A side hustle can be a good way to supplement your finances. Some can even become a six-figure source of income that rivals or beats your current salary. And some can become a full-time business.
A six-figure side hustle often requires specialized skills and significant effort. It also helps to find a specialized area, taking care of tasks customers don’t enjoy doing themselves or don’t know how to do.
If you live in a fragmented market or one where competition is limited, that can boost your odds of hitting six figures or higher. Here are some side hustles that have the potential to bring in six figures, if you have the skills and are willing to put in the work.
Commercial holiday lighting installation
While setting up decorations for homeowners might have a wider customer base, commercial accounts often have aesthetic budgets, which can make for a much more lucrative payday. Beyond an extensive contact list in the commercial real estate space, you’ll either need to have solid design skills or hire someone who does. Installations like this often start as early as October—and the work can pay as much as $47,000 per installation (though the average is lower and is based on the size of the installation).
“Commercial jobs typically run 20 to 40 percent higher per foot than residential due to scale, safety requirements, insurance needs, and after-hours work,” writes Strandr, a professional lighting design software firm.
Note that this job does come with higher initial costs than many side hustles, as you’ll need to supply the lights and decorations and store them in the off season, but those costs will be absorbed as the business gets more mature.
The market size for this side hustle is projected to reach $10.87 billion by 2031, according to research from QuoteIQ, a service management platform for home service contractors. Trained installers, it writes, can see earnings ranging from $50,000 to over $100,000 in just 60 to 70 working days.
Fractional CFO
There is a fast-growing collection of solopreneurs in America, running everything from bootstrapped startups to consulting agencies. As they work to build a reputation and bring on an initial staff, they likely don’t have the necessary time to assemble and complete all of the regulatory requirements for things like payroll nor room on their calendar to micromanage transactions with new clients. The budget of these companies generally doesn’t have room for a full-time finance chief, which has led to a growing demand for fractional CFOs.
The finance and insurance sector is predicted by the U.S. Census Bureau to be one of the fastest growing in economic movement, notably exceeding the national business average. And that can make this side hustle a high-paying one.
Pricing models vary from monthly retainers to project-based pricing. Hourly consulting is also a possibility, ranging from $150 to $500 per hour. If you’re able to secure a handful of clients who have recurring needs, that can get you to six figures.
“Successful fractional CFOs use value-based pricing rather than simple hourly rates,” writes The Expert CFO, a Raleigh, North Carolina-based consulting business. “While hourly billing provides income predictability, value-based pricing allows you to capture more of the financial impact you create for clients.”
Private chef
Chefs have both a specialized skill and perform a function some people don’t want to (or can’t) handle themselves. It’s a side hustle that adds a touch of luxury to small gatherings. The market’s expected to hit $6.2 billion by 2030, and the business can scale easily and grow quickly through word of mouth, especially in areas with a wealthy population. (And it can grow even faster if you add services like cooking classes to your options.)
The fastest route to six figures is by combining in-home events (which can command up to $300 per person) with other offerings, such as catering or cooking classes.
Pet waste removal
It’s a dirty job, but it sure can be a lucrative one. This is another side hustle that falls less into the category of specialized skills and more into “tasks that customers don’t enjoy.” But the work is plentiful and doesn’t take a long time to complete. That means you can set up recurring accounts, charging $25 to $50 per week, depending on yard size—and higher amounts for one-time cleanups. (You can also charge more for households with multiple pets.)
A customer base of 100 weekly customers will put you over the six-figure mark—and the work will go even faster if you’ve got a friend or family member to help out.
Parking lot striping
You’ll need specific equipment to repaint parking spaces, fire lanes, and directional markings—and you’ll need commercial contacts as well, to find work at shopping centers and new developments. But the market for this is expected to nearly double by 2034, and with the asking price of a medium-size parking lot (of up to 100 spaces) fetching up to $1,600 and a large one (between 200 and 500 spaces) hitting $6,000, you can hit six figures with a steady workload.
Hitting $100,000 or more by yourself is a challenge, but with a couple of assistants, it’s much more attainable.
—Chris Morris
This article originally appeared on Fast Company’s sister website, Inc.com.
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