Ideas for Side Hustles?

Ryan O'Bleness · September 2016

Hello, all.

I was curious, are there people in the community who are participating in a side hustle?

For those that don't know, a side hustle is essentially a way to make some extra cash in addition to your day job. This can often be a hobby or something you're passionate about. If you're truly focused, you could even grow it into your own business, and hey, maybe it turns into a full-time gig.

So, I want to hear from you. Are side hustles a good idea? Has anybody had success participating in side hustles? What are you ideas for good side hustles?

I am only interested in legal operations, obviously.

Best,

jsolorzano · September 2016

Ryan,

Growing up in New York , having a side hustle is almost like part of surviving out here.

Since I was 12 i've been doing side hustles hopefully finding something i'm passionate enough about to make into a business.

My most recent 'side hustle' was buying phone cases from ali baba and selling them through eBay. It was really hot for a few months were i was making $1000-$1500/mo for the first 3 months. The hype around waterproof phone cases died down so the profits got really slim.

Looking forward to hearing every one else stories / 'side hustles'

-Johnathan

Ryan O'Bleness · September 2016

Hello, Jonathan:

That's an interesting take. I wonder if geographic location impacts the desire for wanting to/needing to do side hustles at all due to things like cost of living, lack of full-time job opportunities, population, etc.

Thanks for sharing your experience and good luck!

Charlie P · September 2016

I grew up in the Chicago area and hustled at various things as I grew up. Living in a smaller town now it amazes me how the people out here don't really understand the hustle.

One of my early hustles was putting the cardboard inserts into comic book sleeves and then selling them back to the comic shop. I'd only make like an extra hundred bucks a week, but I was like 12, so it was a good amount at the time. I messed with baseball cards back before that market crashed in the mid 90s. As I grew older I made some bad business decisions that took me in bad directions, but it really helped in developing a mind that keeps an open door policy for opportunities.

A side hustle that I do now is go to auctions and get stuff on the super cheap then sell the stuff through various avenues (Letgo is a great app for local distribution). In addition I work as a ringer at the auction, so I look at it as I'm getting some of the cheap stuff for free. The work isn't that hard and I'd be there anyway, so why not make money while I'm making money...

Ryan O'Bleness · September 2016

Good points, Charlie. The whole concept of a side hustle is interesting to me. The idea of turning a side hustle into its own business entity is even more intriguing. But something like that would take a lot of time, strategy and planning. Although, depending on the nature of the business, it may not require too many resources. It all depends, I suppose.

Maxibillion · September 2016

Most of the money I have ever made has basically been a "side hustle." I never focused on one single job because I knew that wasn't the way to become financially free. My first side hustle was selling E-liquid. It was great because 80% of the people I knew had vapes. E-liquid was needed by vapers at least once a week. We sold it way cheaper than in stores so everybody would come to us to buy it. The profit margins were always around 400% so it was very easy making a profit. I turned $5000 into roughly $15,000 in the span of a year. I was only 16 at the time so that was great money for somebody that was still in high school. My next side hustle was email marketing. I would promote products as an affiliate and earn commission. Also I did a lot of precious metals investing!

focin albert · November 2016

Maxibillion wrote:

Most of the money I have ever made has basically been a "side hustle." I never focused on one single job because I knew that wasn't the way to become financially free. My first side hustle was selling E-liquid. It was great because 80% of the people I knew had vapes. E-liquid was needed by vapers at least once a week. We sold it way cheaper than in stores so everybody would come to us to buy it. The profit margins were always around 400% so it was very easy making a profit. I turned $5000 into roughly $15,000 in the span of a year. I was only 16 at the time so that was great money for somebody that was still in high school. My next side hustle was email marketing. I would promote products as an affiliate and earn commission. Also I did a lot of precious metals investing!

Nice Idea!

cjuu · November 2016

Side hustles are a great idea! I started my business out of a side hustle...I needed money to move when I came home one day to find my house empty and fiancee gone...Now it is starting to take off!

Yourlife10x · January 2017

Hey Guys & Gals,

My name is Ben, and I was recommended to come here in the hopes of finding some really good idea's in creating extra flows of income. Are any of you, or anyone affiliated in any type of "Real Estate" investing? I personally have been looking to expand my knowledge in this section. I believe and many millionaires would agree with me, that it is the ultimate way to generate, "Wealth."

If this sounds like an awesome idea to any of you, please reply!

If I can also do anything to help anyone else push forth and generate extra steams of income, I would love to help!

:P

Feel free to message me anytime!
Thanks a ton!
~Ben T.

damian85 · March 2017

Hey everyone :)

I guess we all need a side hustle every now and then. I'm cool with my current day job, but besides that I'm also doing freelance work at Wegrowth.
I am a self thought graphic designer, mostly working with photoshop and illustrator and you could say that I'm pretty good at it :) So why not make some extra money.
For me side hustles are always a great way to earn some extra cash for a trip (my girlfriend love traveling)

Ryan O'Bleness · March 2017

@damian85, yeah side hustles are a great thing to tap into, especially when you have a special skill set or a passion to start something. What it really comes down to is time. Having one full-time job takes up most of of our waking hours, so finding the time -- whether it's weekend, late night, etc. -- and correct opportunity is the difficult part.

Levi Leyba, MBA · March 2017

As an entrepreneur, I guess you can say everything I do is a side hustle. I like how most have said how great it is that side hustles provide for extra cash for only gifting a limited amount of time. Imagine if they were to double their investment with time on these side hustles? It could indeed turn into a business. And a great business because side hustles are usually revolving around what we like to do in life or what our hobbies are.

Let's say you create a side hustle of selling gardening equipment being an Amazon Affiliate because you love gardening and can talk a sh*t storm about gardening to anyone that would listen. While you are working away at that insurance agency, your thoughts and passion is with gardening. You make a couple hundred bucks blogging about gardening tips and recommending equipment to purchase on Amazon. But if you do not see that this side hustle can in fact be your golden ticket out of the insurance industry, then you'll be drowning in that dead beat job the rest of your life (most likely). So yeah, side hustles, or however you classify them, are a great "gateway drug" into starting a business.

Ryan O'Bleness · March 2017

Levi Leyba, MBA said:

As an entrepreneur, I guess you can say everything I do is a side hustle. I like how most have said how great it is that side hustles provide for extra cash for only gifting a limited amount of time. Imagine if they were to double their investment with time on these side hustles? It could indeed turn into a business. And a great business because side hustles are usually revolving around what we like to do in life or what our hobbies are.

Let's say you create a side hustle of selling gardening equipment being an Amazon Affiliate because you love gardening and can talk a sh*t storm about gardening to anyone that would listen. While you are working away at that insurance agency, your thoughts and passion is with gardening. You make a couple hundred bucks blogging about gardening tips and recommending equipment to purchase on Amazon. But if you do not see that this side hustle can in fact be your golden ticket out of the insurance industry, then you'll be drowning in that dead beat job the rest of your life (most likely). So yeah, side hustles, or however you classify them, are a great "gateway drug" into starting a business.

True. I'm sure many entrepreneurs started doing things as "projects" in their free time, and were able to grow it into an actual business. It does help when you're able to start a business that you're both passionate and knowledgeable about.

You're already going to have the drive to succeed because you are putting all of your time, effort and resources into launching this business, but when it is a topic you are actually deeply-rooted in, you're going to have even more desire to see it through and do everything in your power to make it successful.

Even if that is not what you want to with your side hustle, they still provide an outlet to briefly get away from your day job, routine, rut, etc.

grayson · March 2017

This is the list of things I did/have been doing:
1. Buy secondhand stuff online and then resell them at a small profit.
2. Bake and then participate in secondhand market. (I was quite rather surprised how much you can make selling things like cupcakes or hot dogs).
3. Edit/Proof-reading books. Pay per hour.
4. Freelance writers. (I write up to 20 articles per month).

Ryan O'Bleness · March 2017

@grayson, sounds like you're keeping yourself busy. It seems a lot of people are using sites like Amazon and E-bay to re-sell merchandise and make a profit. Becoming an authorized reseller might be a wise idea for many entrepreneurs.

Baking is also a good idea, but there are a lot of compliances that must be met when selling food.

Ryan O'Bleness · April 2017

In addition to my role at StartupNation, I also write for a couple of (pretty big) sports blogs. These contributing roles usually start as unpaid, but I am able to work my way up to editor positions and other paid roles. It could lead to more distinct roles with the website overall as well, as opposed to just covering one particular team. It is also an outlet to get my name out there as an authority on the topic.

Ideas for Side Hustles?

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