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What side hustles have you personally seen work pretty well? (self.asklemmy)

submitted 1 month ago by ericbomb to c/[email protected]

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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?

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[–] finitebanjo 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Carpet cleaning.

Get yourself a van with all of the included equipment used for like $5K to $15k and you can charge businesses and rental properties about $300 per cleaning, only takes about an hour or two tops. 50 jobs and the equipment is paid off.

[–] ericbomb 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Bit more expensive than I would usually say for a side hustle, then with insurance/maintenance on the van if you have to take time off from it you lose money.

But if you live in the right area I can see how it would work. Probably even better if you already own a vehicle that would work and just need to buy the equipment.

With all the drop shipping and MLM side hustles that are on the internet, I try to avoid encouraging any and all side hustles that ask for large up front investment.

[–] finitebanjo 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Imo the equipment-van-combo is necessary unless you have experience bolting 100 gallon tanks and large pumps with mixing bay and motor into vehicle interiors.

If you did go for a more mobile solution then you could do taller builldings where hoses don't reach, though.

[–] ericbomb 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Good point! Yeah I'm just always leery of side hustles with high opening expenses. Too many people in bad spots got into worse ones because they invested what little money they had, or heaven forbid went into debt, to try a side hustle that just did not pay enough.

So that's why I personally try to never recommend things like that. But the idea does sound good and does sounds like you're knowledgeable!

[–] finitebanjo 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yeah all your concerns are justified. I was more fixated on time investment than startup costs.

[–] ericbomb 1 points 1 month ago

True! So not a bad suggestion, just one I'm not educated enough to have an opinion on I think XD