Many people think that online side hustles only make a couple of dollars. However, there are plenty of high-paying part-time jobs that you can do on your laptop. For some you need a degree, others can be done without any specific knowledge.
Check out the following list of the highest-paying part-time jobs that you can do from home.
What Is Important When It Comes to High-Paying Online Side Hustles?
Before we jump in, let’s quickly look into the criteria that I considered when putting together this list:
- First of all, if you are looking for part-time remote jobs, you most likely want the schedule to be flexible. That’s why jobs, such as customer service support, oftentimes don’t qualify because here you need to stick to opening hours and cover certain shifts. But we want to keep it as flexible as possible.
- Since we are looking into high-paying part-time jobs on your laptop, we can’t go for jobs that only make pocket money, like doing surveys. That’s why this list only shows jobs that have to potential to make a full income, even when working part-time.
- And thirdly, all jobs need to be 100% online. You want to work on your laptop either from home or while traveling the world as a digital nomad. So going to an office is not an option.
High-Paying Part-Time Jobs on Your Laptop
Alright, here we go. Check out the list of flexible remote jobs that tick all of the just mentioned boxes:
1. Social Media Manager
You don’t necessarily need to have a certain degree to work in social media management. However, if you don’t want to start with a junior position, you need to have experience in that area. If you focus on a specific channel, e.g. Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok, you can become an expert in that area and charge even higher rates.
If you look around on the popular platform Upwork, where freelancers offer their services, you can see that many social media experts charge somewhere between USD40 and USD 145 per hour.
2. Content Writer
If you love writing and have a talent for it, you could easily become a content writer. That was one of the first remote jobs that I did and I didn’t have any experience in that area when I started. Again, I advise you to focus on a niche and become an expert in that, e.g. technical writing, romance novels, blog posts on gardening, or whatever you are passionate about.
Of course, you can also start as a general content writer. But keep in mind that here you have higher competition and hence, often lower rates.
Successful content writers on Upwork charge anywhere between USD 45 and USD 125 per hour.
3. Teaching English
If your native language is English, you could also start working as an online English teacher. If you work for companies or platforms, such as VIPKID, you will most likely have to show proof of any type of language certificate and/or teaching qualification. If you have that you can make about USD 20 to USD 30 per hour.
If you want to earn more, I can advise you to look for English students without an agency or company. Check out Facebook groups, create your own portfolio website, or look around online job platforms. Here you can raise your rates to up to USD 40 per hour.
4. Data Entry
The good thing about data entry jobs is that they are very flexible and can easily be done on your laptop. They also don’t need a certain degree or much experience. That makes it a great part-time remote job.
On the downside, they are not exactly the highest-paying part-time job on your laptop. But according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a data entry keyer makes about USD 16.74 per hour or USD 34,820 per year. Not the best but also not the worst payment, especially considering you don’t need a degree and it’s super flexible.
5. Website Developer
This one goes out to all web developers. This is a great remote job that can be done from anywhere, is highly flexible, and can make a very decent income. Many companies today outsource these tasks which mean there are plenty of job offerings on the market.
If you like programming websites or troubleshooting issues with existing websites, you can expect rates of about USD 50 to USD 160 per hour. I saw one guy on Upwork who charges successfully USD 499 per hour! Hallelujah!
6. Graphic Design
To everyone, who is not so much into IT jobs (like me), web development and graphic design seem very similar and many freelancers indeed offer both services. However, a graphic designer can not only focus on designing or developing website layouts but also things such as logos, email templates, presentations, and pretty much all sorts of advertisements.
How much you can charge depends on what type of graphics you are focusing on. A quick search on Upwork comes up with freelancers who charge between USD 30 and USD 70 per hour.
7. Translator
If you are fluent in a second or even a third language, you can also work as a translator. Again, this is a great part-time job that can be done online. How much you can earn depends on a few different factors, such as:
- the language pair,
- your experience and certifications,
- your niche, e.g. legal or technical translations, and
- the translation direction, i.e. from Chinese to English or from English to Chinese.
If you work for a company, you can earn between USD 24,000 to USD 40,000 a year, according to Translate Media. If you are looking for higher-paying opportunities, work as an independent contractor and find your own clients.
8. Copywriter
Don’t confuse copywriting with content writing. As a copywriter, your main goal is to sell an idea or to pitch a brand. It is more used as an advertising vehicle and therefore, specializes in short-form copy, such as press ads or headlines.
Since a good copywriter can increase the sales of a product or service immensely, they are usually well-paid. An experienced copywriter with good reviews and make between USD 50 to USD 100 per hour, according to Upwork.
9. Ads Manager
Hardly any company that sells their products or services on the internet gets along without advertisements on Google or social media. Although setting up ads sound easy at first, it can actually be extremely tricky to come up with the right settings to target your desired audience directly and cost-efficiently.
That’s why experienced ad managers for Facebook or Google are high in demand. You can either work for one of the many, many agencies out there, that provide ad services or work independently. On Upwork, you can find freelancers charging anywhere between USD 75 to USD 225 per hour.
10. Life Coach
If you want to help people on a one-on-one basis in different areas of their life, you could look into becoming a life coach. This is something that can be done completely online, part-time and it can generate a very nice income.
How much money you can make depends on:
- the niche you pick, e.g. career, spirituality, leadership, romantic relationships, or family
- your experiences and skills in that area and
- what type of certification do you have.
According to Coach Pony, you could make about USD 4,000 per client. If you take only 3 clients per month, that’s USD 144,000 per year. Definitely not too bad.
11. Virtual Bookkeeper
Virtual bookkeeping is another great part-time online job that you can do without a degree or certification. Your tasks would be, for example, creating, checking, and updating financial records, handling incoming receipts, and reimbursing employees for expenses.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, an employed bookkeeper can make about 40,000 USD a year. But again, if you work as a freelancer, you can set your own rates, and Upwork shows, that you can charge USD 50 or even USD 70 per hour.
By the way, if you need help setting your rates as a freelancer, check out the linked post. It will help you determine how much you should charge per hour or project.
12. Dropshipping
Dropshipping is another great opportunity to make money online and it can be done as a part-time job. The dropshipping experts at Shopify define it like this:
“Dropshipping is a retail fulfillment method where a store doesn’t keep the products it sells in stock. Instead, when a store sells a product, it purchases the item from a third party and has it shipped directly to the customer. As a result, the merchant never sees or handles the product.”
This means, you only take care of the marketing and customer support. The rest is handled by the company or retailer your customers buy the products from.
If you want to learn how my former client made more than USD 95,000 per month with dropshipping, check out the linked article.
13. Digital Product Creator and Seller
If you don’t want to work for clients but want to do your own thing, this might be for you. Creating and selling digital products, such as online courses, eBooks, or printables, can easily be done part-time and completely online.
How much money you can make depends on your niche, your audience, and your marketing strategy. To give you a bit of inspiration:
- Joseph Michael of EasyCourseCreation.com makes more than USD 100,000 a year with his online courses and
- Nathan Barry made over $12,000 in the first 24 hours of publishing his first eBook.
14. Affiliate Marketer
As an affiliate marketer, you basically promote other people’s products and services and get a commission for every sale that is made due to your efforts. To be able to reach many people you should have a website or blog and/over a decent-sized following on social media.
How much you can earn completely depends on the reach that you have, the commissions you get per sale, and the niche you are in. For instance, affiliates in the financial area usually get higher earnings. Tom Dupuis of Online Media Masters, as an example, makes about USD 150,000 per year with affiliate marketing only.
15. Blogging
As a blogger, you can combine several types of income. For instance:
- You can place ads on your website and get paid for that.
- You can also use affiliate marketing to promote products that are of interest to your audience.
- And you can create online products in your niche and sell them to your readers.
To get traffic (= many readers) to your blog, you can use social media marketing and learn how to do SEO (= search engine optimization) to appear on top of Google search results. Here, your income opportunities are almost endless:
- Ben and Jeff of Breaking the One Percent made USD 347,675 in two months of blogging.
- And Michelle Schroeder-Gardner of Making Sense of Cents made over USD 1,500,000 with her blog in 2018.
What Are The Best Part-Time Job Websites?
There are many great part-time job websites out there, that focus on remote jobs. Here are the most popular ones:
1. FlexJobs
FlexJobs is a brilliant job board that has thousands of flexible remote jobs with reputable companies, such as Apple, Dell, Hilton, and the American Red Cross. All posted jobs are hand-screened, which means they are totally scam-free. Due to the high quality of the job offerings, you can expect very decent payments.
Sign up with FlexJobs here or read my comprehensive review of the FlexJobs services.
2. Upwork
Upwork is an incredibly popular platform that brings together freelancers and companies. Here you can find countless job opportunities in all industries. All you need to do is to set up a profile and apply for jobs that companies are posting.
Due to the high competition, many people struggle with scoring jobs here. I’ve been using this platform, too, for a couple of years – both as a client and a freelancer. If you need more help, check out this blog post where I explain the exact steps of how I made more than USD 100,000 on Upwork.
3. Fiverr
Fiverr is similar to Upwork in that it brings freelancers and clients together. However, this platform works the other way around. You set up a profile and prices for your services. Clients can then book you if they think you are a good fit for what they need.
There is also the opportunity to apply to open job postings but I’d say the majority of income is generated the other way around. Again, be prepared for a lot of competition. But once you have a couple of good reviews, it gets easier.
Make a Full Income with a Part-Time Job
As you can see, there are quite a few high-paying part-time jobs on your laptop out there. It all depends on your skills, experiences, and preferences. There are also some very helpful part-time job websites where you can find thousands and thousands of flexible remote jobs.
If you don’t want to compete with an army of other freelancers on platforms such as Upwork or Fiverr, definitely check out FlexJobs where you can find online jobs with reputable and well-paying companies.
If you are still struggling with finding the right remote job for you, have a look at my most popular online course “Zero to Remote Work” which helps you step by step find a remote job that you love and that pays the bills.
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