10 Money-Making Side Gigs You Probably Haven’t Considered

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Woman assembling furniture
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If you’re looking to make some extra money on the side, you’re probably already familiar with some of the big names in the gig economy — driving for Uber or Lyft, or renting out a room on Airbnb.

However, there are all sorts of other gigs with money-making potential emerging — unusual tasks that may never have crossed your mind. Need some examples? Following are some things you can get paid to do that you might easily overlook.

Note: Not all of these gigs are available or in demand during the coronavirus pandemic, so check with the links for the latest information. Also, if you’re looking for a side gig to bring in extra money immediately, you might want to look into remote side gigs first.

1. Assemble Ikea furniture

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If you can assemble furniture without losing your mind, Ikea has a job for you. The company owns TaskRabbit, an app that connects people to local handyman services. And TaskRabbit offers Ikea mounting and assembling services.

Sign up to become a Tasker — as TaskRabbit on-demand workers are called — and you will be paid to visit an Ikea customer’s house and put a piece together. The service is offered in many cities across the nation.

2. Sit in an audience

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Almost as good as getting paid to stand and look pretty is the chance to get paid to sit and clap. Companies like Standing Room Only pay people to be part of the audience for game shows, talk shows or other events when people aren’t beating down the door to be there for free.

For a more interactive experience, you could try signing up for a site like Central Casting and see if you could land a job as a background actor or extra. Central Casting has offices in Los Angeles, New York, Georgia and Louisiana.

3. Be a friend

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Alas, not everyone has a friend to join them for the company picnic, a night at the bar or a spinning class. Enter RentAFriend, the place where people can find just the platonic companion they need.

If you have no qualms about selling your friendship, this may be the side hustle for you. You get to set the price and parameters for the person who hopes to be your next BFF.

4. Snuggle with strangers

Olena Yakobchuk / Shutterstock.com

If you’re down with being a friend with some benefits, you could sign up to be a professional cuddler. Touted by some as a form of therapy, cuddling gigs are primarily provided by females. Sites like Cuddlist and The Snuggle Buddies connect cuddlers with people in need of a hug.

Such companies typically stress that cuddling is strictly platonic and no sexual contact should be given or expected.

5. Turn unwanted goods into treasure

Garage sale sign in yard
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Thanks to the internet and apps, there is no shortage of ways to buy secondhand items and flip them for a profit. Freebies from Craigslist, cheap goods from garage sales, or fun finds from thrift stores can be resold on eBay, Amazon or elsewhere for more money.

And if selling things is your thing, check out “Where to Sell Your Stuff for Top Dollar,” which has suggestions for everything from sports equipment to collectible china.

6. Play tour guide

Couple on city tour bus
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If you know your city like the back of your hand, someone might pay you to show them around. There are a handful of sites that let tourists connect to wannabe tour guides who can provide an insider’s view of the community.

To do this side hustle, check out websites such as:

7. Shop your town

Man looking at groceries in store.
Jasminko Ibrakovic / Shutterstock.com

You can be paid to shop — and we’re not talking about using cash-back apps that require you to make a purchase to get some cash back. These are ways to make money without doling out any of your own.

Mystery shopping has long been the gig of choice for paid shoppers, but those jobs can involve timing the transactions, writing narratives and meeting tight deadlines. For a less intense way to earn money while shopping, try an app like Field Agent or Gigwalk that will pay you for tasks such as taking photos of displays or checking on product inventory.

Shopkick is another popular option. You don’t earn money, but you can collect points for stopping in stores and scanning items, and those points can then be redeemed for gift cards.

8. Ship other people’s stuff

Van filled with moving boxes
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Planning an exciting spring break adventure and have space in your car? You could make extra money hauling someone else’s goods. Sites like CitizenShipper and Roadie connect drivers to people who need to haul things across town or across the country. Those things could be art, pets or anything in between.

If you’re a semitrailer truck driver, you have the potential to make even more money by filling up the empty space in your rig through sites such as uShip.

9. Advertise on your car

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OK, we know there have been lots of bogus offers out there about getting paid to wrap your car in an advertisement. Quite frankly, if you get an email promising an ungodly amount to wrap your car, it’s almost certainly a scam.

However, there are legitimate ways to get paid for car advertising. Look to sites such as Carvertise for these opportunities.

10. Take notes

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Depending on your experience in school, you might not find this side hustle too horribly strange. After all, enterprising kids have been making bank for years by doing other people’s homework. Today’s note-taking gigs don’t have quite the same questionable ethics, though.

Sites like Oxbridge Notes and Omega Notes let students sell their college class notes to others.

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