People Who Make More Money From Their Side Hustles Than Their Day Jobs Share Their Experiences
In this day and age, it's not uncommon for people to have a side gig -- an extra job as a way to make more money -- aside from their regular 9 to 5.
It's also not super uncommon for some of these people to find that their side gig can -- and sometimes does -- pay them more than their 9 to 5.
My best friend is a brilliant journalist by trade, but he makes way more money by freelance editing than he does as at the paper he writes for. Freelance editing is a side gig, however. He doesn't do it all the time, and yet makes enough to pay his monthly rent just by doing one freelance job!
Redditors have discovered other side gigs that pay them more than their regular 9 to 5, and are ready to share their experidnces.
It all started when Redditor DonkKinnis asked:
"People that actually found a side hustle that makes more than your 9-5, what was it?"
I Need A Weapon
"Making swords, it started as a hobby - like let's see where we can take it. It is now a company with 15 guys employed, and 1,500+ swords a year. Best job ever"
– Charming_Height_6944
"You’re living my husbands dream. He would love to forge swords as a hobby. If you feel so inclined, can you message me with info on your starter setup? It’s my goal to surprise him someday with a fully functioning beginner forge, but I have no idea where to start"
– _StaRrFoxX_
"Lucky for you guys England and France are at war. Business must be booming."
– Tudpool
Happy And Healthy
"I was a therapist for 5 years in acute inpatient psych, and I burned out HARD. From awful pay, zero security, staff getting cut but workload increasing, and the work culture being one of “suffering Olympics” where you’d see who can work the most on the least sleep, it was inhumane."
"In the last 2 years, I turned my photography hobby into a successful business! I shoot weddings, elopements, couples’/family sessions, you name it. I work much less and make much more, plus the second hand dopamine is fantastic for my own mental health."
– LimitedGenius
"Me, working inpatient psych as a nurse, studying this thread like my life depends on it."
– Addwon
Knickknacks
"I sculpt miniatures for 3D printing, RPG, DnD etc. I make roughly triple what I was doing at a previous ''real'' entry job."
– CougarJo
Just Whistle While You Work
"Cleaning houses makes pretty good money. It's surprising how much people will pay you to just come in once a week and do a little cleaning."
– Sprinkle_drama
"My dad told me once of a acquaintances wife who started a cleaning business. Not by hour but charged for the task. Floors swept and mopped was $xx dishes done and benches wiped $xx carpets vaccumed $xx bathroom cleaned $xx toilet $xx. It worked brilliantly esp for young busy working men. Having set prices for set tasks was easier for them to get their heads around than 3-4 hours cleaning. She did very very well out of it"
– SupTheChalice
Flowers DO Cost A Fortune!
"Wedding Florist. Quit the 9-5 last year!"
– _adsbygoogle
FOOD!!
"I sell brownies on delivery apps"
– andydessa
"There is a kid who did this with frozen pizzas from his apartment on YouTube."
– Elegant_Housing_For
"This is f-ing brilliant."
– HappyPixie
I Want One!
"I sew stuffed animals, quilts and sometimes children’s clothing. I use to work in a nearby hospital working with Covid patients and Covid samples. I can make my old paycheck in a day if I spend the entire day working."
– YrsaAse
Should I Be Scared?
"Building killer stereo systems I’ve also have been building patio chairs really just making stuff if you can make it but make it well and take pride in your craftsmanship there’s a market for it"
– Bass_head_thomas
"Read this too fast and thought it said “serial killer system” and I was very confused and slightly worried for a moment."
– Infinity9999x
A New Idea Is A Good Idea
"I’m a software engineer. I had a coworker who was into bowling and couldn’t find an app he liked to track his stats, so he wrote one himself after using it, his friends started asking if he could give it to them. He put it on the App Store. Within a year close to half his income was coming from his app selling."
"He tried to repeat his success a few times, but none of his other apps ever caught on."
– dring157
Didn't Even Know This Was A Thing
"Secret shopper."
"So technically I don’t have a 9-5 cause I’m a student, but it’s still a VERY well paying hustle."
"Essentially all I do I drive around the city, go to random stores, buy a lottery ticket, see if they ask for ID, and leave. Then I fill out some paperwork, and I’m done."
"They compensate full gas charge, and give roughly 30$ per store. I can easily do 20 stores in a day. The problem is once all the stores are done, I can’t check anymore."
– Mattrockj
Very Entrepreneurial
"I'm the unofficial tech guy for a pretty large retirement community. It started by me setting up a dvd player for my grandma, she started telling her neighbors and now one day a week I go by and will spend the day doing minor stuff for tech illiterate people. Half the time it replacing batteries, allot of the residence are given computers their kids or grand kids that ill set up for them. I charge next to nothing, but usually will ask for the old tech if im replacing something which i refurbish and sell. Alot of people buy their grandma new mac book every 2 years that are barely used, then given to me."
– handsthefram
Fun, Fun, Fun
"I became an Uber driver and make over 10k a month these days. Really enjoying it too."
– Alexanderdaw
Music Ties It Together
"I started a wedding DJ business and found people were willing to pay a premium for a non-cheesy DJ who doesnt make the night or party about them. Even though I only worked Friday-Sat-Sundays due to weddings mostly being held on these days, I was making 2x my 9-5 job."
– JamesKPolk130
"This day and age it does make sense to do this. Invest in a good sound system. Invest in a decent light setup. Be sure to have a wi-fi connection at the venue so if someone requests a song you can easily download it. Watch people have a great time"
– chxnkybxtfxnky
The Universe At Work
"I left my job in publishing and performed the same functions on a freelance basis for about two years."
"I made only about 5-10 percent less gross. Once you factor in my lack of commute to Manhattan, not havimg to buy clothing for work, not getting lunch out, etc., net was only single digits less."
"It was also cool because every so often the universe would toss me a random extra day off. That was hard to give up."
– AlanMercer
Check And Mate
"I make custom chess board sets for professional chess players."
– Magnetic_penis_strap
I understand. I would pay big money for one of those!
Do you have a side hustle we should know about? Let us know in the comments.
Money makes the world go round. And I need to spin until I'm ill. That's how much extra coin I need. I'm always on the look out to make a side hustle lucrative.
Many people have realized that most careers aren't supplying enough financially. So we all have to get creative.
It's expensive to live. And it's near financially impossible to live comfortably. Teachers drive Ubers. Writers work as waiters. Lawyers moonlight as mystery writers. Everybody has a hustle. The key is to find a side hustle that isn't going to be an extra burden.
The main job is always already hard enough.
Redditoru/Kenneth0233 wanted to hear some ideas about upping the amounts in our bank accounts, by asking:
Smart people of reddit, whats your best ideas for passive income?
I act. I write. I walk dogs. All so I don't have to work in hospitality. I like to do things I love and don't consume my life or decay my body. So I do a bunch of passive to avoid the massive. I'll take other ideas.
Soup For You!
soup GIFGiphy"Soup tubes. People pay for a monthly subscription and soup gets delivered by tap to your home from a central soup hub."
Extra Space
"It's not completely passive, but it doesn't take much effort on my part. I have temp controlled storage for motorcycles and other valuables like that. It's seasonal to an extent, but October through May It does well. It's only a 30x40 shed, but I can fit 25 bikes in there easily. Any type of self storage is a good income. If you can specialize a bit, it gets better."
Translations...
"I'll give you a serious answer, that did me well. Goes for people learning or that know a second language. Find some public domain books, translate them. You now have rights over the translation. Get it into a library. Profit. Works really good if you're from an obscure part of the world undergoing political turmoil (Georgia, Armenia, Ex-Yugoslavia) that has been talked about in the media the past 30 years. University students will need primary sources, and there is a lack of supply."
Listen to my Ideas...
"Buy my course and find out."
"My brother actually fell for that. A website advertising a way to make money with very little effort. The instruction could be bought for 10€. He actually bought it, got a mail and the instruction was: Make a website advertising a way to make money with little effort. Send people who buy it a mail with those exact instructions. Stupidity-ception."
Paperwork
GIF by Kim's ConvenienceGiphy"Put ads on your car. A friend has a large sticker on their passenger side door for a local business and they give him $100 a month to just have it there."
I'm not passing out flyers and I hate people who do. Hate is strong. I loathe them. And if I could find something to teach I would. But I don't like students either.
Author! Author!
homer simpson GIFGiphy"Write an ebook then sell it. I'm still earning coin from an ebook I wrote 4 years ago. Digital download means I don't lift a finger."
Spend Smart
"Learn to manage your finances and avoid debt. Always be judicial with loyalty to any employer. Blind loyalty can bite you on the bite. If times get hard you are expendable. If you get a different offer of employment don't reject it out of current loyalties but do weigh your options. Put 15 percent of earnings into investments. An easily obtained 7% yearly average will double your input in 20 years. 40 years would be near 5 times the principle."
"More aggressive investments could be much higher. 12% is a reasonably attainable average and the same 40 year investment would be over 18 times the principle, $400 per month for 40 years at 12% will net you $3.5 mil on $200k investment. Don't underestimate the power of compound interest. When your money makes money is when true wealth happens."
Residuals...
"Anything where you work once and get paid repeatedly. The first option that springs to mind is content creation. Books, courses, videos, whatever. You work your buns off for a period of time, but then once the work is done you can let it earn income while you're not actively working on it. Contrary to popular belief, it doesn't have to be some specialized expertise."
"The first book I bought about woodcarving was a self-published how-to and it was literally as base level basic as you can get. The bare fundamentals. Time and experience has taught me that the author likely learned just enough to teach the basics; his work was very rudimentary and crude, not at the level of even a person with a year of experience."
"He worked a lot once, and since he penned the book in 1999 (it was around that time anyways) he's gotten paid regularly for that one-time work. Ya work an hour at a coffee shop, that hour pays you once. You work that hour on a project like a book, video, course, that hour pays you several times over."
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Renters
"My neighbor in a big city bought a house that has a separate unit above. He just uses it for AirBnB. Because he's in a big city, it's constantly booked. He told me he makes $5K per month from it and is paying off the mortgage x3 per month based on that alone."
Be Stable
Money Saving GIF by EmiratesNBDGiphy"If you aren't maxing out your 401k/Roth IRA contributions already then don't get creative."
Business First...
"Some of the ideas on here are not called passive income. They're called jobs. If you have a bunch of cash, the best vehicle for passive income is and will almost always be municipal bonds in the state where you live. Federal tax free, almost always state income tax free, and will net you a pretty good chunk of cash if you find the right bonds. Otherwise, drop a couple hundred into an index ETF that models the DJIA or Fortune 500 and wait a couple years."
"Other passive income ideas:"
"Buy a partnership in a business that is already managed. You can be a passive partner in the business, but there are some rules that apply to passive partners that don't apply to regular partners that can make this a headache, especially if the business losses money."
"Landlord: buy a house and rent it out. A bit of a crap shoot, since tenants can be either incredible or terrible, but unless you have excellent knowledge on real estate managing already, you're going to want to hire a real estate manager that can handle the calls, maintenance and repair, and other things."
Dividends...
"Save a lot of money, invest wisely and live off the roughly 7% the stock market increases on average."
"Investing can be as simple as you make it. Some people just put their money into a S&P 500 index fund and call it day."
"The Standard & Poor's 500 Index, or simply S&P 500, is a market-capitalization-weighted index of 500 large-cap U.S. companies that make up 80% of U.S. equity by market cap. It is widely regarded as the best gauge of large-cap U.S. equities and often referred to as "the market" because it is comprised of stocks that span all market sectors. Some of the S&P 500's largest components include Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Apple Inc. (AAPL), Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL), and Facebook Inc. (FB)."
Earnings
"Some ppl here don't understand the difference between an active and passive income, so Il explain. Active income refers to income received for performing a service, using your time and energy to work for money. Wages, tips, salaries, commissions are examples of active income. Passive income is referred as income you don't work for, you only need to set it up. Such as earnings from a rental property, limited partnership, or other enterprise in which a person is not actively involved."
Mark Tilbury
"There was an explanation from Youtuber Mark Tilbury that passive income usually doesn't mean you can completely let go of that gig without any effort what so ever. A better mentality is to build something until you get to a point where you only need to put in a few hours of work a week, just to keep your audience base. This could be a youtube channel, website you own, or even a business you got successful enough to outsource the labour. Any successful market format may change over time and you want to keep what you created."
Start as a Favor
"Not exactly passive, but very low effort: house sit. I live in a decent area, near a good sized city with affluent suburbs. I get paid for basically hanging out, keeping an eye on the place, and taking care of a few pets, which to me is enjoyable, since I love animals and can't have them where I live. I always choose places that are convenient for me to get to and also to commute to my job."
"I house sat as a favor to a friend of a friend, and she gave me great references and recommended me to other people in her fairly affluent circle. I end up house sitting quite a lot at certain times of the year, and in really nice places. This might not be NO effort, but it sure as hell doesn't feel like work."
Gigs...
"Go on fiver and set up a few gigs of a medium price, and then through another fiver account just outsource your jobs to people with that gig of a cheaper price. Video and audio editing is good for this. Make game assets or again, go on fiver and have game assets created and sell them on the unity3d marketplace and other places like that. Sprite sheets, 3d models, scripts, worlds your oyster."
"Any digital product is a good product because they require no physical space nor any manufacture past creation of the one file you upload to have downloaded, game assets are in high demand and good to get into, I'll start building passive income using this myself at some point."
Get a License
Workshop Post It GIF by weSparkGiphy"Patent trolling. Extreme fool move, but hey, if you manage to buy a patent for a ubiquitous technology, you can add a tiny licensing fee and you'll probably be set for life."
The Harvest
"Long before the olive harvest, go around and sign contracts to rent all of the olive presses at the time of harvest. When the harvest comes, you can charge the olive growers whatever you want, because you control the machinery they need!"
Those are some nifty ideas. I'm gonna make a list for a "just in case" life phase. Except banking stuff. I get lost with economics unless it's simple counting.
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