How To Make Money In Your Free Time (Data Driven)

I hear You! “Hey,What are you talking about??… Do you mean “How to make money when there’s no free time left???…” 

We are living in a fast paced environment where it seems that time is never enough.

So for many of us  the only idea of having a constant window of free time per day to build something different from can seem like a joke, let alone developing ways to reach measurable goals with it. But believe me, with the right Time Management tactics (which are not that difficult to implement by the way, just follow the link to find more), you can boost the amount of Discretionary Time in your everyday’s routine and make sure you’re getting the juice out of it. 😀

Now up to step two :You are here looking for ways to make extra cash using your free time. Maybe even check out if, like they say, you are still allowed to cultivate your passions and turn them into a side income at least, don’t you? 

Well, I hope so for you and your future, so let’s go discovering together the results of my research…

The new opportunities to make money during your free time available today were absolutely out of reach a decade ago. And as you enjoy the bonus of complete flexibility and control over your schedule, this can even be your test stage of becoming an independent entrepreneur, all while offsetting the risk through the earnings of your current job.

Interested? Cool, so read on…

How Technology Has Impacted Small Business?

The incredible growth of the Internet has had a tremendous effect on the way small businesses and side hustles operate. It made possible a radical widening of the customer base, an expansion of the services offered, and a drastic reduction in the costs of marketing while, on the other hand, allowing reaching people worldwide 24h/7.

The biggest brands of the last 20 years made the web the foundation of their business, opening new ways for every other small businesses to build visibility and reputation, as well as increase sales. 

Additionally, the popularity of social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Discorsd, or new ones like Clubhouse and Mastodon, make it easier (if compared with traditional marketing) to create a spread of positive word-of-mouth about your business, making your audience reach even wider, easily tracking feedback and customer satisfaction , making targeted improvements where necessary. 

Exploring Different Ways to Make Money In Your Free Time

Preparation

Now let’s get very practical and start accomplishing things right away : take 30 minutes of your time and sit down with a piece of paper and a pen (you know already, I highly discourage the use of any software while brainstorming).

Your assignment here is to write down some lists : 

  1. List any skill and competence (even slightly superior to average) you actually have.
  2. In a separate list, every field of knowledge you are VERY interested in, even if you know nothing about it at this precise moment.
  3. List all of your possessions you would agree to share or rent (more on this later).

This constitutes the basis to start researching the web for side hustles that resonate with your unique situation, and thus make it easier to stay motivated and work on them consistently for a prolonged period of time.

No, you are not going to earn money overnight, and in the rare cases you legally do, you will be collecting pennies for hours of work…. absolute nonsense in my humble opinion, so stay away and rely on learning and making slow reliable progress as you go.

As my motto goes : HAVE A PLAN!

Take a few minutes during the weekend and write down the chunks of time you will use to grow your side hustle in the coming week. Even a couple of hours a week dedicated to build something yours, unique and even profitable is way better than wasting time sliding pointlessly TikTok (of course the music change here if you are doing it for business purposes but be honest with yourself, man, or you are making yourself a disservice).

And for additional insights about how to squeeze the juice from your time, there is a complete suite of the best time management tips at your disposal, Just follow the link and enjoy! 😊

How Do I Start Making Money Offline?

Despite the heavy inclination of the masses to prefer online endeavors (maybe because they are too lazy to pick themselves up from the couch…) there are still enough ways to make money in your free time that are not directly executed on the web. Read on.

Leveraging the Sharing Economy to Earn Extra Cash

An interesting option that is growing up fast, thanks also to the rising attention to the environment is to get involved in the “Sharing Economy” …that is to say :

Rent Out Your Car

We will go BIG on this in the future, guaranteed! At the moment the most requested solutions are sharing your car or your bicycle. You register your generalities by a sharing company through an app and then get paid a fraction of the costs paid by the user who drives your car.

From the data above (courtesy of CSO.ie), the large majority of the population between 16 and 44 years of age used websites and smartphone-apps to book cars or accommodations in the last 3 months of 2022.

This means we can reasonably expect a stable growth of this market in 2023, and large opportunities for users as well as service providers.

So if you are interested, hurry on and get in contact with the major players of this market.

Hey, you can even get paid just to deliver the car to a specific picking place!!

For US residents:

For EU residents:

Check out the chart above, it shows the revenues of the car-sharing market in Europe with a forecast all the way ‘till 2027 (courtesy of Statista) …not bad, don’t you think?

Do You Still Own Something? Cool! Share It! 

Today you can find ways to rent everything you own (equipment, spare rooms, garage etc.) 

For instance : do you own camera gear or film equipment? Great, you can earn cash (or extra cash if you are already a professional) with Beazy or Sharegrid

Or you own a garage you would like to share? Then list it on Neighbor

Or maybe you have a spare room to share? Then Spareroom could be your thing.

I hope you get the point I am trying to hammer here : YOU HAVE NO EXCUSES!

If you choose not to take advantage of the many ways to earn a side income described in this article, then sorry but then IT IS YOUR OWN CHOICE NOT TO!!

Please do not delude yourself moaning about the adverse conditions of the worldwide economy, the lack of opportunities or the difficulties to find something that works. It’s all garbage you tell yourself out of laziness or fear to step out of your comfort zone and prove yourself that you can build something different from your actual standards and, who knows, discover your authentic calling along the way.

Other Ways To Still Earn Part-Time In The “Old Economy”

Babysitting

This one is by no means a new thing, but the demand is now skyrocketing after the pandemic crisis of the last two years, due to the rising need for families to have a second salary in the household as prices for everything are exploding…

The image above (courtesy of Fact.MR) shows a value of 22,4 Billion USD globally for the babysitting market, with the biggest consumers being US and Europe, which is expected to grow for an additional 6,7% in the coming decade.

While word of mouth and local ads are still a relevant resource, there are a good number of platforms you can register yourself in and extend your reach to a far bigger number of potential customers.

Check out the companies below, there will be for sure some vacancies in your area of residence : 

For US residents:

For EU residents:

Do you feel at home entertaining little kids with new games or just looking after them to keep them safe? Do you feel joy watching them smile or sleep, or enjoy discovering new things with them? Are you patient enough to deal with their natural whims and sudden changes of mood? Then this could work great for you.

Is it Worth It?

Ok, but how much could you make babysitting?

You can expect to get an hourly rate around 15-20$, around 25$ for 2 kids and even some more if the kids are under 2 years of age.

As an additional bonus, keep in mind that Moms tend to be very territorial (Yep…I am a father of three, I know it pretty well!! 🤣🤣🤣). That is to say that, once you gain their trust and appreciation, chances are you are going to become a stable resource for the family, maybe for years.

Pet Sitting / Dog Walking

This is also thriving a thriving market, with a forecast even superior in expected growth speed to the babysitting sector : 

according to the data shown by Globenewswire.com, the Pet Sitting Market closed around 2,15 Billion USD and is expected to more than double these figures in less than 8 Years!!

The interesting part in this market is that you can get very advanced in modern techniques and even end up making a full time profession out of it…again, the request is massive!

To start you up on this journey, here is a list of reputable companies always in search of pet sitters and walkers : 

For US residents:

For EU residents:

An inner love for dogs and pets in general is required, as well as a bit of patience, a funny, playful attitude…and a comfortable pair of shoes!!

…Puppies can be sooo sweet!! – Free Stock photos by Vecteezy

And, I know you are thinking about the question :  “Hey, how much should I expect to make doing this?”

And here is the answer : 

Working with reputable companies you can expect to make around 20-30$ per hour +5$ per additional pet,  and around 65-80$ for a whole day.

Keep in mind that these numbers can swing wildly depending on location, type of pet and type of service required, so be sure to use the due diligence and research for more infos before signing with a company.

Deliver Food And Groceries

Another giant and skyrocketing market is delivery, especially in the Groceries and food in general sector, which is expected to break the 1 Trilion USD level within 2027 (according to the data provided by Statista.com)

The market is divided between The “Restaurant to consumer” and the “Platform to consumer”, both cracking the wall of 850 Millions of customers worldwide in 2023

Well, all the things are in place for a stable and extremely profitable market for years to come (we all have to eat, isn’t it?? 😀).

While Gigs like these could be not the best choice for a full time income, they are great to make some side money, since you do not need particular skills other than being able to drive a car (or even a bike!) and know your neighbor!

If you want to give it a try, here is a list of the most prominent companies in this market, again divided for US and Europe residents, but of course you can find a job worldwide.

For US residents:

For EU residents:

Now, how much can you expect to make?

If you choose your partner-company wisely, you can expect to make around 15-20$ per hour, and around 90-100$ for a whole day on the low side.

Deliver for Amazon

Looking at this page from Glasdoor, I experienced again the contrasting feelings about the recent work politics adopted by the company…

Still the reviews provided are nevertheless positive at most, with major complaints about the “excessive flexibility” of shifts and, sometimes, the stressing pace you have to sustain to get your job done.

So, this is maybe not your ultimate solution for a full time job, but if you manage to find your balance, it can assure you a stable side income for years to come (yes,I don’t think Amazon is going to disappear any time soon… 😆).

And like said many times before, consider the huge shift the whole consumers’ world is operating toward online shopping. If the “old economy” stores are shutting operations, then someone has to deliver the goods anyway, right?

Well, Amazon is in a premium position to gain even more market share in the coming years.

(But, again, it is probably not the only option you should consider in my humble opinion…)

Here is a link form Amazon delivery today of the current vacancies in different areas. Interestingly, the hourly rates are officially provided in the same document…that’s what I call transparency! 😅

Enjoy!

Become A Mystery shopper

Girls, are you ready to rock???

Ha! In my imagination i see thousands of screaming ladies staying in line for hours to apply and get paid for their favorite activity… 😄

But seriously, Mystery shopping is a recent system developed by companies for : 

  1. Optimize the end-to-end customers experience
  2. Stay on top of trends faster than competition.
  3. Stress test the training of the staff
  4. Sample real data from real shopping experiences
  5. Improving profits by upselling, customer loyalty, targeted campaigns etc.

…And i was astonished myself to noticed how many Industries are taking advantage of this concept…

So as you can see, this idea is not a joke at all, and there are many companies ready to pay you decently to provide them insights about the quality of their goods as well as their marketing operations.

Following are the biggest players to get you started : 

For US residents:

For EU residents:

You will get paid for Gig, not hours.

According to the data provided from ProfitableVenture you could get paid from as little as 8-10$ for simple assignments like phone orders or post-selling procedures, up to 20-50$ for more challenging Gigs

As a final resource, here is a page from Quora with different reports from people who personally tested this side income opportunity, check it out!

Become an Instructor

I am also a guitarist, and a pretty decent one, according to my reputation in the neighborhood! 😀

In the first months I moved here in Germany, I was all alone, knowing nobody and not speaking a word of german…

I had to make a living employing all the resources at my disposal, taking Gigs at night (delivering newspapers on my bike…like you see the kids doing in your average american B-movie), saving on food and other guerrilla-like tactics…

While making my way in this new situation, I happened to get in contact with a guitar shop owner who was in need of an instructor, because he had a number of potential clients interested in electric guitar.

Fortunately for me, the guy was a good acoustic guitarist, but totally unaware about how to play some good rock’n’roll or how to properly set an amplifier…that was when I came into the picture and started earning some money giving lessons in the shop.

Here is where you get to work  the list you made before (point 1). 

Put Your Skills To work

Could you teach any of your competences? I am sure you can.

I made something like 80€ a month per student (yeah, I had to stay on the cheap side).

But I worked just 1 hour per week for that…

Now, maybe you don’t play guitar or piano, but you have a great knack for mathematics so you could help children on the lower grades to better their scores.

Use your local ads in newspapers or bulletin boards in supermarkets. If you are good enough word of mouth will also spread quickly.

Or (great idea I learned about at a business/motivational course I took), you could advertise a weekend seminar for a particular skill you are good at (paint houses? cook italian style? gardening? ultimate speed on Rubik’s cube?).

The CyberCobe!!!

Then, as soon as you group together a small class of max 10 persons to start with, rent a room and charge them anywhere from $50 to 150$ or more each.

You will charge accordingly to the duration of the seminar and the demand and difficulty of that particular skill (the more the better).

Get A Part Time Job

Ok, you just decided you are not particularly talented in anything (too bad for you!)😆😆😆

,…Nor are you going to invest some time to sharpen your skills in an area you feel especially interested in…

Well, as a last resort, keep scrolling your local newspaper and web pages for part time jobs…

They have to be doable for you : not too far away and not requiring mandatory competences you don´t have..

Be also careful not to eat the totality of your free time!

See?? Even Batman himself got a side gig at the local McDonalds… 😄😄😄

Now, perhaps you won’t be paid that much. And you won’t also engage yourself a lot in something that is not even moving your interest in learning. But money is money, and if you are ok with that..then double thumbs to you my friend!

or you could even…

Donate Blood

Not really, you cannot make money in the vast majority of cases donating blood…

Here the thing is selling plasma or platelets…Now, this is probably not the place to get into debates about the ethical aspects of this possibility…

Suffice to say this is the last resort I am going to present in this article (!!!). But as it is doable anyway, and since there is scarcity of supplies worldwide, maybe you could accept a little “thank you” in the form of money for your contribution..(oh my,my..!!!)

Where to check to know more : 

Conclusion – Part I

Ouch…I noticed that lately I tend to start writing and then find myself not being able to stop!!

I warmly thank you for reading this far, though I told only the first half of the story!

My aim for this post was to provide updated content about doable ways to make a side income for the years to come.

But while I was writing the post I realized how much more there is to say on this topic, both for the digital as for the non-digital options.

In all reality, the possibilities that are completely unrelated with the web are almost non-existent. You will have in most cases to register yourself online with the company you choose just to have the chance to be in their database, and thus have the possibility to receive some Gigs.

To Recap

How to make some more money in your free time?

In this first portion of the post, we discussed the options “less directly related” with the web. In other words something that you will execute offline after maybe an online registration.

We saw the role of the “sharing economy” worldwide, and the different opportunities it can offer.

We then expanded on the concept of “sitting”, be that for human of animal puppies 😊

.. This is still a giant market with a pretty interesting forecast.

And what about delivering food or groceries? This is going to be one of the booming market of the future!

Tthe massive migration of the consumers toward online shopping will undoubtedly push the demand for couriers and riders

This will go off the charts, guaranteed. (Amazon being a premium player in the future?).

Then something relatively recent as Mystery Shopping : while looking frivolous from an uneducated view, it is instead a very effective means for marketers and business owners worldwide.

This is a smart way to collect fresh data and important insights about the results of their strategies.

Teaching can still be an interesting option too. Like they say “The more you teach it, the more you understand it yourself”.😊

And if you really think you have no marketable skills, then go really old-school and get a part time job by your local shop down the street,

Maybe it won’t make you rich, but at least it won’t also waste much of your time in commuting!😄

Like always, feel free to write any questions or comment in the section below. We will love to learn about even more options coming from your personal experience.

See you in the second part of the discussion (The world online)!!

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