6 Best online side hustle ideas for students. These things can be done with very little to no starting capital, with equipment you probably already have. (You don’t have to be a student, these things can be done by pretty much anyone).
Earning money online has become more popular recently due to the events of the world. Working from home has also become more popular, and since you have more time, why not start a side hustle that can bring in some extra income? Let’s get started.
1. Freelancer side hustle for students
Let’s start with the first one, selling your services online. This is a wide topic, since you can sell pretty much any kind of service that doesn’t require a physical presence.
If you have a skill that took some time to learn, there might be someone out there to pay for your skills. Let’s take logo design as an example. Someone who is in need of a new logo might rather pay 20 dollars than learn to do it themselves.
You have the skills to do it and the buyer doesn’t have to learn logo design. Everybody wins in this trade. Logo design is just one example.
A few examples of other things you could sell online:
- Video editing
- Virtual assistance
- Voice overs
- Design websites
- Coding
- Marketing
- Writing
No matter what the job is, there is probably a marketplace for it online. Most popular ones that you can sell pretty much anything are Fiverr and Upwork.
They charge their own fees when selling on their platforms, but you don’t have to worry about the technical part of it. They handle the payments and the platform; you can focus on what you are good at.
2. Online tutoring side hustle for students
The second thing you can do as a side hustle is online tutoring. I divide this into two categories.
Help other students pass entrance exams
You, as a student have been through the entrance exams and have studied for them. You could have some valuable information and tips for other students applying to schools.
Sign up to a platform which connects people who are applying for schools with people who help people to prepare for those applying processes.
The more difficult the school is to get into, the better chances you have that someone is willing to pay for some extra help and coaching on how to get in.
Teach a language or other skill
This doesn’t have to be related to your school. You might know a language or a skill, that you have developed over the years.
There might be someone willing to pay for private lessons for that skill. You have to really know what you are teaching, or your reviews will scare away future customers.
However, you don’t have to be perfect. Nobody is perfect when they start. You don’t have to be a perfect teacher, but you should have enough knowledge on the topic you are teaching.
3. Content creation side hustle for students
Next up is creating content. This can be really difficult and take a long time before you start to see any results, but it has its upsides as well.
You create your content at your own pace. No fixed working hours. You can work when ever you feel like doing so.
Content creation is a wide topic as well. That could be anything from a YouTube channel to streaming your gameplay on Twitch, to writing a blog or starting a podcast. Opportunities don’t end there. Use your imagination and think about what you would like to create content about.
It is important to have at least some interest towards the topic you are creating content for. If you don’t like the topic and don’t have any interest, it will become boring and your content won’t be as good as it could be, if you enjoyed doing it.
4. Dropshipping side hustle for students
Dropshipping is another thing you can do online without any physical inventory. In a nutshell, dropshipping means you create a website, find a product from AliExpress, for example, and sell the product on your website for a more expensive price.
You order the product from AliExpress, and they ship it directly from there to your customer, and you pocket the difference. If you find a product that costs 5 dollars, sell it for 20, your cut is the 15-dollar difference.
Dropshipping has its own set of cons. First, it can be very difficult to find a product that people would buy from you rather than from Amazon, for example.
You will also have to create the website yourself and handle all the marketing. It can take some money to get started.
On top of that, dropshipping and online retailing is overall very competitive. There is no guarantee you will ever make a single sale. But, if you are interested, you could dive deeper into this topic.
5. Print on demand side hustle for students
Print on demand works pretty much like dropshipping. There is one big difference. They don’t print the products until they are ordered. Products you could sell through a print on demand business could be T-shirts, mugs, hoodies, and pretty much anything you could print your own logo for.
Print-on-demand business model is a perfect fit for a youtuber, who already has an audience. If you as a youtuber want to start selling merch, you can use print on demand for that purpose. This way you don’t have to keep any inventory of your own.
6. Online course side hustle for students
The last thing is to create an online course. This could be a good addition for a YouTube channel, for example. When you have an already existing audience, it is much easier to market your course.
You can sell the course through your own website or through course marketplace platforms. Selling through platforms could be a better and easier option for beginners, since it can take a lot of time, money and effort to put up your own website with payment methods and logins.
Final words
These are some ways you can make money online as a student. You don’t need a degree for any of these.
There are other ways you can earn money as a student. For example, I have a post about how to make an extra 100 dollars a month. You can read it here.
Another relevant post for you might be this: How to start a business as a student.
If you decide to start your side hustle as a student, make sure your studies won’t hurt from it. Afterall, going to college can cost a fortune in some parts of the world. If making an extra 100 dollars a month delays your graduation by a year, that can really affect your financial situation negatively.
Hopefully this was helpful to you, have a nice day.