Running your own side hustle is incredible.
You get to set your hours, be your own boss, and work as much, or as little, as you see fit.
But the best benefit of all is the ability to work from anywhere.
Being able to work remotely means you can move to somewhere with a low cost of living and reap the benefits.
If you make $50 an hour but love in the Philippines, you can live like a king while only working 10-20 hours a week!
Of course, there are hurdles in the way of this kind of freedom.
But if you play your cards right, you can make money while sipping cocktails on the beach.
Uncommon Side Hustles (Overview)
We’ve included an overview of our top picks below. For detailed information on each pick, scroll down.
- Drop Shipping
- Online Teaching
- Blogging
- Freelance IT
- Web Developer
- Shoe Seller
- Airbnb Mogul
- Personal Driver
- Customer Service Rep
Here are 9 side hustles that you may not have heard of that you can do from anywhere in the world.
1. Drop Shipping
Drop shipping is a method of operating an online store without possessing any actual inventory.
Removing the need for inventory also eliminates a lot of the risks of owning a storefront.
You don’t need to pay upfront costs for items that might not sell. You also don’t need to pay for warehouse space to store it all.
Here is how it works.
When an order is placed on the e-commerce website, the company (you) purchases the item from a wholesale vendor.
Then, you ship the product to the customer or pay someone else to handle the shipping.
It is entirely possible to automate this entire process.
Meaning you can run a successful online business without moving a muscle.
As delightful and risk-free as drop shipping sounds, there are drawbacks.
It is effortless to do the initial store setup, but attracting customers is very difficult.
People like to purchase things from companies they know and trust.
And it takes a lot of upfront marketing to gain that trust.
Once you gain the trust of the audience, drop shipping can be very “set it and forget it.”
Once the store up and running, it is easy to earn money from anywhere as your hands-free operation chugs along behind the scenes.
2. Online Teaching
Have a trade or skill you know a lot about?
Put that information to use!
There are a ton of different ways to share your knowledge with others and make money doing it.
One of the best ways to monetize your knowledge to sell a course on sites like Udemy, Teachable, or even Youtube.
The process to get started is pretty straightforward.
Film yourself teaching a lesson in a step by step progression.
Start with the basics and work your way up to expert level.
Once you have a few of these videos ready to go, upload them to the site of your choice.
If you have opted to display content on Udemy or Teachable, people will have to pay to access your uploaded video.
If you upload your lessons to YouTube, people won’t have to pay to watch it.
But you could potentially make some money if you can grow your audience.
There are people making tons of money selling their knowledge online.
Of course, it is worth noting that to generate significant cash flow, you need to sell your courses to a lot of people.
To expand your audience, consider starting a blog or advertising on social media channels.
If you don’t have a unique skill set, you can still make money teaching online in other ways.
If you are fluent in English and have a college degree, you can probably make some cash by teaching English to people in other countries.
Teaching English is a fairly straightforward experience.
And companies like VIPKID take most of the guesswork out of the equation.
VIPKID, founded in Beijing, is an online education firm.
The portal connects teachers from the United States with children or young adults in China.
Teachers teach via video in a regular one-on-one session that lasts for about half an hour.
Each of these virtual exchanges is conducted on the student’s schedule, such as after school and on the weekends.
A significant downside to this position is the required working hours.
Since these time frames are based on the current hour in China, the available shifts tend to be a bit odd for teachers.
3. Blogging
Speaking of blogging, have you ever wondered how people earn money this way?
You are not alone.
There are two main ingredients a person needs to be successful at blogging.
First, you need to have a topic to write about that is so compelling that people want to read about it.
This will help grow your blogging audience.
Second, you need to know how to make money off of that audience.
There are quite a few ways to make money from a blog.
Two of the biggest are affiliate marketing and ad space.
Affiliate marketing is a great way to get paid for promoting a product.
Basically, you highlight a product on your blog and use a unique URL to link out to it.
Then, when someone purchases the product using your link, you get a small cut of the profits.
To team up with a heavy hitter in the e-commerce space, check out Amazon’s Affiliate Program.
The deal they offer makes it easy to get started.
But once you have a large enough audience, you can be much more profitable if you connect directly with big brands.
There are other forms of affiliate marketing, but the method outlined above is probably the simplest to get started.
The second money making method on a blog is to have ads on your site.
Anytime someone clicks on an ad, you get paid a little bit of money.
The amount is usually pennies, so you need a massive audience before you see any real revenue.
Of course, you can try to sell ads to companies yourself.
But it is much easier to connect with a service that places advertisements for you.
It is super easy to install a Google AdSense.
What Google AdSense does is find companies that want to pay for ads on your site and places them automatically.
4. Freelance IT
Ever help a family member out with their computer, laptop, or other devices?
Guess what?
They are not the only people who need assistance in resolving their tech issues.
There are plenty of people out there who are willing to pay top dollar for someone to make a house call and fix their device.
People like working with freelancers because they are often cheaper than the big guys.
Freelancers are also usually much better at working with customers and explaining issues to them.
So if you are technically savvy, try to sell your services.
Start with friends and family, then ask if they know anyone else who needs help.
The best way to build a Freelance IT business is through word of mouth.
But you can also try out sites like Angie’s List.
5. Web Developer
Although this side-hustle does not sound “uncommon,” we wanted to include it in because people don’t realize how “easy” it is to learn.
I put “easy” in quotes because it is very time-consuming to learn, but the resources available make it very easy to get started.
You do not need a 4-year degree to learn how to code a website.
There are numerous resources online that are free to use, such as FreeCodeCamp and Codecademy.
These programs offer users a warm, welcoming community, as well as a step-by-step guide to programming.
Keep at it long enough, and these sites can help you build up an impressive programming portfolio.
Once you’ve built a portfolio, showcase your skills online via freelancing sites like Upwork.
Web development is a high-paying field that allows you to work anywhere in the world.
So it’s easy to see why this is so popular.
But despite its popularity, the need for web developers is still at an all-time high.
6. Shoe Seller
Reselling sneakers online has become a billion dollar industry, and experts predict that 2020 will be its best year yet.
If you find good deals on highly coveted shoes, you can quickly flip them online for 100%-500% profit to sneakerheads around the world.
There are a few different ways to find shoes to sell.
First, you could wait in lines (or pay people to wait) when a rare sneaker is about to drop.
Second, you can try to buy the shoes online at a reasonable price.
Or third, you can buy older shoes and clean and repair them.
There are a lot of people who are willing to pay good money for refurbished classics.
7. Airbnb Mogul
Even if you do not have the money to invest in a new property, you can still make a lot of money with temporary rentals via Airbnb.
While you are working remotely at your dream destination, rent out your home or apartment.
Renting out your apartment for two weeks a month is enough to pay for a full month stay in some countries.
Make sure to research local laws before diving in, since many cities are making it more and more challenging to do this freely.
If your city and property manager allow it, consider renting a property on listing it on Airbnb.
This is a great way to make money on Airbnb without taking out a mortgage.
If you don’t have a house or apartment to rent out, you could rent out your garage or even your boat.
Here are some great examples of Airbnb rentals that are not homes or apartments.
8. Personal Driver
Getting from Point A to Point B is a task that a lot of people are willing to pay for.
And the demand for personal drivers is not just limited to the United States.
People are willing to pay someone to drive them in every country in the world.
If you want to move overseas and are interested in driving, it isn’t that simple.
First, you will need to get a local driver’s license.
In most countries, you will also need to obtain a commercial driver’s license as well.
If you don’t want to jump through the hoops to obtain a CDL, consider driving for Uber or Lyft.
To-date, Uber is available in most parts of the world.
- South America
- Central America
- Europe
- Africa
- Asia
- Australia
- North America
Because of Uber’s wide availability, it is a great way to earn income while living abroad.
If you decide to pursue this route, be sure to capitalize on your time properly.
Use sign-up codes to your advantage.
And refer other drivers with your signup code to make the most possible money.
9. Customer Service Rep
Traditionally, customer service was done in-person.
These days, however, you can work as a customer service representative from anyone in the world.
Earning money by working an unconventional side hustle is possible, and you can travel while doing so.
This is one of the primary reasons why working remote is so fantastic.
To test the waters with remote side hustles, try out multiple positions on this list.
Doing so will give you a solid idea of what works best while you work toward your financial goals.
Achieving your side hustle goals is hard work, but worth it in the end.
