Four Side Hustles to Make More Money This Holiday Season

The holiday season is around the corner, and many Americans are pinched for money.

Inflation is hovering at around 3.7 percent as the economy remains in uncertain territory. More and more Americans are taking on side gigs to help supplement their incomes, and the extra money could be especially helpful as holiday shopping ramps up.

More than 4 in 10 Americans had side hustles in 2023, according to research from careers site Zippia. The number grew during the pandemic as many Americans started to work from home and gained flexibility in their working situations.

Many Americans are still unsure how to go about finding an easy yet lucrative side hustle but many opportunities abound.

Newsweek has compiled a list of some of the best side hustles to take on as you enter this holiday season—as well as some tips from those who've made them a success.

Resell This Holiday Season

Alice Liu has made significant profits from reselling, dropshipping and posting content on TikTok.

Getting started might sound complicated, but Liu, who runs the account @alice_liuuu on TikTok, has previously shared with her followers how her side hustle could potentially earn you $50,000 before Christmas is here.

"Dropshipping was life-changing for me," Liu told Newsweek. "I was a broke college student headed down a road I didn't want anything to do with. After many failed business attempts I was able to make one work."

Now Liu has been able to scale her side hustles to a point where she makes more than a living just from the comfort of her own home. She also teaches others about dropshipping—selling items without actually having them in stock—and affiliate marketing on her TikTok.

But how do you get started?

First, look at website tools like Auto-DS to find products that many others might be looking for as gifts this holiday season. You'll add them to your Shopify store and then order them to your door.

The trick is to then advertise the items on TikTok, where you can make a profit by selling the item for three times the amount you purchased it.

"If you sell over 5,000 of these items, you can easily profit over $50,000 before Christmas," Liu said in a previous TikTok video.

Dropshipping far from guarantees a high income, as Shopify's guide makes clear. Its drawbacks can include slim profit margins, intense competition, inventory and shipping complications, and potential issues with supplier errors.

Reselling can also score you some serious profits if you become a qualified Amazon seller, and there's very little you have to do to start raking in the profits.

Mike Lorenzo, who runs the TikTok account @LorenzoFamilyDeals, is also able to support his family by finding discounted items at Walmart and Lowe's and reselling them online.

His family of six lives in North Attleborough, Massachusetts. While Lorenzo used to work as a corrections officer, he's now able to rake in more than $1,000 daily and spend more time with his family.

"More important than the financial freedom, it has allowed me to spend more time with my family," Lorenzo told Newsweek. "Do I work 16-hour days sometimes? Absolutely. But there are days that I do absolutely zero work and spend time with my family. I never miss school plays, sporting events or doctors' appointments."

To locate the best finds, Lorenzo recommends others peruse their local Walmart clearance aisles. Several items are marked down even lower than their price tags, but to find out, you need to use the Walmart app scanner.

Lorenzo also recommends those looking to resell on Amazon surround themselves with others committed to the hustle.

"Network with like-minded people," he said. "The best way to do this is by starting a social media account and finding a community of people to help you through your journey. Most of your friends and family will not understand how you can sell on Amazon and be successful. Most people are stuck believing 9-to-5 jobs are the only way to be successful."

Answer Questions Online

While this might seem too good to be true, many professionals are making extra money online by simply answering questions.

JustAnswer offers experts a chance to flaunt their knowledge and get paid the big bucks by providing an expert-on-demand platform for those seeking information. The platform covers skilled professions across 150 categories.

Say you're a trained vet, lawyer, therapist or mechanic—all you need to do to start making some extra money is create an account and get paid for every question you answer.

This side gig offers extra flexibility too, as you can answer questions entirely on live chat via your own flexible schedule.

Randall Gibbons, a retired, 75-year-old RV mechanic, is making more than $10,000 a month just by answering RV questions online.

While Gibbons initially sold his RV business a few years ago, helping people on the JustAnswer was an easy way to make extra cash in retirement.

RVs soared in popularity during the pandemic, making the demand for RV experts higher than ever.

JustAnswer receives more than 4 million questions a year, and experts earn between $2,000 to $7,000 a month.

For Gibbons, the extra side income has allowed him to follow his dream of opening a bookstore.

Nora Curl, an appraisals expert, is yet another example of success on JustAnswer.

Curl has made herself one of the top appraisal experts on the site after she started answering questions in 2012 after working as an antiques appraiser in New York City for 10 years.

Turn Your Property Into Extra Money

Another solid option to make some extra money this season is to turn your property into income. If you have a pool, backyard or even tennis or pickleball court, you might be standing on a mine of extra spending money.

While you can rent out your property by word of mouth or even on widespread social media sites like Facebook, Swimply is another platform that can make this process easier.

Using a vacation rental model, hosts, or homeowners, will list their backyard property online and easily connect with those looking to enjoy some time outside with amenities they don't have themselves.

Jim Battan, who lives in West Linn, Oregon, made $177,000 in his first two years of renting his pool.

A more traditional renting side hustle includes listing your spare room or property on Airbnb for extra income every month. No matter which one you choose, though, your customer service skills could ultimately decide your profit.

"My wife and I are very used to five-star luxury resorts, so we know what excellent customer service looks like," Battan told CNBC Make It. "Part of that is ensuring all the needs are anticipated: responding appropriately to queries, greeting [guests] with a smile and making sure that all their needs are satisfied, and then disappearing."

Make Money Off Your Skills

Side hustles can also involve profiting off your specific skills. Content writing is one option, with sites like TextBroker working to connect strong writers with writing gigs.

You will get paid on the number of words you write, with TextBroker estimating around $450 in income for around 8,000 words.

Traditionally, you can make extra money as a freelancer, which essentially means you work for a client as a writer to create specific content like blog posts or content landing pages.

Freelancers are paid by project, so depending on the amount of time you have available, this side hustle could provide as much money as you put into it.