The holiday season is a time of fun and joy. However, it is never easy on the wallet. This is especially true if you have a large circle of family and friends. You can’t disappoint everyone so you need to figure out how to buy all of the gifts on your shopping list.
Well, it is simple. Just do some side hustles that earn a lot of money. Here are some of the best side hustles you can do this holiday season.
1. Pick up Extra Seasonal Shifts
Average Income: Depends on the business
Want seasonal work? Well then Virtual Vocations may just be the answer to your problems. This is one of the best side hustles to do if you want to make extra money for the holidays.
You can look for businesses that are hiring people for seasonal jobs and apply for them. Pick up extra shifts and make as much money as you can to give all your loved ones the gifts they are asking for.
Here are some pros and cons of Virtual Vocations:
- Pros
- Easy to use
- Many jobs are available so it’s easy to find one that matches your skillset
- Their job search engine is excellent
- Cons
- Customer service may not be too responsive
2. Home & Office Delivery
Average Income: $19/hr
If you want a lot of flexibility and good money then this may just be the ideal choice for you. Task Rabbit is a great site where you can become a tasker and do things for other people.
The most popular category is home delivery and that is what you can do. You have the freedom to set your desired rates. However, the average tasker charges around $17 when starting out. It is recommended to use market competitive rates until you get enough positive reviews.
You can do these tasks in your area easily and there is a lot of potential to earn cash. This is a growing site as more people are hiring people to do their errands for them.
Here are some pros and cons of delivering at Task Rabbit:
- Pros
- Freedom to set your rates
- You can set your weekly availability schedule
- Provides ways to market yourself so you can grow your jobs
- Cons
- Registration fee of $25
3. Mystery Shopper
Average Income: $8/hr
Retail, grocery, hospitality, banking, and many other businesses are always striving to make their customer experience better. Companies hire mystery shoppers to evaluate their business as a customer and report back.
You can do this too. Imagine doing your favorite activity such as shopping and getting paid for it! You can easily become a mystery shopper at marketforce.com.
Here are some pros and cons of this site.
- Pros
- Good pay
- Flexible schedule
- The help desk is responsive
- Easy to find jobs
- Cons
- May not be enough work available
- Too much competition
4. Independent Virtual Assistant
Average Income: $15.73/hr
Not everyone wants to work for a company and have static working hours. So, if you want the freedom to work on your own schedule and still get paid well then this is the job for you.
The tasks are easy, simple, and anyone can do them. You will be responsible for doing your client’s assistant work such as making calls, scheduling meetings and appointments, managing emails, making arrangements for travel, and much more.
In simple terms, you will be doing everything an assistant does from the comfort of your home. You can use many platforms to find work for this. For example, LinkedIn, Upwork, Fiverr, and many other platforms allow you to find work in this field.
Here are some pros and cons of being a virtual assistant:
- Pros
- Freedom of location
- Freedom to make your schedule
- You can choose the clients that suit you best
- You can set your rates
- No cost to start
- Easy money
- Cons
- No paid vacations
- Ordinary tasks
- Distractions at home
5. Take Surveys
Need an easy and fast way to make money? Well, then take some surveys at Survey Junkie. The site pays users to take surveys for a variety of businesses.
Surveys can take anywhere from two to thirty minutes. However, longer surveys have the potential to make you more money. Apart from this, you can also match with focus groups and get paid through that.
You will become a prime candidate for them and may increase your earnings to around $50/hr. It is perhaps the easiest and best side hustles to do in your free time.
Some pros and cons include:
- Pros
- Easy to use interface
- You can redeem points for PayPal through your earnings
- Good rating and experiences of users
- Cons
- Higher paying surveys are difficult to find
- The threshold for cashing out your money is high
- For every survey, you will have to pre-qualify
6. Simple Online Tasks At Amazon Mechanical Turk
These are micro-jobs that you can do to earn very little money. Businesses submit tasks on this website that are known as HITs (human intelligence tasks).
They don’t require any skill or experience so you can easily do them. The earnings you earn from this platform are transferred to your bank account.
The only problem with this is that the pay is extremely low. Only 4% of workers on this site earn minimum wage or more. So, if you want a lot of flexibility and are okay with little pay then this is one of the best side hustles for you.
Some pros and cons of it include:
- Pros
- Choose your hours
- Easy tasks
- A lot of available tasks
- Cons
- Pay is too low
- Higher paying tasks may require proper qualifications
Final Words
These are the six best side hustles you can do this year. They are easy, simple, convenient, and can make you good money. What are you waiting for then? Choose your favorite option now and earn that extra cash!