15 Part-Time Business Ideas Worth Pursuing

15 Part-Time Business Ideas Worth Pursuing

A rise in salary is desired when people experience an increase in the cost of living, stagnant wages or an attempt to achieve work-life balance. This is achieved through a side hustle.

If this applies to you, then welcome!

Why not make extra money or test your entrepreneurial prowess before throwing in the towel if you have a passion for fitness or writing?

Here are 15 part-time business ideas that can be started with little cash and worked on during spare hours. Our recommendations span from e-commerce to daycare – there’s something for everyone!

So, without wasting much time, let’s dive right into it:

Why should I start a part-time business?

According to Pew Research, 16% of Americans participate in gig economy activities through online platforms. People choose to start businesses on the side for many different reasons. They may want additional income streams; they might want to monetise their hobbies or try out an idea before investing full-time. Whatever the case, pursuing part-time business ideas is always a low-risk venture.

Here are the benefits:

1. Flexibility – You can fit your hustle around current work commitments
2. Low investment – Little or no starting capital is required, which means less financial strain
3. Market testing – Validate whether people will buy what you’re selling
4. Skills development – Learn hands-on skills about running businesses, which will be helpful when scaling up into full-time entrepreneurship or looking for another job.

Starting a part-time business requires both time and money. Time will be needed to plan, get funds together, register, and market your new venture. And since all these efforts are geared towards making profits, it has to be lucrative enough, plus something that interests you personally, too!

15 Profitable Part-Time Business Ideas

Let’s dive into part-time business ideas for making money today. Note that this article doesn’t cover how to start a business. Instead, we’ll overview each career prospect, including industry highlights, necessary tools, and requirements.

1. Becoming a Freelance Writer

Many individuals enjoy freelance writing. This type of employment is driven by content marketing that increases traffic and conversions in the digital era. Business people hire outside writers to create high-quality website content like blog articles, product descriptions, and eBooks.

You select what projects and clients to work with as a freelance writer. In addition, you have the freedom to manage your time and workload.

It is also easy to start. Simply create a profile on any freelancing platform showcasing your expertise, experience levels, and samples from past works.

The following is the Fiverr profile of one of the highest-rated freelance writers.

He offers three packages at different prices depending on the number of pages. The description box explains his experience, area of specialisation and expected deliverables for each order, while prospective clients can look at two previous works he has done.

We recommend that you concentrate on a specific topic or industry. For example, if your niche is wildlife photography, never place a bid or accept an assignment about marketing automation because it will not be within your knowledge base.

Similarly, always go for something you are knowledgeable or passionate about, which will enable building a solid portfolio besides positioning yourself as an expert in that field; this way, more charges can be placed per article due to increased experience level, so marketing becomes more accessible for such persons with many years behind them working as professional writers.

2. Starting a Blog

Another way you can monetise your writing skills is blogging. Starting a blog is a low-cost, high-reward venture. Many website builders offer free plans, and you can make money through affiliate marketing and advertising revenue.

We’ll cover affiliate marketing in another section. So, let’s discuss advertisements.

You can sell blank spaces to businesses looking to promote their products or services to your readers. Advertising revenue is a passive income stream. You receive money depending on banner size, placement, and how many people see or click the ad.

For instance, leaderboard banners are the most expensive because they are highly effective. They usually sit at the top of the webpage, immediately visible to visitors without distracting from the content.

Below is an example of an ad placement between blog post listings.

This format allows for a large ad inventory, i.e., the total number of ad spaces available.

Other placements include the website header, footer, or on the side.

Starting is simple. Sign up with an advertising network like AdSense and embed the ad code. AdSense is free and delivers Google Ads to your website. You don’t have to choose which ads to show on your site. The program automatically targets ads based on your content or audience. However, if an ad doesn’t match your business, you can review individual ads and block those that aren’t suitable.

3. Social Media Marketing

The social media market is growing and has no signs of stopping. Forecasts place its value at $189.50 billion by 2027.

One way to get a piece of the pie is social media marketing. In today’s world, a vibrant and engaging social media presence is vital to business success. Businesses need social media marketing to compete and grow. 

That’s where social media marketers come in. They are responsible for creating and managing relevant content for business clients. Their activities include campaign planning, content creation, audience engagement, and data analysis.

It is vital to define your niche and services. For example, you can focus on a particular client base (B2B vs B2C), industry, or social platform. It’s more compelling to say that you specialise in Instagram marketing for speciality coffee brands like Cafely or a SaaS business like Trello than you just specialise in Instagram marketing. It shows potential clients you understand their industry and specific needs.

Once you have decided on your niche, outline the services you can provide, i.e., creative, strategic, or support. For example, you develop strategies and create campaigns but do not handle customer engagement.

Social media marketing is not without cost. You will need tools for the following activities:

• Content scheduling – advanced planning of social posts to ensure a consistent presence
• Social listening – monitor brand sentiment and identify industry trends
• Analytics – track social media performance

Many social media marketing solutions have free options, and these are suitable for individual or small business clients. However, depending on data and audience size, you may need to upgrade to the paid versions.

4. Affiliate Marketing

Brands are always trying to get seen by more people. One way they do this is through affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is when a company pays someone else (an affiliate) a commission to promote their brand, product or service.

This is how it works. A business gives you a unique link to share with your email list, website visitors, or social media followers. If a customer buys something using your link, you get paid a percentage of that sale.

Here’s an example of affiliate marketing on social media.

The video game content creator, an Amazon Associate, posts links to relevant products on the platform.

There are two routes you can take with affiliate marketing.

The first one is through affiliate networks. These platforms provide tracking technology, payment processing, and a brand database. Some popular ones are Amazon Associates, ShareASale and CJ Affiliate. The good thing about these networks is that you can handle multiple projects in one place. However, they also charge transaction fees, meaning they take a percentage of every commission you make.

The other option is going with brand affiliate programs themselves. For example, Instagram has its program, and Shein and Adidas are among them. Most of these programs don't cost anything to join, but it gets complicated when dealing with different payment systems if too many programs are joined at once.

Before joining any network or program, make sure you find a niche that interests you the most because there are so many branches in this type of marketing, such as the travel industry up to digital goods, so knowing what attracts people will help bring in those higher commissions while building an audience around compelling content should be next step taken into consideration as this will allow for higher rates earned from companies who see value within their target audience attracted by publishers like yourself thus making all parties involved happy.

5. Starting a YouTube Channel

Making YouTube videos is an excellent way to earn money part-time – and they can be about anything. Even screen-recorded video game sessions have an audience.

But it takes more than just uploading videos of yourself playing games for views to turn into cash.

YouTube has a partner program that allows content creators to monetise their channel. To qualify for the program, you must have at least 1,000 subscribers with 4,000 valid public watch hours in the last year or 1,000 subscribers with 10 million Shorts views in the previous 90 days.

Once you’re accepted into the partner program, several features can earn you money:

1. Advertising revenue – earn money from various ad formats on your channel
2. Shopping – fans can purchase items from your store or tagged brands
3. Channel memberships are subscriptions where people pay monthly for badges, emojis, and other exclusive content like videos, shoutouts, etc.
4. Super Chat & Super Stickers – viewers can buy these chat features during live streams, highlighting their message in the chat stream and sending a sticker next to their profile image. Creators get paid based on how much they earn from these features each month (sent by users)
5. YouTube Premium revenue – this feature lets creators receive a portion of the YouTube Premium subscription fee when members watch their content

Even if you do not qualify for the partner program, YouTube offers ways to make money from your videos. The first way is adding store/crowdfunding/affiliate links in the video description area.

Tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee, for instance, shares links to his merchandise shop and Amazon Associate stores.

Another money-making option is creating sponsored content. Brands pay you directly, and YouTube doesn’t get a cut of your earnings.

6. Becoming a Graphic Designer

Graphic design is a viable career path for creatives. Businesses across various industries need designers to create logos, web layouts, product packaging, and visuals for branding materials.

Freelance graphic designers can choose your projects and work from anywhere. You can apply to projects on online marketplaces or market your services on social media.

The most important tool you need is a robust portfolio to demonstrate your skills and attract new clients. Create a portfolio website or host your work on platforms like Behance and Portfoliobox. If you don’t have real-life projects to showcase, consider creating original designs for actual or imagined products to show off your capabilities.

7. Online Tutoring

The eLearning sector is set to experience a boom and could be worth $325 billion by 2025; therefore, if you’re an expert in any subject matter, potential wealth awaits you in online education.

Anything can be turned into an online course – from revising for exams like SATs or GCSEs, learning maths or English as a second language (ESL), and learning life skills such as cooking, sewing, or budgeting.

Here is a class on hand sewing.

Now, it’s easier to run a professional online class. Digital learning platforms like Skillshare and Thinkific have templates and course flow to help create and sell your courses.

Alternatively, you can set up a website and sell your digital products and services. You can use online whiteboards, course-building software, and video conferencing apps to deliver lessons. You can charge students per class or on a subscription basis.

If you opt for this strategy, you’ll want to work with a SaaS SEO agency to increase your site ranking in search engine results pages and boost website visits. The more website visits you get, the more potential students for you. 

8. Fitness or Yoga Studio Owner

The health and wellness industry is worth $1 trillion. This encompasses personal care and beauty, fitness and weight loss, well-being tourism and many other categories. There are numerous options for in-person or online businesses among personal trainers or fitness buffs.

Do competitor and market research to find where your business could fill a need. For example, you could offer some if there aren’t any prenatal or postnatal yoga classes in your area.

Afterwards, get whatever certifications might be applicable. While yoga or personal training don’t legally require credentials, having them will make clients more likely to trust your expertise as an instructor.

These are the costs associated with running a fitness or yoga studio:

• Rent
• Equipment
• Client management software
• Insurance
• Health & safety license

On the other hand, you could have a virtual studio instead. This is easier to set up because there’s no overhead. You would post pre-recorded classes on your website and charge users a membership fee.

For instance, this yoga instructor packages classes into downloadable collections of 30 classes.

You can supplement this source of income with paid partnerships or selling fitness-related products.

9. Babysitting or Child Care

Since more households have both parents working, there is a need for childcare for many preschoolers. You can take advantage of this growing demand by starting a home-based daycare business and save on rent because you won’t have to pay for a separate facility.

Programs like the Child Care and Development Fund Plan also provide government grants to early childhood education providers who wish to start their businesses. They may be used to cover costs such as play equipment, toys, cleaning supplies and licensing fees, among other things.

A tax credit can also be claimed for childcare expenses, reducing the financial burden.

You don’t necessarily need an education degree to run a daycare, but some certification might be required depending on your state’s regulations. In New York State, for example, CRP certification alone is insufficient; owners must possess at least an associate degree in early childhood education or its equivalent plus either a child development associate credential or its equivalent, along with three years of experience caring for children.

Depending on where you live, obtaining licensure may also be necessary before being allowed to operate your business legally within certain boundaries; Texas only requires registration of small childcare facilities, whereas California mandates licensure even for those who run their operations out of homes. 

Another more straightforward option than running a daycare centre full-time is babysitting part-time when one has free hours available during the day or evening hours while parents are still at work. Babysitters do not need certifications (although it helps with rates), nor are there any legal requirements that must be met regarding education level, etc.

10. Becoming a Virtual Assistant

Virtual assistants are self-employed people who offer services such as scheduling appointments, managing calendars, bookkeeping, preparing documents, etc. They do not differ from personal secretaries or office managers except that they work remotely.

Becoming a virtual assistant is quite simple. There are no overheads to worry about. Your virtual office only needs a computer with good specifications, a stable internet connection and standard software applications installed.

Call centre VoIP systems also come in handy for many VAs because they enable efficient and professional handling of client calls, further beefing up their service portfolio.

While having specific educational qualifications or experience in related fields is not mandatory, having them will be an added advantage. This is because some clients may want assistants who have worked in specific industries or undergone specialised training, e.g., legal clients expect you to understand law terms and processes.

11. Starting a Dropshipping Business

People do not use dropshipping because they think the start-up costs are too high. Although this may seem inaccurate, keeping an inventory for selling is necessary.

In dropshipping, the e-commerce model works by entrepreneurs not having to buy products or even have storage space. All they are required to do is market and sell.

This is how it works:

First, you contract with one supplier who will pack and ship goods straight to your clients’ doorsteps from their storehouse.

Secondly, clients can make orders through different channels or on your website.

Thirdly, once someone somewhere around the world (or within your country at least) orders some product, they pay for it using any method at their disposal – mostly PayPal, but not limited to it!

Fourthly, after receiving payment confirmation from the buyer’s end (usually instantaneous), just forward the received order details directly to the corresponding manufacturer’s representative, who then ships the needed item(s) towards the given destination immediately – could anything be more accessible?

Finally, the purchaser receives what he paid for without knowing anything about your middleman role during the transaction process.

12. Pet Care

If you love animals, consider offering pet services. Pet owners are willing to spend hundreds of dollars monthly, and the stats back this claim.

Pet care encompasses a variety of part-time business ideas, including dog walking, grooming, photography, training, and accessories.

You’ll need more than passion to start a pet care business. For starters, it requires an understanding of different types of animals and common pet concerns. For this reason, we recommend finding a niche. You can focus on one or two animals rather than following an anything-and-everything approach.

In addition, you need to comply with various legal requirements, including business registration, insurance, zoning permits, and animal welfare regulations.

13. Event Planning

According to the US Bureau of Labour Statistics, the event planning industry is among many rapidly growing industries.

Organise personal (birthdays, weddings) or professional (graduations, conferences) events by developing and coordinating them. Planning a successful event requires organisation skills, communication skills, and relationship management abilities.

You don’t need special training in this field, but getting certified can give your business more credibility, especially when starting with no experience or a strong portfolio.

Start by planning parties for close friends and relatives. Share pictures of set-ups on social media platforms to increase online visibility.

Over 60% of internet users use social media to discover products and services. So, use relevant hashtags to increase brand visibility on social media.

14. AI Image and Video Editing

Having visual content to attract potential customers and affect their behaviour is significant. AI image editing is a versatile tool that covers many industries, such as websites, social media accounts, and marketing collateral.

Here are some services that video and photo editing companies could offer:

• Correction of colours
• Retouching photos
• Adjusting lighting
• Restoration
• Sharpening images

The video and image editing industry is being revolutionised by AI, just like any other field. Being a part-time editor, you can achieve professional-level results without expensive software, thus reducing the entry barrier. Thanks to AI algorithms, time-consuming tasks can be automated, so turnaround times get even faster.

Launching an editing business requires little funding. You should have at least 16GB RAM on your video/ photo editing computer with 1TB storage and use Luminar Neo (or some other AI editing tools) or Adobe Photoshop. Depending on your service category, wedding photography/marketing collateral and office supplies such as printers and paper might be needed.

15. Home Decorator

If you fancy yourself the next Mari Kondo, a part-time home decorating business is the place to flex your style.

People think interior designing and interior decorating are synonymous with each other. However, there are differences.

Designers create spaces, while decorators make them beautiful. Designers work with architects and contractors. Decorators partner with painters and home décor vendors. Having a degree and accreditation to work as a designer would be best. It would help if you had an eye for aesthetics to be a decorator (although an interior decorating certification doesn’t hurt).

Build your portfolio by offering redecorating or holiday decorating projects for friends and family. Home staging projects are also great for growing your home décor business. You flex your creative muscle and build relationships with real estate agents who can refer your services to home buyers.

Promote your projects on social media by taking before and after pictures to highlight the transformation. Don’t forget to place hashtags on your posts or profile bio so potential clients can find you.

Other ways to promote your business include attending expos and trade events. You can network with industry professionals, learn from experts, and connect with vendors.

Conclusion

A passion can be transformed into a business without being large-scale. Side hustles mitigate risk and allow for more entrepreneurial experience as well as more streams of income. And everyone has something.

If you like being around people, consider becoming an event planner, home decorator or babysitter. If working from home is more your thing, try virtual assisting or online tutoring. We have only listed 15 part-time business ideas here, but there are infinite possibilities.

So what are you waiting for? Start making money with your talents today!

Author Bio: Eli is the Content Manager of Crunch Marketing. The company works with enterprise SaaS clients, helping them scale lead generation globally across EMEA, APAC, and other regions.