Are you bored of the same old side hustle ideas? Check out these 35 unique side hustles when you want a different way to make money. There are lots of ideas of unique side hustles online and in person, from casual to part-time to full-time.
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Unique Side Hustle Ideas
I write LOTS about side hustle ideas for this site.
I have TRIED lots of side hustles for this website.
It’s my passion to help you find a way to make extra money that works for you and fits in with your life.
This all came about from a change in my thinking about money.
My money mindset.
I used to believe that the main thing to focus on for growing savings, getting out of debt, and building wealth was saving more money.
And yes being frugal and saving money is an important piece.
But you can’t out-frugal a low income.
You just can’t.
You’ll be struggling.
And I don’t want that for you.
At some point to get control of your finances (if they aren’t where you want them), you need to increase your income too.
That’s where this post of unique side hustles comes in!
I’m sharing 35 ideas you might not have thought of…
Let’s dig in!
Related post: 10 Weird Ways to Make Money (That Are Totally Legit).
35 Unique Side Hustles to Make Money in 2023
1. Rent Out Your Space
Rent out a room in your home or parking space.
Set up a listing on Airbnb to rent out a room in your home.
Friends of mine do this for side hustle income, and they make good money.
It’s just a lot of going laundry and cleaning in between guests, but if that doesn’t bother you, you could have your rent or mortgage paid for.
I have also rented out a parking space as one of my unique side hustles.
I have two parking spots and one vehicle so I make extra money by renting out the second spot.
These are both low maintenance, easy side hustles to get started with, and something you might not immediately think of as ways to make money.
Related post: 11 Odd Jobs That Pay Insanely Well.
2. Freelance Writing or Content Creation
Offer your writing services to businesses or individuals who need blog posts, articles, or website content.
Sure at first this doesn’t exactly sound like a unique side job, but you can make it unique by what you offer to write about.
Maybe you know a lot about tarot cards and tarot reading, or you have skills in EFT tapping, or are a bit of an expert in keto baking.
You can often charge higher prices when you are a specialist.
So figure out your niche, and put yourself out there on Fiverr, Textbroker, through Facebook, etc.
Here are 20 ways you can make $200 in one day – some need zero experience and no degree.
3. Unique Side Hustles Selling Dog Cookies
People love to pamper their pooches.
A fun and unique side hustle if you love baking, or animals, or both, is starting a dog treat business.
Here is a free recipe you can try out to see what it’s like to bake for dogs.
You can take a free workshop here all about how to get started with a dog treat bakery.
4. Errand Runner
Run errands for people who need assistance.
This can involve going grocery shopping, taking a pet to the vet, mailing parcels, just about any task someone might need done.
You can list your services as an errand runner on Taskrabbit or Fiverr.
5. Unique Side Hustle Idea: Stand In Line for People
If you are a patient person (or just want the money so you can pretend to be a patient person!) you can even get paid to stand in line.
Some people who need to get their driver’s license renewed, or passport updated, actually pay money to have other people stand in long lines for them.
List your services on Taskrabbit or Fiverr.
6. Write Low-Content Books
Even if you suck at writing, you can still make money writing and self-publishing books.
Sounds weird, but this unique side hustle idea involves selling books with almost no words in them.
Low-content books include things like journals, planners, log books, etc.
There is a useful course on how to create and sell low-content books here.
7. Sell Feet Pics: Unique Side Hustles for the Bold
An easy and definitely unique side hustle that is booming right now is selling feet pics.
Read all about how to sell feet pics here, and my review of Fun with Feet here.
8. Put Together Ikea Furniture
When I moved with my daughter, I was very lucky to have a dad and friends who helped me put together Ikea furniture.
Not everybody has a Joe and Emma and Eriko to help them assemble furniture.
If you are a whiz with an Allen key, make extra money with this unique side hustle idea.
You can advertise your services on Facebook, through word-of-mouth, on community boards, and on Taskrabbit.
9. Write Romance Novels
There is a big market online of romance novel readers.
Romance readers are some of the most voracious readers out there, which means they are a great audience for new content.
You can learn how to write short romance novels and sell them online in this post.
Related post: Almost Famous: How to Be An Extra In a Movie.
10. Create and Sell an Online Course
Online learning is booming.
Online entrepreneur Yuwanda Black promises that you can take the knowledge you already have (she’ll teach you how to tap into this!), and turn it into a successful course.
If you have no clue how to do this, I recommend Yuwanda Black’s How to Create an Online Course.
11. Make Money Losing Weight
Now don’t go losing weight for money just for the money.
But if weight loss has been a goal anyways, why not get paid to lose weight?
Studies have shown that providing a financial incentive helps the weight loss motivation and has a greater chance of success.
I wrote an in-depth post on how to get paid to lose weight to give you all the details you need to know.
If you want to see how much money you could make by losing weight, try the calculator here.
12. Offer Cooking Classes: Unique Side Hustles for Foodies
When I had my bakery business, I offered cooking classes for kids.
They were popular and fun, and taught kids kitchen and cooking basics while having fun and eating great food.
You do not need to be a professional chef or baker to offer cooking classes.
If you have a certain style of cooking that is unique: keto, vegan, Ukrainian, Indian, etc., offer cooking classes in that for kids or adults.
You can offer and market these classes yourself, or you can offer them through a community center.
Related post: 11 Creative Skills You Didn’t Know You Could Make Money From
13. Become a Food Blogger
If you like to read food blogs and like to create recipes, why not start your own food blog?
It is honestly one of the easiest types of blogs to start.
You don’t have to write as much as other blogs, like this personal finance blog. 🙂 (Not a chore though, I love writing!)
Some people like stories to go along with recipes, and other people like food blogs that get straight to the point.
So if you can create recipes, I would recommend trying a food blog as a fun and unique side hustle.
Once you grow to a certain number of pageviews a month, you can monetize with ads.
And even before then, you can monetize with affiliate links.
Read my guide here on how to start a food blog.
14. Astrologist
Offer personalized astrology readings or consultations.
Help people out with decisions and direction by providing insights and guidance based on astrological charts and interpretations.
15. Professional Hypnotist
Provide hypnosis services for stress reduction, relaxation, or habit change, helping individuals achieve their desired goals.
You can set your own hours and work in-person or online.
This is one of the unique side hustles that either you will be a believer in or scoff at.
I was just talking to my friend Eriko who had intense dental anxiety from childhood all the way through to adulthood.
After two sessions with a hypnotist, her dentist anxiety disappeared and never returned.
16. Unique Side Hustles for Book Lovers: Book Scavenger
Search for rare or valuable books at thrift stores, garage sales, or second-hand shops, and resell them for a profit.
There is a huge market for used books on Amazon.
I used to have a side hustle selling used books on Amazon FBA.
You can’t just buy up old books from garage sales and sell them for a profit on Amazon. That would be great, but it’s not that easy.
Read about how to make a profit selling books on Amazon here.
17. Unique Side Hustles You’ve Never Thought Of: Sell Your Hair
Yes, people will buy hair.
There is a market for literally anything you can think of to sell.
(Like anything. Don’t think about that too hard.)
There are all kinds of reasons why people might want to buy hair, but if this is something you’re curious about as an unusual side hustle, you can find out more here.
18. Sell Plasma: A Unique Side Hustle That’s Also Really Needed
Unlike donating blood, you can get paid to donate plasma.
Donating plasma is a longer process than donating blood, so people are compensated for it.
And the compensation is quite good.
This is obviously not for the needle-phobic among us, and there will be certain screens to say whether or not you can donate plasma.
If this is something you would like to check out, you can read more about the process here.
19. Test Websites
You can get paid to share your opinion on different websites.
Companies hire usability testers to go through their websites and provide real-time feedback to what a user is experiencing.
You get to share your likes, dislikes, what you expected versus what is there, basically all the thoughts that go through your head as you navigate a website.
Read about how to get website usability tester gigs here.
20. Paid Focus Groups
Just like user testers, you can get paid to give your opinion on a variety of things.
There are paid focus groups for food, beauty products, video games, and many more categories.
You can check reddit for current paid focus groups, and there is also this site where you can search for paid studies by if they are online, on the phone, or in person.
21. Unique Side Jobs as a Professional Closet Organizer
Does an unorganized closet whip you into a frenzy?
If you were born to organize, you can get paid to organize other people’s disordered messes.
Specialize in closets or become a general professional organizer.
Find out how to become a professional organizer here from a woman who does this.
22. Building and selling niche websites or online stores
Create websites or online stores targeting specific niches and sell them to interested buyers.
Just like flipping houses, people buy or start websites, grow them, and sell them for a profit.
Sometimes for a very, very good profit!
This isn’t a hard and fast rule but in general it is easier to grow a niche site than a general site.
Examples of niche sites could be gardening for seniors, jobs for teenagers, poodle lovers, pumpkin recipes, you get the idea.
The niche could be any topic, but it should be a narrow one.
You can sell your website on Flippa (also a good place to look if you want to buy a website that has already been started).
23. Unique Side Hustles for People Who Secretly Want to Be a Spy: Mystery Shopper
You can actually make a decent hourly rate as a mystery shopper, which I found out by doing it.
I signed up as a mystery shopper here, and was picky about the shops I agreed to do.
I liked the food ones 🙂 because I would get lunch or dinner plus payment for the shop.
You also get faster over time.
Once I did one mystery shop, I understood the process of how it worked. That sped up my time and hourly rate considerably.
Read my review on how to become a mystery shopper here.
24. Human Billboard
Wear advertising signs or costumes and walk around busy areas to promote businesses or events.
Tax time!
Hot dogs!
This could be you.
Okay it’s not glamorous.
But the hourly rate can be decent. It’s flexible and it’s easy work.
And it is definitely a unique side gig. 😉
25. Birth Doula
Help women through the crazy (and amazing…and crazy) process of pregnancy and childbirth.
Be there to advocate for the woman, and support her during the pregnancy, labor, and aftercare.
If you love babies and being pregnant was your jam, this might be a super rewarding and unique side hustle for you to look into.
26. Death Doula
Yup, there is such a thing.
On the other end of the life cycle, death doulas help people make the ultimate journey from life to death.
27. Bed bug detector
Use specially trained dogs or equipment to detect bed bugs in homes or hotels.
First of all…
Ew.
Second of all…
This is a really important job.
If you like bugs, or at least don’t mind them, a bed bug detector is a high paying unique side hustle.
Guess how much they make annually?
The average is $135,000+/ year and it can be much higher than that even (reference).
28. Unique Side Hustles for Friendly People: Rent-a-Friend
Yes this is really a thing.
Provide companionship and friendship to individuals who are seeking social interaction.
This is not a dating website – it is strictly platonic, for friendship and companionship for social events.
This could be to go to concerts, have coffee, go to a bookstore, go for a walk, etc.
Whatever you would do with a regular, unpaid friend!
You can apply here to get paid to be a friend.
29. Professional Plant Waterer
Offer plant watering and care services for people who travel frequently or struggle with plant maintenance.
You could offer this as your own unique side hustle business, or as part of house sitting services.
House Sitters America is a reputable site for house sitting gigs.
You can take care of plants, pets, and house, and get paid doing so.
30. Unique Side Hustles as a Professional Cuddler
Offer platonic cuddling sessions to individuals who seek comfort or relaxation.
Like getting paid to be a friend above, professional cuddling is meant to be non-sexual and platonic.
There is a training program and then you can set up your profile on Cuddlist.
From looking at the profiles on Cuddlist, hourly rates to get paid to cuddle varied between about $75/hour to $175/hour.
31. Get Paid to Listen to People Talk
There are paid side hustles to listen to people get things off their chest.
This isn’t a counseling position so you don’t need those kinds of credentials.
There’s an app called Listeners you can download and get paid to listen to people talk.
If you are a great listener, you can put your free time to work and make money with this unique side hustle idea.
32. Renting Out Your Camera Equipment or other Specialized Gear
If you have high-quality camera equipment or specialized gear, rent it out to photographers or filmmakers.
I have also seen people rent out their outdoors equipment.
Not everyone wants to own and store big things like kayaks and canoes, and even tents and stand-up paddleboards.
If you have these things, you can make money renting them out when you’re aren’t using them.
33. Become a Local Tour Guide In Your Area
Share your knowledge and passion for your city or town by offering guided tours to tourists.
34. Rent Space in Your House as a Music Venue
Renting out a small event space or hosting events in your own space.
I had a friend with a decent-sized main room in her home, and she used to rent it out for house concerts.
She rented basic folding chairs and fit about 40 people in for an intimate house concert venue.
People loved the events because they were unique and cozy.
If you are a music lover, this could be a unique side hustle for you.
35. Renting Out Your Car
A flexible and unique side hustle idea is to rent out your car.
Turo is the largest carsharing business.
If you rent out your car using Turo, you earn 75% of the trip price.
Alternatively, you could become a driver for ride-sharing services like Lyft or Uber.
For more ideas of part-time side hustles, don’t miss: Part-time Mom Jobs that Pay Well – 45 Brilliant Ideas to Check Out.
Pin these unique side hustles to save:
Amazing, I will try Insha Allah.