When you are starting a new business idea, supporting yourself financially can be tough. Since you may be building your business from the ground up and still attempting to land clients, you will need a way to pay the bills while making your dream a reality.

While the smartest choice you can make is to save up before starting a new project, you can also find various ways to bring in extra income while working on your passion.

To help you find additional streams of income, here are the six most lucrative side gigs you can start when you’re getting your business off the ground.

Pick Up a Part Time Position

Depending on the amount of free time you have, picking up a part time position can be a helpful way to make a good amount of money while building your business.

You can often find flexible part time positions in the restaurant or retail industry. Consider taking a position at your local bookstore, coffeeshop or even cafe. These jobs will not only offer suitable hours, but will allow you to interact and meet new people.

We all know that working on a project can become lonely and isolating. Having a part time job will not only allow you to bring in a nice paycheck, but will allow you to take some much needed space away from your business.

Most part time jobs offer anywhere from $9-$11 per hour at around 20 hours per week. This means you can accumulate $180-220 per week or $720-880 per month. Additionally, you could always pick up extra shifts or even find a higher paying part time gig – the possibilities are vast.

Join Freelancing Job Sites

Another lucrative side gig you can start is to join freelancing job sites such as UpWork or Freelancer.

These platforms have various types of jobs and skill sets for almost any type of professional. From creative services to business models, accounting and assisting – it seems next to impossible that you wouldn’t be able to find a selection of jobs suited for you.

Using freelancing job sites is a great way to utilize your abilities to make extra income. In fact, some full time freelancers use these platforms exclusively and maintain lucrative clients and contracts. Create a profile on multiple platforms and begin to search for positions and jobs that pertain to your knowledge and insight.

While freelancing on these websites comes down to the quality of clients you obtain, you could easily make a few extra hundred dollars a month and even into the thousands.

Offer Various Services  – Babysitting, Dog Walking, Uber and More!

An additional method to make extra income is to offer a specific service. For example, maybe you have years of babysitting and child care experience. You could easily find a part time babysitting job that fits your schedule. Maybe you work on your business in the morning, pick up the child from school and return home in the late evening to continue your project.

Or you could also consider a service such as dog walking or house sitting. Both services can bring in lucrative amounts of money if you market yourself properly. Using either word of mouth or sites such as Rover for pet sitting, could open up the doors to offering your services to friends, family and acquaintances.

There are even services that you can start without any prior experience. Such as being a personal shopper, picking up groceries through app based services, being a delivery person for a restaurant or if you have a clean driving record, you could consider becoming an Uber or Lyft driver.

There are a handful of service based industries looking for people to start right away. Cull through your options and choose the one that is best for your schedule and previous working experience.

Sell Your Clothes and Possessions

We can all admit that we probably have more stuff than we actually need.  In order to help you clean out your closet and purge your life of unnecessary excess, you could sell your clothes, possessions and various items to make some extra money.

Selling your clothes online has never been easier with applications such as Depop. Also, you can always consult your local trade-in and consignment shop to avoid having to ship out your items to potential buyers.

To sell your possessions, you can host a garage sale or use the slew of selling applications available on your mobile device such as Offer Up. Choose the one that seems to be most popular in your area, snap a few images and post your item to sell.

Finally, if you have collectibles or technological gear, Ebay is a great marketplace for selling. Depending on the items you have, you can quickly sell, make some extra cash and have it directly deposited into your bank account.

Become a Virtual Assistant

Another side gig that goes along the lines of freelancing is becoming a virtual assistant. Many busy business owners seek personal assistants to help them with their various tasks and projects. Now, with many tasks being able to be completed online – there has been a rise of virtual assistant positions available.

Whether you are hired to answer emails, organize databases or even select images – there are various virtual assistant jobs available in every industry. You can usually find these types of jobs through freelancing boards as well as through social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter.

If you know someone who is running a business and needs an extra hand, consider reaching out and pitching them the idea of becoming their virtual assistant. The best way to land a side gig is to employ all your available resources and connections.

Teach English or Any Other Language Online

The final way you can make extra money is by teaching English or any other language online.

Teaching English online is often done through specific programs that connect you with students all over the world. Primarily an industry that focuses on Asia, you could connect with students in China, Japan or Thailand and teach them the basics of the English language. T

hese companies are always looking for native English speakers and usually have an easy start up process that takes little to no time to begin.

Once you have been accepted by a program, they will give you the option of how many classes you would want to teach and a rate for each class. You can make your own schedule as long as you adhere to the time zone of where your students are based.

Teaching online can be a good way to make a few hundred dollars per month and even well into the thousands depending on the amount you teach and how many programs you are a part of. In addition to the fiscal gain, teaching another language is a rewarding experience that allows you to connect and build cultural ties with people from around the world.

If you are fluent in another language other than or in addition to English, you can also teach this online through programs and Skype sessions. Additionally, you could also offer your language services for translation, a service that compensates well. 

Finding lucrative side gigs is easier than you may have thought. While some positions will require a bit more time and dedication, there are plenty of opportunities that will fit your intended schedule and financial needs. Whether you focus on one side hustle or combine several options together, these are each effective and beneficial ways to make extra money while building your business.