Remote Side Hustles—20 Options to Get You Traveling More
Want to know more about remote side hustles—what they are, why you may want to consider one, what you can expect, and some great options?
One of the barriers to travel is the cost. People often will say it just costs too much and they can’t afford it.
You can travel on a budget, which I have done for years to stretch my dollars. However, one great option, and one that I have used over the last few years, is establishing a side hustle.
There are many great options for side hustle jobs, and you’re only limited by your imagination! In this post, I’ll share some fantastic remote side hustles to consider so you can travel more or even save up to retire early!
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my links at no extra cost to you. Please read the full disclosure for more information.
What are Remote Side Hustles?
A remote side hustle is any work that can be done off-site or virtually. They are typically done online on a phone, tablet, or laptop, so you must have a stable internet connection.
A side hustle can be part-time, freelance, or contract. They can be specified hours or set working hours, depending on the position.
Some may be done anywhere, and some may need to be done from a specific time zone or a particular country.
20 Remote Side Hustle Options with Something for Everyone
The options are endless when it comes to remote side hustle options. It’s only limited to your imagination!
Consider some of the things you wish you had help with or you have heard others express an interest in getting help. Do you know people who hate managing their email or their calendar?
Or, maybe they hate booking trips but don’t want to pay a travel agent to do the work. Small businesses can spend a lot of time on social media. Everyone has it, and it’s expected, but is that where they want to spend their time?
Of course, you can have a side hustle where you must meet in person or work during specific hours. But you can just as easily find something you can do on time from nearly anywhere. That gives you lots of options!
Here are some great remote side hustles to consider, including some that I have also done.
1. Virtual Assistant
Being a virtual assistant offers a wide range of opportunities for the services you will provide. A virtual assistant, or VA, isn’t just administrative work, though that can be part of it.
Virtual assistants (VA) often provide many services for clients. You can do things like writing, social media management, customer service, email management, video creation, and more.
Consider what skills you have now and what you enjoy doing, and start offering that. Then, think about the skills you want to develop and the services you could learn to provide. Once you establish relationships with your customers, that gives you a great opportunity to stretch a bit and expand your offerings.
I hung a shingle as a VA, offering services that I do on the blog for some extra work. You can look at sites like Upwork, Virtual Vocations, and Flexjobs for opportunities.
2. Social Media Manager
Though this can be part of VA services, it often stands alone. Many social media managers specialize in one or more platforms.
Where a VA may create messaging and posts, social media managers often get involved with strategy and analytics. Sure, a VA can do that, too, but they often don’t have the same level of expertise as someone who specializes.
Do you love everything about Pinterest? Dig in deep to learn more about strategy and use analytics to make updates. Learn how to develop a campaign based on customer needs and the tracking to demonstrate your value.
Get involved with the platforms you enjoy and skip those that you don’t. There’s plenty enough to go around!
You’ll find opportunities in several areas, including LinkedIn, Flexjobs, Upwork, and others.
3. Freelance Writer
If you love writing and do it in your spare time, why not get paid for it?! First, consider the writing you want to do and for whom you want to do it.
Are you interested in writing books, case studies, articles, and blog posts? Do you want to do long-form content or short-form? Do you want to do website content or Amazon descriptions?
There are so many different writing options to consider. Also, give some thought to your knowledge of marketing and branding. When you write for a business, you must consider their perspective and voice and ensure they will benefit.
Some sites to look for writing work include Problogger, Upwork, Remote.co, BestWriting, and Fiverr.
4. Online Business Manager
An online business manager (OBM) is part operations manager and part project manager. For example, a business with many freelancers or contractors doing VA work may hire an online business manager to coordinate the effort.
Do you have excellent organizational skills? Are you able to plan events and manage people? Do you know a wide repertoire of business tools?
These are some of the critical skills for an OBM. You’ll be handling much of the day-to-day work so the business owner can focus elsewhere on strategy and selling.
Networking with small businesses you know and love is a great way to scout out these opportunities. Or, you can try sites like Upwork and Working Nomads.
5. Language Work
If you know another language (or more!), you have a great opportunity for a side hustle. Of course, if you’re providing 1:1 or group lessons, you must make appointments based on your and others’ availability.
You also can leverage this knowledge by doing translation work for people or businesses. Another option is to create classes with lessons and sell those, making this a passive activity.
Check out MagicEars and Upwork for opportunities.
6. Proofreading and Editing
If you have an eagle eye for grammar and spot typos and grammatical issues in the things you read, this may be a great gig for you. You need to have a good understanding of language rules, sentence structure, and more.
This may go hand-in-hand with a love of writing, but it may not. You may love reading but not writing. To do proofreading well, you have to be incredibly particular and have the chops when it comes to proper grammar.
What’s the difference? Editing is more about the structure of a piece and the flow. Proofreading is more about tense, spelling, grammar, and the like. They may be done together (though you’ll read something for editing and then proofread) or separately.
You’ll find these opportunities through Flexjobs, Proofreading Pal, Proofreading Anywhere, and others.
7. Music Lessons
If you’re a pro at an instrument or singing, consider providing lessons online. This one is a little less flexible, as you’ll need to schedule appointments with people at a time that works for you both.
You also have the option to create a class online, which people can view anytime. If you’ve taught people the piano before, consider recording online lessons. Then, you can sell your class online. This provides great passive and unlimited income.
Udemy is a platform for pre-recorded sessions, and TakeLessons is another opportunity to share your musical talents. Taylor Robinson Music may be another option for some folks.
8. Digital Products
Online is the name of the game nowadays! People want the convenience of planning their schedule and often make purchases they can do at will.
You can create all sorts of digital products for people to download and use when they want. PDFs, editable templates, graphics, and more can be packaged and sold as digital products. Classes can also fall into this category.
If you quickly search on Etsy, you’ll find lots of opportunities. I don’t mean the crafts and handiworks, but the items you can provide online access to or download.
Creating digital products is also a great passive and unlimited income option. Create what they want, and they will buy! No activity is required from you once you load it to the site.
Look to sites like Etsy and Shopify to create your online store.
9. Travel Planner
Do you love putting together travel itineraries? You could easily do that for other people. Not everyone enjoys it, and you could provide a valuable service to others.
You can create travel plans for specific places that people can purchase or create customized itineraries based on what a person wants. So, you can create an itinerary with suggestions and sell it as a digital product! Or work 1:1 with someone to plan their next trip.
There are endless options for how to do this. Do you want passive income or prefer to work with people directly? You may need to schedule some calls to discuss this, but much of the work can be done based on your time availability with a deadline.
Hanging a shingle with a website and networking may be your best bet for this. Though, you could reach out to travel organizations to see if they contract help.
10. Customer Service
A lot of customer service call centers are handled virtually now. You can work part-time and pick up shifts with an online call center (as long as it doesn’t interfere with your standard working hours.)
Another option to help with customer service is with online emails and inquiries. Many retail companies and others offer chat to customers, posing an opportunity for a side hustle.
You can work for a company responding to inquiries via chat and email, and sometimes you can do it on your schedule (providing it works for the company).
Check out Flexjobs and Working Nomads for opportunities.
11. Artwork
Artists of all kinds have a great opportunity to sell their artwork online. You can create a website and sell it on your own, create a site on a platform like Shopify, or even sell on Etsy or another similar platform.
Some sites will enable you to sell items with your artwork. You can sell things like tees, mugs, tapestries, scarves, and more and have the company create and ship the item (for a cut).
Even if you’re not an artist, maybe people tell you often that your sketches are extraordinary. Or maybe your photographs or quilts are admired and desired by those you know. Whatever your art may be, you can sell it online and make some extra money.
Etsy and Shopify are great sites to create your online store.
12. Graphic Design
If you’re a whiz at making creatives, like social images, brochures, flyers, and more, graphic design may be a great spot for you. All online businesses need creative pieces, from websites to Etsy and Amazon listings.
Upwork, fiverr, and Working Nomads are good sites to get started.
13. Website Development
Web development is not a skill that everyone has (raising my hand!) It can require a lot of technical understanding to do this, and not everyone is talented and interested.
There are some great templates to help, and it’s a skill that can be learned. I created my website by configuring a template, which gave me a lot of respect for the people who do this.
The best developers have some technical chops and marketing knowledge, with an understanding of branding, color, and typography. To be a good developer, you need to be able to interact well with people to understand what they want, as it can often vary from what they say.
Upwork, fiverr, and Working Nomads are good sites to get started.
14. Tutor
Tutoring can be another great opportunity for a side hustle. There are a lot of different topical areas, from math to science and writing to history and more.
If you enjoy working with kids and have a great in-depth knowledge of a certain area of education, consider tutoring. Not only will you make some extra coin, but you’ll be a great help to a child in need.
Check out TutorMe and Tutor for opportunities.
15. Blog
As you’re reading this, it probably goes without saying that starting a blog is another great side hustle. This is actually what I did, as I worked a 9-5+ job when I started it back in 2018.
It’s a lot of work, and there’s a steep learning curve if you’ve never done it. I say this from my personal experience.
But if you love writing, thrive on learning, and don’t shy away from the tech you should know (or have the funds to hire), it’s a great option for a side hustle.
Blogs are monetized in many ways, including ads, affiliate revenue, digital product creation, courses, and more. You can start where you want, focusing on building great content and providing value for readers.
Start here on my resources page. My favorite WordPress class is this one. I took this great SEO course (search engine optimization, think Google love). It’s a great way to drive ad revenue.
Some Other Remote Side Hustle Options
16. Testing websites—Test websites on phones, tablets, and desktops to ensure they work properly, identify bugs, and determine if they’re easy to use. Websites like Usertesting and Userfeel connect you with opportunities, and there are others.
17. Complete online surveys—This one won’t make you rich quickly but will add some extra to your pockets if you have the time. Survey Junkie and Surveys on the Go are options.
18. Coaching—If you have expertise in an area, you can teach others by creating a course. But you can also offer 1:1 coaching sessions or even group coaching sessions.
19. Transcription—With crazy good typing skills, this one will be a breeze. You’ll convert audio to typed documents for anything from YouTube to podcasts.
20. Bookkeeping and Accounting—Are you a whiz with numbers? Look for opportunities to use those skills as a bookkeeper or accountant. Some positions are seasonal, around tax time, and others go all year long.
Benefits of a Remote Side Hustle
There are a lot of great benefits of working a side hustle. Ideally, you should pick something that you enjoy doing so the extra hours you are putting into it don’t feel like work.
And it’s a good idea to consider things for your side hustle that benefit you in multiple ways, not only with extra money. It may take some time to get it up and running, so you want to be sure you’ll stay motivated.
Maybe it’s work to develop a new skill. Or maybe you have always wanted to do it but didn’t have the time. There are a lot of different options for side hustles.
It could also be seasonal or cyclical so that you may have some dry spells and downtime. If you enjoy what you’re doing with your side hustle, you’re more likely to stick with it.
Wondering why to start a side hustle? Read this for more information.
Top Side Hustle Benefits
There are a lot of great reasons to start a side hustle. The additional income and flexibility are key to a successful one, but they aren’t the only reasons to start a side hustle. Here’s some other food for thought.
- Extra income—This one may be assumed, but one of the reasons for working a side hustle is to get some extra cash.
- Additional experience—You can leverage a side hustle to develop some skills you don’t get in your full-time job or reinforce and build skills you may use. It’s a great opportunity to try different things to see if you like them with less of a commitment.
- Location independence—Another great reason to try a side hustle is that you can do it anywhere with a stable internet connection if you work on your laptop, tablet, or phone. You may have some limitations based on time zone or country, but if you work electronically, the world is your game.
- Added exposure—Working a side hustle gives you access to a wider network than your 9-5 job (or whatever job you’re working). You’re not limited to the people you work with at your company, but you can expand your horizons and connect with others.
- Gain confidence—When you work a side hustle, it’s all on you. It can be challenging and a lot of work, but it’s amazing when you succeed. As you know, it’s due to your hard work and accomplishments.
- Improved time management—When you work a full-time job and a side hustle, you must improve your time management. If you don’t, it won’t last for long as you’ll burn out, or your performance may slip. Use this opportunity to set up a system that works for you.
- Multiple income streams—If you’re working multiple jobs, you become less reliant on each for your income. For example, say you get laid off from your full-time job. Having a part-time side hustle can be helpful to tide you over financially until you find something else. Or, perhaps it can be a motivator to keep it going and make your side hustle a more permanent gig! Financial diversification can be a great long-term strategy.
If you’re doing work you enjoy doing with your side hustle, another benefit will be the enjoyment you get from the activity. Keep that in mind when you’re choosing!
How to Start Remote Side Hustles
There are a lot of different ways to start a side hustle, and it depends on what your side hustle will be. Options range widely from finding work on job boards to starting a company to find work.
You can go directly to companies and websites, work through various agencies, or go through aggregator job boards that list opportunities ranging from established organizations to smaller start-ups.
Whether you go through job boards or start a small business, consider creating a small website. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy and only needs a few pages to show that you’re established.
Consider including an “about me” page, a page that lists your services, a page with sample work, and a contact page. If you want to include something about your business, that’s a great idea, too.
Bluehost is a great place to get started for inexpensive website plans. They offer a low three-year deal that I used when starting this site!
Are You Still Looking for Remote Side Hustles?
Hopefully, this list gave you some great ideas for remote side hustles. There are a lot of different side hustles online that you can find to meet any skill set.
Get creative, and look to do work that you have a talent for and enjoy. And you never know when you can leverage your side hustle into a career change.
I’m living proof that you can do this! It takes time and extra effort and doesn’t always make much money immediately. But, I was able to quit my “day job” after a few years with this travel blog, my copywriting work, project management, and social media management.
Now, I have complete control over my days. I do work that I enjoy when I want to. Being my own boss and having flexibility while doing work I love are my favorite benefits of what was first my side hustle jobs.
You can do it, too!
You Might Also Like
- Top Tools and Tips for Remotely Working from Home or Anywhere
- How to Find Side Hustle Ideas to Travel More
- 11 of the Best Tips for Travel: What I Wish I Knew Earlier
- 10 of the Best Reasons for Traveling
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