With inflation at its highest levels in over four decades, many Americans are looking for new alternatives to reclaim their purchasing power and avoid making painful spending cuts.

While the consumer price index is showing a consistent slowdown, November’s annual rate of inflation of 7.1% can still be too much to handle for many American homes.

Although a likely recession has been roaming newspaper headlines for most of 2022, unemployment is still low. After the pandemic winded down, a strong job market was one of the main fuels behind a process called “The Great Resignation,” which led millions of Americans to quit their jobs in search of better paid positions and more rewarding tasks.

Related: Wage Growth Is ‘Well Above’ Pre-Pandemic Levels, But A Slowdown Is Coming: What To Watch

These days, recession fears and an alarm for higher unemployment rates are leading workers to seek other alternatives to increase their bottom line while maintaining job security.

Enter side hustles: jobs you can do on the side, at your own pace, that can help add extra dollars to your monthly income and help improve your quality of life, add on extra savings or reach that elusive purchase you’ve been dreaming of for years.

Choosing A Side Hustle, Side Gig Or Extra Job

As long as you have some extra hours every month to invest in making some extra cash, there’s a side job out there for you.

Choosing a side gig can feel like a hard task, but it can actually be an exciting process, and the internet is here to help.

Purely remote side jobs are ideal for some people as they offer the opportunity to work from anywhere with an internet connection, adapting to the worker’s own schedule.

Hybrid side hustles use the internet as a way to get clients and gigs, but rely on spending some work-time in the real world, away from the computer or the phone.

One hundred percent offline side hustles do exist, but are more rare these days, as the internet has become a ubiquitous tool for communicating and advertising products and services. 

To choose your ideal side hustle, we propose a quick exercise that can help you get a clear picture. 

• First, figure out how many hours a day, week or month you’d be able to invest in your side job. This will help you understand what kind of gig will best fit your schedule.
• Second, list your skills and ambitions. What can you do? These don’t need to be professional skills. In many cases, side hustles require basic abilities like driving or cleaning. Still, having a knowledge or skill that most people don’t have can help you get more specialized in your side job.
• Third, what time horizon are you willing to invest to start making extra money? Side hustles can vary in nature, with some offering the opportunity to start making extra dollars in the first week, while others require a period of a few months or a year to build a business and start seeing returns.

What Are The Best Side Hustles To Start In 2023?

Become an active investor: If you have some money on the side, becoming an active investor can be a way to improve your income and get larger returns. Investing carries financial risk, so educating oneself is key before jumping into the investor game.

Benzinga offers hundreds of resources for investors who want to learn how to invest in different assets (from stocks to real estate, bonds, NFTs and crypto), or up their game as experienced investors.

Handiwork and housework services: Are you good with taking care of daily household tasks? Are you the family’s designated handyman? 

Platforms like Taskrabbit and Handy give users the opportunity to sell their services to nearby folks in need of help around the house. Everything from furniture assembly to paintjobs, home repairs, help moving and cleaning services can be offered on the sites.

Freelance gigs: Many people have an extra skill that can be offered on a freelance basis. Whether you have coding knowledge, know how to design a logo or edit a video, platforms like Fiverr FVRR and Upwork UPWK allow users to create new profiles and start offering their services right away. 

The opportunities are limitless. They also include writing services, music composition, digital marketing, architecture work and legal consulting.

Join the ridesharing economy: Riding an Uber UBER or a Lyft LYFT has become a daily part of 21st century life. Yet many riders can forget they too can become drivers and make an extra buck on their way back from the office. If you own a car and like driving, ridesharing apps are a great alternative to invest those extra free hours at-will. These platforms have no minimum time requirements, allowing you to log in for how many rides a day you chose.

Food deliveries on your bike or car: DoorDash DASH, GrubHub, UberEats, and InstaCart are just some of the alternatives that you can choose from to make extra money delivering food and groceries to folks around your area. Similar to ridesharing apps, some delivery apps let you log on as much time as you need and you can do it with a bike, a scooter or by foot.

Put up an extra room on Airbnb: If you have space to spare around your house, you’re eligible to become an Airbnb ABNB host. The Airbnb platform allows listings that range from shared rooms to full mansions and there’ll always be a traveler fit to your stay. This option gives you the possibility of developing your hospitality skills and meeting new people along the way.

Enter e-commerce: Today’s internet offers a host of resources that make it possible to become an e-commerce owner from your garage. It’s never been easier to build a website, develop a brand and engage an audience through platforms like Wix WIX, Canva and Hubspot HUBS. Whether it’s buying wholesale products from China and selling them on Ebay EBAY Amazon AMZN or catering to a niche market, once an e-commerce site is up and running it can yield great gains with minimum time requirements.

Sell your handcrafted items online: In our over-industrialized economy, many consumers are rediscovering the value of hand-made products. Platforms like Etsy ETSY allow craftsmen and craftswomen to sell their items to people around the globe. Whether it’s jewelry, furniture, clothing or home decor, if you’re crafty and love working with your hands, this might be the place for you.

Become an online consultant: If you’re a professional you can do a lot more than working for a company full-time. Consultport and ProMatch are platforms that allow professionals to enlist their consulting services across industries. Lawyers, IT professionals, engineers and industry experts are just some of the professions that can take on extra projects in a consultant capacity.

Teach English online: English is the most spoken second language in the world and millions are still eager to learn it. Being a native English speaker is actually a very in-demand trait and several platforms are always looking to hire new teachers. A TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) certification is normally required. These take about 120 hours to complete, can be obtained for as little as $100 dollars and get done in less than six months.

Photo by Jenny Ueberberg on Unsplash.