Side gigs for students who want to be financially independent

Only because you’re a student, it doesn’t mean you have to financially depend on your parents. You can engage in side gigs that help you earn money to cover some or all your expenses. Even if your parents help you paying college, it doesn’t hurt earning extra income and gaining experience for a future venture. In the present economy, it’s no secret that study expenses increase daily. If you find hard to balance personal expenses with tuition fees then you should check the following side-hustles. They are ideal for students who don’t want to skip classes.

Freelance writing

Are you a talented writer? Why not using your skills to earn income? There are thousands of job opportunities available, you only need to find the ones that fit your writing skills. There are various jobs you can choose from (transcriptions, press releases, business copywriting, eBook writing, resumes, cover letters, blog posts and articles).

You can select one or more of the above and get started. It’s simple to find article-writing jobs because both companies and individuals prefer collaborating with freelancers because they ask smaller fees than corporations.

If you are a talented writer, you can create your own eBook and sell it online.

The average writing job pays from $10 to $100, but you can earn even more. When you collaborate with long-time clients you can earn more than $100 a month.

How do you find clients that need freelance writing? You can register on platforms like Freelancer, Upwork or PeoplePerHour and check the gigs they promote. All these websites ask writers to share their previous experience to help employers understand their writing level. Pick a niche you prefer and write some samples you can send to people interested in your work.

Take and sell photos

Do you like taking photos? Does everyone admire your shots? Then you can sell them and make a profit.

Yes, it’s surprising but you can do it. Your talent and passion can help you be financially independent.

You can sell your photos on many websites and apps. Most websites pay from $5 to $100 for each of your photos. You don’t even have to take photos with a professional camera because nowadays people appreciate even the pictures taken with smartphones. Do your photos have flaws? Someone will definitely pay for them because they are perfect to post them on Instagram.

Download an app on your phone, take photos and upload them. If you use the Foap app each of your photos will be priced at $10, but you will make only $5 because app requires a $5 fee.

If you don’t want to wait for someone to buy your pictures, you can offer your services for people searching for a photographer for special events. You can take photos of weddings, baptisms, engagements, and corporate parties.

There are many ways to make money from selling photos. Pick and niche and promote your services.

Web design

Do you study web design or have web-design related skills? You can work from home and make great income because everyone needs a website these days, and they don’t afford to work with professional companies.

Both individuals and small companies are looking for freelancers that are good at web design, to create their pages from scratch or to operate small changes on their websites. This work will get you from $50 to $500 and even more. It depends on the size of the projects you work on. To get jobs in this industry you need basic HTML and CSS skills, and knowledge of WordPress.

Upwork is the right platform to find employers. High paying clients use it to search for talented people who want to work from home. Check some job listings to ensure that you meet their criteria. Upwork isn’t the only platform you can use to find clients, you can also seek for jobs on 99Designs, PeoplePerHour and Freelancer.

Forex trading

If you are good at interpreting charts and you study finance or economics then you can trade currencies to earn income. You need to identify the pair of currencies great to trade in the trading session you operate. Ensure that you choose a broker that facilitates access to the pair of currencies you want to trade. Check an FX List to ensure that the broker you want to work with is reliable. When trading in Europe you need to decide if you collaborate with a local or offshore broker because nowadays ESMA regulates brokers in Europe. The benefit of collaborating with off-shore brokers is that you can enter trades with lower sums.

Before placing your first trades, ensure you create a strategy that fits your trading style. And never trade money you don’t afford to lose because you’re a beginner and you may lose some money until you learn how the market works.

Social media management

If you are a constant presence on social media channels, you can make money from your activity. The higher the number of followers is, the higher are the chances to attract clients.

If you are the student who loves growing your Instagram account then you should look for social media manager jobs. Both individuals and companies are looking for people who can engage audiences on social media. When working as a social media manager, you operate multiple accounts for a brand or individual. They will establish how many posts you need to create weekly for each of the accounts they run.

Your responsibility goes beyond writing and posting content, you also have to create a strategy that grows the numbers of followers. Social media management is a side gig that earns plenty of money, but it requires skill and creativity. You need to research to identify the latest trends so you’ll spend plenty of time on social media to understand what content is people’s favourite. To promote your talent, you need to grow your account to prove to clients that your strategies are successful. When your account is big enough you can look for accounts you can manage. Ensure they are in the same niche as the one you operate in.