Looking for Some Extra Money on the Side? Can't Go Wrong with These Gigs!

• Author: Bryan Miller
• Posted: 2023-02-07

In the COVID-19 economy, gig work has been getting continually more popular. The flexibility combined with earnings potential draws people of all ages and abilities. Many people will give the suggestion to "try out some gig work" without really specifying what work they mean.

Here are a few gigs that you and your friends could try out to see if they click for you. You may be able to kiss your nine to five job good bye!

Ride Sharing

Ride sharing is a popular way to earn money on the side for many people. However, ride sharing giants have been offering more and more bonuses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal of these financial bonuses is to draw more drivers in to working for the companies full time.

A few years ago, ride sharing was seen as a temporary money maker. Now, in most populated areas, it could actually serve as a career. The only thing to keep in mind is that you'd have to file taxes as a contractor which can get pretty pricey!

Healthcare Professional Training

Ever since COVID-19 hit, healthcare companies have been in a bind to get more employees. There just aren't ever enough nurses to take care of burgeoning hospital populations. Because of this shortage, many hospitals and corporations have begun to offer incentives to those interested in these professions.

For example, many community hospitals offer free nursing education to interns at them. These jobs can easily rake in far above the average salary. On top of that, you'd also be doing society and the corporation for which you work a huge favor!

Package Delivery

As much of the population has become used to staying at home, there are far less in-person meetings than there were before. As such, many startups have begun offering in-town package delivery services. These are perfect for the Christmas season and for birthdays. Quite often, these get delivered the very same day!

Because of the urgency on time and the limited quantity of drivers, local delivery services often charge customers lots of money to have even the smallest packages shipped. You can get a piece of the pie yourself by signing up for one. Remember, services like Uber require drivers to have cars of recent model years that are kept up well. For delivery, this requirement doesn't exist, opening it up to more diverse groups of people.

Grocery Shopping

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, grocery shopping businesses like Instacart really took off. These businesses helped customers who feared COVID-19 infections to lessen, but not completely remove, of course, the risk of such infection. Even after the pandemic subsided, customers realized how easy this form of shopping was.

Grocery shopping isn't really a task many people look forward to, but it can pay fairly well, especially when you combine your earnings from the provider with tips you receive from customers. Often, you'll be able to get orders from multiple customers at the same store, packing in multiple trips into one. However, you'll still be able to collect payment as though you made those multiple trips!

This industry is still growing up, so there are plenty of contractor positions in it where you just may land a great pay rate and decent job satisfaction. These jobs are typically classified as contractor jobs rather than employee jobs.

Food, Liquor, and Marijuana Delivery

Food, liquor, and marijuana (in markets where cannabis is legal to sell and deliver) became even hotter commodities during the COVID-19 pandemic than they ever had before. Many states even passed laws explicitly allowing alcohol to be delivered when restaurants had to close down; many of these are still in effect.

Though, especially for liquor and marijuana, there are plenty of regulatory restrictions in place that can be a pain to follow, this type of job could be worth it for you. It often pays well and sometimes requires certifications that up the pay and somewhat the difficulty of the job.

Conclusion

The COVID-19 pandemic led to the creation of many industries that aren't going anywhere anytime soon. Unfolding into a series of new gigs, COVID-19 essentially made a whole new sector of the economy for self-employed workers especially. Even if you don't see your dream job on this list, it doesn't mean that there isn't a great gig for you!