Your Fun Side Hustle

If you're taking time out of your busy life to read this article then, like most humans, you've come to the realization that money doesn't buy happiness, but it buys the yacht that allows you to pull alongside happiness; and like most of the humans that have realized this, you're looking to make an Extra Dollar. In your quest to acquire these elusive Extra Dollars you might have tried cashing in on your free time (read hours outside of 9-5) and becoming an Uber or Lyft driver (and if you've tried this then you know why this is an unsavory long-term option) or apps that want to monitor your daily actions, screen time, usage, etc. and will pay you based on the quantity of that information (Big Brother much? Thanks, George Orwell!), or how many steps you took, or if you reached your goal and ate a whole head of lettuce for lunch, sans the dressing, of course. If you, like me, are part of the 23% of Americans that still don't own a smartphone (2011 Pew Research Centre Survey, so I imagine that number is drastically smaller at this point) AND are part of the 3% of Americans that don't own a car (2013 National Report on Commuting Patterns and Trends) then you might be tempted to turn to more dubious side hustles to get your hands on those Extra Dollars. But never fear! Your solution and guide to finally seeing those Extra Dollars is here! Here are five tried (by me) and true options, in no particular order, you should consider when looking for your next side hustle.

1. VOCAL

If you're keen on writing, or keen on Extra Dollars and not a bad writer, then today is your lucky day! There's a whole host of sites that will pay you to do freelance writing for them. One of them is this site, Vocal, which pays you on a per read basis, so the more reads your article gets the more you earn. They also have this nifty button at the bottom of every article that allows readers to tip you if they enjoyed your article (or if they hated it, but are in a generous mood, looking for good karma, or are your Aunt Peggy). Additionally, if you're writing a product review or are a content creator with a YouTube video, Vocal allows you the ability to embed your product link into your article to drive up sales.

2. TRAVELISTA

Another popular option is the travel blog Travelista, for the gypsies among us. In short, it's your one stop shop for all things travel: hotel/hostel recommendations, gear guides, places-to-go/things-to-do/foods-to-try summaries, etc. written by the people that know best, other travelers. Travelista pays you $40 for every 1,000 words you publish on their site and they even provide you with in depth training to help you develop and grow your personal brand. An extra perk, each of your articles is equipped with a link to your personal website so the credit will only ever be yours, not to mention driving up traffic and traffic=$$$.

Warning: Travelista does require that you have your own website in order to publish, or what would be the point of having a personalized link? It doesn't have to be anything fancy, a blog or even a landing page will suffice. To create spiffy looking web pages for free (or a monthly payment of various amounts for even spiffier options) try Wix. They provide you with templates depending on what product you're selling and even have an automation feature that will create a site for you based on your needs and specifications. With Wix, you have the ability to edit your site at any time, even after publishing, so if you're keen on getting started on raking in those Extra Dollars, but don't want to spend a ton of time making a website, you're in luck! Of course, there are many other sites that you can use to create a website, like SquareSpace, or if you're a coding genius you can always buy yourself a domain and start from the ground up.

3. FREELANCE WRITING

There are also a bunch of freelance writing job boards floating around the interweb. Pro: they collect freelance writing gigs from all over the world and organize it in one place, usually with a nifty sort feature. Con: you often have to write a pitch in order to land the gig and gigs can vary widely in profitability and are highly competitive. But like most things in life, not all job boards are created equal. The best I've found is Contena Pro, but they charge a membership fee. If you're looking to go the free route (because who doesn't like free stuff) a few of the best are ProBlogger, BloggingPro (yes, they are different), Freelance Writing Jobs, and Whisper Jobs (aka Ed's Jobs). There are scads more of these freelance job boards, for a more complete list check out this recent article by Elna Cain.

Pro tip: elnacain.com is a great website to find a bunch of tips for starting life as a freelance writer. In addition to her blog, Elna also offers courses and services that run the freelancing gamut.

As a freelance writer, you are your own boss, and other than getting to show up to work in your PJs (or birthday suit) you also get to pick and choose what content you create and what topics you write about. Plus, the beauty of being a freelance writer is that you can earn from literally anywhere (with internet access)! This is great for those of us with a serious case of wanderlust and seriously shallow pockets, stay at home parents, employees with international commutes, uni students, and anyone with a computer, wifi, and at least one working digit. Hell yeah! Extra Dollars prepare to be earned!

4. I-SAY

If you're not keen on writing and want to adopt a more get rich quick approach, but still want to contribute to the online world in the process, check out SurveyWorld/I-Say. The premise here is that you take surveys, earn points for the number and difficulty of surveys you take, then redeem those points for things like amazon or visa gift cards, entries into vacation giveaways, or PayPal refunds (aka free money). Obviously, in order to be eligible for surveys you have to be 18+ and often you will have to take a pre-survey in order to qualify you for the actual survey and point earning possibility. Which, as annoying as it is, makes a whole lot of sense. Just like you wouldn't want to take a survey about hunting gear as a vegan, nor would Skre Gear want your answers.