8 Ultra -Flexible Part-Time Jobs

Looking for flexible part-time jobs that let you take control of your schedule? Here are 8 great options to start your search. 

The internet and the growing gig economy have made it easier than ever to find flexible part-time work. There are dozens of gig apps, like DoorDash and Instacart, that offer great opportunities to work on your own schedule, and the internet gives you access to an infinite number of jobs and gigs all across the world. 

With so many options available to you, it can be hard to figure out which ones are worth pursuing. To make things easier for you, we’ve put together a list of 8 great flexible jobs that deserve your attention. 

Delivery apps

Delivery apps like DoorDash and Uber Eats are likely the first things that come to mind when you think of the gig economy. While the gig economy encompasses a lot more than that, delivery apps are undoubtedly one of the staples of the trend, and for good reason: they’re incredibly flexible and easy to get started with.

But what many don’t know is that there’s a lot of variety even within this category: restaurant, grocery, and non-food delivery apps all offer significantly different working experiences. Let’s take a look at some of the differences. 

For a more detailed look at each of these, check out our full post on delivery driver apps. 

Restaurant delivery apps

Restaurant delivery apps include the likes of DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. These apps also do grocery delivery, but their focus is on restaurant food, and that’s where most of your work will come from. 

Your job here is pretty self-explanatory: you’ll receive orders from hungry customers, pick up their food at the specified restaurant, and bring it to them. 

With these apps, you’ll spend most of the time on the move, only stopping in briefly to pick up a pre-packaged order before heading out on the road again (very different than the grocery delivery experience, as you’ll soon see). In most cases, you’ll need to use a car to make your deliveries, but most apps also allow alternative vehicles in certain metro areas, like bikes, motorcycles, and scooters. 

This has advantages and disadvantages: you’ll be able to complete more orders in a shorter amount of time than other apps, which can boost your earnings, but the pay for each order is often less. What that means for your overall earnings is impossible to predict: earnings are highly regionalized and dependent on your own individual strategy, so the only way to find out how much you can earn with these apps is to try them out yourself. 

For more on these gigs, check out our full post on jobs like DoorDash. 

Grocery delivery apps

The top apps in this category are Shipt, Instacart, Amazon Flex, and Walmart Spark. These apps only do grocery delivery (and some convenience store orders too), unlike restaurant apps, which tend to do some of both. 

Grocery delivery apps are almost the reverse of restaurant apps when it comes to the job description: Instead of spending most of your time in your car, most of your time will be spent in a grocery store shopping for your customer’s food. For that reason, these apps are often considered to be a bit more labor intensive, especially from a physical standpoint — you’ll need to be able to lift heavy bags of groceries and spend a lot of time on your feet walking around the store. 

Unsurprisingly, these apps tend to pay better on a per-order basis — but that doesn’t mean that they’ll necessarily pay better overall. Just like with restaurant delivery apps, your earnings will largely be determined by your region, and you can’t accurately predict how much you’ll make before giving them a try. 

Using alternative vehicles, like bikes, is less viable with these apps — some of the top apps, like Shipt, simply don’t allow them, while others have more stringent restrictions (Instacart only allows e-bikes and motorized scooters, not regular bicycles). That said, grocery orders are larger and heavier, so most experienced workers recommend against using anything but a car to deliver grocery orders anyway.

This app category stands out from others because two of the top apps have programs that allow customers to hand-select their favorite shoppers and send orders straight to them. For shoppers, this allows you to develop a more reliable list of well-tipping, reliable customers, which can help increase your earnings. The Shipt Preferred Shopper Program is generally considered the best and most fleshed-out program, but Instacart has one as well that’s getting better all the time. 

Package delivery

If you want to do deliveries but don’t want to deal with food, you’ve got several options available to you: Amazon Flex, Frayt, Veho, Roadie, Draiver, and Shipt (as a Driver, not a Shopper). 

Package delivery is fairly similar to restaurant delivery in that you’ll spend most of your time driving, and you’ll be picking up pre-packaged orders — you don’t have to do any of the shopping yourself. The difference, however, is that instead of accepting individual orders, you typically accept pre-planned routes, which include lots of orders. 

You can think of your work for package delivery apps like being an on-demand mail carrier. Usually, you’ll sign up for a route in advance, then head to a warehouse or pickup spot, load a large number of packages into your car, and deliver them all along the route. Unlike other delivery apps, which you can start and stop whenever you want, you typically need to commit to a few hours at a time with these apps. 

While other delivery apps tend to allow alternative vehicles at least in some cases, package delivery apps only accept cars — it’s simply not possible to carry 40 packages on a bike. 

Transportation

Ridesharing, which includes Uber and Lyft, is neck-and-neck with food delivery when it comes to the most popular gig apps — you’ve likely used one of these apps on the customer side at some point in time. 

Ridesharing apps require you to transport people, but the category isn’t limited to Uber and Lyft. There are other options out there for specialized situations, like getting kids to and from school. 

Uber and Lyft

Uber and Lyft are the two most popular ridesharing apps, and they’re pretty similar overall: They’re both essentially modern app-based taxi services. Drivers tend to report that Uber pays better than Lyft, but as with delivery apps, a lot of this will depend on your region, so your mileage may vary. 

Driving for rideshare apps is similar to doing restaurant and package deliveries in that you’ll be on the road a lot, but you have to account for the fact that you’ll have people, not groceries, to keep you company. If you’re a social person, you might enjoy that, but introverts may appreciate the alone time other delivery apps grant them. 

Plus, there’s a greater risk of difficult customers. While your interactions with tough delivery customers will be pretty short, a bad rideshare customer could mean a long, unpleasant car ride — and potentially even damage to your vehicle.  

HopSkipDrive

HopSkipDrive is a transportation service, but it’s of an entirely different breed: It provides rides to children and individuals who have special needs (for example, dropping them off and picking them up from school). As a result, it has extremely stringent requirements — while practically anyone can get hired for Uber and Lyft, only individuals with a proven track record of excellent caregiving are hired. To work for HopSkipDrive, you’ll need at least five years of caregiving experience and two years of that must be in childcare.

Unsurprisingly, HopSkipDrive pays better than non-specialized rideshare platforms, so it's a great option if you meet the hiring criteria. Plus, you’ll provide a much-needed service to your community and can take joy in helping others. 

Amazon warehouse jobs

Amazon currently has over 100 warehouses spread out across the United States and is constantly hiring new employees, so there’s a decent chance that there’s a spot open near you. 

There are three different types of warehouses and lots of different jobs within them. At a fulfillment center (FC), you’ll package and prepare orders, at a sortation center (SC), you’ll help send packages in the right direction, and at a delivery station (DS), you’ll deal with the final preparations before they reach the customer. 

Amazon allows part-time, full-time, reduced-time, and seasonal work, and offers lots of different shift types, including day, night, morning, weekend, and flex shifts, so there’s lots of opportunity to plan your work around your other obligations. Amazon’s flex shifts, in particular, allow you to pick up shifts as you go, which provides you with a dynamic schedule that can change in accordance with your needs. 

Amazon offers lots of career advancement opportunities, so if you start out part-time and really like your work, you can typically convert to a full-time employee and turn it into a full-fledged career.  

Caregiving

Caregiving, like babysitting and dog walking, is a classic part-time job. Nowadays, dedicated platforms like Care.com, Wag!, and Rover, have made it easier than ever to find work. 

Care.com 

Care.com is an online marketplace that connects caregivers (babysitters, pet sitters, housekeepers, senior caregivers, and tutors) with families and individuals seeking care. 

As a caregiver on Care.com, you’ll set your own rates, make a profile, field incoming booking requests, and apply to jobs. You can offer multiple different types of caregiving services at once on the platform, so there’s no problem if you want to look for babysitting and housekeeping jobs simultaneously. 

Care.com offers two different membership types: Basic and Premium. The Basic membership is free except for the cost of the yearly background check, which is $24.99. Premium, on the other hand, costs $15-$30/month, but it gives you priority access to jobs, ranks you higher in search results, and waves the cost of the background check, among other perks.

Wag! and Rover

Wag! and Rover are dedicated pet care platforms, so if you’re an animal lover, they’re the place to be. On both of these platforms, you can offer pet sitting, dog walking, and boarding services. However, you can only offer pet training on Wag!, and you can only offer doggy day care on Rover. 

Overall, they’re both pretty similar: you’ll need to apply, pass a background check, and then make a profile detailing your availability and the services you can provide. But their payment structure is different: Rover takes a 20% cut out of your earnings, while Wag! takes 40% — a significant difference. 

Tutoring

If you excelled as a student or are an expert in a specific subject, tutoring can be a great way to earn some extra money while spreading your knowledge and enriching others. 

There are two ways that most people get involved with tutoring: independently or through an established tutoring service.

Independent tutoring

Independent tutoring will typically give you the highest earnings (there are never any commission fees, and there’s usually no direct competition), but it’s the hardest to get started in. If you’re connected with your community or local school, you can likely find students by simply letting some local teachers and parents know that you’re available for tutoring. Flyers can also help, but tutors tend to get hired via word of mouth and referrals. 

Most independent tutoring takes place in person, so you’ll likely need to go to your students' homes, have them come to yours, or meet them somewhere, like a public library or coffee shop. Tutoring independently online is possible, but it’s less common — most parents what their kids to learn face to face. 

Tutoring services (Varsity Tutors, Wyzant, Kumon, Mathnasium)

If finding students seems challenging, you can always apply to be a tutor at an established service. Services like Kumon and Mathnasium already have lots of students, so they’ll make sure you get a steady stream of work. Generally, these services provide in-person tutoring (you’ll give lessons at your local Kumon or Mathnasium center). However, they’ve recently started offering remote tutoring, so that’s a possibility now as well. 

Other services, like Varsity Tutors and Wyzant, don’t directly give you students, but they can still make finding students easier than striking out completely on your own. They follow a marketplace model, which makes it easy for students to find you — you post a profile that states what subjects you can teach, and students will reach out to you to book lessons.

However, the downside of these services is that they don’t pay as much per hour as a private student would, and some take a cut of your earnings as a commission. That said, it’s worth it if you’ll otherwise struggle to get clients or you simply don’t want to deal with having to market yourself locally. 

Freelancing

Got a skill that’s in demand? Freelancing can turn your talents into a flexible part-time job or a flexible long-term career. Some skills that are highly in demand include:

• Development (full-stack, web, front-end, etc.)
• E-commerce web development
• UX/UI design
• Lead generation
• Accounting
• Bookkeeping
• Graphic design
• SEO (search engine optimization)
• Writing
• Video editing
• Web design and development
• Project management
• Marketing

As a freelancer, you can work whenever you want and charge whatever you want (as long as your client is willing to pay). 

Independent

Like tutoring, working as an independent freelancer will typically fetch you the highest rates, but it’s often hard to get started. As an independent freelancer, you’ll need to look through job boards, reach out to your network, and potentially engage in cold emailing to secure your initial clients. But once you do, you’ll be in almost complete control of your work, and you can feel proud that you’ve truly built a business. 

Freelancing platforms (Upwork, Fiverr)

If you’re not sure where to start looking for clients, platforms like Upwork and Fiverr can help. These sites both act as marketplaces that connect clients and freelancers, but they each have their own quirks: on Upwork, clients post jobs, and you bid on them, whereas on Fiverr, you post your services, and clients reach out to you. 

These sites are great starting points for freelancers, but they both take commission fees, so your earnings will likely be less than if you were fully independent. If your goal is part-time work, then the best way to maximize your earnings is to optimize your earnings per hour, and these portals likely won’t be able to compete with independent freelance rates — many freelancers start here and then set out on their own once they have some experience under their belts. 

E-commerce 

If you’re looking for a flexible way to earn money part-time, it’s hard to beat running your own online store — not only do you not have set hours, but instead of trading time for money, you’re investing in a business model that can scale infinitely. While freelancers will max out their hourly earnings at a certain point, the sky is the limit when you sell products. 

Here are a few different ways you can get started in e-commerce.

Etsy and Shopify

If you make your own crafts, Etsy and Shopify are a great way to start monetizing them. Lots of people build profitable businesses using these two platforms. 

If you’re just starting out, Etsy may be a better option for you. For example, if you make custom bracelets, you can post your products on Etsy, and when any Etsy user searches “bracelets,” one of your products might show up. 

On Shopify, you’ll have your own dedicated website, which means you have to get customers entirely on your own. This can lead to a more profitable and sustainable business in the long run, but it’s definitely more of a challenge up front. 

eBay 

While you can sell your own creations on eBay just like you can on Etsy and Shopify, eBay is also great for selling some of your old stuff — or even other people’s old stuff! 

If you have a basement, garage, or storage room you’ve been meaning to clear out for a while, you can turn your clean-up into a profitable operation — and depending on how much stuff you have, that can last quite a while.

But if you don’t have anything of your own to sell, that’s not a problem. You can spend your weekend going to yard sales, buying cheap items, and then flipping them on eBay for higher prices. Sometimes, you can even do this by going to local stores and finding items that are on sale, but this is a bit tougher (this is called retail arbitrage).

Content creation

If you’ve got a knack for writing or video making, you can turn your passion into a source of passive income. Unlike most of the other jobs on this list, this one is truly a slow burn — it will take a long time before you start seeing any significant income from this, if ever. But if you love creating, there’s nothing lost in trying: The worst-case scenario will be that you sharpen your skills and have a great time expressing yourself. 

If you’re a video maker, YouTube is a great place to start. If you’re a writer, check out Substack or Medium. All of these options let you monetize your work right from the get-go. 

Bonus: Online surveys

If you’re looking for just a bit of extra cash, online surveys can help you earn a few extra bucks each week. The earnings will be small, and nowhere near as much as you’d earn with any of the other jobs we gave here, but if you’re just looking for some money to pay for a coffee or your Netflix subscription, these can be a good choice.

Ipsos iSay is one of the best survey platforms around — you’ll get paid to provide your opinions as part of Ipsos market research programs. Here are a few others that deserve your attention:

• Mobrog 
• Survey Junkie   
• Branded Surveys 
• Swagbucks 
• MyPoints 
• Opinion Outpost 
• Prizerebel 
• KashKick 

Advice from experienced gig workers

We asked three of our Gig Pros what advice they’d give to teachers looking for part-time work. Here’s what they said. 

Faith's advice

Faith McLaughlin has been doing gig work for 8 years, including working with Postmates, Uber, Lyft, Instacart, and DoorDash. Here are her tips for getting flexible part-time jobs:

My recommendation for someone wanting flexible part-time work is to look at what time of day you are wanting to work and choose which platform will maximize that time. Chances are that anyone who wants to earn a little extra money but really needs flexibility with it should test out a few different delivery apps to see where it is most busy and profitable during the time you are able to work.

Personally speaking, in my area, it is usually Instacart and Spark that keep me busy during the day and DoorDash during the later hours. So, if I am not available to drive during the day, it’s nice to know that I can pick up some of that slack in the evening by switching to DoorDash. As with any delivery app, there are always certain days or times that are consistently busy and each app has a section that will give you that information as well so you can plan out your schedule accordingly. My recommendation for someone wanting to have flexible part-time work is to look at what time of day you are wanting to work and choose which platform will maximize that time.

Chances are that anyone who wants to earn a little extra money but really needs flexibility with it should test out a few different delivery apps to see where it is most busy and profitable during the time you are able to work.

Personally speaking, in my area, it is usually Instacart and Spark that keep me busy during the day and DoorDash during the later hours. So, if I am not available to drive during the day, it’s nice to know that I can pick up some of that slack in the evening by switching to DoorDash. As with any delivery app, there are always certain days or times that are consistently busy and each app has a section that will give you that information as well so you can plan out your schedule accordingly.

Scott's advice

Scott Jones has been doing DoorDash, Lyft, Amazon Flex, and Instacart since 2018. Here’s the advice he gave:

​​I would recommend trying eBay. Maybe it fits your life, maybe it is not going to fit you at all. But, I would try to find items that you know a lot about and have an interest in. Like do you know about dogs, bikes, or computers? That would be your specialty. Don't try to fulfill everything for everyone. I have an eBay shop, and it has always been in the background sorta' passively creating income. I would be very careful with the dropshipping that most people talk about. eBay is cracking down on that, but if you have a few items at home you could start with or buy something you see is a hot seller at Walmart. EBay isn't for everyone, but it can be lucrative, and there is no reason that a part-time worker couldn't do it on the side. I am. 

If I had to choose between the delivery apps, I would go with Instacart now. I have seen them trying to be more fair with their workers than Doordash is. Literally, Doordash will send you an hour's worth of delivery for $2. They don't mind. And someone will take it. You could make some money with Lyft, but be aware of the rules and keep your car clean. I have recently seen Redditors complaining that they drove over 100 miles roundtrip for a $30-40 ride. That is just not fair. Lyft is charging those people 3 or 4 times that much. One guy on Reddit was actually proving that Lyft keeps 82% of the fair. Meaning, for every 100 you make, they make $400-500. That seems terrible to me. But, in a pinch it is doable.

James's advice

James Tuliano has been doing Shipt and DoorDash since 2020, averaging about 20 hours per week across both platforms. Here’s his advice:

If you're looking for flexible part-time work, it would largely depend on your situation for what I would suggest. If you are a student or something, I would probably recommend something like Shipt or Instacart, since you might have some free time in the middle of the day when people are ordering groceries. 

If you are working a 9-5, I would recommend doing food delivery. Food delivery is usually the most busy from 5-9, so doing after-work DoorDash or UberEats, even if you just do two hours, can give you an extra $40-50 with pretty minimal effort. 

You really could do either on the weekend, but grocery delivery is usually busier on the weekdays (though your mileage may vary depending on your area) and weekends are busier for food delivery. 

If you are super flexible, I would recommend trying all of it and seeing what makes you the most money for your area and what you enjoy doing the most!