9 Best Side Hustles for Project Managers

Earning potential: $30–$50 per hour

What it is and how it works: As you almost certainly already know, this involves providing project management services to private clients on a freelance or contract basis.

You can look for project management gigs in any industry, either your primary one or something new. Either way, you’ll draw on the same core skill set that you’ve developed in your main career.

Why you should do it: If project management is your day job, developing a side hustle as a freelance project manager is a logical step. You’re obviously qualified to do this type of work—if you have the time, why not take on more of it?

In addition to earning extra income, freelancing gives you the chance to expand your skill set, improving your future career prospects.

How to get started: To attract clients, create (or update) social media profiles (e.g., on LinkedIn). Use them to advertise your skills and offer potential clients ways of getting in touch.

You can also take advantage of freelancing sites like these:

• Fiverr
• Upwork
• Freelancer.com

Earning potential: $20 per hour

What it is and how it works: Working as an event planner means coordinating various aspects of an event, including the venue, meals, logistics, and more.

People often hire event planners to help out with:

• Weddings
• Corporate meetings
• Birthday parties
• Anniversaries
• Charity events

Why you should do it: Event planning and project management take similar skills. You’re used to delivering results within a predetermined time frame and budget, which, in a nutshell, is what event planning requires.

Clients (and guests!) will appreciate your attention to detail, ability to multitask, and ability to grasp the big picture.

What’s more, planning a successful event can be a rewarding experience. People often need event planners to help them coordinate some of the most special moments of their lives. Contributing to the success of a wedding or anniversary can be moving and meaningful.

How to get started: This side hustle is fairly competitive. Before you start planning events professionally, you need to gain some experience. Try volunteering with local organizations to build your portfolio.

Focus on networking so that once you’ve found your footing, you’ll be well-positioned to gain clients and obtain paid work. Here again, you need to have a professional social media presence that showcases your talents and allows potential clients to easily get in contact with you.

Earning potential: $50–$150 per hour

What it is and how it works: Business coaching and consulting are closely related side hustles, but they’re not identical. Here’s how they’re usually defined:

• Business coaching: This refers to helping a business owner reach their goals by offering advice on business management strategies.
• Business consulting: On the other hand, this typically involves tutoring business teams in project management best practices to help the company optimize their processes and operate more efficiently.

Both of these gigs are focused on managing risk and maximizing profits.

Why you should do it: As a project manager, you’re used to working with multiple departments and overseeing large processes with many moving parts. With your knowledge of how organizations function, you’re in a very good position to help companies improve their operations.

As a bonus, business coaching and consulting are two of the most lucrative side hustles on this list.

How to get started: To attract clients as a business coach or consultant, it’s important to build a strong personal brand. Identify the niche you want to work in, such as IT or healthcare, and build your social media presence around that.

In addition to establishing your social media presence, don’t forget to show up at professional conferences and networking events to make connections and meet potential clients.

Earning potential: Varies widely

What it is and how it works: If you’re a skilled project manager, you can create online courses (with multimedia lectures, worksheets, study guides, quizzes, etc.) to help other aspiring PMs follow in your footsteps.

Why you should do it: This side hustle isn’t for everybody; it’s a lot of work, and it requires several specialized skills (above all, the ability to condense and explain information). That said, if you enjoy teaching (and are tech savvy enough to create a series of digital lectures or instructional videos), this can be a rewarding side hustle.

Selling online courses also involves less direct customer or client interaction than many of the side hustles on this list, which may be a plus if you spend enough time dealing with people for your main job. For that reason, this is a particularly suitable side hustle for introverts.

How to get started: First, get to know the project management content landscape. Get a feel for which topics are saturated and which need more coverage.

You’ll also need to identify your audience so you can tailor your instructional methods to them. Do you want to teach college students? Recent graduates? Established project managers who are looking to round out their skills?

Once you’ve done your homework, the real work will begin. Create engaging materials that include assignments, quizzes, review activities, and more. Then, upload your content to an online learning platform, such as the ones listed below:

• Udemy
• LinkedIn Learning
• Teachable
• Coursera
• Skillshare

Earning potential: $15–$100 per hour

What it is and how it works: Virtual assistants work remotely to help other professionals (or businesses) complete their daily tasks. They often assist with the following:

• Communication (emails, etc.)
• Data entry
• Scheduling meetings and appointments
• Managing social media accounts

You’re more than qualified to take on that type of work, and it’s a relatively easy way to earn a paycheck. However, you also have the skills to handle higher-level work, essentially acting as an assistant project manager on a remote basis.

Why you should do it: For obvious reasons, a gig like this will be a piece of cake. After all, you already have all the skills you’ll need, and virtual assisting gigs are generally easier and less stressful than taking on entire projects as a freelance project manager.

How to get started: You can find work as a virtual assistant on all the usual freelance marketplaces (such as Upwork and Fiverr, linked above). Gigs also sometimes pop up on general-purpose employment websites like Indeed, and there are several sites dedicated specifically to VA work, such as:

• Great Assistant
• VaVa Virtual Assistants
• Virtual Coworker
• Virtual Employee
• Wing Assistant

Earning potential: $20–$50 per hour

What it is and how it works: Social media management involves overseeing a business’s or individual’s social media presence across multiple platforms. The goal is to develop and promote their brand through targeted content.

Why you should do it: Managing your project’s social media presence might already be part of your responsibilities for your day job. If so, this will obviously be an easy transition—and if not, this is still a skill that you can easily pick up.

How to get started: As an aspiring social media manager, your own social media accounts should be immaculate. Regularly update them with fresh content, and remember that they’re a demonstration of your ability to promote a brand (in this case, your own.)

If at first you can’t land paid clients because of a lack of experience, consider seeking out volunteer opportunities to build a portfolio. Once you’re ready, you can find jobs on the freelancing and employment sites we mentioned above, as well as through word of mouth—your professional network will be one of your best assets when developing this side hustle.

Earning potential: Varies depending on the popularity of your products

What it is and how it works: As you know, project managers can save time by using organizational tools that track and display information in helpful ways.

As a project manager yourself, you can leverage your experience to create similar tools. For instance, you can develop:

• Budget trackers
• Risk assessment sheets
• Responsibility charts
• Project plans

If you plan on creating software tools, you may need to hire a freelance developer to help you out. However, there’s also a market for home-grown DIY tools, such as Microsoft Excel templates.

Why you should do it: No one understands project managers’ needs better than project managers themselves. You’re in a great position to get into this side hustle, and if your products take off (not a certainty, but far from impossible), you can make quite a bit of money.

How to get started: First, create your tools (consider offering your work to your colleagues for free to get feedback). Advertise your products on platforms like the following:

• Etsy
• Gumroad
• Creative Market

Earning potential: Varies

What it is and how it works: If you have a restless pen (or voice!), you can put it to use by starting a blog or a podcast.

Regardless of the medium you choose, you’ll create content that ties back to the field of project management in some way.

Your goal can be to entertain (e.g., by telling funny stories from your job) or to educate (by sharing tips or talking about the state of project management at large). The only hard requirement is that your content needs to be fresh and engaging.

Why you should do it: This side hustle is hard to make money with—some blogs and podcasts are profitable, but there’s a lot of competition. However, if you stick with it, you may be able to earn real money while contributing to your industry’s conversation and expressing yourself.

How to get started: Starting a blog is easy. All you need to do is create an account on a platform like Medium, WordPress, or Substack (which is technically for email newsletters, but it operates essentially like a blogging platform).

For a podcast, the requirements are a bit steeper. To record high-quality audio, you’ll need a decent microphone and other equipment.

Whichever content creation side hustle you choose, your first step should be to publish a substantial catalog of posts or episodes. You can explore monetization strategies (e.g., affiliate marketing, ads, or sponsored posts) later, after you’ve built an audience.

Earning potential: Almost unlimited (dependent on the size of your investment)

What it is and how it works: You probably already know what real estate investing is. It consists of buying properties, potentially renovating or refurbishing them, and either renting them out or selling them for a profit.

Why you should do it: A surprising number of project management skills transfer to real estate investing. In the initial purchase stage, for instance, you need to be adept at researching the property, assessing its risks, and estimating its future earning potential. After that, you need the organizational know-how to renovate it and rent it out.

This side hustle has the potential to generate (mostly) passive income and build your wealth over time. That said, like all forms of investing, it comes with an element of risk; don’t invest any money that you’re not prepared to lose if the housing market takes a downtown for a while.

How to get started: If you’re serious about real estate investment, do your research. Study up on how the housing market works and how to evaluate and manage properties. You can’t get into this side hustle without putting your own money on the line, so it’s very important to be well-informed before you commit to it.

As a project manager, choosing a related side hustle is a safe choice, but there are also good reasons to pick other ideas beyond your occupation.