AI-Proof to AI-Powered: The Complete Guide to Side Hustles in 2026
We’re not saying it’s time to get a pilot license and provide exclusive pet chartering across the border…
…but you’d certainly put a little cash in your pocket if you did!
Side hustles have always existed. Sometimes, in unexpected forms.
But today, opportunities are even more plentiful and accessible than ever, thanks to modern technology.
With a great idea built upon your own platform (rather than solely relying on a third-party), you may even be able to scale a side hustle into a sustainable business.
And we can help with both.
First, let’s explore 18 legitimate side hustle ideas that can generate meaningful income. Then, we’ll dive into building your own business website so your gains aren’t wiped out when one social platform or another changes the rules overnight.
How Does AI Impact Side Hustles?
AI has massively changed the way businesses and individuals work.
With AI-powered tools, many tasks can be done faster with less money and other resources. And, AI can handle some of the more manual and mundane things related to a job, letting people do what they do best — the creative elements.
Thanks to this, AI has made it easier for more people to pursue more side hustles.
As such, it’s rapidly decreasing the barrier to business entry, increasing competition. It’s also made certain once-lucrative side hustles — think data entry, editing, etc. —close to obsolete.
Whether you’re more interested in super-charging your income stream with AI-specific side gigs or future-proofing your cash with uniquely human-centric specialities, it’s important to find side gigs with staying power so you can continue to develop your skills and build financial security no matter what technology wave crashes on the shore next.
6 AI-Empowered Side Gigs
Building on the fact that AI is the perfect tool for amplifying human creativity and efficiency — not replacing authenticity and expertise —here are six side hustles that enable you to harness the power of AI, rather than be displaced by it.
1. Virtual Assistant
From appointment scheduling to inbox assistance, there’s a wide array of tasks that busy professionals need help with. As a virtual assistant (VA), you can assist your clients with their business outsourcing needs.
In many cases, VA work will involve skills you already have, such as typing, emailing, or social media management. And, of course, AI tooling can help you accomplish many tasks more effectively, such as prioritizing your to-do list, drafting content for emails and other business communications, preparing client reports, and more.
Use a freelancer website, like PeoplePerHour, to get started. Here, you can find new projects, set your rates, and enable clients to hire you.
Just be aware that being a VA requires excellent time management. Also, you’ll have to be willing to hustle for each client if you want to make it in this professional space.
Specialization, experience, and location have a huge impact on how much VAs can earn. In the U.S., you should be able to charge between $25 and $60 an hour.
2. Resume Writer
Competitive market or not, lots of folks are looking for someone who has the time and expertise they don’t to make their resumes stand out.
You can be this someone by combining your research and writing skills with AI tools to help professionals land their dream jobs.
To craft tailored resumes that highlight client strengths and tell unique career stories, you first and foremost want to get up to date on hiring trends, recruiter preferences, and modern resume layouts.
Then, a generative AI chat platform (like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Claude, etc.) can help you comb through client LinkedIn profiles and ask all the right interview questions to get the content you need to create polished, keyword-optimized documents.
Build some longevity and additional income into this side gig by also offering cover letter creation and LinkedIn profile makeovers.
Resume writers can charge between $300 and $1,200 per project,with the higher end usually including a bundle of services beyond just the final resume. Like most writing-related gigs, what you can charge is highly impacted by your level of experience, your niche, and any certifications you have.
3. Podcaster
Podcasts can be surprisingly lucrative. Thanks to sponsorships, advertising deals, and premium content subscriptions, it’s possible to earn a solid income while diving deep into your favorite subjects in your spare time.
Getting started with podcasting is easy enough. Ideally, you’ll want to invest at least a little in equipment (such as microphones and editing software) to produce the best quality recordings.
You’ll also likely need a dedicated hosting plan capable of handling high traffic so that your content won’t slow down the website where you post your episodes, in addition to your chosen podcast directories.
AI can help you generate episode ideas, scripts, and even assist with audio editing.
The catch here is that you’ll need to build up a regular audience to see much income from podcasting. To do so, be sure to find your niche and lean hard into what this audience wants to learn about.
A good goal to shoot for is 1,000 downloads per episode. This can earn you around $18 to $50 from each episode, depending heavily on your monetization strategy. Staying consistent will help you grow this number over time.
4. Online Course Creator
Have expertise in a particular subject or skill? If you can turn it into a course, you can sell it online!
This hustle can be appealing to educators and professionals seeking to monetize their expertise beyond traditional work experiences. Plus, once it’s set up, it can become a pretty passive income stream.
This side hustle may require more skill than some others. Aside from expertise in the subject matter you plan to teach, effective communication is crucial for engagingly delivering educational materials. This is where an AI platform like ChatGPT may be crucial to your workflow —helping you organize your ideas into course chapters, edit your content for clarity, and identify information gaps or opportunities to outshine competitors in your space.
When your content is ready for showtime, several platforms and apps facilitate the creation and sale of online courses. Popular options include Udemy and Skillshare. These platforms provide tools for course creation, hosting, and marketing, allowing you to focus on the content rather than the technical aspects.
As a mostly passive side gig, course creation is a long-term endeavor when it comes to generating income. And your earnings will depend on the volume of courses created and how well you’re able to market them.
An average educator who stays just engaged enough with their chosen course platform may make $1,000 on a course in half a year.
On the other side of the coin, if you’re successful enough to consider going all-in on this gig, just look at Vasco Cavalheiro for inspiration. They generated close to two million dollars selling courses on software development via Udemy and their own website after just eight years of pursuing it full-time.
5. WordPress Web Development
Roughly 252,000 new websites are created every day. That makes for a steady stream of potential clients for a website-building side hustle.
If you’ve got the skills, creating websites is lucrative enough that you can select the clients you want to partner with and only work the hours you choose. Plus, working with a user-friendly content management system (CMS) such as WordPress makes it really easy to create functional, beautiful websites when you’re not busy with your full-time job.
Not only is WordPress the most popular and widely used CMS on the market, but it’s also open source. This means there’s a lot of versatility when building with it.
This option is great for anyone with some web development knowledge. You can use page builders and other tools to create a business quickly without even needing extensive coding abilities.
To speed up the development process even more, or level up what you’re able to do with your current skills, consider an AI-powered coding platform.
These tools can do things like suggest code, generate simple boilerplate code snippets, review and debug code, assist with quality assurance testing, help you organize high-level website architecture, and more.
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The Admin Bar found that side hustlers in this category charged from $2.5K to $5K per website, and built about 20 sites a year.
6. Transcriber
Companies or individuals who conduct interviews for research or reporting are often looking for freelance transcriptionists to convert hours of speech into usable text.
All the gear you need to succeed as a transcriptionist side hustler is a computer, a fast internet connection, and word processing software —but the addition of a basic AI platform can really speed up your turnaround time.
Test different consumer AI platforms to figure out which handles speech-to-text conversion with the best accuracy. You’re not looking for flawlessness, because that’s where you add your unique value. You want to be able to come in and add a quick human review and edit to produce a polished final draft.
Most people become transcriptionists with the right skill set. Good typing skills, hearing and comprehension, and correct grammar are some of the basic requirements employers will look for. Your experience level likely won’t matter if you excel in these areas.
Rev is an online transcription company where you can sign up to become a freelancer. The average payout on Rev per month is $245.
To start transcribing with services like Rev, you’ll usually need to take a quiz and submit a transcript. You’ll be approved after this basic test, and then you can choose specific jobs you’d be interested in.
4 New Jobs Created by the AI Boom
In addition to helping automate some tasks associated with the above jobs, AI has also created a surge of totally new opportunities.
From training AI systems to teaching others how to use them, these four emerging side gigs are where you can join the AI workforce and blend tech savvy with human intuition.
7. Prompt Engineer
Prompt engineers design, test, and refine text inputs (AKA prompts) that guide AI models like ChatGPT, Midjourney, and DALL-E. The goal is to get consistent, high-quality results from AI tools.
Some engineers create and sell pre-made prompt packs or prompt libraries for specific industries, while others work as consultants helping business teams use AI efficiently.
Strong writing and communication skills, creative problem-solving, and an analytical mindset are critical to making this hustle work for you. A background in the industry you want to serve is a plus, as it helps you understand the context behind prompts.
A skilled freelance prompt engineer can charge $60 to $120 an hour in the U.S.
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8. AI Trainer
AI trainers teach AI models how to think and respond more accurately. This is done by labeling data, categorizing content, and correcting errors in generated outputs. Tasks can range from tagging images to reviewing chatbot responses to fine-tuning language models.
Platforms like Outlier and CrowdGen match potential trainers with jobs. To land higher-paying gigs, seek out roles that align with any special technical or industry knowledge you have. For instance, if you’re familiar with medical terminology, look for jobs that involve training AI tools in the medical space.
In the US, based on yearly salaries, AI trainers make on average $31 an hour.
9. AI Content Editor
AI content editors take raw AI-generated text and turn it into something fully publication-ready.
The gig here includes improving tone, checking grammar, verifying facts, and ensuring the writing fits the client’s style and intent. AI editors often collaborate with busy content teams, marketers, and publishers who rely on AI tools for fast output — but still desire that human touch to maintain quality and authenticity.
People who work as writers, teachers, and full-time editors for their day jobs will excel at this side gig. Exceptional grammar and editing skills, strong research ability, and an ability to quickly pick up different writing tones and audiences will be key. Speed and consistency are also pretty valuable, as these editors are often expected to work high content volumes.
Skilled copy editors can make $40 to $50 an hour.
10. AI Consultant
If you already work in AI or business consulting, you may spin that expertise into a lucrative side hustle helping businesses and individuals understand how to leverage AI tools effectively.
In this role, you may do things like teach teams how to use AI to complete tasks, automate workflows for them, or create documentation and tutorials on this process. Sometimes, all of the above!
The cool thing about this gig is the huge variety of directions you can take it. Maybe you want to work with enterprise businesses, or maybe you’re more comfortable in a startup setting. Perhaps you like to get in the office and roll up your sleeves alongside your client, or you can run fully digital workshops and webinars.
Whatever your path, comprehensive knowledge of AI tools and applications and the ability to communicate complex ideas clearly will be necessary. Consulting or teaching experience will get you even further.
In the U.S., the average hourly income for a freelance business consultant is $48 per hour. You may be able to boost this number as you grow your experience and focus on AI-specific topics.
8 Human-Centric Hustles
Now, to round out all the possible side hustle categories, let’s consider eight human-centric opportunities to make extra cash where AI can’t be super helpful just yet —not until the Bicentennial Man comes to fruition, anyway.
11. Substack Author
Got an opinion and a community, or the desire to grow one?
You might just be able to turn that into a side hustle thanks to Substack: an email newsletter platform that’s become a powerful avenue for creators to monetize their writing. It’s currently the twelfth most popular news and media publishing site in the United States, based on web traffic.
Between Substack payouts (advances and stipends), paid subscribers, and advertising deals, a cross-section of Substack writers finds they average $73,517 a year. Keep in mind, these are mostly people with a professional writing background who have worked to build a following.
To succeed, you need to consistently produce high-quality, engaging content that resonates with your target audience. Building a loyal subscriber base takes time and dedication, but the potential payoff is, as we’ve shown, substantial.
12. Survey Taker
Taking online surveys is an increasingly popular side hustle that’s especially suited for people who are looking for flexibility and convenience.
One of the major advantages of online surveys is that they don’t require specific skills or expertise. As long as you have a device, an internet connection, and some spare time, you can participate in this side hustle!
That said, patience and consistency are valuable traits as the payout for each survey can be relatively small, with a few dollars or less of compensation per completion. However, if you’re able to find a platform that pays hourly, you could earn around $26 per hour.
Several platforms and apps connect individuals with companies looking for survey participants. Some well-known survey platforms include Swagbucks and Survey Junkie. These platforms often offer a variety of opportunities, including market research, product feedback, and opinion polls.
13. Affiliate Blogger
Since tons of brands have affiliate marketing programs, delving into this industry can be an excellent way for people who like writing to make a passive income. This side gig offers low start-up costs, unlimited product choices, and little management. Beginner affiliate marketers can make as much as $1,000 per month.
Getting started with affiliate marketing is a great way to monetize your website.
With affiliate marketing, an independent blogger — that’s the affiliate — promotes a brand’s products. When you become an affiliate, you earn commissions by directing traffic to a business’s website or storefront. Essentially, you’re rewarded for writing about and recommending products to your followers.
One of the most popular affiliate services for bloggers is the Amazon Associates Program. Since Amazon has many products to choose from, you can easily find ones that fit your niche.
Although affiliate marketing can have many benefits, it’s essential to market products effectively. You’ll want to recommend goods that align with your audience. For instance, if you’re starting a cooking blog, you can promote kitchen gadgets from Amazon.
Finally, make sure you avoid spamming your audience with affiliate links. You’ll want to naturally incorporate affiliate products into blog content to maximize credibility. Additionally, you should provide an affiliate link disclosure to inform your audience.
👉Check out DreamHost’s affiliate program for an example of a well-executed affiliate plan in action.
14. Digital Product Creator
Selling digital products — think downloadable and/or printable planners, invitations, business card templates, habit trackers, etc. — can be an awesome passive side hustle for creative types out there.
Digital products are attractive because they can be created once and sold repeatedly. The key is developing products that solve problems, save time, or provide a unique value for your audience. Marketing, quality design, and understanding customer needs are crucial for success.
With marketing and platform optimization, you should be able to reach at least one sale per day pretty easily. Price your products based on the level of work you’re able to put in and what you want to make based on this sales rate.
15. Mobile Car Detailer
Love cars, cleaning — or both?
Mobile car detailing offers a high-demand, profitable side hustle.
This work allows for flexible scheduling, repeat business from satisfied clients, and the opportunity to scale by hiring additional help or expanding services. It’s a great option for people who prefer physical, practical work over online or digital hustles.
The average for a typical interior and exterior detailing package is around $250 per vehicle.
16. Online Tutor
With an online tutoring job, you can access flexible hours and unlimited clients. Students are almost always looking for homework help, so this side gig could be ideal if you love teaching.
Although tutoring income can vary based on experience, this side hustle generally has high rates. Tutors can make anywhere from $15 to $125 per hour.
If you’re a qualified teacher and decide to teach older students, you can command a higher rate.
Out of the many online tutoring platforms available, Tutor.com is one of the best. When you sign up, you can create your schedule and even do unscheduled tutoring sessions if you need them.
Especially if you received higher education, becoming a tutor can put your skill set to good use.
17. Pet Caretaker
Caring for animals can be a rewarding and flexible side hustle for pet lovers.
The primary skills required here are a good understanding of animal behavior and basic training techniques — or a willingness to learn them. Additionally, strong communication skills are essential when dealing with owners.
Several apps have emerged to connect pet owners with reliable caretakers. Popular platforms like Rover and Wag! provide a platform for dog owners to find and schedule dog walkers. These apps often include payment systems, making the entire process convenient for both the walker and the pet owner.
The income potential for dog walking will vary a lot depending on factors such as location, demand, and the size and number of dogs you’re dealing with at once. On Rover, the average dog walk runs around $15 per walk.
Adding additional care services to the mix can really boost your income. One Rover user reported bringing in over $10K a year boarding dogs. However, they warn that a side hustle this fun and rewarding comes with some heavier responsibilities!
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18. User Tester
User testing is a side hustle where you can earn money by providing feedback on websites, apps, and products.
User testing typically involves navigating through a digital experience while recording your steps, thoughts, and any issues you come across. The compensation per test varies, but according to a review of UserTesting.com, the average pay per test comes out to $10.
However, it all depends on the complexity and length of the task — and the expertise of the tester.
While no specific skills are required, having good communication skills to articulate your thoughts can enhance the value of your feedback. User testing is open to a wide range of people, from tech-savvy individuals to those with varying degrees of online proficiency.
UserTesting.com and Trymata are popular platforms that connect testers with companies seeking feedback. To get started, users typically need to sign up on their testing platform of choice, complete a demographic profile, and, in some cases, complete a sample test to demonstrate their testing abilities to better match them with well-fitting jobs.
How To Future-Proof Your Side Hustle
Many side hustlers rely on platforms like Etsy, TikTok, or Substack to earn money. While these platforms are convenient, the most successful creators don’t just rely on them. Instead, they take ownership over their audiences and assets by driving traffic back to their business website.
With a website that’s under your control, you can:
- Capture your audience directly: Collect emails, make decisions based on user behavior, create a community, and lower overhead costs when you direct traffic to your website versus third-party platforms.
- Handle traffic spikes safely: Choose secure and reliable hosting so a sudden surge in visitors or sales won’t crash your site.
- Maintain long-term stability: Platforms can change policies, shut down accounts, or limit reach, but your website stays yours.
Here are some actionable tips for building a website that supports your side hustle:
Investing in your own online presence may take more effort upfront, but it ensures your side hustle can grow sustainably, scale safely, and survive platform changes.
FAQs About Side Hustle Ideas
What are the best side hustle ideas for 2026?
Some of the top side hustles for 2026 include AI-powered gigs like virtual assisting, resume writing, podcasting, building online courses, WordPress web development, and transcription.
Human-focused options like Substack newsletters, tutoring, pet care, affiliate blogging, and mobile car detailing are also strong choices.
How much can I make from a side hustle?
Earnings vary widely depending on the type of side hustle, your skills and location, and how much time you invest. Consistency, marketing, and specialization play a big role in potential income.
That said, here are some ranges for popular gigs:
- Virtual assistants: $25–$60/hour
- Resume writers: $300–$1,200 per project
- Online tutors: $15–$125/hour
- Mobile car detailers: ~$250 per vehicle
How do I choose the right side hustle for me?
Consider your skills, passions, and available resources.
- People-oriented? Try tutoring, pet care, or Substack newsletters.
- Tech-savvy? Consider WordPress development, AI consulting, or prompt engineering.
- Creative? Explore affiliate blogging, digital product creation, or podcasting.
How can I future-proof my side hustle?
Create your own platform (like a WordPress site) to take control of your audience data, better handle traffic spikes, diversify income streams, and reduce reliance on social platforms that can flip the script on you overnight.
Is my side hustle income taxable?
Yes, income from a side hustle will very likely be subject to taxation.
First, yearly earnings exceeding $600 from gig work are taxable.
Additionally, operations that aim to make a profit are considered to be businesses, while operations that exist simply for pleasure are considered hobbies. Business earnings are taxable.
If your side hustle passes the hobby test (which it shouldn’t, if your goal is to make money) earnings may not be taxed. However, if you receive a Form 1099-K from a digital marketplace or payment app (which you could if you make $600 or more in a year), you’re required to report and pay taxes on that income.
We highly recommend treating your side hustle as a business with taxable income and keeping good records throughout the year to make life easier when tax time comes.
Unlock Your Earning Potential With Side Gigs in 2026
Whether you lean into AI-powered gigs, human-centric hustles, or a mix of both, the key to generating income outside of a regular job is staying consistent and using technology to amplify your efforts rather than replace them.
And don’t forget, the most resilient side hustles are the ones you’re able to take ownership of. Use digital forums, marketplaces, and social media channels to boost your reach, but never miss an opportunity to drive traffic back to your own website, where you can control the data and the experience.
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