Taking up a side hustle has become increasingly popular and easier to achieve in the modern digital age. While there are countless side hustles people can take advantage of, there may be a few opportunities that are more lucrative than others.
If you’re looking for your next side hustle idea, it helps to get inspiration from individuals who have successfully launched and grown businesses themselves. Below, members of Young Entrepreneur Council each share one side hustle they believe will be popular in the coming years and why each one is such a good opportunity.
Young Entrepreneur Council members suggest lucrative side hustle ideas.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.
1. Virtual Assistant Services
The world is moving toward virtual work and businesses, meaning there will be a need for online assistants of all kinds. With so many people working from home, there is a growing demand for help with administrative and organizational tasks. We even have many online courses that focus on training virtual assistants for different industries such as health, education and digital marketing. For those looking for a field to transition into freelance or a side hustle while still employed, this area holds the promise of an upward trajectory. Virtual assistant work will be lucrative because every industry will soon feel the need to hire virtual help. – Tonika Bruce, Lead Nicely, Inc.
2. Data Analysis
Data analysis will grow in popularity in the coming years as more companies become data-driven. Collecting and storing data is just one part of being data-driven. You also need to be able to crunch the numbers and turn them into usable information that can be relied on to make business decisions. Demand for those skills will grow every year in the future, but it won’t make sense for every company to hire one or more full-time data analysts. Instead, this is a skill set that data experts can turn into lucrative side hustles or full-time freelancing roles. In fact, they can use their skills to fill a variety of roles from building data sets to delivering analytical reports and interpreting data. The ball will be in their courts, just like it is for developers today. – Jonathan Prichard, MattressInsider.com
3. Digital Art
One side hustle that’s growing is creating digital art and selling it on nontraditional spaces such as social media platforms and in the form of NFTs. I think this will continue to be popular because it’s a way for people to show their creative side. Another reason why this is a growing side hustle is that it’s a new and decentralized way to sell art, which offers more opportunities and control for the artist. Lastly, I think it will be popular because it’s a fun way to make some extra money. – Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner
4. Website And App Testing
A lot of people are getting into the online business model by creating their own websites and apps. I believe that website and app testing will be a very popular side hustle in the future. Business owners would want to spend their time strategizing on how to grow their business rather than go test the links and push all the buttons. This is where testers come in; they can test the site or app for them and get paid in the process. – Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms
5. Self-Sufficiency Activities
Return to basics like agriculture, do-it-yourself and crafting. The pandemic taught us to rethink our free time and to appreciate the freedom we had. People appreciate more what they built with their own hands or grew in their gardens. It might be a lucrative opportunity as they have the opportunity to be self-sustainable and provide for their community. – Alexandru Stan, Tekpon
6. Online Streaming
One side hustle that I predict will be popular in the coming years is online streaming. Many people already use it to watch their favorite shows, but now they are starting to use it as a means of earning money. There are many reasons why streaming could be a lucrative opportunity for some people. For starters, it’s an easy way to make money while doing something you enjoy. Additionally, if you have a large enough following on social media or YouTube, you can make extra income from your content by partnering with brands and other influencers. – Kristin Kimberly Marquet, Marquet Media, LLC
7. Social Media Content Creation
I represent a lot of business owners, and we all have difficulty coming up with content for social media posts. These people, myself included, would pay an arm and a leg for creative types to come up with regular, engaging content, and to help us post the various versions of it across all the major platforms. It’s a lot of work, and it needs to be done by someone working closely with the visionary so that posts are “on-brand.” I’ve seen a lot of creative entrepreneur types making very profitable side hustles out of this. They have regular meetings with the CEO, pitch various post topics and content, film and create the content and then schedule the posts. Most CEOs don’t have the kind of time available, much less the expertise, to do all of this, so they’re willing to pay a lot! – Jonathan Sparks, Sparks Law
8. Tasking
A side hustle I see growing is tasking. Taskers are people who can perform a one-time or multi-time task for others. Tasking was starting to grow before Covid-19 hit, but many companies went out of business when lockdowns happened. Many similar companies are sprouting now. Taskers are going to be big because you don’t have to hire a company for an extended period. There is a one-time commitment, but you could also hire the same person for other tasks if you like them. This means you can hire someone to come clean your home rather than hire a cleaning service regularly. You can hire someone to clean out your garage or help you move a large piece of furniture. Many can pay for a one-time work event when they just need something done quickly. – Baruch Labunski, Rank Secure
