Corporations taking over side hustles seems to be screwing over people, since they take such a large cut and flood the market for that hustle.
But the ones I’ve personally seen people do that work pretty well (in USA) are:
Stay at home mom watching another kid (legally dubious depending on state/situation. But I ain’t no narc.)
A neighbor of my mom’s sends out a menu saying what she plans on cooking each night for that week, and for $X will deliver you some as well (Legal in Utah due to special laws, other states could be dubious. )
People who go pick up free furniture that is pretty trashed, and then refurbishes it and sells it. Or people with trucks who are like “Will deliver furniture for $30 in X area” is also pretty life saver for people without cars/trucks. Was able to get a super cheap/nice coach because of this.
People who just flip free stuff or stuff from thrift stores without doing any improvements annoy me greatly though. We broke and you’re just driving up the price!
None of these generate a ton of cash, but I like that they take very little up front cost, aren’t disruptive, and mostly take labor.
So what side hustles have you seen work out?
Side hustles should be hobbies and done with no need to monetize them.
What the fuck, your job should be enough to support you and live, which includes free time to enjoy your life and hobbies.
But I understand, and more than once in my life I had to look for side hustles.
Yea, everyone keeps telling me I should be selling my 3D prints. I don’t want to have to deal with logistics and customers. I just want to 3D print cool shit.
Also, knowledge and sharing has been critical for advancement of human civilization. Imagine if scientists where to sell their research instead of publishing it(*) where would be today?
- = I mean, you might have to pay to read those publications, but they are literally free and can ask the authors for a copy free in most cases…
Mate at work has made a fair bit of money off crypto
My Etsy shop hit a very niche market and was pulling around $3k a year. I didn’t put any effort into advertising, it kinda did that on its own
I’m also a performer which is a great side hustle for my creative fulfillment, but pays nearly nothing
You don’t have to confirm/deny - but I’m going to pretend this niche is selling tiefling horns/ears.
Curious! Is your main market other fire dancers, joke gifts, or weird sex thing?
Or do you just not ask questions and happily take your little bit of cash?
Cause 3k a year ain’t nothing to sneeze at. $200ish a month if you are only clearing your bills by $50 can make a WORLD of difference.
By “performer” do you mean musician? Playing bars or coffee shops here and there? I’ve done that for a free drink or two here and there. I think that would be one of my retirement activities if I had loads of free time, but it takes a lot of energy to set it all up and be “on” regularly while also working full time.
I’m a fire and sideshow performer weirdly enough, we’re a dying breed. I mostly do shows at bars and host my own, but every now and then I get a nicer gig that pays a bit more, like at a faire.
Oh man I loved when Evermore (RIP) had fire dancers. But it was funny because for their major events they would hire super skilled pros, then their daily shows they would have a staff member that they had taught or was a hobbyist before being hired. They were fun and skilled, but the difference was very obvious in variety of tricks and number of failed tricks.
Which makes sense considering their financial troubles, but imagine being that fire dancer on staff being like “Super hyped for tonight’s show!” and them just being like “Ahh, did no one tell you? We hired someone for five times your nightly wage to do tonight’s show cause they’re a lot better”
Higher education tripled my income, so that seemed to work, and I dont have to do anything but sit in an office 40 hours a week.
DegreeForum.net is a forum of education hobbyists that do accelerated online degrees (Bachelor and Masters level) for fun.
I haven’t known anyone to do this but I always thought managing social media accounts for small businesses would be a good side hustle. A steakhouse restaurant nearby went out of business in a year. They spent a ton of money on remodeling and a billboard with a logo but weren’t even listed on Google Maps. I’ll wager some businesses would be willing to barter in order to keep things simple
Adding to google maps = easy and helpful
Making different social media pages with menu/pictures then giving it to the owner = fine
Anything beyond that?
I ain’t dealing with that. Getting people to actually click on things is a dark and maddening experience. I’ve tried to GIVE AWAY things to promote events, and I can’t get folks to click on stupid links.
Also many social media commenters prove that you don’t have to have a brain to learn to write, so Jellyfish should be writing fb comments on your local vegan restaurant complaining about lack of fish options any day now.
I don’t think managing a social media account for a business qualifies as a side hustle. You’ll have to post and promote daily and deal with comments. Sure chatGPT and Canva can help you with copywriting stuff and graphics to make creative stuff easier. More like a part-time job to me.
