Best Side Hustles for 2024
With the rising cost of living, Aussies are taking up multiple jobs to make ends meet. According to the the figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, nearly 6.6 per cent of Australians (or 925,000 people) have multiple jobs. That's an increase of 68,000 people over the year and the highest number recorded. Having a side hustle is more than just a way to make some extra money. They are now a point of fulfilment for many people worldwide, giving them a sense of purpose and sometimes even helping them find new career paths and opportunities.
Have you been searching for a hobby that can actually make you money on the side? Look no further. The experts at Dropshipzone have outlined the best side hustles of 2024.
What is a side hustle?
A side hustle helps you make extra money on top of your full-time or part-time income. Most people think side hustles are second jobs, but they’re often self-employed ventures. The beauty of a side hustle is that you can create your own schedule around your full-time career and family.
Side hustles were referred to as moonlighting in the past. This term was coined in 1957. Moonlighting was usually a second job, performed after working hours, typically at night. It was often frowned upon as people would avoid telling their employer about their outside-of-work activities. Since then, people have moved away from only doing these things at night, and thus the side hustle was born.
How many Australians have a side hustle?
ING's new Sense of Us report reveals that the pandemic has made many Australians want to be better prepared for the future. The study further revealed that 48 per cent of Aussies have started or are planning to start a side hustle. Earlier, side hustles were considered a pastime, but now people are more willing to start a side hustle to supplement their income. The rising cost of living is a stressor for many Australians. With rising interest rates and full-time wages staying the same, Aussies have started to look for ways to earn more money. The amount of people with side hustles is at an all-time high, with 925,000 people reporting that they have a side hustle.
Benefits of having a side hustle
Increases productivity
Studies have shown that side hustles are more likely to enrich job performance rather than hinder it. This is contrary to the belief that side hustles cause a distraction and negatively affect employee performance.
Although side hustles are proven to make employees more productive, it’s crucial to set schedules so you can make time for rest and relaxation. Set aside 10-minute breaks often, and avoid using your break time at your full-time job to work on your side hustle. Overworking yourself can eventually result in burnout, and it may also cause you to give up on your side hustle.
Helps meet financial goals
Have you been trying to save for that holiday but struggling to put enough money away? A side hustle will help you meet your goals quicker, and whatever extra income you make can go into your savings. Pay off your loan or buy those shoes you’ve been eyeing.
It doesn’t really matter if you only make a small amount, to begin with. Every dollar counts. Just $25 a week will make a difference to your savings. Once you start earning more, your side hustle can give you a sense of financial security.
Increases creativity
Creativity can fulfil and inspire, and while some people get to exercise this in their careers, others can go their whole lives without finding a way to be creative. If it’s something you’re passionate about, your side hustle could give you a sense of invigoration to get you out of a rut. You’ll notice you start to feel more motivated to get up and go, and your alarm will no longer be snoozed, over and over. If your job makes you feel like you’re living Groundhog Day, exploring your creativity can promote a sense of calm, unblock old patterns or habits of thinking, and give you a sense of purpose.
Improves mental health and confidence
Several studies found that the physical and mental health of people improved when they switched from their 9-5 jobs to self-employment. There’s more freedom to choose what you do with your day. If you don’t have the means to quit your day job, having a side hustle will do wonders for your happiness.
Self-esteem is linked to happiness, so if you’re doing things to improve your mood, you will naturally start to feel more confident. Your side hustle will make you more confident. You’ll be more willing to speak up in social situations and work meetings, become more resilient after failures, and be more decisive and take initiative more often.
6 of the best side hustle ideas in 2024
1. Start a dropshipping business
One of the most lucrative ways to make money online is by starting a dropshipping business. Dropshipping is an easy and low-risk business model, making it the perfect side hustle. It involves minimal startup costs, and unlike other ecommerce strategies, you aren’t required to hold any physical inventory. Instead, third-party suppliers deliver products directly to your customers. All you have to do is create a website to display products.
The dropshipping market is set to reach $243.42 billion in 2023. There is no better time to start a side hustle and join this growing fulfilment method. You can easily create a dropshipping website with Shopify and integrate thousands of products instantly with Dropshipzone. Unlike a side hustle such as dog walking, you can work from anywhere with dropshipping. As long as you have an internet connection this is the perfect side hustle to do outside working hours. It’s also easy to grow and scale this business model, so once you’ve got a steady flow of transactions and are earning good money, you can turn your dropshipping store into a full-time gig. If you’re curious about how much time and effort you’ll need to put in to achieve this kind of success, check out our blog on how many hours successful dropshippers work.
Like most side hustles on this list, dropshipping is a great way to earn a passive income. If you’re unsure how to start dropshipping or what kinds of products you should sell, we’ve got a few tips to help get you started.
Start off by choosing your product niche. Conducting in-depth research is key to finding an ecommerce niche for your online business. Once you've selected your ecommerce niche, choose products with relatively low competition because popular products usually have more competitors. It'll also help you stand out among your competitors and attract a niche-specific audience. Additionally, make sure you do your due diligence before selecting your niche. Conducting market research is crucial for the success of your business.
Now let's go through some of the most popular product niches of 2024 include:
Clothing
Fashion has been the most ordered category online for the last three years. Everyone needs clothes, so it’s no surprise that this is one of the most popular product categories to sell online. Even better, if you can find a way to create a unique selling point and fill a gap in the market. The print-on-demand clothing business became popular in 2023 and is growing in 2024. You could start a print-on-demand clothing business for fans of a particular book or television show. The options are endless.
Sport and fitness
Buying fitness products online has become increasingly popular over the last few years. As sports and fitness products are usually bulky, dropshipping is a good idea if you don’t have warehousing capabilities. You could target a particular sport or workout style, for example, selling equipment for Pilates or yoga.
Home and garden
Online shoppers are always looking for ways to add more character to their homes with new home décor items, and houseplants and environmentally friendly gardens are among the trending niches of 2024. You could target a specific interior style and include trending and in-demand products in your online store.
Health and wellness
The health and wellness industry is booming. Around 79 per cent of consumers believe wellness is important, and they take their health more seriously. This shows that the market for these products is huge. Additionally, the health and wellness industry is known to have high-profit margins. So dropshippers should consider selling these products in their ecommerce stores. There are so many different products to sell within this niche. You could specialise in gratitude journals and other products to help mental health or find a supplier offering self-care packages.
Makeup and beauty
The makeup and beauty niche is also an excellent category you can choose for your dropshipping business. You can also pair it with the health and wellness niche. Makeup and beauty products are highly in demand, with the personal care sector making up 80 per cent. Environmentally friendly and clean skincare and beauty products are extremely popular and profitable. However, make sure you choose a good supplier offering high-quality products.
Technology
Electronics and gadgets are part of our everyday life. We use them day and night. Wireless headphones, fitness trackers, portable chargers and speakers are among the most popular products. The competition for these products is huge, but offering competitive pricing to your customers will help you stand out.
Baby and kids
The baby and kids category is a profitable dropshipping niche. This category enjoys stable demand, and people usually buy these products in bulk. The baby and kids category includes products such as clothing, kid’s furniture, toys, kids’ books, and more. Make sure you have the right products suitable for all ages. Kid’s toys and furniture get year-round sales and are not affected by seasonality.
2. Become an affiliate marketer
Affiliate marketing is becoming a popular way to earn extra money. An affiliate works with brands to market their products. They earn commission in exchange for these services, with sales being tracked through affiliate links, which connect buyers to product pages or websites. Due to the nature of affiliate marketing, this side hustle needs a substantial following. It usually involves content creators, influencers or publishers. The more people you can influence to click on and purchase through affiliate links, the more cash you can make. More than 80 per cent of brands have an affiliate marketing program. Based on how much brands are prioritising this type of marketing, the chances of this being a successful side hustle are high. There are low barriers to entry, minimal investment involved, and the market size is only expected to grow. Unlike side hustles where you must be available to deliver food throughout the day, affiliate marketing can be done directly from your phone. You can set your own hours while receiving a steady cash flow on the side.
Affiliate marketing is word-of-mouth product recommendations, so if you feel like you have great product taste and your audiences trust you and react to your messages, this might be the side hustle for you. People are more likely to trust the recommendations of real people over marketing campaigns run by a brand, which explains why so many businesses are choosing affiliate marketers to promote their products. Have you ever wondered how so many social influencers are able to work completely for themselves, going on lavish holidays multiple times a year and living the high life? That’s because the demand for affiliate marketing is so high that most companies are willing to pay the big bucks in exchange for brand exposure.
Affiliate marketing takes time, so unless you already have a loyal following, don’t expect this to be a ‘get rich quick’ scheme. It’s not as simple as posting product recommendations with affiliate links. You need to make sure your content is engaging, and conduct market research to stay updated. The most successful affiliate marketers have a high website and social media traffic with exceptional conversion rates.
The best example of affiliate marketing is the Amazon Affiliates program. Affiliates receive up to 10 per cent commission. Affiliates can create an Amazon page that saves product recommendations into different categories. They get paid when people use their Amazon storefront to shop for products.
Types of affiliate marketing:
Unattached
Unattached affiliate marketing means that the person promoting the product has no personal involvement in the company selling the product, so they don’t need to make recommendations. Instead, the marketing is done through affiliate links using something like Google Ads.
Related
Related affiliate marketing is another form of affiliate marketing where an affiliate promotes products and services that they don't use but are related to their niche. They won't make claims about how good a product or service is, but their advice is trusted as they are considered experts in their field. This type of affiliate marketing is done through blogs, YouTube, social media, podcasts, or other channel. For example, if your social media already revolves around health and wellness, doing affiliate marketing for a company selling vitamins is a great way to ensure your audience is interested.
Involved
In this type of affiliate marketing, the affiliate marketer has a direct relationship with the product or service they’re promoting. They know about the features and benefits of the product/service, have religiously used the product/service, and believe in the product/service, so they personally recommend it to their audience. This makes the marketing more sincere. Are there any products you would recommend to your followers? Try reaching out to those companies. You may find yourself a side hustle to get started in no time.
3. Start a blog
One of the most popular and affordable ways to earn money online is by blogging. There many free blogging platforms at your disposal, with Squarespace and WordPress being among the most popular ones. The best thing about this side hustle idea is that you can blog about anything. If you enjoy writing creatively, then blogging is for you. You can use paid advertisements and affiliate marketing to earn money.
The following are the most profitable blog niches of 2024:
Personal finance
With interest rates and the cost of living rising, there is an abundance of people looking for ways to handle their money better. Search interest for The Barefoot Investor, published in 2016 that includes everything you need to know about financial planning and building long-term wealth, saw a massive spike in search interest at the beginning of 2022. There are countless podcasts and social media accounts dedicated to saving money, particularly targeted at the 20-30 age bracket. People are always searching for ways to make money and save money.
There are plenty of examples of exceptional finance blogs in Australia that have been able to turn their side hustle into a business. StudentSavings is a blog targeted at young Aussies looking to save more and learn about how to handle their finances, with blog topics like 5 Unique Ways to Save Money on Travel: 2023 Guide.
Marketing and online business
In today’s age, digital marketing is perhaps the most lucrative blogging niche. With so many people starting online businesses, the demand for business and marketing advice is high. In 2022, the market size of the digital advertising industry was worth $2.8 billion in Australia alone.
The Australian retail industry is estimated to spend around $1.15 billion on advertising each year, so what better way to get clicks than by offering up marketing tips for free? If you already work in marketing, this niche is a perfect way to share your expertise, but it can even work if you’re passionate about digital marketing. Include ads on your blog page to monetise your blog.
Health and fitness
Aussies love finding new ways to be fit and healthy. 49.1 per cent of Australians aged 18-24 have gym memberships, making this an incredible blogging niche. It’s a perfect option for anyone passionate about health and fitness. You can blog about anything from nutrition to where to find the cheapest workout equipment. You can even make workout videos and introduce paid subscriptions once your customer base grows.
Dating and relationships
You can target nearly everyone with this niche, and you don’t have to worry about it losing popularity because relationships are a fundamental part of human behaviour. You can talk about your own dating experiences and offer advice. A pro tip is to narrow down your target audience by writing for a specific demographic.
Food
If you’ve ever Googled a simple pasta recipe, chances are you’ve seen billion search results that come with it. There are countless food and recipe blogs on the internet in 2024, but this doesn’t mean the industry is saturated for you to start one yourself. You can partner with food brands once your audience grows. A popular Australian blog, RecipeTin Eats, has been able to grow its blog to the point of publishing its own cookbook, turning this side hustle into a fully-fledged brand.
If you can’t find time to create your own recipes, the food blogging niche could be as simple as reviewing cafes and restaurants in your area. You could even create a series where you make every recipe from a single cookbook.
Travel
Now that travel is up and running again, the demand for travel guides and tips has once again regained interest. With work-life balance being a top priority for Australians, people are looking for places to travel to break up the year. You can blog about weekend trips, overseas trips, how to travel on a budget and provide travel itineraries. If there’s a long weekend coming, you can blog about how to make the best out of it. This side hustle could even open the door for free trips where you get paid to blog the experience.
4. Become a virtual assistant
The demand for virtual assistants is high in today’s digital age. Are you an organised person who likes planning and scheduling and have a knack for all things digital? Do you excel at Excel? You could start earning money as a virtual assistant today.
This side hustle usually involves repetitive and easy tasks like writing emails or spell-checking and uploading blogs or social media posts. You can even work with multiple clients and increase your chances of a high cash return rate. As a virtual assistant, you can work from anywhere while learning valuable and in-demand skills to help you in your career. Once you gain more experience, you can start charging up to $150 AUD an hour for your services.
You can choose how much time you want to put into this side hustle. You could turn your spare room into your office and work for as little as 5-10 hours a week. Freelance platforms like Upwork let you set up an employee profile where you can showcase your skills for employers to find. You just need a laptop and an internet connection to get started, and it has no startup costs.
If you want to improve your chances of getting hired as a virtual assistant, focus on improving your skills. You could do an online course. There are thousands of videos on TikTok dedicated to Excel tips and tricks alone.
There’s also a significant demand for virtual assistants with a digital marketing background to do SEO, email marketing, copywriting and social media strategies. There are also job openings for graphic designers and website designers, so whatever your talent or niche is, there’s someone out there looking for your expertise.
5. Start a YouTube channel
YouTube is the second-most-visited website in the world and is still one of the most popular ways to make money online 18 years after its launch. It’s estimated that users watch over a billion hours of videos per day. There’s an opportunity to monetise your videos with YouTube Ads, making this a great side hustle for 2024.
You can start a YouTube channel for free, and there will always be a demand for niche videos. For example, videos like, ‘The quickest way to set up an Ikea flatpack’ work well. Users are 3 times more likely to watch a video tutorial over an instruction manual. You could get thousands of views in a matter of weeks. Once your audience grows, you can start monetising your videos. With the quality of phones in 2024, you don’t have to buy a professional camera to capture high-quality videos. You can even access free editing tools to make your videos stand out. In many cases, people who have been successful with their YouTube channels can turn these into their primary source of income in as little as a year.
Some of the most profitable YouTube categories in 2024 include:
Gaming
Gaming is a popular YouTube niche. The most popular gamers on the platform earning more than $10 million a year. This niche is a great way to combine a hobby with a side hustle to start making money off something you may already do in your spare time. You can live stream and upload regular videos to increase the chances of monetising your channel.
Makeup and Beauty
The global beauty market is expected to be worth $580 billion by 2027, making this a perfect niche for anyone who’s passionate about makeup and beauty. There are also plenty of opportunities for affiliate marketing deals, with many brands relying on influencers to recommend their products and bring in more customers. Along with YouTube ads, you can even join multiple affiliate programs to earn money.
Reviews
It’s estimated that around 80 per cent of shoppers use YouTube to watch product reviews to help them decide on their purchases. You could review anything, whether it’s your favourite vacuum cleaner or a new speaker system you’re testing out. Someone might be looking for an honest review of almost any product.
Vlogs
Vlogs, or video logs, are casual-style videos that give insight to a person’s day-to-day life. It might be difficult to capture such videos during the work day, depending on your profession, but you may find it enjoyable to vlog during your weekends or holidays. Vloggers often have loyal fan bases, so building relationships with your viewers will be imperative to your success.
Tutorials & DIY
Do you have a knack for DIY projects? Enjoy helping people and find you are naturally good at explaining things in layman’s terms? One of the top places people look for how-to explainers is YouTube. You could use your expertise to help others. If you have experience with graphic design, you could offer tutorials about how to create infographics for social media.
6. Take online surveys
This side hustle is great for anyone not looking to put in too much effort to earn extra cash. It’s as simple as completing a few surveys at night in front of the television.
Some online survey websites even pay you by the hour. To get started, all you need is a stable internet connection. You can complete surveys after work or on the weekends. This side hustle won’t be as lucrative as others on this list, but it’s still a way to earn up to $250 a month. A pro tip is to sign up for multiple websites at a time to increase your earning potential. The more online surveys you complete, the more you earn. Look for free-to-join websites and make sure they’re legitimate. Some online survey websites give you points for every successful referral.
Some of the best Australian survey sites include:
Get your side hustle hustling with Dropshipzone
If you’re looking for ways to earn extra cash on the side, Dropshipzone has you covered for all your dropshipping needs. When dropshipping with Dropshipzone, you don’t have to hold physical inventory or pay subscription fees. You can start and grow your own business easily. Sign up today to start your side hustle instantly. Check out our learn centre for the best tips and tricks for ecommerce success.
