If you’ve stumbled upon this post, you’re looking for the best side hustles for introverts and that’s what you’re going to find here! As an introvert myself, I love being an entrepreneur because I can choose businesses and side hustles that suit my preferences. This includes not having to talk to a lot of people (in person or on the phone), being able to work from home, and working alone most of the time.
What are the best side hustles for introverts?
Blogging
I had to include this because obviously I’m a blogger and I love it! With blogging, you rarely have to talk to anyone. You mostly just write blog posts, find ways to monetize your blog and that’s that. The key to making money with a blog is getting traffic, whether that is through optimizing your posts for SEO or using something like Pinterest, and finding a way to make money from the traffic coming to your blog.
Some ways to make money with a blog include:
- Affiliate sales
- Selling your own products (physical or digital)
- Sponsored posts
- Ads
The great thing about blogging is that, although it does take quite a while to build up, it can be done on your own time and eventually become somewhat passive for periods of time if you need it to.
Freelance Writing
Maybe you’re not ready to start a blog on your own, but you like writing. If this is the case, you can start freelance writing. You will have clients to interact with, but for the most part you’re just getting the details about what you’re writing about and the rest you can do totally on your own.
I personally offer my freelance writing services on Fiverr, but there are other places like Upwork where you can offer up your services. It can become a great stream of income because a lot of businesses need things like copywriting, article writing, etc. and don’t necessarily have someone on their staff to do it so they outsource it to a freelancer.
If you’re interested in trying it out, I highly recommend Fiverr. I made over $1,000 my first month on Fiverr and I actually have a course called Fiverr Kickstart that can help you get your profile optimized to attract clients and help you get those first few orders to get the momentum going.
Pros:
- Can be easy if you like writing
- Can pay well once you get some experience/clients built up
- There are plenty of businesses looking to hire freelance writers
Cons:
- When getting started it can be challenging to find your first few clients
- Some clients are more difficult than others and may want lots of revision (try letting them know up front how many revisions are included in your fee)
Digital Products
Selling digital products online is a great side hustle idea for introverts! Usually with digital products, you create it one time, offer it for sale, and when people purchase it, it gets delivered automatically. This also makes it a pretty passive source of income along with being a good business for introverts.
There are tons of places to sell your digital products such as on your own blog or website, through social media, or if you don’t have a following or want to build one, you can sell it on a marketplace like Etsy.
>> Digital Products: How I made over $5,000 selling one spreadsheet
Pros:
- Totally digital business, no inventory needed
- Can be passive income once you have everything automated
- Make something once and sell it over and over
Cons:
- It takes time upfront to create the products
- You will have to find ways to market your products to the right buyer
Dropshipping store
Dropshipping is something that I’ve been planning to try and I thnk I’m going to jump into in the next couple of months. Dropshipping is a GREAT side hustle for anyone who has wanted to open an online store, but doesn’t have the money to pay upfront for inventory. Or if you don’t have the space to store it.
With dropshipping, you create a store with products that your dropshipping suppliers will ship out for you once they sell. It’s your job to create the store, load the products, and market them. But as soon as they sell, your supplier will be the one to ship the products and you only have to pay for them once they sell.
When I start, I plan to use Shopify to build my store and Spocket to source products directly from the US.
Pros:
- No huge investment needed
- No storing inventory
- Access to thousands of products from your suppliers
- Can be easy to scale once you have it going
Cons:
- Marketing can be challenging/expensive while you’re learning
- Working with a supplier means you’re not fully in control of the transaction because they’re shipping so you could pay for any mistakes they make
Reselling
As someone who was a full time reseller for a few years, I had to mention this! While, yes, there is some human interaction and customer service involved, it’s still one of the best side hustles for introverts and really anyone looking to make money from home. It can be a fun, low investment side income.
When you start a reselling business, you’re basically finding products that you know you can sell for more and offering them online. Many resellers start out decluttering their own homes and selling their items on places like Ebay, Poshmark, Mercari, or Facebook Marketplace. Then once they’ve sold everything they have to sell, they’ll move on to sourcing elsewhere. My favorites are yard sales and thrift stores, but some will invest in large pallets of merchandise from liquidators or wholesalers.
Where should you sell?
- Poshmark is free to list, you only pay a fee when an item sells. It’s great for trendy/designer items and you can get a $10 credit when you use my code AILEENBARKER
- Mercari is free to list, you only pay a fee when an item sells. great for pretty much anything and you can get a credit when you use this link.
- Ebay is great for everything and is where I make most of my sales. But some people find it a little harder to list on and you do have to pay fees even if an item doesn’t sell.
- Facebook Marketplace is free to list, you only pay a fee when an item sells. You can offer products locally or shipped.
>> How to start a reselling business
Pros:
- You can make your own hours
- If you love to shop, this is a great way to make it a business
- If you’re selling secondhand items you’re helping keep things from the landfill which
Cons:
- Can be a more time consuming side hustle, especially if you’re selling one of a kind items
- You will need to store inventory
Pet & house sitting
It seems pretty common that introverts are animal lovers. Are you? I love animals and have always had a lot of rescues in my home. Before I had kids, I made a good side income pet sitting for people! Sometimes that would mean dropping by once a day to feed the cats and scoop the cat litter, or let the dogs out a few times a day. Sometimes it meant spending the weekend at someones house which always felt like a vacation!
The best way to get clients for this is either word of mouth or through the app Rover. I use Rover to find my pet stitters, but I’ve also offered my services as a pet sitter on Rover and found that I got a lot more requests that I expected. If you want to try out Rover, use this link to get a $20 credit when you sign up.
Pros:
- Hanging out with dogs and cats all day!
- Can pay well if you’re staying at someone’s house overnight
Cons:
- You will have to schedule your day around your pet sitting clients
- Responsible for someone else’s house and pets
Social media manager
While a social media manager doesn’t sound like something you’d want to do as an introvert, you don’t have to be social at all to do this. I currently manage a handful of Pinterest accounts and an Instagram account and I can tell you first hand it’s really more about managing content than about interacting with a lot of people.
Your job is to manage the photos and captions that are posted to your clients account and to ensure that you’re properly representing them while growing their brand on social media. I currently charge $400-$500/month per account and can usually batch my work really efficiently so that I’m only working on each account 1-2 hours per week. It really is one of the best side hustles for introverts in my opinion and it’s one that could easily be scaled to full time.
As a social media manager, my favorite tools are:
- Canva for creating graphics
- Airtable for keeping content organized
- Tailwind for Pinterest clients who have a lot of products that need to be scheduled
- Later for scheduling Instagram posts
Pros:
- Many businesses are in need of this service, so there are plenty of clients available
- Can be fun if you like social media
- Could easily become a full time income
Cons:
- Staying up to date with different trends and algorithm updates
- Some clients can be hard to work with or have unrealistic expectations
Food delivery
If you have a car that gets good gas mileage and you don’t mind driving around, this could be the perfect side gig for you! Plenty of people are delivering food in their spare time as a way to make some extra money on the side.
In the beginning of 2020, my husband actually drove for UberEats for around a month. He basically did it around lunch, dinner, and occasionally on weekends and made over $2,000. It averaged out to around $18-$20/hr if I remember correctly.
Pros:
- Flexible hours (although you will need your car)
- Get to drive around and listen to music or podcasts
- Get paid regularly (how often depends on the app)
Cons:
- You have to pay for gas and wear and tear on your car
- Might make you hungry or open your eyes up to more restaurants to try out which could result in you spending more on food
Amazon FBA
Selling on Amazon can be very lucrative! FBA stands for Fulfillment by Amazon. Basically, when you sell through Amazon FBA, your products are stored in an Amazon warehouse and then they fulfill the order from there.
A lot of people do this start out by selling things you can sell used on Amazon like books or electronics, or they spend a lot of time going to different stores to do retail arbitrage. Basically, you scout stores (especially discount stores) for items that have barcodes you can scan and send in to Amazon if they look profitable.
Pros:
- You don’t have to store the inventory in your house or get a warehouse
- Very little customer service, Amazon takes care of the customer (mostly)
- No shipping required
- You can do this on your own time
Cons:
- The competition on Amazon is pretty high, but if you can find the right products this doesn’t matter
- You will have to invest in the products upfront and pay to have them shipped to Amazon so it can take some time to get profitable
- People love to return things on Amazon and this means even if it’s been opened, Amazon sends a refund on your behalf
Grocery delivery
Similar to food delivery, you can sign up to deliver groceries for people. If you know your way around a grocery store and you enjoy shopping, this could be an excellent side hustle idea for introverts.
Two companies that I know of are InstaCart and Shipt. I personally use Instacart all the time to get my groceries delivered! A few months back, I signed up with Shipt to deliver groceries but I never actually got around to opening up the app and accepting deliveries before we moved to an area that isn’t on Shipt. However, I do know someone who was able to replace her full-time income delivering for Shipt!
Pros:
- Get to shop for a living
- You decide when you want to work
- You can get tips and some people tip very well as they’re thankful to have that chore taken care of
Cons:
- You’ll need to be out of the house often
- May not work for anyone who doesn’t like to be in stores
- You’ll have to pay for gas from your earnings
- Some people don’t tip
Furniture refinishing
If you have that DIY spirit, this could be great! Not only are you saving furniture that might be trashed because it no longer looks good, but you’re also making money AND helping out the environment. Plus, you get to use your creativity and make really cool finished products. This is something I’d love to do, but just haven’t found the time to try out. There are so many pieces out there with tons of potential and I even see lots of furniture being given away for free that could easily be refinished and sold for a profit!
Pros:
- You can do this as you have time
- Initial investment is generally pretty cheap
- Many people love flipped furniture, but aren’t willing to do the work themselves
- Can be fun if you enjoy making something run down look new again
Cons:
- It can be a messy process if you’re not careful, especially if ripping out the staples and nails (unless they are glued in) or sanding off paint
- You’ll need to have space for storing furniture while it’s being worked on.
- It does take a lot of time and is labor intensive
The best part about side hustles is that there are so many options! If you’re feeling stuck, hopefully this list of the best side hustle ideas for introverts got your creative juices flowing! Who knows? You could be making an extra $1,000 or even replace your income before you know it!
