Most side hustles can be done at any time of the day or night, which makes them great for people who need lots of flexibility. However, some side hustles favor early risers for a variety of practical reasons.
If you happen to be an early bird and are looking for productive and profitable ways to use your time, these side hustles for early risers may be just the ticket.
Drive Kids to the School
If you’ve got a clean driving record, some child care experience and don’t mind hopping in your car at sunrise, consider signing up with child-transport sites like HopSkipDrive, Kango, and RubiRides. Peak work hours for these sites are from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. But you can also sign up for a second shift in the afternoon, driving kids home and to activities.
To qualify to drive for HopSkipDrive, you must be at least 21, have three years of child care experience, pass a background check, maintain a clean driving record, and have a reliable four-door car. Drivers can browse rides by time block and location, claim them in advance, and earn pay based on the number of kids and distance. If a rider cancels within an hour of pick-up, you still get full pay. Weekly payments are made via direct deposit.
Kango serves California and Arizona, offering similar services with transparent pay — a minimum of $20 per job or $35 per hour. Drivers must pass background, DMV, and Trustline screenings. Added bonus: Kango provides commercial auto liability insurance up to $1 million per occurrence. Regular rides are preferred to help drivers build schedules and relationships with families.
RubiRides provides the same service, but operates in Washington D.C., Maryland and Virginia. To qualify as a driver, you must be 23 or older, 5 years of driving experience, a clean record — driving and otherwise, as well as a relatively late-model 4-door car. You’ll also need both personal and ride share insurance. Drivers earn between $15 and $35 per hour.
VoiceOvers
VoiceOver artists, who don’t own their own sound studios, need to tape when ambient noise is at a minimum. After all, even the swoosh of traffic or a distant dog barking can ruin your reel. So this is the ideal side gig for early birds who are happy to get their work done while the rest of the world is sound asleep.
There are several platforms that can help you book voice-over work, including Fiverr and Voices.
Fiverr is a broad-based freelance platform where you can offer virtually any online service, from writing to virtual assisting. However, the site has a vibrant voice-over community, where customers can hire anyone from a rank beginner to seasoned actors with thousands of voice over credits. You set your prices, availability and specialties. The site collects from clients are remits payment to you when jobs are complete, minus the site’s 20% fee.
Voices is specifically for voice-over artists, who are able to set up a profile on the site for free. If a customer books you, the site will collect and remit payment to you when the job is done, minus a 20% fee, just like Fiverr. But artists generally need to audition here, which is time consuming. At Fiverr, on the other hand, a client picks you based on the clips on your profile. That might limit your opportunities, but it also limits wasted time auditioning for gigs that you don’t get.
Transcription
Officially, you can do transcription jobs at any time of the day or night. But transcription gigs are paid based on how many audio (or video) minutes you transcribe. The faster you go, the better your hourly pay. And, of course, key to going at good clip is being able to hear what’s said on the tape. That’s easiest to do when the rest of world is quiet and void of distractions.
Dozens of sites offer transcription work. However, two of the best are Ditto Transcripts and Rev.
Getting started with Rev involves an application, a skills test, and usually a sample transcript. The company hires in most U.S. states (excluding California), as well as countries like Australia, Canada, and the UK. Pay ranges anywhere from $0.30 to $3 per audio minute.
DittoTranscripts leans more specialized. The work often includes 911 calls, court hearings, and medical, legal, or financial recordings. U.S. citizenship is required, and residents of states with strict freelancer laws aren’t eligible.
Starting rates hover around $0.80 per audio minute, with rush jobs climbing much higher. Experienced transcriptionists with steady assignments often earn $20–$30 per hour. Payments are made twice a month via direct deposit.
Freelance Writing
Freelance writing also favors early birds, who use those quiet morning hours to tap out stories about everything from medicine to business. Some sites that can help you find freelance gigs include nDash and ServiceScape.
nDash works as a bridge between writers and well-known companies like Putnam Investments, Walmart, HarperCollins, and Epsilon.
You build a profile, showcase your best work, highlight your specialties, and either pitch ideas or respond to projects companies post. The big perk? You negotiate your own rates, which typically range from $150 to $450 per project. Payments are processed through Stripe and typically arrive within about ten days after the client approves the work. Better yet, the platform promotes long-term partnerships which enable clients to receive ongoing work based on a successful track record.
ServiceScape casts a wider net. It offers writing, editing, translation, and graphic design gigs. You set your own rates — per word, per page, or per project — but the platform takes a hefty 50% commission. U.S.-based freelancers are paid monthly via Gusto. That commission sounds steep (because it is), but strong reviews and competitive pricing show that clients are willing to pay for quality.
Teach English Online
Another option is to teach English online. Since your students for this gig are likely to be in China, Brazil and other foreign countries, work hours tend to be in the wee hours of the morning.
Sites hiring for these gigs?
Q Kids was once a dominant player in teaching English to Chinese kids online. But when the Chinese government outlawed private tutoring in 2021, Q Kids went dormant. It maintained its web presence, but simply stopped enlisting teachers to take classes. But it recently started up again and is taking new applicants. Because tutoring is done on Beijing time, prime work hours are between 3 a.m .and 9 a.m., depending where you live in the U.S.
Another option: AmazingTalker, a Taiwanese company that enlists more than 8,000 tutors to service 1.1 million clients. There are not a lot of requirements to tutor here. You must be 18, able to sign a legal contract and be fluent in English. Teaching or tutoring experience is preferred. However, you don’t need to have a teaching credential. Classes are conducted online, generally on Zoom. Those teaching English as a second language typically charge between $15 and $28 per hour, according to the site. There’s no cost to sign up, but tutors pay 15% – 30% of their income as a site commission.
Leave a Reply