Hustles for anyone

In an era when everyone seems to be looking for a way to earn a little extra dough, it’s nice to know that there are side hustles for anyone. It doesn’t matter if you’re a professional or student; an introvert or extrovert; a techie or a technophobe. There’s an online platform that can help you — no matter your skills or background — make some extra money on the side.

Hustles for anyone

Better yet, you can make money doing things you like. So, just answer one question: What do you like to do?

Here are hustles for anyone, sorted alphabetically by filling in the blank in this sentence: “I like ____.”

Animals

If animals are your thing, sign up for Rover. Rover is a marketplace for everything pet-related, from dog walking and boarding to grooming. Animal lovers post a profile that talks about who they are and their experience with pets. Freelancers then set rates for the services that they want to provide. Dog walks, pet-sitting, home-checks, boarding, grooming. You name it. If you only want to watch certain types of pets, you can delineate that too. And you can charge more for holidays, if you so choose. The site markets your service to pet-owners in your neighborhood and collects payment for a commission on your sales.

Art

There are dozens of ways to make money with art — from offering illustration and animation services on Fiverr to selling prints, crafts and notions on Etsy. Better yet, these options are generally not mutually exclusive. So, if you do designs for either of these platforms, you usually can also sell the same designs elsewhere. (With Fiverr, be sure to note that you’re not selling the copyright to your art.)

Where else might you sell it? Through a print-on-demand shop such as FineArtAmerica or Society6. These sites will put your design on products, ranging from prints to puzzles; t-shirts to tote bags. You don’t have to do anything other than upload a good-quality design and figure out how much of a royalty you expect on each sale. The sites will market, produce and mail the product and simply send you a royalty payment on your sales.

If you want to sell originals, you can sign up with SaatchiArt. If you want to “rent” your art for use in offices and other public spaces, check out TurningArt.

Children

Love kids? You can make money babysitting, teaching, tutoring or coaching. But the one caveat here is these are only side hustles for anyone who can pass a background check. While there are a few exceptions, most child-care related platforms won’t accept anyone with a criminal record.

There are two great sites for babysitters. One, Care, works best for regular work because it charges a modest monthly fee for listing on the site, but doesn’t take any fees from your pay. The other, Bambino, is best for occasional sits. With Bambino, parents pay a fee each time they book.

Games

Love Dungeons & Dragons or Pathfinder? You can earn good money being a “gamemaster” through a site called StartPlaying. This site allows freelancers to organize role-playing games through their platform, letting you decide the game, the genre, the quest and how many players can sit at your table. You also set the schedule and price. The site simply books customers, collects payment, and takes a portion of the revenue in return.

Learning

Prefer to teach or tutor? A site called Outschool can connect you with students between the ages of 4 and 18. You determine the curriculum, the schedule and the class cost. The site markets your course and collects payment for a percentage of the revenue. Meanwhile, the top tutoring platform is Wyzant, which also lets you set rates and terms.

Music

Musicians have three options. If you can compose and create a song to commemorate someone’s special occasion, a site called Songfinch will pay you roughly $100 per song — and you keep all the rights to the work.

Just want to perform? StageRush can help you promote your band and book gigs.

LessonFace can help you teach music to students around the world.

Social media

Spend all your time on social media, building your following and engagement? In today’s world, that means you have social media marketing skills and your skills are in demand. Sites like MarketerHire, Mayple and GrowTal enlist freelancers to provide part-time marketing services for their clients. You don’t need a degree, but you do need to show that you have experience getting results.

Sports

If you are a great athlete and think you can help others improve at sports, several sites can help you connect with students, including TeachMeTo and CoachUp.

Talking

Extroverts with the ability to chat their way through problems can sign up with any one of several customer service operations that pay you by the minute to answer questions and trouble-shoot. Two of the better options include WorkingSolutions and LiveOps.

Prefer to talk in person? Even better. Both Field Day and Oppizi enlist freelancers to walk around malls, events and neighborhoods handing out information on businesses looking for in-person sales people. Both sites book freelancers for blocks of time, so it’s not unusual to make hundreds of dollars on each gig.

Typing

If you can type as fast as most people talk, you can make good money — from home — transcribing tapes and videos. Companies like DittoTranscripts and GMR pay transcriptionists by the audio minute, which means the faster you type the more you earn per hour.