According to a recent survey, a whopping 69% of Americans have less than $1,000 in savings. This means that most Americans simply live paycheck to paycheck and have no means to deal with unexpected expenses.
We’ve all been through some tough times when unexpected bills appear out of nowhere. Be it a car accident, repair bill, or falling ill, there are just so many ways that you can suddenly be required to pay up a decent sum of money.
Having some money saved up for a rainy day never hurts, but for many, they’ve only realized this when they have to fork up for something that costs more than the sum in their bank account.
Whether you want to save up some money or come up with $1,000 fast to settle some bills, we’ve got you covered in this article on how to make $1,000 fast. Do keep in mind that you will need to put in work for these ideas to work, as there’s simply no way you can earn money without some hustle.
With that said, you can maximize your chances of success by picking the right side hustle for you, and in this guide, we’re sure you can find something that you can pursue.
Without further ado, here are multiple ways on how you can make $1,000 fast.
Flip items on marketplaces
Are you a hoarder of a ton of unused stuff? Flip them on marketplaces such as Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace or Nextdoor to get some of your money back while clearing up clutter around your house.
There’s a good chance that most of us are holding on to some clothes or gadgets that we haven’t used in years, and said items could be a ton more useful for others. Start scouring your home for items collecting dust and list them on marketplaces to make some quick cash.
Be it old textbooks, musical instruments, game consoles – you’d be surprised at much stuff you have at your disposal that can be easily converted into cash.
Moreover, if you have a good eye for deals, you can even score some cheap items on marketplaces and flip them elsewhere for profits.
This works best if you can find identical items that are listed for different prices between different platforms. That way, you can buy items knowing that you can immediately flip them for a higher price.
Flipping items isn’t a recurring income source per say, but can be profitable whenever good deals pop up. Keep an eye out for such deals and you’ll be accelerating your progress to make $1,000 fast.
Start Hosting with Airbnb
It’s no secret that you can make a ton of money with Airbnb, and if you have spare rooms in your house, it could be one of the fastest ways to make $1,000.
The beauty of making money with Airbnb is that it’s mostly passive once you get the hang of preparing and maintaining your place as you rent it out. This means you can easily pursue other side hustles in this list while your property is generating income.
Generating income from multiple sources will exponentially increase your earning rate, which means that you can earn $1,000 so much easier.
Do keep in mind that there are a few things you need to sort out before renting your place on Airbnb, such as getting proper permission to abide by local laws.
You’ll also need to be comfortable with accommodating guests to make their stay comfortable. If you have other family members in your place that are willing to help out, outsourcing this task to them would be a great idea.
Depending on where you live, you could make $1,000 from Airbnb in as fast as a month. It’s also a repeatable source of income, so you can even do this for the long term if things work out.
Do some delivery gigs
Participating in the gig economy is one of quickest ways to earn money, but isn’t the most scalable nor the best use of your time. However, it might be worth pursuing if you have no other options to utilize your free time.
The appeal of doing delivery work is the minimal lead time to start earning money, but you will be trading that benefit with a relatively low hourly rate. However, if you find yourself having a couple of hours to spare occasionally, doing some gigs will make sure you are utilizing your time to make money instead of wasting it.
Bear in mind that you will need a car to do this side hustle, and you’ll need to account for wear and tear on your vehicle as you commute for deliveries. Gas prices will also need to be factored in, especially if your commute is a long distance.
Also, the rates you earn from these gigs highly depends on the time of the day, as well as how much tips you receive for your service. Optimizing your gigs with these factors in mind could have a huge impact on your earnings.
Want to start doing some delivery gigs? Your best bet would be UberEats or Postmates, which are undoubtedly the biggest delivery platforms out there.
Get into freelance writing
If you are competent in writing, there are a ton of writing gigs that you can take on for lucrative rates.
Content marketing has seen a huge surge in demand recently, and the entire industry is expected to be worth a whopping $412 billion by 2021.
This means that there will be a growing demand for writers to produce content, which is where you can stand to make some money as a freelance writer. If you have adequate writing skills and are comfortable with writing, this is a great side hustle to make $1,000 fast.
To get started with freelance writing, sites like Upwork or Fiverr are great if you want to get your feet wet, but don’t expect lucrative rates from these platforms.
With that said, you’ll need to build an impressive portfolio before you can secure higher paying gigs, which is why it’s best to start with lower paying gigs. You’ll also be able to discover your expertise as you take on jobs, so that you can eventually specialize in a certain field for your writing.
Once you’ve got a portfolio to negotiate better rates with clients, you can start looking for more specialized writing gigs that might require you to have some preliminary knowledge in the field. These types of gigs are where you can make far more money with freelance writing.
If you’re up for it, check out these sites to start taking on more sophisticated writing jobs:
Walk dogs
If you prefer to tend to dogs instead of children, you can still stand to make a ton of money from dog walking. Dog walkers often earn a lucrative rate as well, especially if there are multiple dogs being walked together.
According to Care, the average dog walker makes around $15 per hour, which is very lucrative considering the low barrier of entry into dog walking.
The only slight caveats to dog walking is that you will be running the risk of having adverse weather affect your business, as well as the potential hassle of cleaning up after dogs during their walk. You’ll also need to deliver dogs to and from their respective owners.
Other than that, dog walking is the perfect way to make $1,000 fast, especially for those who are dog lovers. Not to mention, you’d also get a decent dose of exercise from your walks.
Ready to start dog walking? Here are some sites that can get you clients in your area:
Make money with market research
Doing surveys for market research is one of the easiest ways to start earning money right away, but making $1,000 will take quite a while. However, if you keep doing these paid surveys consistently for the long term, it goes a long way to help you make $1,000 much faster.
While surveys pay good money for the amount of time you have to commit to it, surveys may not be readily available all the time. This also depends on the number of surveys that you are eligible for, which varies for everyone.
Surveys alone won’t make you $1,000 fast, but if you do them sporadically along with other ideas in this guide, it will help you reach the $1,000 milestone a lot quicker.
Want to get started with market research? You can find paid surveys at sites like Survey Junkie, Swagbucks, Vindale Research, and more. It helps to apply for as many sites as possible to get the most amount of surveys at your disposal.
Rent out your car
Do you have a car sitting in the garage that’s rarely used? With platforms like Turo, you can utilize it to make money by renting it out to people who are in need of a car for a couple of days.
How much you make with each rental would depend on the make and model of your car, as well as the area you live in. You can also adjust pricing depending on the demand for rental cars during certain times of the year.
With that said, Turo has made it super simple to rent out your car quickly with it’s slick app.
More importantly, with over 5 million customers, Turo has a robust process for vetting potential drivers, ensuring that your vehicle is in safe hands when you rent it out. They also provide basic insurance coverage for extra peace of mind, as well as options to price in gas or extra miles.
Similarly to making money with Airbnb, renting out your car is a great way to make $1,000 fast as it is a completely passive income stream, other than delivering and picking up your car for each rental.
Passive income sources allow you to free up your time to pursue other side hustles which will allow you to decouple your time with money, an important facet of building up wealth.
Start babysitting
If you enjoy being around kids and have experience in taking care of young children, you should definitely consider picking up babysitting.
Babysitting is a relatively passive side hustle in the sense that you’ll be spending most of the time in a home just monitoring the child. You’ll need some prior experience to build rapport for potential clients, so if you’re new to babysitting, you might want to consider offering your services to friends and family initially.
Once you’ve built up some decent experience, you can start going for babysitting platforms to start getting gigs from customers in your area. Start submitting your application platforms like Care or Sittercity, where you can be connected with a ton of potential customers.
Babysitting requires little to no physical effort and can be highly lucrative, sometimes paying up to $25 per hour. Once you’ve managed to build a relationship with several recurring customers, this could be your ticket to make $1,000 fast.
Become A Virtual Assistant
As more businesses shift to an entirely remote workforce, there will be a huge demand for virtual assistants. If you’re looking for a side hustle that you can do entirely from the comfort of your own home, becoming a virtual assistant is for you.
Becoming a virtual assistant also pays fairly well – you can expect to make between $16-$20 per hour, depending on your expertise.
There’s a wide variety of tasks you can do as a virtual assistant, ranging from administrative tasks, social media management, customer service, or even graphic design. When it comes to choosing the right task to do as a virtual assistant, it all boils down to what you are experienced with and which one is the best use of your time.
One thing to consider when starting out as a virtual assistant is that you’ll need a dedicated space in your home where you can work efficiently. You’ll also need to be familiar with collaboration tools such as Asana, Slack and the likes.
Ready to become a virtual assistant? Here are some platforms you can check out to start your VA journey:
We’ve also published a full guide covering everything you need to know about becoming a virtual assistant. Check it out here if you’re looking for more detailed information on anything regarding virtual assistants.
Conclusion
By going for some of the side hustle ideas in this list, we’re confident that most people can make $1,000 fast. At the end of the day, you’ll need to weigh out your options in terms of time, effort and scalability to choose which ones to pursue.
Making $1,000 from scratch isn’t as hard it seems, as long as you have a robust strategy in place. Passive income streams such as renting out spare bedrooms or cars are also a huge boost in your earning potential.
Have you tried some of these side hustles? Or, do you think we left out certain ways to make $1,000 fast that you think should be included in this guide? Let us know in the comments, we’d love to hear from you.
Bernard currently works full-time as a growth hacker and content researcher for HUSTLR. When he was studying in the US 2 years ago, he flipped Yeezys on eBay as a side hustle to fund his degree and living expenses. He’s currently working on his Amazon FBA business & dropshipping on the side.
