Three side hustles for early risers: Some pay more than $100 per hour.
According to a 2020 poll, 13% of individuals identify as early birds.
If you’re one among them and searching for an additional source of money, think about virtual assistance, carpooling, or transcribing.
People are most alert at certain periods of the day. Some people have bursts of energy in the late afternoon, while others like to work through the night, and still, others have their peak energy first thing in the morning. According to a 2020 poll published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, 13% of adults identify as early birds.
If you’re the most up and energized in the morning and you’re seeking a method to supplement your income, those early hours might be your opportunity.
Here are three ideas for side hustles for early risers.
Virtual assisting
Virtual assisting gigs are pretty versatile. They can entail administrative work such as data entry, or they can mean higher-level marketing like social media management. Either way, “you can do those at any hour of the day,” says Kathy Kristof, founder, and editor of Sidehusl.com. As long as you get the scope of work from your employer, “you schedule it,” she says.
Find virtual assistant jobs on sites like BELAY, Robert Half, or FlexJobs, or list your services on sites like Fiverr or Upwork. Some experts also recommend perusing virtual assisting groups on Facebook to see what employers might be posting.
The more niche your specialty, the more you could be paid. Depending on the kind of virtual assisting that you offer, hourly rates run $13 and up, based on listings on the sites. Some VAs can pull in more than $100 per hour, according to Angelique Rewers, founder of BoldHaus, a consulting firm that helps small businesses land corporate clients.
Ridesharing
If you love an early-morning drive, consider signing up for a ridesharing service like Uber or Lyft. A reliable spot to find customers: A nearby airport, says side hustle expert Kevin Ha. Some people need “a 5 a.m. airport ride.”
To be eligible to drive through Uber, you’ll need to meet the minimum age requirement to drive where you live, have a valid U.S. driver’s license, and have at least one year of licensed driving in the U.S. To be able to drive for Lyft, you’ll need to meet your city and state requirements. And in either case, naturally, you’ll need access to a car.
A job listing for Lyft drivers in New Jersey says drivers can earn up to $27 per hour.
Transcribing
Businesses need people to transcribe interviews, meetings, or dictation. Like virtual assisting, transcribing is a job that can often be done at any time, as long as you’ve gotten the assignment from an employer.
Sign up to offer your transcribing services on sites like Transcription Outsourcing, Rev, SpeakWrite, GMR Transcription, or CastingWords.
Transcription Outsourcing “pays some of the highest rates in the industry, between 85 cents to $5 per audio minute,” says Kristof. She warns that this isn’t always the most lucrative gig “because audio minutes take as much as 10 minutes to transcribe per minute.”






