How to make EXTRA money as a STUDENT in 2023 | Best & WORST side hustles for students
In this post, we're going to look at the BEST (and the worst) side hustles you can do to make YOU extra money as a student.
As students it's expected that we're BROKE!
But I want to challenge this stereotype.
Being a student gives you huge opportunity to get ahead financially and there are a LOT of ways to create extra cash flow.
This is the goal: To make enough money for right now and create something that will bring you extra cash in the future.
Your time is NOW. Being a student is actually a huge advantage.
Think about it like this:
Between the ages of 18 and 25 you often have less responsibilities.
You don't have a family or any children depending on you financially.*
You're still young and you have time to fail.
You don't have the pressure of a mundane, full time job, sucking all your time and energy.*
You don't have a mortgage.*
You don't have thousands in debt (hopefully!), outside of HECS obviously.*
You're not a "proper" adult yet in terms of responsibility.*
*in most cases
So this is your time to set yourself up financially and take those risks that later down the line you might feel like you just can't take.
Here's your blueprint on how you can make a TONNE more money in 2023.
1. Change jobs
The first thing you need to do is think about whether you need to your job.
If you're earning minimum wage at a casual, retail or hospitality job - CHANGE JOBS.
If your job does not move you forward in your career, give you the highest hourly rate or set you up to earn more in the future - CHANGE JOBS.
I wrote a whole article and made a youtube video about the best, highest paying jobs you can get as a student. You can see it here.
2. Get a side hustle
Getting a side hustle to make more money is obvious.
BUT I want you to choose wisely when it comes to picking your side hustle.
In this article we are going to go through 3 different types of side hustles.
Make money now
Make money in the future
Make money now and in the future
BONUS TIP - YOU NEED TO READ THIS IF YOU WANT TO BE RICH
The third is my favourite category because it will change the way you view making money.
1. SIDE HUSTLES TO MAKE YOU MONEY NOW
A. High Interest Savings Account
Put your money into a high interest savings account.
This is the easiest, fastest, most simple way to make extra money.
Currently Ubank is offering 4.1%!!
This means, for every $1,000 you have in a Ubank savings account, you'll make $41 per month. You will be making an extra $41/month by doing nothing.
The only time you need to put into this is the 2 minutes it takes to setting up the savings account. Ubank is actually the bank that both Connor and I use for our savings.
By simply putting our money in a Ubank savings account, we get paid extra money every single month.
It's definitely the easiest side hustle on this list.
If you're interested in swapping to a high interest savings account that gives you 4.1% interest:
B. Second job
The next option is pretty obvious, it's to get yourself a 2nd job.
One that will pay you well to work hours you wouldn't normally work in your main job - nights or weekends for example.
Remember to check out this article about the best paying jobs for students here.
Just as a note, I would stay away from jobs like retail or hospitality. These jobs pay minimum wage, they're super exhausting and emotionally draining.
C. Airtasker
Jumping onto airtasker, you will find ad hoc jobs you can do in your spare time.
I made $400 in 2 days just by getting in my car and delivering items for people.
I had a zero completion rate at the time so it is possible to get assigned jobs even when you don't have any reviews yet.
I find Christmas time is when you get a lot of these pickup / drop-off jobs because a lot of people don't have time to do their Christmas shopping.
If you're particularly good at video editing, writing, voice overs or photography, you could do these sorts of jobs on airtasker.
People also look for party hosts, secretary work, website design or social media help.
The best thing about this option is that you can do it in your spare time in the evenings after you've finished study or on weekends.
Make sure you read the BONUS TIP at the bottom of the article so you don't waste your time and extra money!!
D. Facebook Marketplace flipping
This is a really really lucrative way to spend your time.
This is something I still do every few days.
I scroll through Facebook Marketplace and
find household items either for free or very cheap. I take good photos of the items - set them up as if I'm taking photos for a home magazine and then I re-list the item on Facebook Marketplace and resell for a much higher price.
You can also do this by finding cheap items at a thrift store OR even free stuff on the side of the road during council clean up.
D. Tutoring / Coaching
As a student you actually already have a skill that you can earn a lot of money from.
It's your knowledge.
In your spare time, you could do some tutoring in a subject that you're particularly good at or you could coach a sport for your local team or your high school.
I personally used to tutor primary school students in maths and I coached the high school debate team.
Some tutoring / coaching jobs will get you $100+ per hour.
E. Note taking
Some universities will actually pay you to take notes for other students.
This kind of thing is often run by the well-being team at uni. Basically, you're helping students who can't take notes for themselves or can't get to class do due to some sort of illness or disability.
It is particularly helpful if you are taking the same class - you'll be getting paid to write notes and share them with students. You end up getting paid to study or to attend your lecture!!
F. Dog walking
If you've seen Ryan Trahan's trip across America with just 1 penny, you will know that one of the best ways he made money was dog walking. I was surprised to see how lucrative this was. I'm not sure that there actually is a similar service here in Australia, but I have personally house sat for families with dogs or cats and this pays quite well.
2 Popular Side Hustles I WOULD NOT recommend:
1. Uber Eats One of the one of the first side hustles that you will have thought of is jumping into something like ubereats delivery.
This is not something that I have ever personally done but I would encourage you to really do a cost-benefit analysis see how much you would actually get paid per hour and then think about how much petrol you're using with the petrol prices being so high at the moment. You're going to want to see how much money you're bringing home after that petrol expense. 2. Surveys Another side hustle that you'll often see suggested is filling out paid surveys. In regards to surveys (and most things in life) if it sounds too good to be true it often is. I personally would stay away from these surveys because they are basically paying you to give them personal information about yourself. The companies then sell your personal information to other countries / other companies. Your personal information is highly valuable. You may not realise just how valuable it is but by being paid a couple of dollars per survey, you're basically ripping yourself off - by A LOT.
2. SIDE HUSTLES THAT MAKE YOU MONEY IN THE FUTURE
Start a side hustle that will bring you money in the future!
This involves building something, whether it's a brand, a product, a service or even an app.
With this particular side hustle, you might find yourself putting in a lot of hours up front without earning a single cent.
You are building a business or maybe a passive income stream that will bring you money in the future, even if it doesn't bring you money now.
Jump to D in Category 3 to find out how to make money NOW whilst building these businesses for your future.
A few examples:
Start a YouTube channel
Start a podcast
Write a blog
Create an e-commerce store
Build a personal brand on social media
Build any kind of business
Whilst these options often found in the "best side hustle" lists, it would be remiss of me not to mention how much work you need to put in up front and how little money you will earn at the beginning.
YouTube / Podcast / Blog
It takes quite a while start earning any money from something like a YouTube channel, a blog or even social media.
You need to be persistent and consistent in your uploads so that you can build an audience that knows, likes and trusts you.
If you decide to go with a lower cost business like starting a YouTube channel or a Blog, it is important for you to realise that there are some costs involved and it is NOT a free way to start a side hustle like it's sometimes portrayed to be.
It is, however, "low-cost" and can generate a lot of money in the future.
E-commerce / Drop shipping
In terms of an e-commerce store, you'll often find people talking about it as if it has very little to no startup costs.
The narrative around Drop Shipping - is that it costs $0 to start.
But it's just not true.
It's super important that you don't fall for any online scams "teaching" you how to drop ship. It's also important to know that you actually will need quite a lot of startup funds to start an ecommerce store, even if it's through drop shipping. You'll need enough money to find the products and test them before you start selling them to the public.
Starting a business
Starting a business can be very time consuming and require a lot of energy as well as start up cash. But as I mentioned earlier being a student, it's the perfect time for you to fail forwards and make mistakes whilst trying to start a business.
Most successful business people have had multiple failed businesses. The past failure is actually what makes them successful in the end.
What can you do if you have an idea for a business but no money to start it?
If you don't have any savings or any money that you can access to start your business idea, here are some options: 1. Get investors. Put together a business proposal / business plan and approach a parent, a sibling, a family member or a family friend and offer them to invest in your business idea. It's important for you to disclose to them that it might fail and it is your first time trying to run a business. In return for their trust in you and their money to start the business, you could offer them a certain percentage of the profits or partial ownership of the business.
2. Save!! Get a high interest savings account and save any extra money you have to put towards your business idea.
3. SIDE HUSTLES THAT MAKE YOU MONEY NOW AND IN THE FUTURE
Start a side hustle that brings you money now and sets you up financially later.
To me this is the most important thing you could do as a student!!
If you can build something for your future and get paid for it now, even if it's just a small amount, you are more likely to feel the momentum and keep going.
That little bit of income will keep you consistent. It will keep you on track to building something that may bring you Financial Freedom in the future.
Here are some options:
A. Real Estate Agent
The first idea is to do some real estate agent work.
This is the kind of job that you can work on a Saturday and earn an hourly rate whilst you're studying.
The best thing about it, is not the extra cash that you're getting weekly, it is the fact that you can build up your sales experience and eventually be selling properties that give you a big commission. A great example of someone who has really thrived in the real estate industry as an 18 year old is Graham Stephan.
B. Freelancing
Another option is to start freelancing. This is where you offer your services for money. You work for yourself, on your own time, instead of as an employee in a business.
Freelancing can start earning you money now whilst you build up your brand and your clientele, before scaling it into a fully fledged business. When you're thinking about what sort of freelance work you could do, think about
times where you've noticed people needing help with one particular thing.
the skills, hobbies or knowledge that you already have that could help people with a problem.
Some examples of freelance work:
Photography
Selling art
Makeup artist
Blog writing
Website design
Coding
Interior design
When you start your freelancing gig, it can be really important to be professional from the get go.
A website (even a basic one) that people can go to and see some of your work and client reviews, will really build credibility.
You also might want to have a social media presence. This builds up social proof, presents a portfolio of work and gives you free advertising.
The good thing about freelancing is that you can start earning money straight away, before you have your website up and running or before you have any social media following.
The website and social media presence will help, but they take a little bit of time to set up and it is important to start getting the freelance experience (and reviews) as soon as you can.
C. Digital Marketing Services
You could go out and offer online marketing services to local businesses that don't have any social media presence or have a really bad website.
You could charge just a small amount at the beginning for these services and then once you get some happy customers that will write a good review or give you a referral then you can start increasing your fee.
D. Guest Posting and Affiliate Marketing
If you decide you want to start a business by building a brand through social media, a YouTube channel, a podcast or blog, there are two things that you can do to earn some money now, whilst building up your business.
1. Guest Posting
The first thing you can do is start guest posting on other people's websites or apps. This is great because you can get paid to post blog articles whilst building your own brand awareness.
Guest posting will help you reach an audience that you didn't have to work for.
2. Affiliate marketing
The other thing that you can do is utilise affiliate marketing.
In order for affiliate marketing to be effective, you need to use it in a really honest way.
Remember that one of the key cornerstones to building an online brand is to get your audience to know, like and most importantly trust you.
Affiliate marketing can earn you money even if you have a really small audience.
Even if it's just a few dollars here and there, it will help you feel encouraged to keep posting and be consistent with your efforts.
4. BONUS TIP - GET YOUR FINANCES IN ORDER
As a student you know that your time is precious, so if you are going to go take the time to work on a side hustle or take up a second job - you have to make it worth it.
If you don't SAVE and INVEST your money - you will be wasting your time working multiple jobs whilst trying to study.
You will be spending all this time working and will have nothing to show for it.
What's the point in breaking your back to bring in extra money if you just end up spending it all on food or things you don't even notice?!
Make sure you learn how to manage your money.
If you learn to manage your money effectively, your extra side hustle income will actually be worth it.
Put time into learning how to
manage your finances,
make a budget,
save your money in a high interest savings account and
learn how to invest.
Make that extra money work for you - stop living pay check to pay check and get on the path to Financial Freedom!! The time is now for you to get ahead for your future.