So you want to start a side hustle and make some extra money? Maybe you want to try a few side hustles and see if you can turn them into a full-time business so you can quit your day job?

While most side hustles don’t really cost a ton to start up, you want to make sure you’re actually going to be able to stick to the hustle. One way to do this is to learn more about the ones you’re interested in and maybe try a few if you’re still not sure.

That’s why I want to share with you these free courses that will help you decide on which one is right for you.

Free courses are a great way to learn and start a side hustle with little investment! This list of side hustle courses will help you figure out if the side gig you’re wanting to pursue fits your lifestyle and personality. Each gives you insight into the day and life of a bookkeeper, a virtual assistant, a voiceover artist, just to name a few!

FREE SIDE HUSTLE COURSES

FREE COURSES TO START A BOOKKEEPING SIDE HUSTLE

Do you love numbers? Maybe you’ve always been a math nerd or you just think bookkeeping would be a great way to make extra money or even turn into a business.

Well, the good thing about that is, there are some really great free courses out there. I’ll list three below.

1. Learn How to Start a Hyper-Flexible Bookkeeping Business

Robin Buckallew who is the creator of 60 Day Bookkeeper has created a free mini-course where you’ll learn if bookkeeping is right for you, what you can charge as a bookkeeper, how much it costs to start up, and so much more.

You can sign up for this free course by clicking here where you’ll get instant access to the 7 video lessons you can binge right away or at your own pace.

2. Start & Grow Your Very Own Bookkeeping Business

This next free bookkeeping course run by Bill Von Fumetti, CPA & Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, teaches you how to get clients, how working remotely can increase profitability, and also how you can get a complimentary copy of QuickBooks so you can get started right away.

3. Start Your Own Digital Bookkeeping Business Workshop

This last free bookkeeping training includes three videos going over different areas of becoming a bookkeeper and working for yourself. You can sign up below or click here and get signed up with just your name and email.

Feel free to sign up for one, two, or all three free courses. I’d start with just one however so you don’t get overwhelmed.

FREE COURSES ON BECOMING A VIRTUAL ASSISTANT

Virtual Assistants are in high demand. Think about it? There are tons of people working from home, working online, and needing help but can’t hire a full-time employee. This is where virtual assistants come in.

While I didn’t find a free course for this particular side hustle, I found FREE Workbooks and help which I will list below.

If you love Pinterest you can check out this FREE Workshop on becoming a Pinterest VA.

I also find a $19 Course on Jumpstarting Your VA Business that you may be interested in.

While virtual assistants can pretty much offer endless services, you can grab this free guide on 275+ services you can offer as a virtual assistant).

I also found these Free workbooks and checklists on strategies needed to launch and grow podcasts for small businesses as a Podcast VA.

You can grab those here.

FREE COURSE ON FLIPPING/RESELLING

Love shopping flea markets, yard sales, Facebook marketplace, and Craigslist? Then this might be the PERFECT side hustle for you.

You might even have enough items in your garage and basement to start flipping and getting some extra cash right away!

Once you’ve sold a few items you can even turn this side hustle into a full-time hustle like Rob & Melissa (pictured below) did. I had the chance to interview them in the past where they shared their experience and tips. You can check out that interview here.

If you’re ready to find out more, check out this free training on how to turn your passion for visiting thrift stores, yard sales & flea markets into a profitable reselling business. Sign up here.

FREE COURSE ON BECOMING A VOICE OVER ARTIST

Do you have a great voice? Maybe someone has told you that you could do commercials or audiobooks because you have “the voice”. If so then this would be a great side hustle to try out.

If you’re interested in finding out more about Voice Over work check out the FREE INTRO TO VOICE OVERS MINI COURSE.

Related article: How to Become a Voice Over Artist

Intro to Voice Overs will show interested students what’s involved in becoming a voice artist. It covers, on a basic level, what equipment you’ll need (which is surprisingly inexpensive!), your recording space in your home, how voice artists get paid, and lots more.

FREE COURSE ON STARTING AN ONLINE BOUTIQUE

Love boutiques? Maybe you love clothes or accessories? Then this would be a great side hustle to start and you don’t even need a physical location.

Online boutiques are cheaper and easier to run then a physical location and much easier to start for the average person.

If you want to learn more about whether this is something you could see yourself doing, start by watching this free instant access workshop, ‘5 First Steps to Start Your Online Boutique’.

The workshop will help you discover which type of online boutique is right for you, how to stock your online boutique, the #1 thing that causes new boutiques to fail in the first year and how to avoid it, and so much more.

You can also check out my article on How to Start an Online Boutique where I interviewed the host of the free training Raquel and asked her lots of questions.

FREE COURSE ON EDITING COURT TRANSCRIPTS AS A SCOPIST

You may not have heard of scoping but I am sure you know that courts have court reporters right?

Well, a court reporter hires scopists to edit their transcripts. A court reporter makes money per page, not per hour, so the more pages he or she can take down, the higher their earning potential.

Outsourcing the tedious editing allows the court reporter to make more money. That’s reason #1 why Scopists are valuable and in-demand: court reporters want to make more money. So they hire Scopists.

As far as training, there’s a school called Internet Scoping School and they offer a FREE INTRO TO SCOPING MINI COURSE where you can learn all about scoping as a career (or side hustle). YOu can check it out here.

FREE COURSE ON STARTING A BLOG

Maybe you’ve thought about blogging? If you love to write and would love to have your own place on the web then this one might be for you.

I’ve personally chosen this one and it’s going pretty well. I definitely won’t say it’s easy though, it usually takes a lot longer to start earning money than the side hustles mentioned above so keep that in mind.

One of my favorite resources for starting a blog is from Suzi of Start a Mom Blog, she has a free course called The Blog Plan. Go ahead and check it out here.

I also have a whole article on free blog courses as well you can check out.

SOME OTHER HELPFUL RESOURCES FOR STARTING A SIDE HUSTLE OR BUSINESS:

• The Small Business Roadmap
• The Small Business Start-Up Cost Guide

These are just a small portion of the training that is out there. I will be adding more in the future. If you need help with finding training on a particular side hustle, feel free to comment below!

Already have a side hustle? Tell me about it, I’d love to hear how its going.

This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here

Are you a college student looking to make some money? It’s not always easy to get a regular job while also in college and trying to dive deep into studying. But today it’s definitely doable as there are so many ways to make money in college in your spare time!

Become a Tutor

This is probably the most obvious one but I still wanted to mention it as there are lots of tutoring jobs (both online and in-person) out there and you may also find people to tutor right at your college.

The best part of being a tutor is that you don’t have to worry about traveling or going to strangers’ homes because there are many online tutoring jobs available right now (if that’s your preference).

Where can you find tutoring jobs?

Tutor.com and Preply are great places to start for online tutoring.

Tutor.com’s service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and you can create a schedule that works best for you. You can tutor as few as 5 hours a week and as many as 29 hours a week, and you can change your scheduled hours as needed on a weekly basis. You can also pick up unscheduled sessions in your spare time.

Preply is another great website to find tutoring jobs. You can search job postings, set your own schedule, and set your own hourly pay rate.

For in-person tutoring look for job postings on campus or on your school’s website. You can also post flyers offering your services as well.

APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIPS

One of the most overlooked and best ways to make money in college is to apply for scholarships each and every year of college!

Don’t stop applying once you get in. You want to keep applying all throughout college and get the most money possible.

While most people associate scholarships with paying tuition, that isn’t necessarily the only thing for which the funds can be used. Sure, some scholarships are restricted to tuition only, but many can be used for other school-related expenses.

Scholarships can not only cover classes but books, software, room & board, food, and so much more.

Some scholarship money is paid directly to the student so they can use it in any way that supports their education. Other money is sent to the school and the school will cut you a check for the unused portion in most cases or give you a credit for the next semester.

When I was in college I was cut a check each semester when money wasn’t used and I was able to use that money to pay for all of my miscellaneous college expenses.

And it’s this potential for flexibility that makes getting as much as you can in scholarship awards really worth the effort. It is probably the best ROI out of any of these in this list if done right and consistently.

If you have no clue about scholarships or how they work I highly recommend you check out The Scholarship System’s free webinar, “6 Steps to Quickly Secure Scholarships for College.”

Deliver Food

You’re probably already familiar with this way to make money but I wanted to make sure to add it to the list. I like the option to deliver food because of the fact that it’s super flexible and you can earn a good amount of money doing it in your extra time whenever you want.

So where do you find food delivery jobs? Below are a few of the more popular companies you can apply to become a driver for.

• UberEats
• DoorDash
• Grub Hub

Drive People Around

Do you have access to a reliable car and wouldn’t mind driving people around whenever you need extra money? Consider becoming a freelance rideshare driver.

Where do you find driving jobs? Companies to apply to be a driver for include:

• Lyft
• Uber

Make Money Shopping for Others

Like to shop? You can shop for others and get paid as a shopper on your own time as often as you like. This can be a fun one to do and it can be done on your own schedule.

There are many companies out there that you can sign up for but I will list the most popular below so that you can check them out.

Sign up to be a shopper with these companies:

• Instacart
• Shipt
• Postmates

Babysit

You did it when you were 14, why not try it again? Babysitting can be a great way to make money whenever you need it.

You can utilize sites like Care.com to find families who need sitters in your area or ask your friends and family if they need one.

Become a Caregiver

Similar to babysitting, caregiving can be a great rewarding way to earn money. Take care of seniors or other people in need of a caregiver and make some money on your own schedule.

This one is near and dear to my heart as I was a caregiver for years and highly recommend everyone do it for at least a short period of time. You will get so much out of it!

You can find these types of jobs on Care.com as well.

Walk or Sit for Pets

Love animals? Would you want to walk them? House sit for them? Check-in on them and get paid to do it?

You can do all of these and more as a way to make money. Find pet-related jobs on Care.com and Rover.com or ask around as you may have friends who need this service.

This is definitely a fun one for pet lovers!

Do Internet-Based Research & Evaluation

Ok, this may sound more complicated than it is but it’s actually quite simple.

Get paid to evaluate search engine results and more at APPEN.

I was an independent agent for Leapforce At Home (Now APPEN) about 5 years ago. As an independent agent, you will conduct in-depth internet-based research and provide information evaluation for leading companies from around the globe.

All you need to be an evaluator is high-speed internet access, a personal computer running Google’s free Chrome web browser, version 31 or higher and up to date anti-virus and anti-spyware software (subject to change).

Keep in mind there is a qualification process. Their basic requirements are that you have excellent web research skills and analytical abilities and excellent comprehension and written communication skills but to become an APPEN independent agent, you are required to take and pass a qualification exam.

They have other part-time flexible jobs as well that you can check out. If you’re interested in working for APPEN, you can check them out here.

Become a Mystery Shopper

Yes, they’re real, and I’ve been on and off mystery shopping for years now.

Mystery shopping usually involves doing things you’re already going to do like going shopping and going out to eat etc.

A mystery shopper is a person who visits an establishment (typically a retail store, bank, restaurant, or other such places where the public does business) for the purpose of observing and measuring customer service, product quality,, and the environment of the establishment in general.

Shoppers serve as the eyes and ears for those clients as part of their efforts to enhance the quality of the customer experience.

If you want to find out more about my experience as a mystery shopper, you can read my article here. The article helps you choose legit companies to work for and I also mention how to avoid scams such as check cashing scams etc. One tip is to make sure the company is legit by searching for them on MSPA .

You may also want to check out this highly rated book on Amazon that gives you all the insider tips on mystery shopping.

I do want to mention however that in most cases you won’t earn a lot of money with mystery shopping but you will get some nice dinners and items out of it.

Become a Virtual Assistant

This is another great way for students in college to make money. Many entrepreneurs use virtual assistants to do tasks for them. It can be anything from handling their emails, monitoring their Facebook groups, scheduling meetings, and much more.

Being a virtual assistant is a great way to earn some extra cash. If you’re not sure what services to offer check out this free list of 275+ VA Services. You are sure to find services that fit your experience.

You can also check out this course on becoming a virtual assistant called Jumpstart Your VA Business.

If the idea of being a virtual assistant seems a bit overwhelming as to what areas to focus on then why not try specializing in one area?

Love Podcasts? How about assisting podcasters with their businesses? Check out this FREE WORKBOOK from Podcast Assist for what you can offer!

Love Pinterest? Why not assist business owners with their Pinterest accounts? You can learn all about it in this free workshop.

BECOME A FREELANCE WRITER

If you like to write and writing comes easily to you then this is a great way to make money! I know a ton of bloggers who hire freelance writers to help them out with their content so they are in high demand.

Not sure what to write about? Check out this FREE list of 200+ niches (and sub-niches) to choose from to help you decide.

OR you can just freelance on multiple topics and look for jobs on sites like Upwork and Freelancer.com.

Questions? Comments? Leave them below!

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This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here