10 remote side hustles to earn $1k/month

Contrary to what hustle influencers on X and TikTok are telling you, quitting your job is not the only way to start a business.

Start it on the side first.

And turns out, there are plenty of remote side hustles too!

Let’s see a few ideas to get you started

1. Consulting

What is it: Use your expertise to help businesses solve a specific problem, from marketing to software development

Platforms: Linkedin, Upwork, Catalant, Fiverr.

Pros: Leverage your existing skills, flexible hours

Cons: Requires a strong network, inconsistent income

Example: Sean O’Dowd started consulting on the side when he joined a tech startup as employee #40 and wanted to pay off a loan that he took out to buy an engagement ring for his then-financé. He eventually took it full-time and grew his revenue to $500k/year.

Protip:

Be first to submit a pitch. When asked why he believes he ultimately became so successful on Fiverr, Sean explains that he started by being open to doing the work that other consultants on the platform weren’t signing up to do.

He submitted proposals for projects that were live on Fiverr but had not yet received any pitches. By taking on these projects Sean was able to deliver results and begin collecting social proof, including glowing reviews, from his clients.

2. Digital Marketing Agency

What is it: Provide digital marketing services like social media, paid ads, SEO, lead generation, etc.

Platforms: Linkedin, Stan.Store

Pros: Quick to get started, flexible hours

Cons: Hard to scale, potentially high operational effort

Example: MarketingBasics was an agency we started during the pandemic while working full-time.

Protip:

Agency is a great side hustle because you have a good monthly renewal. The downside? It can be quite a bit of effort depending on the service you are selling. So be sure to niche down on areas that you are able to automate with VAs or interns as an easy and cost effective solution.

3. Career Coaching

What is it: Helping professionals navigate their job search, negotiations, and career growth

Platforms: Linkedin, Stan.Store, Solo.To, Podia

Pros: Rewarding, opportunity to make a significant impact

Cons: Clients typically desire industry experience, need emotional intelligence

Examples:

Alex Berghofen is the CEO of a headhunting firm by day and moonlights as a career coach at night. Many candidates come to him for with their careers, but they may not qualify for his headhunting service, so he offers coaching help

Protips:

Optimize for lots of discovery calls. Aim for a high volume of discovery calls each week, which can give you a rapid feedback loop to learn (1) if you would enjoy doing it (2) if you are good at it and getting your clients results and (3) how to improve your coaching techniques.

4. Starting an Online Store

What is it: Selling physical or digital products online on e-commerce platforms and marketplaces

Platforms: Shopify, Amazon, Stan.Store, Solo.To, Podia and Etsy

Pros: High income potential, quick to monetize, scalable

Cons: Requires initial investment, competitive depending on your niche

Examples:

Steve Chou and his wife built a 6-figure e-commerce store, BumblebeeLinens.com, in their first year of operations while he was working full-time as a Silicon Valley engineering director
Mark Soh and Ara Kyi became a 7-figure distributor for Paper Shoot Cameras while working full-time for tech startups

Protips:

Protip #1 – According to Steve, you don’t have to sell on Amazon. You can pick from multiple e-commerce models like (1) affiliates (2) dropshipping (3) selling other people’s products with inventory and (4) sell your own private label. Stan.Store can help on all of those.

Protip #2 – If you’re interested in becoming a distributor, attend trade shows to find existing brands, says Mark Soh. For instance, Taiwan Excellence trade shows showcase Taiwanese products and offer opportunities for potential distributors.

5. Writing a Newsletter

What is it: Writing an email newsletter on a niche topic that ranges from industry news to personal insights to curated content

Platforms: Beehiiv, Stan.Store, Podia, Substack, Convertkit

Pros: Builds an owned audience, low overhead costs, flexible schedule

Cons: Time-consuming, audience growth takes time, can be a slog

Examples:

The Hustle by Sam Parr is a great example that end up being sold to HubSpot.

Protips

Pick a social media platform to post from and promote your newsletter.

This is where 80% or more of your first 1,000 subscribers will come from.

There’s no getting around it – to grow a newsletter, you need to publish content. If people like that content, they will subscribe to your newsletter for more content.

It’s that simple. Newsletter content is rarely discovered or shared like social media content is – so you must build an audience on social to build your newsletter.

6. Investing in Dividend Stocks

What is it: Purchasing dividend stocks, like the Dividend Aristocrats, which pays a dividend to its shareholders every month or quarter

Platforms: Interactive Brokers, Saxo

Pros: Potential for passive income, consistency

Cons: Market risk, requires a bit of investing knowledge

Example

Morten Sorensen teaches full-time at a Danish university while passively investing in dividend stocks and running Dividend Club

Protip:

Morten recommends using research tools like Stockrover, Investor’s Business Daily, Seeking Alpha, Finviz, Dividend.com, and Dividend History to get started.

7. Investing in Rental Property

What is it: Investing in residential property to rent out for income

Platforms: Airbnb, Zillow, real estate investment groups

Pros: Potential for passive income, property value can appreciate

Cons: Requires significant capital, may need to manage property

Example

Robert Hoving invested in Bali villas and rented them out on the side, while still working for his previous corporate employer before he turned it into a company

Protip:

1. Find a property that you think can be good for investment purposes.
2. Search Airbnb, bookings.com or any other OTA to find the listing to see the current pricing, occupancy and reviews to date. This will give you an indication if the property is investment-worthy.
3. If yes, speak to the selling agent and request a historical rental income report. Which can then be compared to the Airbnb listing. The selling agent can also give more insights into the property.
4. Study the area in which the property is built, to understand what the neighbouring properties look like and charge and look out for construction that may impact rental income.

8. Creating an Online Course

What is it: Creating and selling online courses on a topic that you have some expertise in or that you’re passionate about

Platforms: Maven, Teachable, Stan.Store, Podia

Pros: Scalable, passive income after initial upfront investment

Cons: Time-consuming to create, market is filled with competition

Example:

Elena Verna, interim Head of Growth at Dropbox, teaches courses on Product-Led Growth and Growth Leadership on Reforge

Protip:

We are often asked “How do I build an email list?” “How do I generate interest in my course?” and “How can I make sure I’ve got course-market fit?”

A survey is the best way to:

Find out if there’s demand for your course idea. Get your first leads in your waitlist

Almost every successful instructor on Maven has done this step.

9. Blogging

What is it: Writing and publishing articles on a personal or niche blog

Platforms: Wordpress, Medium.com

Pros: Flexible schedule, low starting costs, helps you establish authority

Cons: Time-consuming to write, takes time to build traffic and monetize

Example

Steve Chou started his blog, mywifequitherjob.com while working a full-time Silicon Valley electrical engineering job (and proceeded to grow it to 7-figures of revenue)

Protip:

Be patient and showcase your personality.

You got to just gather email addresses […]. Basically it’s about putting out good content and then just keep presenting that content out to your people. And get people to just jump on your bandwagon. And the more your personality comes through, the more people will just like you for you. And then once you have their mindshare, then you can start worrying about making money.

I feel now that I have the mindshare, it doesn’t really matter what product I put out, I feel like I’ll be able to make sales. Not necessarily because of what I’m selling per say, but because of my personality.

Steve Chou in the Eventual Millionaire podcast

10. Creating a Digital Product

What is it: Creating and selling online templates, tools, and other resources for various platforms

Platforms: Notion, Google Sheets, Beehiiv, Stan.Store, Podia

Pros: Leverages existing content, scalable

Cons: Time-consuming to create a high-quality product

Example: Bachata Libraryfrom my talented dancer friend Tam Pham

Protip:

My pro tip is to just ship something. People value learning new things in a structured/compact way from someone they like. I thought no one would buy but random people who I’ve never met were buying my product. I felt like I had hit the jackpot (even though I only made a few hundred dollars jaja)

So ship the thing. It’s ok if your landing page or demo video or pricing isn’t perfect. I sold Bachata Library for $15 and once I had ~25 sales, I upgraded the product massively and sold it at $49, which was still a bit low. Now it’s at $97. I’m still experimenting with pricing, improving the product, and pondering about what’s next. But I can only do this because I’m constantly taking action and getting direct feedback.

Tam Pham, Bachata instructor extraordinaire