Good things come to those who hustle, but experienced hustlers know that this lifestyle can be just as nerve-racking as it can be rewarding. While one month you’re bathing in a myriad of opportunities, only concerned with having more hours in a day, the next you’re faced with absolute silence, scrambling for little projects to make ends meet. That’s why establishing side income sources is crucial.
And then there’s another scenario — uninspired, burned-out creatives stuck in a rut with a regular 9–5 job desperately searching for a way to break out from the vicious circle without forfeiting their comfortable lives. The perks of being your boss are truly alluring.
One of the best things about the digital era is that you can pick up a profitable side business at any time, test a few ideas until you stumble upon a winner and then scale it up to a full-on business.
Here is a list of ten profitable side business ideas.
Earn money testing digital products
Who wouldn’t like to be paid for having an opinion? Giving feedback on fellow designers’ or entrepreneurs’ work can be both financially and mentally rewarding. You’ll have a chance to stay in the loop with the emerging design trends and up and coming products as well as turn an extra buck. Some entrepreneurs post ads for usability tests and user interviews on Craiglist, but you can also sign up on sites like UserTesting, TestingTime, TryMyUI or WhatUsersDo where you can get paid up to $50 per test.
Share your work
It turns out designers can earn quite handsomely from their creative work if they know which platforms to explore. TurningArt and Threadless are some of the most innovative online hubs for creatives with an entrepreneurial mindset. TurningArt is pioneering a new approach to how and when new artwork is experienced and, when accepted, you can earn cash in three ways — through royalties, commission and direct sales on the site. Threadless, on the other hand, is a different story. With their “Artist Shop” feature, you get the option to create 100’s of products with your branding, colors, and designs as well as benefit from free shipping, manufacturing, customer services and a bunch of other services.
Become a mentor & share your expertise
If you often find yourself giving career advice to your friends or colleagues and have a pretty clear vision of how to shape your creative path, you may be a natural coach with a yet-untapped talent (and a side income opportunity). The “stuff” you know and practice every day may be of great value to someone who’s on a lookout for practical advice. Sites like PopExpert and Coach can help you to virtually connect with people looking for expert tips through 1-to-1 sessions for a decent fee.
Create physical products
As a designer, you want your creations not only to serve an aesthetic purpose but also to live a life of their own. Cashing in on physical product design, therefore, feels like a natural progression. Many creative people are successfully earning off their talents on sites like BigCartel and Etsy by building unique online stores and distributing their products all around the world. You can also experiment with smaller projects, such as card or poster designs on Ohh Deer.
Become an online teacher
It’s not as scary as it sounds. Continuous learning is one of the greatest passions of this age, so there’s a husky appetite for educational content, and people have no trouble paying for it. According to Skillshare, on average, its teachers make around $3,000 a year, and the top 100 teachers earn around $1,300 a month. Video classes tend to be project-based and action-oriented, so there’s nothing to fear if you have solid knowledge on a chosen topic. Udemy, Coursera, and Teachable are also a great starting point for aspiring educators.
Package your hours into products
Your time is more expensive than anything else. If you’re looking to expand your portfolio, make some extra cash and develop long-lasting business relationships, you can try selling your hours or clearly defined projects as fixed-price offers. An online marketplace PeoplePerHour has a unique feature called “Hourlies” that allows freelancers to sell their skills and time as off-the-shelf products. You can provide to create a poster, infographic or business stationery, or to be someone’s graphic designer for two hours for a fixed price.
Take on a freelance gig
Design is one of the most sought-after skills in the outsourcing world. You’ll find no shortage of freelance opportunities available on sites like Fiverr, 99Designs, PeoplePerHour or Upwork — all you need is a great looking portfolio and a bit of time to get this side business off the ground.
Try something a bit different
If you have a couple of spare hours every week and a burning desire to squeeze some profit out of them, it can be a good idea to explore the alternative side income channels. Start with something as simple as completing paid surveys online — Swagbucks lets you earn gift cards for taking surveys, watching videos, shopping online and more.
For those not suffering from a “blank page” syndrome, writing and publishing an eBook with Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing is also a viable option to make more money, as you can earn up to 70% royalty on sales.
Namestation offers an opportunity to get paid for participating in Name Contests. All they want is your stellar ideas for domain names, so nothing too complicated for talented creatives! Their top contributors can make over $300 a month by working just a few hours each day.
Cash in on your comtent
Comtent (kom-tent) is short for commerce-related editorial content centered around brands, retailers, products, and services. If you have a blog and already create brand-related content that’s driving targeted traffic and sales, there’s a way to monetize that by becoming an affiliate. Skimlinks, ClickBank and Rakuten Affiliate Network, extend profitable affiliate marketing opportunities for those wanting to make money off the content they already produce.
Open a digital products shop
Welcome to designer’s paradise. Whether you already have an extensive library of icons, digital illustrations, design templates or other graphical elements tucked away somewhere on your drive or you’re just shopping around for interesting exciting, this might just be your bingo moment. With the commission-based and direct sales schemes available for each purchase, becoming a digital author and selling your creative work on a specialized marketplace seems like a no-brainer. Creative Market, Graphic River, and Design Cuts are all great places to start this new adventure and bring in more money. And if you see this project growing into something bigger over time, you can always turn it into a full-time job.
Originally published at forbes.com on October 28, 2016.