're an artist, one natural digital side hustle you can try is to simply sell your artwork online.

Once again, I think print on demand is a pretty obvious choice here. POD lets you sell things like prints, canvas artwork, digital stickers, and digital artwork to your fans at scale. And the best part is that there are plenty of POD marketplaces where artists can upload designs.

For example, a few artists I know make money on Redbubble, which is one of the largest POD marketplaces out there. They sell t-shirts, buttons, stickers, and prints with their unique designs.

Redbubble-adding-products
Examples of some Redbubble products I was going to test.

There are also tons of sites like Redbubble, like Zazzle or Society6, where you can sell.

Selling custom prints or pieces is also an option, and you don't have to use print on demand. However, I like print on demand for digital side hustles since it's a nice passive income side hustle.

14. Start A Podcast

Podcasts have been all the rage for the last few years. And while it's difficult to grow an audience and monetize, if you can capture regular listeners, it's very lucrative.

Podcast hosts generally make money through sponsorships or selling their own products. But sponsors tend to pay a lot since the value-per-listener is quite high.

This video from YouTuber Shelby Church shares insights on how much a podcast with 50,000 downloads makes for an example.

But even a smaller podcast with a niche focus can land small sponsors that pay a few hundred or thousand dollars.

Extra Reading – Podcast vs Blogging – Which One Is Best?

15. Website Testing Gigs

One last digital hustle you can try is to make money by testing apps and websites.

Plenty of microtask sites pay website testers for trying new apps and sites and then sharing their feedback. You generally earn $10 to $15 per test, and tests take around 20 minutes.

Several legit website testing gigs you can apply to include:

PlaytestCloud

Again, these gigs only pay around $10 to $15 per test. And tests are given on a first-come, first-serve basis, so getting consistent work isn't easy. However, you can realistically earn an extra $50 to $200 a month if you get enough tests. And the work is easy and doesn't require any experience.

If you want some similar micro jobs, you can check out companies like Appen and Clickworker as well.

Tips For Getting Started

Now that you know some of my favorite digital side hustles, here are some tips you can use to increase your odds of finding success:

  1. Set An Income Goal: If you set a goal, you accomplish it. So, decide how much you want to earn with your digital side hustle and pick one or more ideas that has that income potential.
  2. Play To Your Own Strengths: I stick with blogging, writing, and YouTube since these cater to my skills and interests. Think about what you excel at, and pick digital side hustles that play to these strengths.
  3. Stay Consistent: It took me over four years to make full-time income with blogging. And it took me a year before finding traction with writing. Consistency is key for making money online, so don't give up!

Extra Reading – How To Make $100 A Day Guaranteed.

Final Thoughts

I hope this list of the best digital side hustles helps you make money online and start a successful side gig.

Again, consistency really is the key here. It doesn't matter if it's blogging, freelancing, or starting an online business; you need to stick with it and trust the process to find success.

However, if there's one thing that I've learned, it's that online side hustles have immense potential. Making $10,000 a month or more is very realistic with many ideas. But you need to put in the work and have patience.

Looking for more money-making ideas? Checkout:

Tom is a full-time blogger and freelance writer with a passion for side hustling, passive income, and making money online. His work has appeared on dozens of personal finance websites like Money Crashers, The College Investor, Forbes, and more.

Tom also founded the blog This Online World - a finance site dedicated to helping people make money online - in 2018. After 6 years, that site merged with WebMonkey, with the goal of helping even more people earn their first dollar of online income.

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