10 ways to make extra income

You may have heard the phrase, “There may not be many jobs, but there is tons of work to be done.”

With the current tough economic times, it is essential to get creative and use your skill set or develop new skill sets to earn an extra income.

If you have a job however, be mindful of conflict of interest in your search - your contract will inform you whether you are over-stepping your boundaries.

Secondly, you need to be prepared to put in more hours; chances are that you might need to be up earlier and sleep later than you are used to. There is really no short cut to earning a legitimate income.

Here are 10 job ideas that you could consider.

1. INVENT A PRODUCT

This may sound outlandish, but could be the beginning of a fruitful business venture. I know people who make liquid soaps in their living rooms, which they then supply to the growing number of restaurants and hotels during their lunch break.

2. YOUTUBE

You have experience in a specific field, so why not show what you are capable of to an online audience? YouTubers such as Mwenesi Musalia now have opportunities to coach thanks to their YouTube channel.

Musalia has run a YouTube channel sharing insights on male grooming and etiquette. He not only talked about it, he looked the part.

He is now offering corporate sessions on image consultancy, personal branding and etiquette.

Don’t underestimate the skill you have. It could be public speaking, self-defence, or even cooking.

Whatever it is, if you think about it, you can monetise your skill in the form of a simple online tutorial that could yield offline business.

3. DEVELOP WEBSITES OR WEB APPLICATIONS

The Internet is the new business frontier. Businesses are determined to be relevant and engaging to online audiences. If programming is your forte, this could be an avenue for extra income.

Once you get one or two satisfied clients, the lists will grow through referrals, however, ensure you also take time to market your work online with your own web applications and website.

4. PHOTOGRAPHY

You may not get the big jobs right away, but with regular practice and serving as a second shooter to a professional photographer, you get to learn the tricks of the trade.

As you improve your skill set and go on more shoots and perfect the editing and post production of your images, you will get more work.

Most photographers find wedding photography an ideal entry point because of the diversity of shoots, such as portraiture, food, or even landscape depending on the kind of wedding you are shooting.

You will have people knocking on your door, as long as you continue to grow your skill set. The best place to share your work is on Instagram, and also on a personal website.

5. EVENT ORGANISING

This is something you can do over the weekends. There are numerous individuals and groups seeking to travel for leisure or even work and have no idea how to coordinate the trips.

Alternatively, you could plan smaller events such as birthday parties, bridal or baby showers.

You can organise the itinerary and even run the events and charge an additional percentage of the cost.

You can start with close friends and family and grow from there. 

6. WRITE

There is no job in the world that has stood the test of time like writing. The 21st century is the information age, and everyone is in need of content generation.

Corporations, online publishers such as magazines, news outlets and blogs are desperate to keep their content fresh and relevant. All you need to do is find the right outlet you can contribute to regularly and earn the necessary additional income.

7. TUTOR

There are numerous children in need of some extra assistance outside of conventional schooling.

How about offering remedial classes in your subject of choice? Could be that music instruments or art is your specialty, you can teach a group of children over the holidays.

This holiday is especially long and parents are looking for ways to keep their children engaged. This is a golden opportunity for you.

8 . ILLUSTRATION

If creating cartoons is your past time, you could offer your services to publishing houses and organisations seeking to create civic education material.

There is a demand for illustrators beyond satirical cartoons in the newspaper.

There are many working on publications, and in need of creative illustrations. All you have to do is showcase your work on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.

9. GRAPHIC DESIGN

Those in business need business cards, logos and visual identities developed for their brands to build their brand presence.

Make your work available to them, make sure you use your social media platforms, especially Instagram and Facebook regularly.

You never know who will be referred your way just because of the work that you share on these sites.

10. COOK

One business that you can never go wrong with is food. Maybe you like to bake. At your office, colleagues usually have a snack with their 10am and 4pm tea, so why not supply them with cake?

Or if you prefer food, you could start preparing lunch and selling it to your colleagues. If you are consistent, you might just have catering offers for parties and weddings.

Start small and build up slowly, who knows, your side gig might soon turn into your new enterprise.