It may still feel like summer, but fall is fast approaching. And fall ushers in the holidays, coupled with dozens of added expenses. The bright side is that there are also good side hustles for fall that can help you make extra cash when you’re most likely to need it.
Side hustles for fall
What makes side hustles for fall different than those available at any other time of the year? Mainly demand.
For instance, you can design greeting cards at any time of year. But if you’re designing Christmas or Hanukkah cards, this is when they’re going to sell.
Moreover, catering companies are working full tilt to handle holiday parties that start before Halloween and don’t ease up until after New Year’s day. Those companies need cooks, bartenders, servers, set-up and clean-up crews. Sure, there’s demand for this in the summer, too. But through the holidays, the demand is unrelenting.
Housekeeping jobs are also in high demand at this time of year, partly because people spruce up their homes in anticipation of holiday decorating. And, of course, if you can hang lights, make crafts or deliver packages, you’re assured plenty of work through the holiday season too.
Where do you find side hustles for fall? Here are a half-dozen great sites, starting with sites that support creators and moving to those that help people find jobs serving, cleaning, decorating and assisting.
Wreaths, Crafts and gifts
With between 370 million and 500 million users in an average month, the worlds largest craft marketplace is a perfect forum for selling fall crafts and gifts. Already, Etsy has aimed it’s well-oiled marketing machine on fall wreaths and Halloween crafts. Later in the fall, you’ll see Thanksgiving, Christmas and Hanukkah decorations and gifts.
Makers can set up a shop here for free. However, you’ll pay a small listing fee — 20 cents — for each item you list for sale. The site also takes a 6.5% commission on sales. (And commissions can be higher, if the site is actively promoting your store.)
To succeed here, you need to be aware of your production and mailing costs, providing yourself with a good profit margin over your cost of goods sold. You’ll also need to know how to create accurate and compelling item descriptions and plug in keywords, which aid in customer search. For a primer on setting up your Etsy shop for success, check out our story on one of the site’s more successful sellers.
Gifts
Another site worth considering, if you’re interested in making and selling holiday gifts is FineArtAmerica. FineArtAmerica is a print-on-demand site that asks artists to upload designs and choose what type of product you’d like that design to decorate. The site will then take your design and advertise it for sale on whatever products you choose — t-shirts, coffee mugs, puzzles and tote bags, for instance.
Unlike Etsy, where you set the sales price and can produce the products you sell, FineArtAmerica makes, markets and mails the products. Thus, it sets the base price for every item. You simply decide on how much of a profit margin you want to earn on sales. So, if the base price of a coffee mug is $10, for example, and you want a $5 markup, your mug will sell for $15. FineArtAmerica will make the mug and mail it, and send you a $5 royalty.
Holiday cards
Have an idea for a perfect holiday card? The two best options for card-makers are Zazzle and Minted. (Although other sites can also help, these two stand out.) What makes them particularly attractive for card-makers? Zazzle allows for personalization, so it can be the ideal place to sell a holiday card design that can be personalized for customers who might want to add their own photographs and message.
And Minted has an unusual process by which you can get substantial upfront payments — plus royalties — by entering and winning greeting card contests. The site is currently promoting a holiday card contest, for instance, which pays $3,000 for the winning entry; $2,000 for second and $1,000 for third. Top-rated pieces will also get an ongoing 6% commission on net sales.
Holiday lights, cleaning and decorating
Not crafty? But willing to do holiday clean-ups or decorating? A good place to list your availability to help with fall tasks is Taskrabbit. Taskrabbit allows people to publish profiles and list their availability to do everything from construction to hanging lights and wrapping packages.
Freelancers determine what services they want to offer here. They also set their own rates and schedules.
Hospitality and food service
If you’ve got experience working in catering and food service, Qwick, Jitjatjo and BlueCrew are all worth a look. These sites enlists cooks, bartenders, servers, concession attendants and other hospitality workers to staff events ranging from concerts to Christmas parties.
All three sites operate in multiple cities and allow workers to register once and work anywhere in the network. If you pass the screening, which requires relevant experience, Qwick and Jitjatjo will send you job offers as they come up. Jobs offers include all the details — including what you’d be doing, where and the pay — that you need to know to accept or reject the work.
BlueCrew is unique in that it hires workers as W-2 employees and then sends them out to the company’s clients. The site’s workers still have shift flexibility. But being a W-2 worker has real advantages. It means you’re guaranteed at least minimum wage and the company pays the employer half (7.65%) of your Social Security and Medicare taxes. Independent contractors must pay those taxes themselves.
Warehouse work
Warehouse work also ramps up as retailers fill their shelves for holiday shoppers. Two good sites to find jobs stocking shelves and delivering goods are Wonolo and BlueCrew. Notably, Wonolo operates in 100 cities, but does not operate in California because of the state’s strict freelance laws. BlueCrew, on the other hand, has a smaller geographic footprint. But because it hires its workers, it operates in most major cities in California.
Package delivery
Amazon Flex, the delivery arm of the massive online retailer, also switches into high gear in the fall to prepare for the wealth of holiday spending. This site pays roughly $18 to $25 per hour for freelance delivery drivers, who use their own cars and vans. But there are some caveats. The pay isn’t really calculated per hour — it’s based on a “block” of deliveries.
Each block contains a set number of packages that Amazon believes can be delivered within the time frame. But if your block takes more time, the company doesn’t pay you more. If you can’t deliver some of the packages in your block, you have to bring them back to the warehouse, which could be out of your way and doesn’t count as part of the time for which you are paid. But by the same token, if deliveries take you less time, you don’t get paid any less either.
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