SMALL BUSINESS IDEAS

summary

1. Drive for a ridesharing service.
Leading the way in new taxi services are
companies like Lyft and Uber . A
NerdWallet survey of 14 large markets
found that the average Uber driver makes
about $16 in pretax income for each ride.
That's well above the minimum wage. If
you own a car and live in a city where one
of these companies operates, consider
driving others for some extra cash.
2. Deliver your favorite foods.
While you can always snag a pizza
delivery job, try earning some extra cash
on your own schedule by delivering
restaurant meals for a company like
DoorDash , which operates in seven U.S.
metropolitan areas, and Caviar , which
operates in 12 U.S. cities.
3. Become a personal shopper.
Need a break from driving people (or
meals) around, so you can stretch your
legs? Companies like Instacart will pay
you to grocery shop for their customers. If
you're a resident of Boston, San
Francisco, Denver or one of the other 12
major cities where Instacart operates, you
can apply to become a shopper on your
own time and earn up to $25 an hour.
4. Do some odd jobs.
Consider signing up to be a "Tasker" in
one of the 19 metro areas where
TaskRabbit operates. Take your talents
beyond your circle of family and friends
and earn money doing tasks or running
errands for your neighbors and local
businesses.
If you're good at...
5. Writing-be a freelance writer.
Put your creativity and writing skill to use
on Elance . Freelance writing is a great
way to build your resume while making
money.
6. Math-be a tutor.
If you're hoping to land a job in a
technical field, you might not want to let
your math skills get too rusty. Consider
giving lessons to the neighborhood
children, offering your math skills to
friends and family, or joining an online
tutoring service like InstaEDU .
7. Photography-submit your photos.
You might not be the next Peter Parker,
but consider submitting your snaps of
current events to newspapers or photo
contest blogs in exchange for a small
reward.
8. Illustrating-do graphic design.
You'll need to build a robust portfolio of
your work if you're hoping to turn your
artistic passion into a full-time job. If you
were an art major in college, you're
probably almost there, but it can't hurt to
add to your portfolio while you look for
something more permanent. Take on the
occasional job designing logos, websites
and illustrations for businesses through
freelance sites such as Designcrowd .
If you want to work from home...
9. Join a focus group.
Get paid to share your opinions with
companies looking for people to
participate in market research and focus
groups. You'll have the flexibility to work
in person or online on a schedule that
works for you.
10. Sign up for Mechanical Turk.
If you're looking for an easy way to earn a
bit of cash online, taking on simple tasks
-like writing user reviews and answering
business surveys-on Amazon's
Mechanical Turk service is a simple way
to make money on the side.
11. Complete projects on oDesk.
Put the skills you learned in college to use
while you look for a permanent job by
doing tasks such as data entry, website
design or market research. On sites like
oDesk , businesses post available projects,
and you select which ones you can do
based on your experience and the time
you're willing to commit to the project.
12. Freelance your skills.
If you're looking for a flexible gig that
goes beyond the busy work of most side
jobs, consider joining a freelance
marketplace, such as Guru or
Peopleperhour.com , where you can build
your personal brand by completing large
and small projects on your own time.
Whether you graduated with a degree in
marketing or computer science, or just
want to expand on a skill you're
passionate about, doing some freelance
work is a sure way to pad your resume
during a job search.