10 Easy Side Hustle Ideas for NZ

Do you want to earn money on the side? Who couldn’t use a little more of that? Whether you’re saving for a down payment, planning a wedding, paying off a loan, or just want to set aside something for when times get tough, more money can make a real difference.

Your regular job allows you to cover your everyday expenses. With a part-time job from home, however, things can look quite different: Not only can you earn money on the side, you can also gain the long-term freedom you have always dreamed of.

So, below are the best ideas to earn money on the side and, with a little luck, transform your life. So, let’s jump right in.

Earn money on the side? What’s the matter?

A part-time job gives you the opportunity to earn money outside of your regular job. Overall, you can increase your income significantly. And that, in turn, gives you the freedom to pursue your passions and finally put any financial worries behind you.

Unfortunately, today it seems that most regular jobs may just pay the regular bills. This is especially true if you are just beginning your career.

If you add up the cost of rent, food, car, etc., you may find that after paying your bills, there is hardly anything left. That can’t be true, can it?

And even worse: Your financial growth is usually very limited. Maybe at the end of the year you’ll get a bonus of a few hundred dollars, plus a small raise every few years. But is that really enough to live the life you dream of? Probably not.

So you decide to do a side hustle to earn a few hundred or maybe even thousands of dollars a month. This can be something that you can start making more money with today, tomorrow, or maybe two years from now.

1. Building a dropshipping business

Earn money on the side? Preferably as a part-time job from home? Dropshipping is a perfect idea for this. It allows you to sell a product directly to customers without having to keep inventory yourself. Why is this so great? It’s simple: You don’t invest any money in purchasing products, so you can keep your risk low. The manufacturer not only keeps the inventory, but also delivers it directly to the customers.

Your focus here is on marketing and customer service – the lifeline of any business. If you have a strong marketing background and want to make money on the side, then dropshipping might be right up your alley. It’s one of the rare part-time jobs that allows you to make a name for yourself as a true entrepreneur. You can become self-employed part-time and become the owner of your very own company.

With dropshipping you can turn your passion into a lucrative business. Do you like decorating your home? Then you could sell home accessories. Maybe you are also passionate about fashion. Then how about opening your own online boutique. Is makeup your passion? Then you could sell beauty products and build an audience following your makeup tutorials.

Almost every niche can be served with dropshipping. And if you are a creative type, you can try many ideas here. After all, as the owner of your own business, you always have the last word. All of this makes dropshipping a perfect way to effectively make money on the side.

2. Additional income as a freelance author/copywriter

You can also earn money with side jobs like freelance writing. Since you are in fact exchanging time for money, your earning potential is capped. But if you want to earn around $1,000 a month, freelance writing can definitely be a solution. Because here you can predict relatively accurately how much you will take.

This way you can conclude a contract with one or two customers and use it to calculate your income. The secret to being successful as a freelance writer/copywriter is charging based on the value you will bring to your clients. Most freelance writers underestimate, resulting in quick burnout with little profit.

How much can freelance writers/copywriters make? As a part-time job, a freelance writer can earn an additional $500 to $3,000 per month. That will depend on how much he charges for an article and how many articles he can write in his spare time.

Textbroker , Fiverr , Contentworld or Upwork are good opportunities to get started.

3. Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing means you earn money when someone buys a product from another manufacturer through a link you provide. For this you have to register for the corresponding affiliate program of the manufacturer. It’s one of those ideas where you can either make a lot of money on the side or nothing at all.

It’s not just about finding the right product, but also the right brand to work with. If you decide to become an ecommerce store affiliate marketer, your commission will likely be much lower than if you dropshipped the same products yourself. However, there are also technology companies that pay high commissions to partners who bring them new customers.

How much money can you make with this side hustle? It depends on what product you are selling and what affiliate network you are using. For example, if you become an affiliate marketer for a tech company like Shopify, you could potentially make $1,500 for each merchant you refer to the ecommerce platform. Not bad, right?

Affiliate Marketing Tip: Ask the affiliate program or content creator for marketing materials you can use to promote their product. For example, there could be a lead magnet or a free tool that you can use to motivate people to buy the product. Oftentimes, engaging content can also help turn a cold lead into a warm one. This will give you a far better chance of being successful with that side hustle.

4. Earn money on the side as part of the gig economy

Does the income earned from your regular job fluctuate? Or do you sometimes just need a little more money than you earn with your skin job. Then the so-called “gig economy” could be something for you. These are small jobs that you can take on as a freelancer from time to time. These could be “gigs” you create on Fiverr, or occasional freelance projects on Upwork.

For example, you could design wedding invitations for a client. After that, you could help a client build their social media presence. As you can see, the type of projects here can vary greatly. But if you love variety and like to try new things, this side hustle could be perfect for you.

You can also earn money with this idea – the only question is how much? You could earn between $50 and $2,000 per month here, always depending on the gigs and the platform you use.

5. Become a blogger

Blogging is one of the best side hustles to make money on the side from home or from anywhere in the world. It allows you to build your personal brand while owning your own assets. You can even write about your own personal passions.

By writing about a specific niche (e.g., yoga, business, beauty, or cars), you can build an audience that shares your exact interests. You can monetize your blog in various ways and earn money on the side: affiliate links, sponsored posts or adding a shop link that you use to sell dropshipping products.

As a blogger you can earn money on the side, no question. Some bloggers are even so good that they have turned their passion into a full-time job. However, in the beginning you will most likely not make money that quickly for the time being. It is therefore a more long-term approach. But some bloggers who persevered and got through the first few years were eventually able to quit their jobs and turn blogging from a side job from home into a full-time gig.

Blogging Tip: If you’re passionate about blogging, you could start an online store and then add a blog to it. So you kill two birds with one stone. This strategy allows you to monetize your own platform before you’ve built a real audience. Also, the marriage of content and e-commerce is a really powerful combination.

As your blog grows, you can e.g. B. Use retargeting ads, which show visitors to your website customized web content. This way you can achieve even more sales. If you post quality content on a regular basis, you’re bound to have some highlight posts that will bring you tons of traffic. And that will be easier to monetize over time than hoping to get some affiliate sales.

6. Additional income with information products

You want to earn money on the side, but still haven’t found the brilliant idea? Then how about selling information products. This side hustle requires quite a bit of research, time, and marketing skills. Are there any topics that are very popular at the moment and about which you know a lot yourself?

Or have you perhaps found a popular topic for which there is not enough information yet? By creating and publishing content about it, you can monetize such opportunities. So you can e.g. B. Publish books on Amazon or sell courses on the online course provider Udemy.

Earn money on the side with information products – how much is possible? That depends on the niche, your marketing, and a variety of other factors. In principle, you can earn a few thousand euros a month with such a part-time job. However, such successful entrepreneurs have usually already created several different contents (e-books, online courses) and market them very successfully.

Info product tip: If you want to earn money with info products on the side, you should focus on niches where people have a big problem that they need to solve. For example, once you’ve identified your fitness niche, you could create a workout class or diet plan with recipes.

When people are desperate to solve a burning problem, you can offer them value and support them in solving that problem. Your content can play a crucial role in this. Best of all, you could earn money on the side and help people at the same time.

7. Become an Instagram Influencer

As teenagers, most people dream of becoming famous. However, the truth is that not everyone can sing or is born an actor. Luckily, you can still build a personal brand around you and your skills. Maybe you have a really good taste in fashion or you can bake delicious cakes. In principle, anyone can earn money as an influencer on Instagram.

If you don’t like being in the spotlight yourself, that’s no problem either. For example, you can build a presence for your dog or a platform for selling your photos. You can monetize your Instagram account in a variety of ways: sponsored posts, Instagram takeovers, or selling products on your website.

8. Make money on the side on YouTube

The largest video platform in the world now has over a billion users and 47 million in Germany alone. This popularity has also created various opportunities to earn money on the side. How exactly does this work?

In principle, it is similar to the ways already described to create a blog. Ultimately, there are hardly any limits in terms of content – all you need is your own YouTube channel. You can then start posting your videos online and gaining subscribers.

Whether you’re discussing video games, making music, performing comedy, or producing how-to videos, there’s ultimately an audience for almost every topic. But you have to build that up first. If you can do this, you can use channel advertising, product placement, affiliate links, and other strategies to make money on YouTube.

YouTube tip: The competition is fierce, and building an engaged audience is very labor-intensive and time-consuming. So if you don’t want to wait for monetization via channel advertising, YouTube is a recommended advertising channel for your own product or online shop. This is a great way to connect your own channel to a dropshipping or affiliate business. But be careful not to make your videos too promotional. Because that will definitely not go down well with your viewers.

9. Selling your own t-shirt designs

If you are creative and want to make money on the side, a t-shirt business could be right for you. The concept is very similar to dropshipping. You create your own t-shirt designs, upload them to Shopify apps like Printify and Printful, import matching products to your online store, and you’re good to go.

If orders are then received, they are printed directly by your manufacturer and sent to the customer. This saves you a lot of time, which you can invest in your marketing and new designs. Just like dropshipping, the biggest advantage is that you don’t have your own inventory and you don’t have to worry about packaging and shipping. This idea for a side income is therefore relatively low-risk and can offer you an easy start into entrepreneurship.

10. Side job from home: Virtual Assistant

A virtual assistant is an assistant or employee who does not work in an office at the company’s location, but is located elsewhere, often further away. Such employees can assist with tasks such as administration, social media, accounting, and more. There is a growing demand for virtual assistants from business leaders who need help with various projects.

As a virtual assistant, you can specialize in countless areas. In the past, for example, I myself have hired virtual assistants for my social media management and customer service. There are now countless companies around the world that rely on virtual assistants to develop their brands.

Earning money on the side as a virtual assistant – that sounds good at first. But how much is actually possible here? Most virtual assistants trade their time for money. Based on the upper limit of your working hours, there will also be an upper limit for earning money on the side.

In addition to hourly billing, you can also opt for a monthly flat rate. Some virtual assistants may only make the current minimum wage, while others may charge $35 an hour or more in side earnings, depending on their skills.

Tip for Virtual Assistants: If you decide to do this part-time job, the freelancer platform Upwork is a good place to start finding your first clients. However, positioning as a standalone and independent contractor could be more promising.

Getting started might be a bit trickier as you need to find clients first. In the long run, however, this path will most likely be more lucrative, allowing you to earn more money on the side. For starters, you can join popular Facebook groups for businesses or online retailers to offer your services there.