More and more people are finding that even with a full-time job, their modest income barely covers their living expenses. They want to earn more money, but their careers have plateaued, making it difficult to find opportunities for advancement.
As a result, many individuals are turning their attention to side jobs or developing a second career. By utilizing spare time outside of their regular work hours, they can earn additional income.
According to a survey of over 3,000 full-time employees, more than two-thirds are either already working part-time jobs or are actively looking for one. Given the high demand, today’s article will discuss how to find suitable at-home side jobs or develop a second career.
Contents
What Is a Side Job
A side job, also known as a side hustle or remote work, involves using your time outside of your primary job to learn new skills or explore a career shift, all while earning extra income.
The main advantage of side jobs is their flexibility. They are typically freelance positions with adjustable work hours, allowing you to work whenever you have free time.
Unlike full-time jobs, side jobs usually don’t come with benefits like health insurance or retirement plans. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that part-time income is lower than a full-time salary. For instance, many freelancers earn significantly more than those in full-time roles. In the affiliate marketing industry, for example, annual incomes can exceed $200,000, particularly in high-paying niches like dating or financial affiliate marketing, due to high advertising commissions.
How to Level Up Your Career With a Side Hustle
Many people view side jobs solely as a means to earn extra income. However, the best side jobs not only increase your earnings but also advance your career.
Firstly, side jobs offer the opportunity to learn valuable new skills relevant in today’s job market, such as digital marketing, programming, or software development. If you are considering a career change, a side job can help you build a second career while maintaining the stability of your full-time job.
Additionally, when searching for a side job, it is beneficial to focus on areas where you already have expertise. This approach not only allows you to earn extra income but also helps you enhance your professional skills.
For example, if you work in digital marketing, you could offer online courses teaching digital marketing. This not only generates additional income but also enhances your own marketing skills, expanding your career opportunities.
6 Best One Day a Week Jobs From Home
1. Start a Blog
Creating a blog and consistently posting content each day, while learning Google SEO in your spare time, is one of the best at-home side jobs for making money. By driving traffic through search engines like Google and Yahoo, you can earn revenue even while you sleep.
One of the biggest advantages of blogging compared to other side jobs is that it offers passive income. Once your blog ranks well for numerous keywords and attracts significant traffic, you might only need to work one day a week while still earning more than from a full-time job. Additionally, starting a blog is very low-cost; as a beginner, you can kick off your blogging venture for under $50. You can find more details about the costs of starting a blog in this article.
I am a great example of this success. I started blogging in 2015, and nearly a decade later, I now work only one day a week while my blogs generate over $50,000 per month. This is something I never anticipated when I began blogging, but I am grateful for the decision and the ten years of dedication that led to this achievement.
Reflecting back, the first few months of blogging earned me my first $100, which greatly boosted my confidence. I started with no knowledge of SEO or writing and had no technical skills or understanding of how blogs worked. Through persistent learning and effort, I built a profitable blog. You can start a successful blog without any prior experience!
When updating this article, I provide evidence and income screenshots to show that this is a real opportunity to earn $300 to $500 or even $1,000 a day.
Blogging is a highly enjoyable side job; initially uncertain about its potential, I worked just one day a week. As I saw the earnings grow, I increased my work hours from 5 to 40 hours a week, and my income grew from a few thousand dollars a month to tens of thousands.
Blogging transformed from a hobby into a full-time income source. I eventually left my traditional job and entered the world of freelancing, enjoying the freedom to work from anywhere. If you’re interested in creating a profitable blog, I offer a popular eBook tutorial, “The Pinterest Traffic Masterclass,” which guides beginners on how to start and profit from blogging. This is the only side job I strongly recommend, and it’s something I am passionate about teaching others, helping them earn extra money to cover bills or live the life they desire, possibly while traveling the world.
2. Writing and Editing
Many people can write, but not everyone writes well. If you have a talent for writing, you can earn money by writing articles for others. Types of writing include blog posts, press releases, newsletters, and eBooks.
As a beginner, your earnings might be modest, with a 1,500-word article earning around $10 to $20. However, as your writing skills improve, your pay can increase significantly, potentially reaching $20 to $1,000 per article. Yes, you read that right—highly skilled writers can earn substantial side income.
With only one day of work per week, you could make $1,000 or more from writing. Writing and editing offer significant career growth potential as a side job.
3. Participating in Paid Surveys
Participating in paid surveys is unlikely to earn you thousands of dollars a month. If someone claims you can make several thousand dollars per month from surveys, they are likely misleading you.
According to my research, the average monthly income from paid surveys is around $1,000 to $2,000. While this isn’t a high income, it’s one of the easiest and quickest ways to earn money from home. Each completed survey can earn you $5 to $50, and the earnings can be withdrawn anytime, with no special skills or experience needed—any beginner can start earning right away.
I’ve been using Swagbucks for nearly ten years. I currently earn about $100 per day from working one day a week on Swagbucks, amounting to roughly $500 a month. This income has provided me with “Starbucks money” freedom.
Swagbucks offers various ways to earn money, including paid surveys, watching videos, playing games, and cashback shopping, making it ideal for students or stay-at-home parents.
Start earning money right this instant! Are you looking for a side job that allows you to work just one day a week while making extra money from the comfort of your home? One high-paying survey site I recommend is Swagbucks, which is 100% free to join. In fact, you’ll receive $10 welcome bonus, when you sign up for Swagbucks through this special page. To secure your extra bonus points, be sure to verify your email address when they send you a confirmation email after sign-up! Join the 10 million people who are making extra cash with this survey site. Hurry, this chance won’t be around forever. I really don’t want you to miss out—so sign up now!
4. Virtual Assistant
A virtual assistant is a remote position providing administrative and business support via the internet. They assist businesses, entrepreneurs, or individuals without needing to work in an office.
Many people prefer hiring virtual assistants over full-time employees due to lower costs while receiving similar services. Most virtual assistant jobs are part-time or project-based, and many work as independent contractors without fixed hours or guaranteed salaries.
Hourly rates for virtual assistants range from $10 to $100, depending on the employer’s requirements. To find virtual assistant work, you can use freelance platforms like Upwork or Fiverr, where many employers post job opportunities.
5. Website Maintenance Technician
If your full-time job involves website maintenance, offering these services as a side job can be highly suitable. This is a technically demanding side job, often resulting in higher income.
Website maintenance is typically billed monthly. For small websites, the fee is around a few hundred dollars per month, while medium to large sites can cost several thousand dollars per month.
Website maintenance tasks generally include site security, server security, regular data backups, updating themes and plugins, and publishing content. For beginners, some learning is required before you can maintain websites for clients effectively.
6. SEO Specialist
SEO specialists earn high incomes and can take on SEO projects during their spare time. Many businesses need to improve their search engine rankings but prefer hiring part-time SEO specialists to reduce costs.
SEO services are usually billed by the hour, monthly, or per project, with fees ranging from a few hundred to several thousand dollars. For complex SEO projects, fees can exceed $10,000 per month or even higher.
4 Best Side Hustles From Home (Side Gigs)
7. Personal Shopper
As a shopping enthusiast, one of the best one-day-a-week jobs is getting paid to shop rather than spending your own money. If you enjoy shopping, becoming a personal shopper can be an excellent side job.
Many people are busy and prefer to pay someone else to shop online for them. As a personal shopper, you make their lives easier by being organized and efficient, allowing you to complete tasks quickly and accurately.
You can start your personal shopping career through online platforms like TaskRabbit and Shipt, or you can find work through word-of-mouth by asking friends and family if they need your services. Your income depends on how well you save money for your clients and meet their shopping needs.
8. Proofreader
Did you know you can earn money by working one day a week as a proofreader? As a proofreader, you review and analyze various types of texts, correcting any errors you find. This means you need to be a grammar perfectionist—no one wants to send out an email full of typos!
The great thing about proofreading is that you can work from anywhere and set your own hours. Most proofreading work is output-based, so you can avoid long daily hours.
As a beginner, proofreaders typically earn around $20 per hour. With a few years of experience, rates can rise to about $60 per hour. Although it’s not the highest-paying job, proofreading doesn’t require industry experience, just time and patience. Common fields needing proofreaders include book publishing, academic papers, legal documents, technical writing, translation materials, personal blog posts, and resumes.
To find proofreading jobs, you can check freelance platforms like Upwork and Fiverr, job boards like Indeed and LinkedIn, or specialized proofreading companies.
9. Course Writer
If you are a teacher with extensive course development experience, becoming a course writer could be a great side job where you might only need to work one day a week. Many people want to create and sell online courses but struggle with structuring their industry knowledge into a teachable format.
They often need a professional course writer to help transform their experience into a marketable course. Course writers usually charge between $500 to $10,000 per course, depending on the workload and complexity. Since this role requires high industry knowledge, course writers often earn a higher income.
10. Freelance Photographer
Freelance photography can be a highly lucrative side job, especially as you build your portfolio and reputation. Initially, your hourly rate might be between $15 and $30, but with experience and a growing client base, your earnings can increase significantly. Additionally, you can upload your copyrighted photos to stock photo websites to earn royalties.
Platforms like Shutterstock allow photographers to upload and sell their photos, offering various pricing and licensing options. Shutterstock photos typically sell for $1 to $20 each, depending on the photo’s industry and attributes. Shutterstock’s commission structure is based on income levels, with higher levels earning a larger percentage of sales. Professional members can earn around 40% of each sale.
On Shutterstock, an average photographer can earn between $3,000 and $5,000 per month, often working only one day a week. Freelance photography is a profitable career with significant growth potential as you continue to improve your skills and expand your portfolio.
3 Best Second Job Work From Home
11. Travel Consultant
If you love traveling and have extensive travel experience, becoming a travel consultant could be an excellent home-based job for you. You can help clients plan their travel itineraries and earn a high income from the comfort of your computer.
Travel consultants typically earn between $30 to $50 per hour. With many people traveling each year, finding clients is relatively easy. This role allows you to leverage your travel knowledge to help others while earning a good income.
12. Graphic Designer
Many graphic designers are now choosing freelance work over full-time positions because freelance income can often exceed that of a traditional job. Freelance graphic designers usually earn around $100 per hour, and by working just one day a week, you can make a weekly income of $1,000.
However, graphic design is a skill-intensive job and may not be suitable for beginners. It requires a strong portfolio and proficiency in design software to attract high-paying clients.
13. Online Teacher
If you have significant experience in your field, teaching online can be a rewarding side job. You can share your industry knowledge with beginners through online courses, and it can be highly profitable.
I’ve been teaching online for over five years. Through online education, I’ve trained numerous students who are now making money by creating blogs, and I’ve earned substantial income myself, exceeding $50,000 per month from blogging.
As an online teacher, you don’t need extensive teaching experience—just patience and the ability to share your knowledge. To enhance your teaching quality, you can hire a course writer to help you develop an excellent curriculum.
What Side Jobs Pay Every Week
There are many side jobs available online that pay on a weekly basis. For example, side gigs mentioned earlier, such as graphic designers, SEO specialists, and course writers, can offer weekly payments.
Additionally, other jobs that often pay weekly include restaurant servers, retail assistants, delivery drivers, gardeners, and data entry clerks. The key to receiving weekly payments is negotiating with your employer; as long as your employer agrees to pay on a weekly basis, it can be arranged. For instance, while most affiliate marketing platforms pay commissions monthly, if you generate significant performance, you might negotiate with the affiliate manager to switch to weekly payments.
What Side Jobs Pay $1,000 a Week
Side jobs that can easily offer $1,000 a week typically require specialized skills. Positions such as web designers and developers, online educators, photographers, data analysts, software developers, and senior digital marketers can easily reach this income level. However, these roles usually require prior industry experience.
For beginners, it might be challenging to find side jobs paying over $1,000 per week online. I suggest starting with paid surveys for a simple and quick way to earn money. Completing surveys can earn you between $5 to $20 per survey, and you can withdraw earnings anytime. If you enjoy gaming, some platforms offer rewards for playing games as well.
Swagbucks is a platform I highly recommend. I have been using it for ten years, and now I earn over $100 per week by working just one day.
How to Excel at Side Jobs From Home
For beginners aiming to excel in home-based side jobs, consider these tips:
First, clearly define your side job goals, setting both short-term and long-term plans that align with your interests and skills. Create a quiet, comfortable workspace to help you focus and enhance productivity.
Establish a fixed schedule to allocate daily work time, ensuring your side job does not interfere with your primary job or personal life. Use calendars or reminder tools to manage tasks and deadlines effectively.
To increase efficiency, prioritize the most important and urgent tasks, avoid procrastination, and work in short, focused intervals followed by breaks to maintain high productivity.
Continuous learning and skill development are crucial. Participate in training courses, read relevant books, or watch instructional videos to stay updated with industry trends. Build a professional image by responding promptly to clients and keeping accurate records of income and expenses to ensure financial clarity.
