People dedicate a lot of time to their side gigs. On average, Americans spend 13.4 hours a week on them, according to a May 2022 Zapier survey of 2,032 U.S. adults. One in 10 spends as much as 30 hours per week or more on theirs.
If you are considering starting a side hustle, along with figuring out how much time you'll be spending on it, you'll need to figure out when in the day you can squeeze it in. And while some part-time gigs, like food delivery and moving, might be tied to specific times of the day, there are those you can do whenever you have a spare minute.
With these kind of gigs, "you have a deadline for when you need to turn it in," says Kathy Kristof, CEO and editor of Sidehusl.com. "But whether you do it at 2 a.m. in your pajamas or you do it during normal business hours, it just doesn't make any difference."
Here are four side hustles you can do any time of day.
Marketing
Marketing is a hustle that can be done "24/7," says Kristof, as long as you agree on a scope of work and a deadline with your client.
The gig spans the gamut of social media marketing, email marketing, lead generation and so on, so home in on the type of marketing you'd like to offer and consider making profiles for yourself on sites like Fiverr and Upwork. You can also look for contract marketing gigs on sites like Freelancer.com, MarketerHire, LinkedIn and Monster.
Keep in mind some sites may look for a certain amount of experience. For sites like MarketerHire, for example, "you do not need a degree but you need to somehow be able to show how you've increased traffic or engagement" in previous jobs, says Kristof.
Marketing experts on Upwork charge as much as $250 per hour.
Translation
If you're fluent in another language, consider picking up a gig translating courses, articles, videos — or whatever else an employer needs.
Kristof suggests using a site like Smartcat. "It essentially allows you to manage your business completely on your own," she says. "They just help you find clients." The site also offers software which will do the translation for you, after which you'll go through and make sure it's all accurate and makes sense.
You can also find gigs on job search sites like Indeed or create a profile on sites like ServiceScape. Translators on the latter charge $20 to $25 per page, but the site does take a 50% fee.
Illustration
Businesses use illustrators and animators for projects like web design, marketing material and books. Artists use tools like graphic design software or a physical canvas and paints. And "there's a surprisingly big market for" the gig, says Kristof.
When it comes to where to find opportunities, "Fiverr is probably the best for illustration and animation," says Kristof. "You set your own rates." You could also make a profile on Upwork or try looking for open gigs on sites like Behance or the aforementioned job search engines.
Illustrators on Fiverr charge as much as $650 per project.
Online content creation
If you're open to playing the long game with your hustle and are willing to wait to start earning real money, "spending a couple hours after dark recording a podcast or creating a new website article can be the start of a substantial side hustle," says Nick Loper, founder of Side Hustle Nation.
"It starts with coming up with a long list of potential topic ideas or questions you could answer," he says. "A tool like AnswerThePublic lets you punch in a starter keyword and see all the questions people are asking about that topic." From there, you'll want to figure out which platform you want to use to develop and look into best practices.
"Then it's a matter of getting started building out that library of content," he says.
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner started her personal finance blog, Making Sense of Cents, in 2011. It now helps generate tens of thousands of dollars per month.
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