In recent years, the side hustle has quickly become a growing trend — and a viable way for us to earn income. For many Canadians, finding the right side hustle is less about having extra money for holidays or expensive gadgets, and more about helping you keep up with the higher cost of living that your salary may not cover.
What is the best side hustle to earn extra money? Your best bet is to find a side hustle that you enjoy, that’s convenient and that makes the most of your existing skills. But what if you want a side hustle that’s more remote? If you want to avoid going out and coming into close contact with others, being an Uber driver might not be the most feasible option. Luckily, the world of side hustles is vast, and there are also plenty of alternatives. To help you think of side hustles that may work for your skills, interests and situation, we’ve rounded up 10 remote side hustles to consider.

Translation work

Working as a virtual assistant
To be a successful virtual assistant, you need to be able to offer a variety of services, which means that you need a broad range of skills, including great organizational skills. You also need access to good internet.

Having an online store

Creating video content
For instance, you can create knitting tutorials and use the products of a yarn company that will pay you for showing how to use their products. Many video content creators start out by using their cellphones for filming but a decent video camera and editing software will help you create videos of higher quality that could garner more views.

Coding

Photography
Stock image sites often look for pictures of products and of people too. Since clients of these sites typically want regular people rather than exquisitely beautiful models, you can rope in your family, roommates or whoever is in your social bubble to pose. To become a photographer, it will help to have taken a photography course or two. You also need a decent camera and if you’re going to take pictures indoors, lighting equipment will come in handy too.

Tutoring

Bookkeeping
Many tertiary educational institutions in Canada offer courses in bookkeeping and if you want to increase your chances of getting lucrative jobs, it’s a good idea to also become certified through the Institute of Professional Bookkeepers of Canada. As far as equipment goes, you basically need a computer with bookkeeping software.

Transcribing
As a transcriptionist, you listen to what is being said and type it into a text document. You don’t need special training for this but you do need to be able to listen intently and type fast. As far as equipment goes, you need a computer, transcription software if you prefer and a pair of good headphones: definitely not the type you can get at the dollar store.

Telephone triage nurse
As a telephone triage nurse, you deal with patients remotely: they contact you by phone or online and describe their symptoms. You then assess whether they have something that can easily be treated at home or if they need to go to the emergency room. If you’re already a registered nurse, you don’t need any extra qualifications to work as a telephone triage nurse. However, you need to register with the governing body not only in the area where you’ll be based but also in the one where people will be contacting you from.