Side Hustles for Active Duty Military

Take a moment to consider increasing your income. Would that lessen the pressure a little? Reaching your financial and personal goals may be made possible by starting a side job. It can be done quickly and easily.

Military side hustles are supplementary jobs you work, while serving in the military, to earn extra money. You can select from a number of side businesses. The majority of side jobs are freelance employment or temporary positions.

With a side business, you can earn well. According to the 2019 Military Financial Readiness Survey conducted by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling® (NFCC®), 54% of service members and 48% of military spouses said they have been able to use the gig economy to supplement their income.

Can You Have a Side Hustle While Being on Active Military Duty?

Jobs or companies that provide additional revenue on top of your regular wage are known as side hustles. People in entry-level employment sometimes add a second source of income to supplement their earnings in order to up for the lower compensation. This, however, can be challenging to do in the military.

You must always keep in mind that your military service is the priority when you are in the army. This implies that any additional employment you obtain must be authorized by your command and cannot clash with your military obligations.

The good news is that you can work various legitimate side jobs while serving in the military. Most commanders will approve second employment as long as you can demonstrate that it will not interfere with your military obligations.

Why Should You Have Side Hustles for Active Duty Military?

You could desire a side business primarily to supplement your income. Your financial or personal objectives will play a role in why you need or desire to have more cash on hand. Consider starting a side business to:

• Pay off your debt.
• Establish reserve money.
• More traveling.
• Purchase a product you desire or need.
• Make additional retirement savings.
• Create wealth.
• Consider switching careers.
• Increase your donations to charity.
• Have more money available.
• Spend less on the holidays and Christmas.

Rental Properties

Veterans and active duty military personnel benefit greatly from having access to numerous services and perks as a result of their service. The VA home loan is one of these advantages. Active duty service members and veterans may be able to purchase a home with no down payment with this mortgage. Lowering some of these early expenditures may make buying a home much simpler.

If you’re in the military and you travel around a lot, you might be thinking why anyone would desire to own a house. Building a portfolio of residential properties could be one motivational factor. It could be simpler to buy a house if you use the VA home loan. While stationed elsewhere, you can reside in this house, and when you move on, you can turn it into a rental. Simply make sure you have a neighbor who can take care of the property when you’re gone, or engage a property management firm to handle it for you.

As you transfer to other duty stations, using this technique might be an effective way to amass a portfolio of assets in real estate around the nation. Just keep in mind that you may only use the VA home loan on one active dwelling at a time, so you must pay it off before using it again. You might set aside a portion of the rental income from your first home for your subsequent down payment.

Utilize Your Military Expertise

When you hear the term “side hustle,” it’s possible that this isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. But this can be the ideal approach to earn some additional money. Given your extensive military training, you might be able to offer your services using these abilities.

If you were required to learn a language for your career in the military, consider coaching kids studying that language, for instance. If you are a Navy diver, you might be able to work a second job for a business that offers local diving trips.

Bottom line: Take advantage of your existing abilities.

Try DoorDash, Uber, or Lyft

A decent after-work side-gig to get a little more money is offering ride services through applications like these. This may be done on the weekends or for a couple of hours at night. However, based on your location and the number of people in your neighborhood who use applications like Uber, your revenue will vary greatly.

It’s never been simpler to earn money delivering food on the sidelines thanks to apps like Grubhub and UberEats. Additionally, you may deliver goods to individuals using applications like Instacart. These two side gigs are both viable options for supplemental money during your downtime. Like Uber and Lyft, your outcomes will vary according to your location and the amount of demand for such services nearby.

Freelance Your Talents

Do you have any talents people frequently seek? To market your skills as a freelancer, take into consideration signing up for websites like Fiverr or Upwork.

Popular freelance jobs include, for example:

• copywriting for a website or blog
• design or social media marketing
• logo creation
• animation

Many of these jobs have the potential to be quite rewarding if you possess creativeness or a particular skill set. Freelancing is adaptable enough to fit nicely with your military duty since you decide which jobs you accept from which clients.

Educate Others

Do you have a love or understanding of a certain academic subject? Tutoring may be a great method to increase a service member’s income. Find out what level of security clearance is required in your state to work with children. Determine how much work you want to devote to instructing.

If you prefer online tutoring over face-to-face instruction, you may instruct students anywhere around the globe. Post posters throughout your community and create Facebook advertising that specifically targets your neighborhood to let people know that you’re offering teaching services.

Not eager to look for a job on your own? You may find tutoring positions for children ranging from kindergarten through college or adult learners on websites like Tutor.

Detail Cars

This side business is perfect for you if you enjoy driving. Prior to starting, choose the services you wish to offer, such as thorough cleaning, automobile finish restoration, interior, and exterior cleaning.

Invest in high-quality detergents, waxes, shine, and drying towels to guarantee that customers are satisfied with the level of service received. Price your detailing services competitively and in accordance with the market. Create an online presence for your auto detailing company using social media and a website.

Additionally, you can utilize fliers and advertisements in regional magazines to reach residents of your state.

Website Flipping

Flipping is the process of purchasing something, enhancing it, and then reselling it for a profit.

This entails purchasing an inactive web domain for websites and optimizing it all to increase traffic before selling it for a profit. To make this work, you don’t need to have a lot of coding knowledge. Simply take the following actions to launch a successful website flipping side business:

• Search online for appropriate web domains or create one yourself.
• Enhancing SEO, employing long-tail keywords, and advertising, increase visitors.
• For a profit, sell the website.

Start Blogging

Flexible online employment is available for military service members.

By writing about your military experience, you may put all of your newfound knowledge to work and make some additional money.

People will be interested in reading about your lows and peaks, your experiences with fitness and health, and your time spent away from your family.

• Sell blog advertising space.
• Promote goods and services
• Post  affiliate links for items that have proved practical for military life.
• Host webinars or seminars.
• Solicit contributions from readers.

Professional Syndication Investments

Professional syndication is a good middle ground between the two if you have a nest egg set up for the correct investment plan and are seeking high profits without the inconveniences of being a landlord.

Professional investors use crowdsourcing to raise money for lucrative real estate purchases in commercial and multifamily properties that generate revenue. In addition to earning residual income, tax advantages, and the lower risk, investors gain capital in the real estate they invest in. Professional syndication is a completely passive investment.

For military personnel who wish to benefit from real estate’s high-profit margins but don’t want to spend time maintaining properties, Pinto Capital Investments provides syndicated investing opportunities. Call Pinto Capital Investments right away if you want to benefit from a real estate investment that offers a high return, minimal risk, and no fuss.

Invest in REITs

Another method of investing in real estate passively is through real estate investment trusts. Additionally, REITs own, manage, and finance buildings that generate revenue, and getting started is very simple. A taxable brokerage profile must be established before investors may purchase shares of publicly listed REITs.

Although REITs often do not offer profits as high as investing in a rental property or professional syndication, they do have less risk.

Final Thoughts

Military side businesses may help you achieve your financial objectives and, in many circumstances, do so more quickly than if you decided to simply use your military income to make incremental progress toward them.

Try out some of the suggestions here to find a side business you enjoy and can succeed at. Your chances of making more money and achieving your goals increases the sooner you begin a side business.

What will you buy with your additional funds? Check out the military-friendly investment options in our blog!