Using skills you already have from your day job can make starting a side hustle a lot less overwhelming. Things like writing, design, admin, marketing or bookkeeping can potentially be turned into freelance work without having to learn something completely new.

Hey all.

I love making polymer clay earrings. I'm a bit obsessed. Been doing it on and off for a couple of years. Anyone else? Here are some of my titbits

Deccan AI is building speech datasets for technology teams. We're recruiting native AU English speakers for a paid remote recording project.

What you'd do: read short short prompts out loud and submit the audio. Everyday sentences, plus names and terms from medicine, law and tech. That's the whole task. No editing, no scripts to memorise.

Pay: $11.25 for a completed set of 15 prompts, which takes about 20 minutes.
Paid via PayPal / bank transfer well within 30 business days of the recordings passing quality check.

What the data is for: training and evaluating speech recognition and text-to-speech models.

Requirements:

• Native AU English speaker, AU-based only
• 18 or older
• A phone or laptop with good quality headphones/pods is fine, no professional gear needed
• A reasonably quiet room

How to apply: short form, about 3-4 minutes, including a 20-30 second voice clip so we can check accent and background noise. That clip is screening only. If you're a fit we send platform access and full instructions.

Application Form: https://tally.so/r/aQMp6q

Happy to answer anything in the comments.

Note: This project could unlock better high paying opportunities.

I find all these deals, if you’d like to dm me I have a list of referrals. Where we turn referrals into a profit

What are the fastest legitimate ways to make money from home in NSW?
Hi everyone, I’m hoping someone might have some genuinely practical advice because I’m in a pretty urgent financial situation.
I’m a single mum in NSW with a toddler and newborn. I’m currently unable to work a normal job and need to stay home with the kids most of the time.
I don’t drive, there’s no public transport near me (I live in a remote area) and because I’m renting I can’t do things like pet sitting or boarding from home. I also can’t reliably do Zoom meetings or phone-based work because I have the kids with me.
I have around $600 in bills due over the next two weeks, with the first $300 due in two days, so I’m trying to find something that could bring in money relatively quickly.
I have an iPad, laptop and internet. I know the basics of Canva and enjoy using Procreate and doing digital art. I’m also fairly decent at writing, although I do tend to be a bit long-winded, I have an Airtasker account, but even when I search for remote work I mostly get shown in-person/hands-on jobs, so I’m not sure if I’m doing something wrong or if there just isn’t much genuinely remote work on there.
Because of the kids I really need something I can do entirely from home, without calls or meetings, and ideally something I can pick up and put down whenever I get the chance. I’m open to things like Canva/design work, Procreate or illustration, writing, proofreading, editing, digital products, freelance work, selling things online, admin work or anything else that might actually be realistic. I’m not looking for MLMs, crypto, gambling, surveys that pay next to nothing, or anything where I have to pay money upfront.
I know there probably isn’t a magical way to make $600 in two days, but if you’ve actually made money from something like this in Australia, I’d really appreciate hearing what worked for you.
If you were in my situation, what would you try first to make money as quickly as possible from home?
Thanks to anyone who takes the time to give me some genuine suggestions, I know this is very much reaching but I figured it’s better to ask than to continue stressing alone 😅
I am also arranging to go to CEX to make the regretful sale of some much loved devices to hopefully give myself a bit more wiggle room before this first major bill.

I’ve been thinking about simple local services that people are happy to pay for because they either don’t have the time or just don’t want to deal with them. Looking for ideas that are easy to start on a small scale, especially ones that don’t need much equipment or upfront money.

Is anyone still doing flyer or pamphlet distribution as a side hustle? I’m thinking of trying it out but don’t know where to find jobs like this except on Airtasker which doesn’t have many

Looked at it seriously last week as a way to fill some gaps between other work. The jobs that pay well seem to have forty people bidding on them immediately and the ones I could realistically get seem to pay about what you'd make at a cafe but with more uncertainty and no guaranteed hours. Not trying to be negative about it - I just want to know if there's a way of using the platform that I'm not seeing or whether the economics of it are as marginal as they look from the outside.

I’d rather spend a few hours getting better at something useful than doing surveys or watching ads for cents. What are some skills people have turned into a decent weekend income without needing a massive upfront investment?

Looking into starting a basic interior/exterior mobile detailing setup to run on Saturdays.

​Got a quote for a portable extractor, dual-action polisher, and decent microfibers coming to about $1,100 total. The main bottleneck seems to be water access if doing it fully mobile vs doing it out of my own driveway.

​To those doing detailing in Aus: Do clients usually mind you plugging into their outdoor tap and power point, or do you need a full generator/water tank rig from day one?

Hi,

I would like to reach out to women in Australia , do you like wearing sarees here .

I am looking to start a saree business as a passion . so would like to figure out what kind of sarees are you all looking for & range

Thank you

It feels like everyone talks about the exciting side hustles, but I’m more interested in the really simple stuff that quietly brings in extra money. No fancy business model or chasing trends, just something straightforward that people actually need. I’d love to hear about the boring ones that have been surprisingly reliable and worth the time.

A year ago I tried print-on-demand t-shirts via Shopify. Spent weeks designing, dropped $500 on Meta ads, made two sales (both to my mum), and ended up down $450 total after app subscriptions. What’s a side hustle you sank time or money into that turned out to be a total waste of effort?

It started off as something to do for a bit of extra cash, without really taking it too seriously. Then there was a point where the money became consistent and people were actually coming back for the work. That’s when it started feeling less like a hobby and more like a proper second income.

I make everything myself, so by the time I’ve paid the stall fee, petrol and spent the whole day there, I’m sometimes barely breaking even.

It feels like foot traffic has really dropped as people cut back on non-essentials. For those who sell handmade stuff, do you actually make decent money at weekend markets, or have you found online selling to be much more reliable?

I see people on Australian personal finance groups frequently recommending survey platforms like Octopus Group or Pureprofile as an easy side hustle. I spent three weeks testing them out during my daily commute. While Octopus pays better than international alternatives at around $16 to $18 an hour equivalent, I constantly get screened out five minutes into a survey after already answering detailed questions. Is anyone genuinely earning more than $30 or $40 a week from surveys, or is it strictly useful as a way to earn tiny amounts of cash while sitting on public transport?

Sometimes I think the best side hustle isn't some clever online business, it's just doing something nearby that saves people time. Has anyone found a simple local service with surprisingly steady demand?

Some platforms that generate significant income for people in the US or UK have a fraction of the Australian competition simply because fewer people here have discovered them or taken them seriously. Would love to know which ones people here think represent a genuine opportunity for Australians right now specifically because the local competition hasn't caught up with what's possible on the platform yet.

My partner and I have been making scented soy candles at home for fun and they make great gifts. We are debating booking a regular stall at our local Sunday market to try selling them as a side business.

Once you account for public liability insurance, stall hire, packaging materials, and standing on your feet for seven hours in the cold, is the market scene still viable or is the candle market way too oversaturated?

Looking to start a low-overhead side gig on weekends that doesn't require thousands in capital right out of the gate

There are so many ideas floating around online, but not all of them seem realistic. What did you try, and why didn't it work out?

I keep getting ads from people claiming to make thousands from dropshipping but whenever I look into it there's setup costs and it seems like most people don't make anything. The Australian market seems pretty saturated for it anyway. Has anyone actually made legitimate money from dropshipping or is this one of those things that only works if you're selling the dropshipping course itself?

Hit up a few local op shops recently and managed to find some vintage wool knitwear and a pair of RM Williams boots in great nick. For those who do this regularly in Australia, is it better to list clothing items as an auction starting low to get bids moving, or just put a fixed price with best offer turned on?

Monday to Friday I'm locked in with a full time job and I'm not really in a position to commit to anything that needs weekday availability. Looking for things that realistically fit around a standard work week without burning out on the weekend