Best side hustle ideas to start in 2024 (UK Edition)

Looking to start a new career? Or maybe you’re looking to embrace your entrepreneurial spirit and start your own business. Or maybe you’d like to boost your monthly take home with some extra income. We’ve listed the best side hustle ideas to start in 2024 as inspiration for your journey to entreneurship.

A side hustle is a source of extra income made outside of a primary full-time job. Recently, side hustles have become popular due to a rise in the gig economy, a rapidly changing economic landscape and a growing demand for flexible income streams. 

There’s also a growing need for remote side hustles, so this article mainly covers home-based side hustles in the UK. Remote side hustle work means you maintain the flexibility of working from home and a good work-life balance, therefore ideal if you’re a stay-at-home parent or a student.

There are so many different side hustle ideas you could try, but this article includes the best ones for 2024 including:

• Freelancing in your industry

• Side hustles in your local area

• Online work

• Managing your income with Countingup

Work in an industry like marketing, graphic design or project management? There might be an opportunity for you to pick up freelance contracts outside of your full-time job. This is a great way to start your side hustle career – you already have the skills to do the job. 

Unfortunately, this side hustle route might not be open to you. Some industries may not offer freelance roles. Some workplaces have non-compete clauses that legally prohibit you from working in competition with your employer – some even for several months after you’ve left the company. 

Top tip: If you’re considering becoming a freelancer within your industry, you’ll need to check your contract and make sure you’re not in violation before you start.

Many businesses started by selling goods and services in their local area – think bakers, gardeners, dog walkers and handymen. There are many different side hustle ideas you could start in your local area.

Have a passion for food? Maybe you’re an avid baker or enjoy making healthy food prep. Lots of people have become successful selling food and drink in their local area via delivery services. 

Baking items like cakes and sweet treats for weddings, birthdays or graduations can be a lucrative way to earn extra income. There’s so much scope in the food industry. Food trucks and stalls are increasingly popular and can be a good side job in the UK for someone who’d eventually like to expand into a restaurant or shop.

If you have a car or bike, becoming a driver or delivery person can be an easy way to earn extra income. If you need to work part-time, this could work out well for you.

Food delivery apps like Uber or Deliveroo are always looking for delivery drivers or riders to help get takeaways from restaurant to door. Then there are also delivery companies like Evri or Amazon that also require drivers to deliver parcels. 

A great side hustle idea is walking dogs or pet sitting in your local area – especially if you’re an animal lover! Lots of households have dogs (and other animals) but people have to work during the day and sometimes go on holiday, therefore there’s an opportunity to help out and earn extra money.

Therefore, walking and pet sitting services can be great ways to break the 9-5 – all while enjoying the company of a furry friend. If you’re interested, we have a guide available here with everything you need to know.

Lots of typical gardening tasks like mowing lawns, removing weeds or cutting hedges can be done by almost anyone. If this is your cup of tea, it’s worth flyering or speaking to people in your local area who may need help around the garden – this will help generate interest and awareness of your business. But gardening work is seasonal, you might struggle to maintain work during winter.

People are always looking for extra help around the house so offering cleaning services is a great way to pick up extra income. There’s an opportunity to clean houses, or even move into commercial cleaning for offices, factories or retail units. 

Top tip: If you’re unsure where to start, joining an agency might be the best option, then you could move into a private service run by you.

Love fitness or sports? There are lots of side hustle ideas in this space – think refereeing, coaching for children, yoga teaching or personal training.

People usually attend clubs or activities after work or on the weekend so they’re perfect to fit around your full-time job. But you’ll need to find your niche – pick a sport you’re passionate about and build up from there. 

Make-up and hair services are always in high demand, especially for weddings and events, but you’ll need a high level of skill to make this a successful side hustle. If this is something you’re interested in, it’s worth investing in training to help get you up and running.

Taking on babysitting jobs for local parents is a great side hustle idea for students or people looking to earn extra money on evenings or weekends around their 9-5 job. The hours are flexible and there’s no shortage of parents looking for help!

People are always looking for educational support and tutoring services, especially if they’re studying for an exam or qualification. You could find clients locally via schools, local groups and pages or there are sites available to help you find work. 

In recent years, there has been a rise in demand for digital products. If you’re skilled in social media marketing or virtual assisting, you could sell digital courses, tools and guides to help educate others in the industry. Additionally, if you have a large social media following, this could be a great online job and passive income stream for you.

If you know a thing or two about social media marketing, this one’s for you. There are tonnes of businesses looking for support with their social media content. If you’re confident running Facebook and Instagram campaigns, reaching out to businesses to see if they’re looking for help is a great place to start growing your social media business.

You can make extra income by reselling items you no longer use, like clothes, furniture or homeware. There’s a huge market for second-hand goods right now as people are becoming more environmentally conscious. It’s also a great way to clear out your home and earn some extra income. You can sell used goods on platforms like Vinted, Depop, eBay, Facebook Marketplace and Gumtree.

A list of second-hand goods to sell online:

• Jewellery and accessories, like bags and shoes

• Branded clothing that no longer fits or suits your wardrobe

• Electronic goods like phones, laptops, tablets or home appliances

• Furniture and home furnishings like wall art or ornaments

• Garden tools and equipment

• Collectables and memorabilia

• Sporting goods like weight sets, bikes or workout equipment

Another popular way of earning extra income is through upcycling items – especially furniture. If you have items around you that you can revamp and freshen up with a lick of paint and some new handles, you might be able to attract an even larger audience.

If you have artistic or technical talent, you could design and create art products to sell online through a platform like Etsy. You could also set up a TikTok or Instagram to showcase and sell your products to people around the world.

Many businesses need help with admin as they grow, and virtual assistants do just that. Virtual assistants help business owners with social media accounts, email inboxes and diary management or can proofread documents before they publish. There are a few different ways to find work opportunities – websites like Fiverr or Upwork are a good place to start. It’s a great business to start if you’d like to work from home or do part-time hours as you can usually do this role out of usual working hours.

Signing up to test products or websites from other businesses can be a fun and engaging way to earn money. It’s simple – enter your details into testing platforms like Clicks Research or Toluna, enter some demographic details, and you’ll receive products or links to websites to test. In return, you often get to keep your freebie and will receive a payment for your trouble.

There are also other ways you can make money through side hustles. One way is by becoming a mystery shopper on platforms like Mystery Shoppers. Here, you’ll visit shops in person to review the experience. Another easy side hustle idea is to regularly use cashback websites and apps when you make a purchase online. This means you’re being rewarded for purchases you’d make anyway. Win-win!

Another gig opportunity to make extra income is to start a blog. The start up costs for a blog are low and it’s a flexible, online job that you can do part-time around your other working commitments. It’s easy to do when you work from home and can be monetised through affiliate marketing links, display ads and businesses using your space to display their sponsored posts.

You can earn some extra money by taking online surveys. It takes very little effort, you can do it in your spare time and work from home. It might not be the most high paying but it’s an easy side job to have in the UK.

You can take surveys through websites like Swagbucks, YouGov, Branded Surveys, Prolific Academic and Qmee.

With the gig and side hustle economy rapidly growing, people are exploring more creative side hustle ideas to supplement their primary income. It’s also a great way to explore entrepreneurship, a passion or hobby and develop new skills. 

If you’re about to earn money through one of these gigs, you’ll likely need to register as a sole trader and use a financial management app like Countingup to manage your new income.

About us: Countingup is the business account full of small wins. When you sign up, you’ll have full access to our built-in financial, accounting and tax management features – everything you need to run a small business. Countingup automates financial admin, things like expense categorisation, tax reminders and real-time profit and loss. Find out more here and sign up for a 3 month trial today.