7 Best Side Hustles For College Students

Updated on: April 29, 2024

Side Hustles For College Students: The biggest lie young people are told when they’re 18, 19, and 20 is: go to university and you’re guaranteed to get a high-paying job. This lie is drilled into them through the school system and then reinforced by parents who are stuck in the past. While it might have been true in my time, it’s not the reality anymore. Don’t get me wrong—I’m not saying that studying is a waste of time. Many degrees are very useful and the student experience is unforgettable. However, relying solely on a degree to make you rich isn’t the right approach. That’s why it’s so important for students to start some kind of side hustle that has the ability to grow into something much bigger in the future

5 Best Side Hustles For College Students

Faceless Short Form Content
Investing
Discord Building
Online Coaching
AI Animation
Reselling Luxury Items
Dopshipping

Sharing My Story

I wasn’t wealthy enough to be able to afford university, or probably academically smart enough, but I always had side hustles. Ultimately, my side hustles turned into multi-million dollar businesses and made me a millionaire. That’s why today I’m going to dive into seven side hustle students can start this year. To be honest, this can actually apply to anyone, anywhere in the world. And because I hate those silly content that just regurgitate the same list of side hustle ideas, I’m actually going to share real-life examples of people smashing it and rate them out of five in these important categories: how much time it takes to learn, how much money you need, and how difficult it is to make $1,000 per month.

1. Side Hustle Idea: Faceless Short Form Content

Like many of you, he started using social media for fun at the age of 13. Now, at 16, he’s earning half a million dollars every single month creating short form content on Snapchat without even showing his face. It sounds unbelievable, but it’s completely true. My son Curtis actually bumped into him at LAX airport, and after doing some research, I can assure you he’s not capping. So why can you make so much money doing this? Well, at the moment, there’s a huge war going on between Snapchat, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.

During the pandemic, TikTok became so popular and grabbed the attention of the world. Since then, all the different social media platforms have been competing for this attention, as the more eyes they have on their app, the more money they can make from advertisers. Stick with me, because this is where it all starts coming together. The one thing these platforms need more than anything else is content creators. And what attracts the best creators better than anything else? Money. Because we all like a little bit of that. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

But once a platform is established at the top, competition will decrease along with the payouts. So you’ll need to jump in on this one quickly if you want to be making close to half a million dollars a month just like Daniel. The people that have paid the most are those that create original content rather than just cutting up other people’s content from YouTube. Daniel does this by using existing videos, but then adding different voiceovers, music, and edits. This strategy, combined with consistent posting, led to extreme growth. [Side Hustles For College Students]

He then expanded with multiple channels in various niches to attract diverse audiences. So, for example, one of his channels is about rapper updates, and the other is focused on live streamers. Now, for those important ratings:

How much time does it take to learn? I’ll give this a 4 out of 5. Although making short clips may seem quick and easy, there’s a lot more that goes into it than you might first think. Saying this, if you regularly watch TikTok or shorts, then you’ll be better prepared than most. Creating short-form clips is a lot more about understanding human psychology than it is about fancy editing. If you can create a great hook and build towards some kind of payoff at the end, you’ll increase the watch time. This is the only trick you need to know if you want your videos to go viral and earn you lots of money. Trust me, I managed to get 7 million followers on TikTok using this exact strategy. The best way to teach yourself this is to watch short-form content on a daily basis. Make it part of your routine. This might sound different from what many people my age will tell you, but I’m not talking about using it for entertainment. Every time you stop and watch a short, I want you to ask yourself a simple question: What intrigued me enough to stop scrolling and watch the whole thing? Make a list in your notes app, and before you know it, you’ll have a ton of different winning ideas.
Secondly, how much money do you need? I’ll give this one out of five because if you have a phone and an internet connection, then you can get started. And if you’re watching this video, then I’d assume you’ve got both of those things.
Thirdly, how easy is it to make $1,000 per month? I’ll give this a 1 out of 5. As I mentioned, social media platforms are handing out cash like there’s no tomorrow. Just think, to make $1,000 a month, all you’d have to do is be 0.2% as good as Daniel. Now, if you don’t think that’s achievable, then you need to believe in yourself a bit more.

2. Side Hustle Idea: Investing

A lot of people are going to disagree with me on this one as it’s technically not a side hustle. However, it makes me around about $177,000 per week, so I thought it was definitely worth a mention. It’s taken me a lot of years to build up to that. However, I’ve managed to do it all on my own without a financial advisor charging me commission on every investment. It’s really not as complicated as people make out. Of course, I’m not a financial advisor, and investments can go up as well as down. [Side Hustles For College Students]

But my dollar-cost averaging strategy has worked wonders for me over the years. This is when you consistently buy into the market no matter if it’s high or low. Over time, the price you buy the stock at averages. Now, you can do this with pretty much any stock you want. However, the real secret weapon has to be index funds. If you were to invest $200 a month for 40 years and get an average return of 10% per year, then you’ll have over $1.2 million. I know what you’re thinking: how on earth am I going to make a 10% return? Well, of course, past results are no guarantee of future returns. However, over the last 10 years, the average annual return of the S&P 500 was 11%.

But I don’t want to wait 40 years to become a millionaire. This is exactly how you should be thinking. I didn’t want to wait until I was old and gray either. I went out and made quick money through my side hustles, started a business, and made millions, all while investing around half of my earnings and multiplying it in the stock market. It’s not a choice between one or the other. You really should consider doing both at the same time. Now, let’s get on to the ratings.

Firstly, how much time does investing take to learn? I’ll give this a 1 out of 5, because as I said, the basics are extremely simple. I’ve got multiple videos on my channel breaking down the core concepts like passive income, the different types of accounts to open, and my favorite index funds. Once you master the tricky words, you’ll see that it’s really simple, especially with different investment apps allowing you to automate your investments every single month. So you don’t even have to think about them. My favorite for this kind of thing is Trading 212, so I reached out to them to see if they’d be interested in sponsoring this section of the video. They agreed and are also offering a free stock worth up to £100 to anyone that uses the code “tilb” when they create an account and deposit as little as £1. If you’re a beginner, then definitely check out their pies feature, as you can have a look at what other people are investing their money in and then either create your own pie or just copy theirs. You can then set it to auto-invest for you as often as you like, and your money will be split between the different stocks in your pie.
Secondly, how much money do you need? I’ll give this a 1 out of 5, because you can start with as little as $1. I don’t suggest you put all of your money into stocks, though. Make sure you’re investing it back into your side hustle as well.
Thirdly, how easy is it to make $1,000 per month? I’ll give this a 1 out of 5. For me, I don’t have to do anything. It’s just easy. However, it took me a lot of years of consistency to get to this stage. In my opinion, investing should always be paired with a side hustle that generates you fast money.

Also Read: Top 5 High-Income Skills In Tech In 2024, According To Indeed

3. Side Hustle Idea: Discord Building

This is Chris Peters, and he’s on track to make $115,000 a month from building and managing Discord servers, and he’s only 19 years old. I remember first chatting with Chris a couple of years ago. He must have been about 17 at the time. I had just started my free Discord group and had absolutely no idea what I was doing. He messaged me and offered to help me for free, so I took him up on that offer, and he completely revamped my server.

By the way, I am still running the free Discord group, and I’ll drop a link in the description below if you want to join us. Over the years, I’ve been more and more impressed with Chris’s work ethic and quick thinking. So it’s fair to say I’m not letting him work for free anymore. If you don’t know, Discord is basically this all-in-one communication hub with text, voice, and video chats. It started off just for gamers, but now it’s pretty versatile, used by all sorts of communities and businesses.

There’s a huge opportunity here, because as the usage of Discord increases, there are people like me a few years ago who have no idea how to operate it. It’s complex enough to confuse a beginner, particularly those of an older generation, but simple enough for a youngster to learn in a short amount of time. I mean, Chris started his Discord business while he was still at school, sitting his GCSE exams, and I was one of his first clients. Just remember to offer huge value upfront before asking for any kind of payment. If you do good work and make yourself indispensable, you’ll start earning big. Now, it’s time for those ratings. [Side Hustles For College Students]

Firstly, how much time does Discord take to learn? I’d give this a 2.5 out of 5, as you can get to grips with the basics in a couple of hours. However, to do the really complicated stuff, it may take a bit longer depending on how tech-savvy you are. I asked Chris for his top tip for learning Discord skills, and he said it’s important to join multiple communities. This way, you can learn what makes a successful server.
Secondly, how much money do you need? I’d rate this a 1 out of 5. You can get started with just your computer, although finding clients, planning community features, and customizing the Discord server to fit your client’s niche may take time. In the early days, you should be able to manage all of this stuff yourself.
Thirdly, how easy is it to make $1,000 per month? I’d rate this a 1 out of 5. Let’s look at the numbers now. Assuming you can find four clients and put them on a monthly retainer, you’d only have to charge them $250 each, and boom, that’s $1,000 a month right there. And honestly, if you find the right clients, you should be able to charge them much more than this.

4. Side Hustle Idea: Online Coaching

This is Jack Jefferson. He decided to quit his $70,000 9 to 5 in London to pursue his online fitness coaching side hustle full-time, as it had started generating him $7,000 a month. Now, you may be thinking, that’s only $114,000 more than his full-time job in London. However, now he has something even more valuable: freedom. He can now operate his side hustle from anywhere in the world, as long as he has an internet connection, so he can check in with his clients and review their progress. Jefferson Training now has over 40 clients and is growing by the month.

I get that not everyone is a gym expert, and this might seem a little niche. However, notice how the title of this idea isn’t “online fitness coaching.” It’s “online coaching.” That’s because there are countless things you can teach people online and get the same results as Jack. From my travels to Dubai and Miami recently, all the young millionaires I meet seem to be coming from the online coaching space. They all have some kind of info product, and they’re earning thousands.

It’s honestly an absolute goldmine. I’ve only started to notice this recently, as most of the millionaires I bumped into before this had their own physical products, like me with my range of radio control models. The world is absolutely changing. People really value online support and expertise. This industry just didn’t exist when I was younger. Now, it’s time for those ratings.

Firstly, how much time does online coaching take to learn? I’ll give this a 2 out of 5, because if you already have a skill people are willing to pay for, then all you need to learn is how to package it up and sell it. Once you’ve created this process, you can then rinse and repeat the formula. To get you thinking, here’s what Jack does: he starts off by conducting an in-depth onboarding session to understand the needs and goals of each client. He then crafts personalized nutrition plans, detailing breakfast, lunch, and dinner, alongside tailored fitness plans, specifying both training and resting days. He then sets up regular check-ins where he guides his clients through video feedback. I hope you can see how something like this can be easily adapted to lots of different types of coaching. I think the key to making good money relatively quickly is to offer a degree of personalization, rather than just selling an online course, as people are pretty sick of those.
Secondly, how much money do you need? I’d rate this a 1 out of 5, as all you need is your laptop and you’re good to go. Of course, this does assume you have some kind of skill you can teach. It might cost you a bit more if you have to learn a skill first.
Thirdly, how easy is it to make $1,000 per month? I’d rate this a 1 out of 5 on the difficulty scale. As from what I’ve seen, this is incredibly easy. People are lazy, so although they could probably learn this stuff from a book, they don’t want to spend the time doing that. They would much rather spend some money and be spoon-fed the information. Remember, people pay for convenience.

5. Side Hustle Idea: AI Animation

This is Mercy. He’s responsible for all the animations you see on my channel, and he’s making $8 to $110,000 per month creating these for multiple clients. This side hustle is really interesting, as AI is the biggest thing to happen to technology since the internet. Just think how many billionaires that created. Despite the ongoing buzz, you might be surprised how few businesses have actually begun to use it. You see, there are five stages to technology adoption, and they look like this. First, you have the early innovators, which make up 2.5% of the people.

They are the people that are willing to take a risk and go against the grain. They’d go out and buy the Samsung Fold or the new Apple Vision Pro on its first initial release. Second, we have the early adopters, making up 13.5% of the population. Similar to innovators, they’re willing to take a risk, however, they prefer to test the product before forming an opinion and recommending it to others. Thirdly, we have the early majority, which is 34% of the population. These are the people that look at the product reviews before making a purchase. They want to see proof of it working before committing to it. This is the line where I believe we currently are with AI, at the very first stage of early majority adoption. [Side Hustles For College Students]

This is followed by the late majority, making up another 34%, and finally, the laggards, which is a surprising 16%. When you get to my age, you’ll find that most people are in the laggard category. They like sticking with what they know, and they really don’t want to learn anything new. Now, here’s the important thing. Whether you like it or not, AI will go through this cycle. So let me ask you this very simple question: would you rather embrace it now, or wait for everyone else to get the benefits and end up having to use it anyway? There are so many creative ways to use AI, but let’s go back to Mercy for a solid example. He uses tools like ChatGPT to help him script ideas out, and then uses Maya to bring his ideas to life. Let’s get into the ratings.

I’d give this a 4 out of 5, although AI can do a lot of the heavy lifting for you, Mercy still devoted months to mastering top-notch animation skills, which helped him land clients and build relationships that keep the cash flowing in. So I’d recommend mastering the core principles of animation and actively participating in industry networks to keep refining your skills.
Secondly, how much money do you need? I’d give this a 1 out of 5, because we’re at an early stage in the adoption curve. It doesn’t take a lot of expensive tools to stand out. When Mercy first started his side hustle, he managed to get featured on Andrew Tate’s Instagram story because of some AI artwork he created. This gave him all the free promotion he needed to build a strong client base. This just shows that you don’t need a lot of cash right now to make an impact.
Thirdly, how easy is it to make $1,000 per month? I’d give this a 1 out of 5. As online creators are getting more and more popular, there is more money flooded into the space. Creators want to stand out, and by adding animations, it’s a great way to make their videos look more premium and engaging. So get started now, and get so far ahead that the late adopters can never catch you.

6. Side Hustle Idea: Reselling Luxury Items

This is Ben Gallagher, a normal lad who started reselling luxury items online as a side hustle. In 2023, he generated £7.2 million through his business, Lux Collective, and even recently appeared on Dragon’s Den, which is a bit like Shark Tank, and received investment from Steven Bartley in exchange for a 3% equity stake. I’m so proud of how far he’s come since appearing on my old podcast years ago. The luxury resale market saw a whopping $39.23 billion in 2023, so it’s no surprise that Ben is having so much success. The growing millennial population is driving a lot of this interest in luxury resale, along with social media culture increasing the importance of flexing designer labels. Reselling is a really cool side hustle, as now, with the internet, you’re able to sell to anyone in the world, giving you access to a global marketplace. So let’s look at the ratings. [Side Hustles For College Students]

Firstly, how much time does reselling take to learn? I’d give this a 2.5 out of 5. Learning how to identify valuable items and understanding the trends in luxury goods can take some time, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes much easier. Ben recommends starting small and working your way up, as this will help you learn the ropes without risking too much money.
Secondly, how much money do you need? I’d rate this a 2.5 out of 5, because while you do need some initial capital to buy your first batch of items, you can start with as little as a few hundred dollars. Just make sure to reinvest your profits to grow your inventory over time.
Thirdly, how easy is it to make $1,000 per month? I’d rate this a 2.5 out of 5. It can take some time to build up your reputation and find the right products to sell, but once you establish yourself in the market, making $1,000 per month is definitely achievable.

7. Side Hustle Idea: Dropshipping

This is Danny Buckley. He went from struggling to make ends meet as a waiter to earning £180,000 in his first year of dropshipping. Like many people, Danny was drawn to dropshipping because of its low barrier to entry and the potential for high profits. Dropshipping involves selling products to customers without holding any inventory yourself. Instead, when a customer makes a purchase, you buy the product from a third-party supplier who then ships it directly to the customer. This means you can start an online store with little to no upfront investment. While dropshipping can be a lucrative side hustle, it’s important to note that it’s not without its challenges. You’ll need to invest time and effort into marketing your store and finding profitable products to sell. However, if you’re willing to put in the work, dropshipping can be a great way to make money online. Let’s dive into the ratings.

Firstly, how much time does dropshipping take to learn? I’d give this a 3 out of 5. While the concept of dropshipping is relatively simple, there’s a lot to learn when it comes to setting up and running a successful online store. You’ll need to familiarize yourself with e-commerce platforms, marketing strategies, and product sourcing methods. However, there are plenty of resources available online to help you get started.
Secondly, how much money do you need? I’d rate this a 3 out of 5. While dropshipping requires less upfront investment than traditional retail, you’ll still need some capital to cover expenses like website hosting, advertising, and product costs. However, you can start small and reinvest your profits to grow your business over time.
Thirdly, how easy is it to make $1,000 per month? I’d rate this a 3 out of 5. Making $1,000 per month with dropshipping is definitely achievable, but it will require consistent effort and effective marketing strategies. You’ll need to research your target market, optimize your website for conversions, and test different advertising channels to find what works best for your store.

Conclusion:

Overall, these seven side hustle ideas offer a range of opportunities for students and anyone else looking to earn extra income. Whether you’re interested in creating content, investing, coaching, animation, luxury resale, or dropshipping, there’s something for everyone. [Side Hustles For College Students] The key is to find a side hustle that aligns with your interests, skills, and financial goals, and then put in the time and effort to make it a success. With dedication and perseverance, you can turn your side hustle into a profitable business and achieve financial freedom.