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Who doesn’t love the idea of making extra income? The idea of side hustles are so popular because its nice to have extra money coming in from multiple streams.

The hard part is finding these successful side hustles.

Usually when searching for side hustles, you will either be asked to go through a hiring process or need to invest a large amount upfront for startup costs. These processes are tedious and unrealistic, and are reason why so many people are hesitant to start a side hustle.

In this article I break down the 5 EASIEST side hustles to start with little to no money. This is perfect if you are a young adult like me who wants to grow your money but don’t have much extra money.

The truth is, it’s not as hard to start making extra money as people think it is.

All of the side hustles that I have listed below are ones that I have tried myself as a 20 year old college student, living on a part time job budget. The amount of money I have listed next to each side hustle are potential numbers that people can and have historically earned using these hustles. I personally have made somewhere in the middle for each of these hustles, as I enjoy diversifying my time and focus. If you find one or two of these ideas that you resonate with, you can ABSOLUTELY devote all or most of your time into those and make more money than I even said! 

Remember the old saying “time equals money”? I have found that it is really true, and the more time you spend learning and growing each side hustle, the more money you can make from it. The key is to find what works for you and go big.

You can also do what I do and take advantage of multiple side hustles and let them build up at the same time. By approaching side hustles this way, each stream of revenue continues to grow and grow over time. Let’s get into it!

EASY SIDE HUSTLES FOR BEGINNERS TO START IN 2019

1. Credit card churning – sign Up bonus ($50 – $500 monthly)

 I’m a big lover of passive income – the concept of putting in work now so that you can reap a larger reward later. And as much as I love passive income, what I love more is money that is completely free.

(Well, almost free. You still have to take into account the small amount of work that is involved with the startup.) 

I know this sounds too good to be true, and you may be thinking, that there’s no such thing as free money… I also thought this to be true, until I was introduced to the hobby/side hustle of credit card churning.

People are often turned off by the thought of credit cards, because it makes them think of debt and stress. But the truth is that as long as you understand the basic rules of credit cards, you will be able to make a lot of free money from them. The basic rules of credit cards are:

• Only purchase items you can afford
• Paying off the total balance every month
• Focusing on building your credit score

By using your credit card in the same way that you use a debit card, you can adequately take advantage of the benefits that credit cards have to offer.

How to turn credit cards into a profitable side hustle

 Sign Up Bonuses and Cash Back.

When signing up for a credit card, you can take advantage of its sign up bonus (usually range from $50 – $500 for each card) and have taken the first step into beginning your credit card churning side hustle. Once you receive the card, just place regular purchases on it and pay it off on time. As I said before, treat your credit card like a debit card and don’t purchase anything that you cannot afford.

Once you have taken this first step, all you have to do is continue to invest time into learning about different credit cards, their bonuses, their cash back, annual fee (I prefer no annual fees for the cards I sign up for) and what credit score is needed to qualify for the card.

Personally I am still working on building my credit and am looking forward to growing this side hustle more in the future. At my current level, I am enjoying the perks from using my Discover IT card (because as a first time credit card, it has been really beneficial)

The money that I have been able to get from this card has been $70 (not including cash back, AND not including the 1 years worth of cash back MATCH that Discover does… which is SUPER cool!)

• Friend Sign Up Bonus: $50 ~ I received my first free $50 by using a friend’s referral to sign up
• Good student bonus: $20 (after submitting a GPA of 3.0 or higher on Discover app)
• Cash back so far: $25
• Projected 1st year cash back match: $50 – $70

This is an extra side income of over $100 for basically doing nothing. All it required was signing up, using the card to make normal day-to-day purchases, and paying it off each month . 

I’ve also recently signed up for the Target Redcard to take advantage of Target shopping for 5% off everything. This helps save a ton money while grocery shopping!

Pro tip: To take full advantage of this credit card churning side hustle, you will need to build your credit score and credit history. What I have learned from my credit card journey is that the sooner you open a credit card, the better, as credit builds over time. The Discover IT card would be my recommendation for anyone who is either just starting out.

If you are interested in the Discover IT card, you can sign up using this link and can get started by receiving a free $50 sign up credit to your account.

2. Using Ibotta To Shop and Get Cash Back ($20 – $100 Monthly)

Let me tell you a true story about the Ibotta app. Once upon a time there was a person who loved saving money on everyday purchases, but was always hesitant to download the Ibotta app because he didn’t understand what it was. One day this person from the story finally decided to give the Ibotta app a try, and within his first WEEK of using the service he had made back $45 in free cash into his Venmo account.

The person in the story was obviously me, and the cash back I made using Ibotta had me hooked.

You may be asking, “How much did you have to spend to make that much cash back?”

Honestly, not that much! I went to the grocery store two Saturdays in a row, spent around $70 the first time and $40 the second time. With the first trip I made back almost $13 and the second I made back around $6, but where I made MASSIVE cash back was with their bonuses.

They have an incentive to redeem 10 offers within 14 days of signing up (which was easy to do if you just plan your household grocery trip around Ibotta), and receive an extra $20 completely free.

And you know how I feel about free money… 

Pro tip: Combine Ibotta with other coupons and discounts like Cartwheel and Redcard to maximize grocery savings and cash back! 

I plan on utilizing Ibotta much more going forward, and I will update everyone on my side hustle journey with them! If you are interested in making free cash back with Ibotta, click right here to receive a free $10 when you sign up.

Quick personal story, I actually forgot to sign up for Ibotta using my friend’s referral link, and I was so upset with myself because I missed out on an extra $10! I could’ve made $55 in my first week if I didn’t forget to use their referral.

Overall I am thankful to have learned about this fun and easy side hustle, as I am able to make money, while eating healthy and delicious foods. Even when I buy slightly more expensive “every now and then” items, Ibotta softens the financial blow and helps reduce the cost which allows me to enjoy them more often!

3. Referrals and Affiliates ($5 – $500 Monthly)

Almost everyone is familiar with the idea of referrals and affiliates. They essentially mean the same thing, you recommend a product or service to an audience and if they purchase said item through your link or code, you get a commission.

There are so many referral programs available that it would be difficult to count! There are countless referral programs that are great and worth looking into, but below I am going to list out a few of my favorites and what they offer:

Discover Credit Card Refer-a-Friend Bonus

$50 bonus for both you and each of your friend that sign up. This has recently been one of my favorite referral programs, because everyone loves the Discover card!

Webull Financial App Free Stock Referal

Receive two free stocks ranging in price From $5 – $300, both you and friend signing up will receive two free stocks. Each person will receive one free stock when the friend signs up. Each will receive a second free stock when they deposit their first $100.

Robinhood Financial App Free Stock Referal

Receive a free stock ranging in price From $2.50 – $200, both you and friend signing up will receive a free stock when their accounts gets approved.

Ibotta Refer A Friend

Receive $3 when your friend signs up and redeems an offer with Ibotta, your friend will make $10 for using your link. This is a great incentive for your friends to take advantage of, $10 extra for basically doing nothing!

Ibotta also always has extra incentives going to every month to encourage people to invite friends. If you complete these extra bonuses, the prize usually is $5-$20.

Amazon Associate

This is slightly different than the rest, as you need to have a platform to encourage these products. The great thing about Amazon Associate is that it is extremely easy to use for beginners. 

Amazon will create a special link for you to use for almost all products on amazon.
You keep around 4-8% depending on what the product is.

People have varying luck with Amazon, but it is great to use if you are wanting to get into affiliate marketing!

How To Recommend Products or Services To Your Audience

Pro tip: Only refer people to products and services that you personally believe in and feel comfortable recommending to others. 

It can be difficult at first to recommend products and services to people, you may feel a little uncomfortable and pushy. When you feel this way, remind yourself of the value that you are bringing to others lives. With your recommendation, you can help them grow and make more money, a win-win scenario!

I always say, if you are going to recommend a great product or service to your friends or audience, you might as well both benefit from the interaction. It is a mutually beneficial relationship.

Look into these options and see which ones you like the best, when you find one you like, tell your friends! You can talk about your recommended app or product in person, you can make social media posts, you can make a video talking about the product and link it in the caption, etc. The options are limitless for how you can get your affiliates out there! There is a lot of money to be made with this side hustle!

4. Start A Side Business Or Offer A Service In Your Spare Time ($50 – $500)

Photography is an example of a service that you can do on the side to make extra money.  Whether you take pictures of other people, sell your photos online, or use your photos to post on social media and make money, photography can be a very lucrative side hustle.

All of these side hustles up to this point have been relatively easy, but this one is a little different. Starting a business is a mountain to climb, but one that is absolutely worth climbing. 

My advice for anyone looking to start a business would be to do as MUCH research as you can, before you start. Research what the business structure will look like, research about your niche, research the risks involved, and truly understand how much work it takes to build a profitable business. But if you stay consistent, you can build a fantastic side hustle for yourself as long as you consistently put effort into it.

There is a lot of money to be made with your own business, some examples that are popular in 2019 are: social media managing, Amazon FBA, selling crafts on Etsy, dog walking, Dropshipping, etc.

I am also trying to start my own business, my roommate and I have bought a vending machine and we are trying to create an extra passive (ish) stream of income. This is just one example of finding a niche that you think you could improve, doing your research, and taking action.

Pro tip: Make sure to love whatever business you are going to begin. Life is about more than money, it’s about fulfillment. Choose a business and niche that you would do as a hobby, even if you weren’t being paid. Approaching life with this mindset will bring much more fulfillment and happiness.

Great resources to utilize if you are offering a service are:

• Fiverr
• Youtube
• Upwork
• Craigslist

Everyone has something unique that they can offer to teach or do for others. The key is to pick a specific niche that you know about, and provide value and quality service to your audience.

5. Begin Investing In ETFs and Dividend Stocks To Make Consistent Returns On Your Money

My financial wellness journey began by the initial start of my investing. About one year ago I was recommended to try the Robinhood app by a coworker of mine. I never really cared about investing or finance up until this point, but I figured there was no reason not to sign up and take advantage of getting a free stock, and that’s what I did…

Little did I know that this was the first step that would actually change my life.

At first I never felt that by investing I was starting an awesome side hustle, because honestly at first it wasn’t. Other than some initial “beginners luck,” my portfolio was straight up in the red. This was because as I was getting into investing, the recession scare at the end of 2018 occurred.

I was nervous enough already seeing the money that I put into the market go WAY down, and it didn’t help to hear things like, “investing might not be a good idea, the stock market is like gambling and you can lose a lot of money.”

Instead of reacting to this kind of uneducated advice, I instead continued my financial education through Youtube and audiobooks. I also began to research and experiment with other trading and investing platform (Acorns and Webull) at that time. Thankfully I made the right decision not to panic sell during the dip, and instead just consistently invested everything I had left at the end of each month with the goal to average out the price of my stocks.

It was a scary time, and for a new investor it really was a “make it or break it” situation. I am so grateful that I was able to resist making a newbie investor mistake, because as we moved into 2019 my portfolio started to pickup, along with the entire market. No longer was I consistently in the red, in fact my growth was starting to come back. It took a significant amount of time and patience, but from this lesson I have really come to learn the truth in statement:

“Time in the market beats timing the market.”

The growth and dividends that my portfolios have made on my initial investment have completely beat my expectations. Keep in mind that I am living on a college student budget and trying to invest with a part time income, so my portfolio isn’t massive. But by just prioritizing my savings, and making contributions every month, I have found opportunity to use grow my money and to create an extra stream of passive income.

Pro tip: To help maximize your investing, turn on automatic deposits and roundups* every month. If your investing platform does not allow for these services, another option is to immediately transfer an allotted amount of money from your bank account as soon as you get your paycheck. You may find yourself surprised that you don’t even notice that portion of money is being put into investing.

Now you may be thinking to yourself, “Investing seems cool and important, but how do I start?” 

The best thing you can do is to begin now. Even at my young age of 20 I wish I had started earlier, as compound interest, growth, and dividends are all the most rewarding when they have a long period of time to snowball and grow.

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”

Make your money work for YOU with investing. Below I go into the three FREE investing platforms that have worked best for me.

Acorns

Acorns is the most beginner friendly, easiest, and most hands-off form of investing that I have found. It is an investing platform that automatically invests your spare change and lets you invest as little as $5 any time or on a recurring basis into a portfolio of ETFs. 

The huge perk for me that keeps me using Acorns are the round ups! Acorns automatically rounds up your change from your purchases (ex. you bought $4.50 coffee at Starbucks, Acorns will automatically invest the remaining $0.50.) This is the beauty of Acorns, I view this “micro-investing” account as an automated savings/investment account.

To get started with Acorns and receive a free $5 invested in your portfolio just for signing up, click here.

Acorns is free for students (which is one of the only reasons I still use it) as long as you sign up with your student email. I plan on utilizing this student privilege as long as I can as a separate account that I have set for specific goals. I plan on doing this because it will allow me to move my money out of Acorns after I am no longer a student, so I can avoid the $2 monthly fee.

I look at Acorns like a first step, it really holds your hand through the investing process, and has features (like roundups, an Acorns specific function) that are really helpful for new investors!

Robinhood

As I mentioned, Robinhood was my first experience with investing and money. The benefits are its user friendly interface, and that it is totally commission free. They also have a really cool referral program that both you and your friend get a free stock valued at $2.50 – $200 when they sign up.

That reminds me, click here to sign up for Robinhood and receive a FREE stock.

Robinhood is a great platform for beginners, as well as people who like simplicity and a basic interface. Once you move towards more technical analysis, or are just looking for more in-depth functions, the next next platform recommendation may interest you.   

Webull

Webull is very similar to Robinhood in regards to it being commission free, but the platform is a bit more complex. They provide a number of analysis functions, screeners, paper trading, etc. They also have a significantly better referral system than Robinhood, giving you two free stocks.

The stocks range in value from $5 – $300,  when your friend signs up you both receive a free stock. And when they place their first $100 deposit you will both get a second free stock! 

To get started with Webull and receive a two free stocks, click here. 

Overall I have been using Webull a large amount because it has so many useful features. Moving forward, I plan on  using this platform mainly for investing as I feel there is a lot of room to grow and learn. I will also continue to use both Robinhood and Acorns as companions. 

Well, that is it! I truly hope this post has been useful and that you are going to begin making more money from home using these side hustles today! I encourage you to make daily progress towards your goals, and remember that temporary setbacks are that…

Just temporary. 

These are a part of your journey and help you to grow in the long run! Just stay motivated and consistent, and you’ll be set! 😀