Five easy side hustles you can start right now and earn extra cash for Christmas

Starting a side hustle can be a great way to earn extra money - and MoneyMagpie Editor and financial expert Vicky Parry explores side businesses you can have up and running in 24 hours

Side hustles are perfect for people either with limited time or capacity to work, or who need to top up the income from their main job.

They are usually flexible, meaning you can do them at evenings or weekends, or whenever suits you. Of course, setting up a side hustle comes with some considerations, so read on to find out what you need to know – and the best five side hustles you can start today.

Before you start

Extra cash – or any cash, if you’re a student or have limited working capacity – from a side hustle is great. But there are some things you need to consider before you start. First, if you plan to turn over more than £1000 a year from your side hustle (not profit, turnover – i.e., how much you’ll get paid overall before expenses), you need to register with HMRC and complete a Self Assessment each year.

Keep accurate income and expenditure records from the second you start, too. Even if the money going out and coming in seems small, you never know how your business might take off – so setting up good practice at record keeping to start with will set you off on the right foot. A simple spreadsheet is enough to begin with, but you might also want to look at bank accounts that offer integrated accounting software to make doing your taxes easy.

How much time do you have?

It’s also important to consider how much time you really have to dedicate to a side hustle. Some will require more effort than others, particularly in the early days, so be realistic about how much time you have spare. Make sure you leave time in your life for your family and friends, chores, and leisure activities. Otherwise, you run the risk of burning out if all you’re doing is work, work, work – and it can be easy to become swept up in it when you start a side hustle!

What is your end goal?

Finally, you need to think about your purpose of the side hustle. Do you just want to save some extra cash to have a wonderful summer holiday each year? Or do you want to turn it into your full-time business? Knowing the purpose of your side hustle will help you decide how much time to dedicate to it, whether you want to invest startup costs to get it going, and how important it is to you for it to succeed as a viable business in the future (or stay a side hustle). Let’s look at the best side hustles you can start today, to give you some inspiration!

Remote virtual assistant

While AI is on everyone’s minds right now, there are still plenty of tasks that require a real human, and organising administrative tasks for busy people is one of them. Virtual assistants can work from anywhere, making it a perfect job for anyone who wants to travel while working.

Tasks might include setting meetings, sending minutes, planning social media content, managing payments – it varies a lot depending on the person and the role. Some remote virtual assistants specialise in a particular niche, such as those who help authors with their self-published books – they might help write listings, book promotional events for the author to attend, or aid in the marketing elements. Other remote VAs offer administrative assistance, such as bookkeeping for small business owners.

You can start out as a remote VA by finding work on websites such as Fiverr, or asking people you know if they require an assistant or can recommend you to their colleagues. Basic tasks start around £15 an hour and can get up to £50 an hour for experienced VAs.

Delivery driver

It’s the best time of year to make extra cash as a delivery driver, as courier companies are stretched during the festive season. You can also work for restaurants and supermarkets as a delivery driver for Deliveroo, Just Eat, or Uber Eats.

This can be a very flexible way to work, and many people find they can earn an extra few hundred pounds a week if they dedicate a day or two of solid delivery work to their schedule. It’s less suitable for nervous drivers or those who can only give an hour or two to a side hustle each day.

Make sure your car is fully insured for business, if you’re using your car as a delivery driver. If you’re cycling as a local courier, make sure your bike is in top condition before you start riding it each day.

Sell online courses and digital products

This is one of the best side hustles for passive income, once you’re up and running. If you have specialist knowledge in something – it could be corporate or a hobby or a sport, anything – you could turn it into cash. Online courses take a little bit of work to create, but once you have the course set up, it’s an ongoing income that only requires maintenance marketing to ensure regular leads come in.

Many people will create a series of courses too, even offering the first for free to entice people in, as this is a great way to build a base of regular customers interested in buying from you. You can also create digital products – for example, popular categories on Etsy include blueprints for making furniture, sewing patterns, and crochet or knitting patterns. The digital download is a PDF – so your only investment is the creation of the PDF, then it’s pure profit from then!

Set up a dropshipping store

Dropshipping is when a wholesaler third party stores, packages, and sends products – all you need is an online shop. You don’t need to buy inventory up front, so setup costs are low and it almost runs itself when you get going – which makes it a perfect side hustle for busy people.

Set up a website using a platform like Shopify, and find products in your niche that you would like to sell from dropshippers. You can even offer customised items, like clothes or homewares, by using Print on Demand services within your dropshipping enterprise. You can keep your store inventory relevant by keeping up with trends – there are lots of services to help with this, such as TrendWatching and Trend Hunter, meaning you can keep ahead of what’s popular right now. The great thing about running a dropshipping store is that you’re not buying inventory up front – so it’s quick and easy to rotate stock based on what’s popular.

Freelance writing

Freelance writing is a great side hustle for anyone who has a solid grasp of language and can write compelling copy. There are lots of different types of freelance writing, too. Business copywriting can involve writing up annual reports, website copy, newsletters, and marketing communications.

Technical freelance writing requires a mind for how things work, and is higher paid than other freelance writing jobs because of the high attention to detail required. You will write manuals, either for products or software, and a background knowledge in the type of product is very useful to have before starting.

If you don’t want to work for other people, you can always make money writing short stories (sometimes) or even self-publish some spicy romance novels to add to your income!

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