The fastest way to pay off debt or build savings is to earn more money. If you have the time and the grit, here are 10 side businesses anyone can start.

You can only cut your spending so much. The fastest way to a bigger bank account and eventually financial freedom is earning more money.

If you want to get serious about starting a business – perhaps online like “Money Under 30” and thousands of other successful blogs, courses, and membership sites – you should remember that growing an online business takes time.

If you’re looking for a quicker win, you can just start pitching services and grab some business on the side. Here are ten businesses / side hustles you could get going pretty quickly without much of an investment.

1.  Concierge service

If you live in an affluent area, you would be amazed at what some people are willing to pay to not have to do boring chores themselves.

From grocery shopping to dry cleaning runs to booking travel and doctor’s appointments, you can become a personal assistant to the super-busy, and super-rich.

2. Mobile auto detailing

How many people do you know who have decent cars but drive around with buckets of junk in the backseat and French fries stuck to the floor mats? Gross.

With a vacuum cleaner you may already own and a few cheap bottles of automotive cleaning products, you can offer to come to anyone’s home or work and make their car’s interior look like new. Professional shops can charge up to $100 or more for this service.

3. Dog walking or pet sitting

If you love animals, there are plenty of people who will pay you to watch after their critters for a few hours. Depending on your schedule, this could be a part-time gig or very full-time, and you could probably start working without spending a dime.

4. Fact-checking and research

Did you know that nearly every major magazine and many websites obsessively check and re-check every fact and source in their story?

Best of all, very few employ in-house researchers to do this critical task. Yes, it’s tedious, but it only requires a laptop and a telephone!

5. Bookkeeping

Bookkeeping and accounting are perhaps one of the most in-demand services that small businesses will farm out to part-time freelancers. And you don’t need to be a CPA to keep a company’s books – most of this work is routine data entry and paying bills.

No experience? You can find evening or online training pretty easily.

6. Association manager

Every day, people form new professional networks, community associations, or groups of like-minded hobbyists. The only problem is groups like these take a lot of administrative work to maintain. 

There are websites to build and update, newsletters to write, dues to collect, meetings and events to schedule, and mailing lists to maintain. Think you’re up to the task? By creating templates and protocols, you could easily begin managing several groups and start taking in the dough.

7. Property manager

The grown-up version of classic teenage jobs like shoveling snow and mowing lawns, property managers help small to medium-sized landlords everywhere take care of their real estate. The responsibilities can vary, from simply taking calls from tenants and arranging for maintenance to doing the fixing and landscaping yourself. If you want to go full-service, you can even offer to show apartments, screen tenants, and collect the rent.

8. Sports or activity clinics

Were you a slugger on your college baseball team? Are you a great golfer? An artist or a musician? Start evening, weekend, or summer clinics for local youth to learn. Parents are always looking for enrichment activities for their children and are more than happy to pay you for a day – or several – without their kids.

9. Clutter consultant

Have a knack for organization? Another great business opportunity in more affluent areas, you can work as a clutter consultant to help people rid themselves of crap and regain their living space. FYI, this would pair nicely with a junk removal service!

10. An online blog, course, or membership site

Okay, you knew I’d have to include this one! If you’ve got something you love to write about, you can earn extra money – or even launch a full-time business – on the internet. Although I went the blogging route, it’s getting increasingly difficult to just throw up a blog and start collecting advertising checks. Today’s online entrepreneurs are finding faster (and bigger) success by creating smaller amounts of premium material and charging for that content as a course, ebook, or membership site.

© David Weliver. All Rights Reserved.