7 Unusual Side Hustles You Can Start Today

In this article, we’re talking about seven side hustles that you can start this year, or really at any time. A lot of these side hustles we’re talking about today are all digital, which means that you don’t need to leave your house to do them.

Additionally, I have some fun side hustles included in today’s list that is a little outside of the box. It really goes to show you that if you can be a little creative in today’s world, you can make some money on the side rather easily.

For each of these side hustles, we’re going to talk about how much income potential each can earn, and how easy it is to get started.

7 Unusual Side Hustles You Can Start Today

So starting with a spicy side hustle as our first on this list it’s actually

Dating Profile Reviewer

Especially for dating apps like Hinge, Bumble, or Tinder. This side hustle probably favors women rather than men, because I feel like men need the most help when it comes to their dating profiles, as they often take bad photos and aren’t sure how to market themselves in the dating pool.

Now the inspiration for this side hustle came from a Tik Tok that popped up on my for-you page from a girl. Where she was publicly reviewing dating profiles that men were submitting to her from her area of Houston Texas.

What started off as just posting for fun a few months ago, has gotten so much attention and so much demand from the men that needed help with their profiles, that she’s actually started to charge $30 per profile review. And the funny thing is that her Dms are completely flooded with men wanting this service, and even some women.

This is pretty easy to do from home. Each profile review shouldn’t take you more than 30 minutes, which means that your hourly rate could be $60 or more per hour plus, if it does take off, you could amplify your reviews on social media, and even start a dating service where you help people with their dating lives.

So if you’re a woman reviewing men, or you’re a man that feels like they have their dating game on point. You can probably start this side hustle from home as long as you have social media, and you can also post it as a gig on Fiver.

Rating

I think in terms of how easy this is to get started, I’ll probably rate it an 8 out of 10. In terms of easiness, it helps if you have some sort of social media presence on Tik Tok or Instagram so that you can get some eyeballs to your reviews. It also requires that you probably aren’t toxic, you have a good head on your shoulders, and you’re semi-experienced with dating. If you’re under the age of 30 and single, I feel like this could really apply to you.

Now in terms of income potential, I’m going to rate it a 6 out of 10, Which means that it’s average. While I don’t think you can make thousands of dollars doing this per month, simply, due to your limitation on time, you can make a decent side income from it for a relatively simple task of your pre-existing knowledge.

The next side hustle that I want to share with you guys is

Thumbnail Designer

Now, this type of side hustle definitely requires you to be artistic in nature, or have some sort of graphic design skills. A growing portion of the digital economy these days are creators, for example, a large need that many YouTubers have are thumbnail artists or designers. The reason they all need thumbnail artists is that, how well a YouTube video does on YouTube, depends on how many clicks they can get to their videos out of how many times it’s shown. This is known as the click-through rate.

For example, if your thumbnail is shown to a hundred people and five people click on it, that’s a click-through rate of five percent. That means 95 people did not click your thumbnail, which is a missed opportunity.

Oftentimes the difference between a good YouTube video and a bad one is the difference of just one or two percent in terms of click-through rate. The company that knows the value of thumbnails is Netflix, and according to research studies done by them, they found that users spent an average of 1.8 seconds considering each title that they were presented with while on Netflix.

On YouTube it’s pretty similar, you only have a couple of seconds to capture someone’s attention and click on a video. So the better your click-through rate is, the more views a YouTube video will get, and the more views that it gets, the more the YouTuber gets paid.

So in the digital creator economy, having good thumbnails is just as important as having good videos. On Upwork, you’ll find people posting jobs for thumbnail or graphic design art for around $30 to $45 an hour, and it only goes up from there. If you’re an elite class thumbnail artist you could charge even more to big YouTube channels.

Rating

Now in terms of how easy this is to start, I’d probably give it a 3 out of 10. This means it’s pretty difficult especially because it requires some pre-existing skills and a knowledge of how youtube thumbnails work. However, in terms of income potential, I also give this a pretty high score of 9 out of 10. This means that it can really scale quite well if you’re able to work for some big YouTube channels, where each extra percentage of click-through rate gets the creator more views and money.

This type of job is relatively a new one because thumbnail artist or thumbnail designer probably wasn’t a job about 10 years ago, but however, I do think that this job is going to expand in terms of opportunities and pay because of how big the creator economy is getting.

All right so the next side hustle is

Mining Cryptocurrency

This does require you to have a PC with a graphics card especially if you’re trying to mine bitcoin or Ethereum, or it may require you to buy a mining device in the case of some cryptocurrency blockchains like the helium network.

Now first, let me describe to you guys what mining is. Mining is essentially auditing, you’re verifying transactions on the bitcoin or the Ethereum network. And to do this you need to solve computational puzzles. The first person to arrive at the solution gets rewarded in that currency, now it is somewhat random but the more graphics power that you have, the better results that you’re gonna get.

The actual process of mining is as simple as installing a program, and just having it run in the background on your computer while you’re not using it. You can use a crypto profitability calculator to figure out how much you would make per day in terms of Ethereum or Bitcoin.

Now the thing with crypto is that, if you are mining it, you are subject to that currency’s volatility. If you’re mining Bitcoin for example, and you mine 0.01 BTC, that bitcoin is probably worth $419 at current prices. But if the price of bitcoin goes up your actual value will go up as well, but if it goes down then your actual value goes down as well.

Another passive income mining method right now with cryptocurrency is the helium network. Now if you’re able to get your hands on a helium hotspot, you can earn passive helium tokens or HNT for providing what is called coverage. Helium is a blockchain that’s creating a crowd-sourced wireless network, so much like the cell phone towers placed all across your neighborhood.

Helium is looking to do the same thing but instead asking individuals to host hotspots all across town. If you’re running a hotspot in your area, you can earn tokens in exchange for providing coverage. Now, what this involves is actually getting the hotspot, which there might be a waitlist for, but then you have to just power it on and put it on your roof.

I know some guys that do this and are making between seven to ten dollars a day just for running their helium node, or around point three to point five HNT per day. This of course depends on the price of HNT, but considering all you have to do is power it on, and make sure that it is completely up and running you, could earn between $240 and $300 a month doing this.

Rating

In terms of easiness, to start I’ll give this a 5 or 6 out of 10. If you’re computer savvy it’s not really hard, but it is not really easy either. You’ll probably have to do some tutorials, but if you’re completely new to web3 or crypto, it’s probably going to be a 2 out of 10 in terms of easiness which means that it’s really difficult.

In terms of income potential, I’m going to give it based on mining rigs, but it could scale pretty well if you can get many different rigs going, and then therefore your income potential could go way up.

All right the fourth side hustle on our list today is becoming a

Social Media Manager

These days all brands and businesses need to be on social media, or at least they want some sort of social media presence. Since most businesses are run by people older than the age of 40 sometimes, even 50 and up that’s the target demographic that you can really capitalize on because they have money. Especially if you’re under the age of 30, and you spend a decent amount of time on social media, you probably know how social media works especially with businesses and when it comes to brands.

Right now, basically, what I see with social media management is that there’s a huge demand for it, but not many people are social media managers so you have this mismatch of supply and demand when it comes to this job. Since you have this mismatch of supply and demand, you can probably charge a lot to become a social media manager.

So if you think about what a strong presence is on social media, it really just comes down to consistency in posting and engaging with the community, and that’s what most of the social media management is about at least in my opinion.

A social media manager will ensure that the brand posts go live a few times per week, that the brand has visibility and a presence online, responds back to comments, and spreads the brand’s vision and identity across different social channels.

So having organizational skills is key, especially if the brand wants to post across different types of platforms like Tik Tok, Instagram, and Facebook all in one week.

In terms of the content, most of the time the brand should be providing their own content, but if they don’t you can easily create graphics for them using Canva, Photoshop, and Figma which are free resources online minus photoshop, you have to pay for that one. There are a lot of other great resources online that you can tap into to figure out exactly how to get started with social media management, including some YouTube channels dedicated to the topic of how to actually become one.

Now in terms of pay, you can get paid really amazingly, for example, while researching for this article, I saw a package from someone on Upwork who charges $675 a month for two feed posts weekly, one hour of engaging with accounts, direct messaging, and analytical reports.

There are also tools out there like Hootsuite, Later, and Loomly., these tools allow you to front-load a bunch of work upfront, so that you can schedule all the posts for the entire month.

In terms of how easy this is to start, I’m going to rank this one a 5 out of 10. It’s not super-easy, it’s not super-hard, but it does take some upfront work and you are going to have to take some classes to try to become a social media manager. I don’t think this is completely out of reach especially if you’re someone who’s young, and spends a lot of time on Instagram or Tik Tok. You probably understand social media a lot better than someone who’s in their 40s or their 50s, trying to start a business.

Rating

In terms of income potential though I would rate this one an 8 out of 10. You could make a lot of money with this method, especially if you scaled to more than just one business.

The next side hustle on this list is probably my favorite one because it’s really outside of the box, but it can be really lucrative and it involves animating pictures.

NFT Animation

A lot of the high net worth people in crypto these days own expensive NFTs, to the point where it becomes part of their identity. The funny thing about these NFTs is that they’re usually static images, and having an animated one is fun, and these clients which I’ll call high net worth clients are willing to pay quite a bit for animation.

To give you guys an example, each one of these Boryoku dragons on the screen are Solana NFTs costing upwards of $20,000 or more per NFT as you can see on this image below.

It’s a static image. An animated NFT as a GIF is rare and worth more, It was pretty hard to do at first, but then I found a 55-minute YouTube tutorial that shows you exactly how to create animated NFT with the use of Photoshop and after-effects. Click here to watch the video.

If you’re able to get pretty quick at this, you can actually make a lot of money because of how you charge clients in the crypto world. You see, you’re usually charging them in that cryptocurrency denomination like either Ethereum or Solana and in the Boryoku dragon’s discord, there’s a woman by the username of Linalina, who charges one to two Solana per animation of each NFT. That comes out to about $106.

She’s done so many Boryoku dragons animated GIFs, that she’s developed a reputation among the community there. So when one new holder buys a new NFT, they eventually want to get it animated. This job basically caters to a community that has a lot of money, and the best part is these holders of NFTs do not care if it’s $100, 200, or their Solana wallet. And what’s another hundred dollars if you just dropped $20,000 in an NFT in the first place.

Now keep in mind the example I’m using today is just one community of NFT, there are thousands of NFT projects, and many NFT projects that have high underlying NFT values. That means if you’re able to animate them, your potential pool of high net worth clients is huge, and the word of mouth will spread since it’s a social proof kind of thing. Everyone’s going to share how cool it looks, and it’s free marketing for you.

Right now there’s another stark contrast of demand versus supply, there’s a lot of demand for these animations but not many people are supplying this skill in the NFT space. This just means that a lot of these animators aren’t getting into discords.

Rating

And talking with those communities in terms of easiness, I’m going to give this a 6 out of 10. It’s much like our thumbnail designer job, but the income potential I’m going to rate so well, and you can charge just a little amount in terms of crypto value. Which actually turns out to be a lot in terms of monetary value.

Okay so the next side hustle is

Becoming a writer for businesses, Creators, or Brands

This is a lot more simple than you think. It’s not like writing fictional stories or novels, but it’s more about writing for a purpose. A lot of brands and businesses have specific goals in mind that they need to write articles for. An example might be a skincare brand that wants more customers driven to their online shop.

Well, one way that the skincare brand might market themselves is through written content, that is searchable online. This type of strategy is called search engine optimization, and many companies employ SEO to get more organic traffic to their website. A skincare brand might have a blog with articles that are titled “ideal skin care products for sensitive skin”, “the best facial moisturizer for your skin type”, or “timeless skincare rituals for your age”.

In all these cases, they are articles that will educate people and they’re all searchable topics within the skincare niche. You can also apply these same principles to a local business like a Chiropractor, perhaps the Chiropractor wants articles written about better posture tips or an article on the best stretches for the lower back.

The point is that these business owners usually don’t do the writing in-house, number two they also have money, and they’re willing to spend money on a writer that can help them create this type of content for their website. They can then take this type of content, and repurpose it for a newsletter, or even social media.

This type of writing holds a lot of value and to be good at it, you need to be able to research information online and summarize it in a way that makes sense for a business. To get a gig you can go to a site like Upwork for a content writing job, or you can literally approach these businesses in person or via email, and ask them.

If you can, write them a writing sample. Chances are if you write a good writing sample that can be repurposed into a few bits of content, the business will have a higher likelihood of wanting to move forward with you.

Once you have a writing gig under your belt, you can start building a portfolio and showcase it on a website like Journoportfolio.com. This is a place where brands will go as well to find writers and bloggers to suit their needs. Big creators like YouTubers also need help writing and researching as well for videos, articles, and even newsletters.

The best way to get a youtube gig is to email the creator on their YouTube channel page, and pitch them the idea that you can help write for them. Any YouTuber with about 50,000 subscribers is probably a good place to start targeting, as usually creators with over 50,000 subs start to earn enough money to start outsourcing some of their work to others.

Rating

On Upwork, you’re going to find people posting jobs for writing for around $45 to $75 an hour, and sometimes it’s even dependent on the word count as well. In terms of how easy this is to start, I give it an 8 out of 10, it’s pretty easy to start. And an income potential of 7 out of 10, so pretty high scores on both.

The next side hustle is

Getting free stuff

Possibly cleaning it up and then reselling it. This is one side hustle that was popularized by Garyvee, that has worked well for me in the past essentially. You want to find things for free listed on marketplaces, that are basically, small portable, and broadly applicable stuff like baby products, small furniture items like nightstands, media stands, lamps baskets, or niche items that you understand very well like video games or collectors cards.

The first step is to go onto a platform like Facebook marketplace or Nextdoor, scan the free section, and when you see an item that you think could easily sell for $10 or $20 or even more, message that owner and ask them if you can get that item from them for free.

Then all you have to do is just pick it up, clean it up a bit, take some better photos, and then relist it on a different marketplace platform.

Ideally, you’re listing it on a different platform than the one that you got it on. This is the only side hustle in today’s list that actually involves going outside into the real world, but it’s a fun one because of the potential gems that you could find.

Once you get some capital, you can start flipping items that actually cost money. So if you understand a market extremely well, you can find under-priced items, buy them up, and relist them for sale in the future for heavier profits.

Rating

In terms of easiness to start, I’m going to give this a straight-up 10 out of 10, which means it’s the easiest thing to start, I think anybody can do this as long as you have some sort of transportation to pick up items.

In terms of income potential, I’ll give it a 6.5 or 7 out of 10, because some people make a living on actually flipping items.

That’s It Guyz

If you enjoyed today’s article, make sure to subscribe to my mail list. I write personal finance, making money online, and investing content here on my blog, and always enjoy writing about how to increase our income potential.

Also, I’m gonna leave up this article on how to make $100 per day in passive income as well. I’ll see you guys in the next article. Peace and Happy Hustling!