Want to make more money in 2026? Maybe you’ve considered a side hustle — roughly one in four U.S. adults have one, after all — but don’t know where to start.

The best side hustles aren’t just an opportunity to earn quick extra cash: They offer flexibility, fuel creativity and help people build income streams that can grow with them over time.

Related: This Couple Ran a Holiday Side Hustle Out of a Camper Van. It Surpassed $1.5 Million in Revenue — And ChatGPT’s Helping It Grow.

Whether you’re hoping to offset rising costs, save for a significant goal or experiment with a new business idea, the right side hustle can spin the hours outside of your 9-5 into life-changing momentum.

Entrepreneur sat down with dozens of side hustlers in 2025 to explore how they’re making money now and setting themselves up for success down the line.

Related: Starbucks Barista’s ‘Stealth Mode’ Side Hustle Now Sees $1 Million Months

Read on for 10 of the most creative side hustles we learned about this year — and see if any of them inspire you to start your own business in the next.

1. Tutoring

If you’re an expert in subject matter that people want to learn, tutoring, whether online or in-person, can be a great way to side hustle your knowledge into additional income.

Seattle, Washington-based tutor Carter Osborne started tutoring as a side hustle in 2017 to help with tuition payments while in graduate school. In 2024, Osborne quit his job as a PR director to take his college essay consulting business, Carter Osborne Tutoring, full-time — and made $220,000 that year, sometimes averaging just 10 hours of work per week.

“Remember that there are no prerequisites to starting a successful side hustle,” Osborne told Entrepreneur. “I am hardly the stereotype of a business owner: I studied public policy in college and never dreamed of starting a business. There’s no such thing as a ‘type’ of person who becomes a successful business owner, so go pursue your ideas and see what happens.”

Related: I Took My Side Hustle Full-Time and Made $222,000 Last Year. Here’s How — and Why Sometimes I Work Just 10 Hours a Week.

2. Creating content for brands

Have an eye for content that helps brands go viral and captures consumer interest? Plenty of brands invest in the service, known as user-generated content or UGC, and it could be your next side hustle.

Kelly Rocklein is an Oregon-based entrepreneur who dropped out of college to pursue a career in user-generated content (UGC). Rocklein broke six figures with her UGC side hustle in 2022, at one point earning six figures on top of $160,000 in her full-time corporate role. She’s since transitioned into creative strategy consulting to focus on building her business, UGC Pro.

“You don’t need to be a 20-something pretty blonde girl to be successful,” Rocklein said. “I have students who are Gen X creators who have built six-figure businesses and have now transitioned to TikTok shop, and they’ll come to me and say, ‘Kelly, I’m leveraging the best practices that you taught me for TikTok shop’ — and these creators are in the top 1% of TikTok shop. They’re now making up to six figures a month.”

Related: I Turned a Side Hustle Into $20,000 a Month — Working Part-Time Without a College Degree

3. Reselling on TikTok live

If you have a passion for collectibles or another in-demand product that generates buzz, consider capitalizing on it with a resell side hustle in the spotlight — selling goods live on TikTok or another social media platform.

You have to keep going [with] consistency: posting every day, going live every day.

When Madden Forrest and his dad, Steven Forrest, started breaking cards — purchasing and opening the sealed products to reveal their contents — it was just for fun. After watching TikTok creators who livestreamed the process and sold cards to interested buyers, the father-son entrepreneurs did so themselves via their Bull Island Breaks account, growing the business from $4,000 in sales over one day to nearly $50,000 a month.

“The first time everyone sees [this business], they think it’s really easy, but it takes commitment and hard work,” Madden said. “You have to keep going [with] consistency: posting every day, going live every day.”

Related: After a 12-Year-Old’s Side Hustle Made Over $4,000 in 1 Day, He and His Dad Grew the Business to Nearly $50,000 a Month: ‘It Takes Commitment’

4. Starting a podcast

This versatile side hustle doesn’t require getting in front of a camera to share your ideas with the world — just find a topic you enjoy talking about, line up a first guest or two, partner with like-minded advertisers who can help you earn revenue and press record.

New York City-based entrepreneur Ginni Saraswati-Cook is the founder and CEO of Ginni Media, an award-winning podcast production agency. Her side hustle, hosting her own podcast, The Ginni Show, led to a full-time business, which has doubled revenue almost every year since launch and currently sees about $50,000 in monthly revenue.

“People think podcasting is all creative flow and deep conversations — and yes, it is that,” Saraswati-Cook told Entrepreneur. “But it’s also project management, emotional labor and a surprisingly high tolerance for Wi-Fi instability. What surprises most people is that podcasting is just as much about listening as it is about talking. You’re holding space for someone’s story, brand and message, while juggling 57 audio files and making it sound effortless.”

Related: She Built Airplane Wings for a Living — Now Her Surprising Side Hustle Brings In $50,000 a Month

5. Investing in domains

Have a talent for intuiting which domain names might command a high price? Domain investing could be the flexible, virtual side hustle for you.

Dennis Tinerino of Los Angeles, California, worked in online sales when he first learned about domain names and launching websites, which helped him discover domain investing as a side hustle. Then he turned the gig into a lucrative business that brings in six figures a year — with about an hour or two of work per day.

^{Image Credit: Courtesy of Dennis Tinerino}

“The freedom that comes with this business is unlike anything else,” Tinerino said. “You can run it from anywhere in the world with minimal tech skills. You set the rules, choose your hours, decide your prices, pick where to sell your names and choose which names you want to buy.”

Related: He Spent $36 to Start a Side Hustle. Now the Business Earns 6 Figures a Year — With Just 1-2 Hours of Work a Day: ‘Freedom.’

6. Creating a product

Side hustles can be the perfect way for aspiring entrepreneurs to test-drive their businesses before going all-in, so if you have an idea for a product, it can pay to build it in your spare time.

My best advice is just to put your product or service out there and see what happens.

Kelly Bozigian of Boston, Massachusetts and her husband, Colt Bozigian, run Coastal Caviar, a handmade jewelry company featuring charm necklaces, bracelets and more. The jewelry business started as a side hustle in 2024 and hit $1 million in sales with zero paid advertising.

^{Image Credit: Courtesy of Coastal Caviar. Kelly Bozigian.}

“My best advice is just to put your product or service out there and see what happens,” Bozigian said. “I was fortunate to discover product-market fit almost instantaneously thanks to the reach that TikTok has. One post immediately validated our business idea, and all the other logistics can be figured out as you grow and scale.”

Related: ‘Instant Success’: Her Beach-Inspired Side Hustle Did Over $100,000 in Sales in Month 1 — Now It’s Surpassed $2 Million

7. Selling skills by the hour

If you have a skill someone will pay for by the hour, all you need is your first customer to get your side hustle up and running. Platforms like Taskrabbit can be a great way to connect with people who want to pay for your services.

Marisa Risden of Denver, Colorado, has built a flexible, thriving business tackling home-improvement projects, including advanced mounting, minor electrical work and more, on Taskrabbit. She makes about $4,500 a month with the side hustle.

“I love seeing a project through from start to finish, but my clients are the real reason I enjoy this work so much,” Risden said. “I’ve had the chance to meet and help so many incredible people, and I take pride in making their lives easier. Nothing beats a happy client who refers a friend because they had a great experience with me.”

Related: She’s a Former 911 Dispatcher Who Started a Side Hustle Dominated By Men — and It Makes Her About $4,500 a Month: ‘Hustle Paid Off’

8. Competing on a game show

Have you ever watched a game show contestant competing on TV and thought, I could do that? You just might be able to — and earn big — if you make the competitions your next side hustle.

Related: I’ve Made Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars With a Fun Side Hustle — And You Might Have Seen Me Doing It on TV

GumGum Advertising CEO Phil Schraeder had a successful side hustle appearing as a contestant on game shows — and made hundreds of thousands of dollars along the way.

“[The side hustle] gave me a lot of financial freedom,” Schraeder told Entrepreneur. “[And] provided other exciting chances to make money over the years. I appeared on the Dick Clark Pyramid Show, where I won $22,500. I literally took the day off work, called my brother after I won and said, ‘Oh, that was a good day of work.'”

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