Starting a side hustle just makes smart financial sense. Having an additional form of income doesn’t just benefit you financially, but it also allows for more creativity and individual expression of your passions. it’s no surprise, then, that so many people are turning to side hustles in 2020. Many of the most popular online side hustles in 2020 can be picked up with little or no training; Internet tools everywhere make it possible for you to pick up skills and get some practice quickly.
Should You Start a Freelance Gig as a Student?
As a student, you’re in a unique situation where you can get started with a side hustle while you’re still in school. This builds up your skills to be able to easily transfer them over when you graduate either into an employment offer or you could expand your existing business and work for yourself full-time! You can also earn extra money and have the potential to get paid more than you would with an in-person job on campus or somewhere else.
Many of the top skills that employers are looking for can be “practiced” while you’re still a student!
Virtual Assistant
A virtual assistant is someone who works in an administrative, social media, or marketing position helping to do tasks behind the scenes. As a student, this is a great opportunity to learn someone’s business and feel more confident about starting your own. Lots of entrepreneurs need virtual assistants need help to get all their tasks done and push out ongoing content. A virtual assistant is someone who pulls all those details together quickly and easily.
Expect to start earning around $15/hour as a new VA.
Bookkeeper
Do you have financial skills? Taught yourself QuickBooks? You might be a perfect fit for a virtual bookkeeper. This position has a lot of flexibility because most bookkeepers can do their work whenever it is convenient for them. Running reports and keeping a business owner of important financial tasks should be top of mind for any student who is studying finance or accounting already, so this is a good way to dip your toe in the water and get some experience before you graduate.
Writer
I can’t help but share the great opportunity to be a writer- after all, it’s what started as my side hustle while I was working on my Ph.D. And I’m the author of “How to Start Your Own Freelance Writing Business” so I know there are great up-to-date resources on teaching yourself how to work online as a writer, too! #shamelessplug.
There are a lot of different ways to niche as a writer, but some that jump to mind include:
- SEO Writing
- Copywriting
- Sales copy
- Whitepapers
- Emails
- Podcast show notes
Proofreader/Editor
If you love writing and reading but don’t want to become a writer yourself, an easy way to pick up a nice side gig as a student is to learn how to proofread. If you’ve always had a good eye for spotting a misplaced comma, use that to your advantage! A proofreader can help spot mistakes and polish final work before it goes live. You can work for other students, academics, or business owners who need support making sure that each piece of content they publish is professional and accurate.
Proofreaders typically make somewhere from $20/hour and up. Start at the low end and build up as you get more experience. Much like these other freelance jobs for students, this one is very flexible because most clients care about a deadline, not when you work! You can fit these tasks in around your schoolwork and classes so that you can stay on track with all of your goals. This is a perfect way to introduce yourself to the kind of writing you’d like to learn or work with after you graduate, too! If you’re interested in email marketing, for example, look for proofreading gigs where you can leverage that skill effectively and learn what the pros are doing in email marketing!
There are so many options out there for freelance jobs for students- you’re only limited by your imagination!
Curious to learn more about how to break into the best freelance jobs for students? Check out our free guide to the Top 25 Most Profitable Freelance Side Hustles now– learn the software, what to charge, and more!