5 Side Hustles ANY College Student Can Do…NOW!

extra income Feb 05, 2022
5 Side Hustles ANY College Student Can Do…NOW!

Question: How can I, as a college student, best apply myself while getting my education so that I can be more valuable when I graduate? 

Simple Answer: seek internship and volunteering opportunities 

  • OPPORTUNITIES ARE THERE AS LONG AS YOU LOOK FOR THEM
  • Choose things you like and/or are passionate about. Once you are ready, turn your newfound/improved knowledge into a side-hustle (gain income while honing your skills) 

Although making money in college can be tough as you have to balance academic work and your social life, college is the best time to challenge yourself through your current education, talents & skills, to see how much extra income you can make! 

The five side hustles I’ll be discussing are flexible, with some that can pay up to $1,000 per day. 

Extra money => speeds up paying down debt, building up savings, investing more in yourself and/or investing in the stock market. 

Let’s get started!  

 

THE 5 SIDE HUSTLES:

  1. Freelancing – Market your abilities. This is a side hustle that any college student can do from anywhere. It all depends on your education, special skills and talents. To get started, all you have to do is sign up on freelancing sites like Upwork, Fiverr, and Freelancer. There is something for everyone on these sites. Upwork, for example, has up to nine main categories, with each category having up to twenty sub-skill sets. You can work as a writer, programmer, graphic designer, video editor, marketer, or virtual assistant on these platforms. The list is endless. And the best part is that you can do all these on your own time. There are hourly projects where you work per hour, and they’re also fixed projects where you get paid after completing the project. These freelancing sites facilitate every part of the project down to payment and communication. You can be rest assured to get paid after completing the job. You also don’t have to share your personal contacts with a client unless you’re comfortable with it. (Usually they don’t want you to, for your protection, but also to protect you from dealing with clients outside the platform that can avoid them losing a part of the cut.)

Keep note that becoming a freelancer is not all sunshine and roses, it’s not easy. You have to put in some work yourself. The signup process is totally free for the sites I’ve mentioned, but you have to build a great profile and improve your skills to get better offers.  

If you’re a good writer, you can get even better by taking courses online and getting certified to boost your chances of getting the highest paying offers. There are freelancers that make up to $100 per hour because they’ve leveled up their skills. According to the 2020 US freelance data, you can earn an average of $20 per hour as a beginner. And there are fixed projects that are set as high as $1000 per project. Check out any of the freelancing platforms I mentioned, sign up, and start making money today. (Upwork, Fiverr, and Freelancer)

 

  1. Tutoring – Share and Teach Others. Contrary to what you might think, you don’t need to be an expert to tutor. 

As a tutor, your focus should be on walking your client through their present academic/specific struggles. You can offer tutoring services physically and/or online.

If there are high schools and elementary schools around, you can offer to tutor students on specific subjects you did best at. Being a college student already offers you an edge to be more knowledgeable in elementary and high school subjects, so use this to your advantage. You can also branch into helping people with college test prep and admission essays, especially if you did really well in those areas. 

If you’re worried about getting yourself out there, there are many other options to consider. You can place ads on craigslist for as low as $5 and find parents around you that need help with their kids. Parents can even refer you to other parents if your services are great. 

Another great option is to use online platforms like Wyzant and Chegg Tutors. These platforms will link you up with clients who will need your tutoring service. They also have a safe payment structure, so you don’t have to worry about getting scammed. And although you do have to pay a small commission from your earnings, it's all worth it, considering the value you can get. With tutoring, you can earn an average of $25 per hour. It is definitely a flexible gateway to make money while in college.  

 

  1. SHARING CONTENT via Social Media– start with YouTube (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest, etc). There are so many popular creators that are in college. In fact, the best time to start a channel is while you’re in college because college is fun and full of experiences to film. You can make educational content, fashion content, or even do tech or general reviews. Honestly, if you feel passionate about a particular topic, now is the time to let the world know. 

However, I have to warn you, this is not a quick money making scheme, but it can be very profitable in the long run if you have great content. You might also need to dedicate a lot of time and patience to this. You need to make quality content to grow your audience, which you can consider studying from others in your niche.  Just take a look at what they’re doing and see what you can do better or more different than them in a better way. 

So you’re wondering how you can get paid on Youtube?  Know that there are many ways through the many opportunities available. You can make money through Google Adsense, sponsorships, affiliate marketing, and selling a product or service to your audience. When you dedicate time to grow on YouTube, you can earn up to $10,000 a month and even more depending on your audience.  However, don’t focus on the money, just focus on making good content, then the money will follow. :)

The best part of this option is that you don’t need a lot to start. Most of you reading this would have a phone with a camera that can be your first equipment to start. Thankfully we are also blessed with natural lighting from the sun, so don’t worry too much about equipment at the beginning. Just set your mobile phone next to a window with good lighting and start filming - just plan out what your content will be, so things can flow well as you upload your content. 

Tips: 

  1. study content creators in your niche to see how you can improve your content. 
  2. Money comes via opportunities through ads, sponsorships, etc. 
  3. Don’t need much equipment to start, a camera phone is enough! 
  4. Just start.  

          

  1. Blogging - Share your words, Get Paid. Blogging is a great way to still express yourself if you’re camera shy or a little scared of being too out there. 

Many people might think blogging is kind of old school and a dead end, but that’s not true. In fact, some bloggers make up to $1000 a day just by writing in their spare time. There are a lot of monetization strategies that you can implement with blogging. One of the easiest strategies is affiliate marketing. With affiliate marketing, you can add product links to your blog and get a commission if your readers buy through the link. However, this works best if your content is targeted to a particular audience. For instance, if you write about pets, you’ll have pet owners and lovers reading your blogs; you can then sign up as an affiliate for brands like Amazon and add pet product links to your posts. This way, you will be helping your audience with good recommendations while making some extra money for yourself.  

Another way to make money is by displaying google ads on your blog. You can also get paid for writing reviews and guest posts. Getting started is pretty much easy. All you have to do is register for free on WordPress and start sharing your ideas with the world.  

 

  1. Get Some Outdoor Exercise with Dogs (or pets) – this side hustle requires zero technical skills. All you need for this job is your ability to walk and love or at least endure pets. Dog walking is a side hustle that any college student can do. And if you’re worried about how to get dogs to walk, you can sign up to platforms like Rover and Wag. These platforms pair you up with people that need their dogs walked. And according to Indeed, you can earn up to $20 for a 30 minutes walk. You can even double this rate if you can sit the dogs or offer overnight boarding. Of Course, the owners will have to run a background check on you to be sure they can trust you with their pet, and you have to be 18 years and older to sign up on the platforms. This is literally all that is required to start earning money with this option, no additional corporate skill needed, just need to be nice and pet loving.  

P.s. In a way, if you think about it, consider social media and blogging as a form of public life journal for yourself.  You are the star of your own platform, how big you grow depends on how much effort you want to put in. :)

 

CONCLUSION

Money is just a part of what you gain from starting a side hustle in college. There’s a whole lot more to it. Other than money, you can learn more about entrepreneurship from the experiences of having a side hustle. Side hustles can also help you find your passions which can lead to better business opportunities in the future. I hope you can try some of these side hustles. Please reach out to me and/or join our Members Only Learning community to share your thoughts & feedback. Have a side hustle I didn’t mention yet?  Please let me know!  Would love to hear about it.  I’ll also be releasing more personal finance videos and blogs to empower you to kick start your journey to financial freedom. Looking forward to connecting with you! Until then, get knowledge, get experience, live life. :)

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