5 Digital Side Hustle Ideas to Increase Your Income Streams

The average millionaire has 7 streams of income, and while we may not all aspire to become millionaires, having only 1 stream of income is too close to having 0.

We’re currently living in hard economic times where companies are declaring bankruptcy, tenured employees are getting laid off, and so much more, and that’s why having a side hustle is so important. Not only does it allow you to increase your income, but it also gives you a creative outlet and lets you lean into your entrepreneurial side.

Here are 5 side hustle ideas that you can do from anywhere (as long as you have an internet connection!):

1) Become a Virtual Assistant

What it is: Help businesses complete tasks online like calendar or email management, administrative tasks, customer service, writing transcripts, and more.

Earning potential: You set your own rates. They often range from as low as $7/hr to as high as $100/hr+.

How to get started: Create a profile on sites like Upwork or Fiverr, or post your services in local Facebook groups for entrepreneurs (example: Women Who Freelance Toronto).

2) Become an Affiliate Marketer

What it is: Get paid by a company when you share a link to their product or service (such as clothing, bank accounts, skincare products, etc.) and someone clicks on it to make a purchase or signs up.

Earning potential: This can sometimes be difficult to earn a substantial amount unless you have a large audience or high traffic to your website/social media pages. Payments can be as low as $1 or less per purchase or sign up, but can go up to as high as $100/ea or more.

How to get started: Set up an Amazon storefront, and/or look into referral or affiliate programs for your favourite products or services. Then, share them with your audience.

3) Teach/Tutor English Online

What it is: Teach English (or any language you’re fluent in) to children or adults interested in learning the language. Note: You don’t necessarily need to have a teaching certification for this!

Earning potential: Set your own rates. Many teachers charge anywhere from $5-$80/hr.

How to get started: Sign up on websites like iTalki, Preply, Verbling, or post in a Facebook group to find your own students and teach them on Zoom or Google Meet.

4) Sell Digital Products

What it is: Monetize your knowledge! Create an e-book (on sites like Canva), a digital planner, a budgeting template, colouring pages, art prints, a course, etc..

Earning potential: Endless! Set your own prices. Some people sell printable planner templates for $3, and some people sell a 10-video course with a workbook for $2,999. It’s up to you and your business plan + target audience.

How to get started: Sell on Shopify, Etsy, or Gumroad for digital products, or Thinkific, Teachable, or Podia for courses. If you have a large audience, consider starting a Patreon account where subscribers can pay to access your premium content.

5) Start a Blog or Newsletter

What it is: Start a blog to write about topics you’re passionate about. Make money via running ads on the website (you get paid when people click), or charge companies to feature their goods/services on it. For a newsletter, you can charge people to sign up for premium content or charge companies to be featured in your newsletter as a sponsor.

Earning potential: This depends on your audience size, traffic to your website, and/or number of subscribers to your email list.

How to get started: For blogs, WordPress is often highly recommended (with Google AdSense). For newsletter platforms, look into Beehiiv, Flodesk, Mailchimp, ConvertKit, etc..

P.S.: You can also sign up for my newsletter, The Liberty Letter, for inspiration!

Don’t like any of these ideas?

Here are some others: Dropshipping, selling stock photography, copywriting & ghostwriting, domain flipping (buying and selling domains), brand partnerships as a content creator (like I do on my social media channels!), or proofreading. There are so many options out there if you know where to look!

Do you already have a side hustle? Do you plan to start one soon? Let me know in the comments below!