by Hope
The number one way to get out of debt is to spend less than you make, and for me, that means, I must make more money!
My steady clientele is slowly growing. My plan is to contract out 30 hours per week to a stable of clients. These leaves me with 10-20 hours a week for project work and additional hours from clients.
In addition, I’ve been looking for “side hustles” to make some extra money. No MLMs or things like that, been there, failed at that.
This is what I have come up with so far. Do you have any ideas to add?
Side Hustles
- Sell items I have around the house we no longer need or use.
- Selling crafts created from supplies we have on hand.
- Making and selling homemade dog food. (This is a new idea after hearing about a need here locally.)
- Selling the soap I make here at home, again with supplies I have on hand.
- Substitute teaching when school starts back up. (I have already applied, but haven’t heard anything yet.)
I am specifically looking for opportunities that cost no money, use things already have on hand, are not tied to my consulting business and are not labor intensive.
I’ve also been given the opportunity to work as a commission based salesperson for a local friends company. She is going to split the profit for any sales I make, giving me 90% and she will keep 10%.
More on that opportunity soon…
What other ideas do you have for me? Do you have a side hustle that you love?
Hope is a creative, solutions-focused business manager helping clients grow their business and work more efficiently by leveraging expertise in project management, digital marketing, & tech solutions. She’s recently become an empty nester as her 5 foster/adoptive kids have spread their wings. She lives with her 5 dogs in a small town in NE Georgia and prefers the mountains to the beaches any day. She struggles with the travel bug and is doing her best to help each of her kids as their finish schooling and become independent (but it’s hard!) She has run her own consulting company for almost twenty years! Hope began sharing her journey with the BAD community in the Spring of 2015 and feels like she has finally in a place to really focus on making wise financial decisions.
I fill out surveys with a site called one opinion.com. I get about 50 dollars paid in Amazon gift cards a month. Other people I know have had luck with swag bucks as well
I futz around with swagbucks to earn some extra money that I put towards vacations. I don’t go crazy with it–I play their trivia game and take a few surveys here and there and usually net $25-50 a month. What I like is that I can do it while I’m watching TV or when I have a few extra minutes, so it’s just a secondary multi-tasking kind of thing. I never do the offers where you have to provide a credit card or sign up for a free month and then cancel.
Good to know. I will have to check it out. I’ve heard the term swagbucks but never really looked into it.
Thanks, Katie, I will check it out!
Hi Hope, I read often but hardly ever respond to folks blogs. I found that your ideas are great and would suggest selling items that your family has around the house and no longer need or use. This can be done on many Facebook yard sales, Craig’s list, etc etc. Your kids could also participate in a yard sale at home and give them a chance at learning money making skills. Selling crafts and soaps using materials that you have all ready is another great idea.
Re substitute teaching. I have a friend who just signed up for the fall. He had to take a test, do finger printing, etc. If you haven’t already, get your ducks in a row so you can be called on the first day of school. He does quite well substitute teaching and could almost work every day if he wanted to.
Thanks for the reminder. I know several of my references have already been contacted. I am going to call the school district tomorrow and see what the process is. School here starts August 2nd, so I definitely need to be on top of it.
You can try thrifting at your local thrift shop like Goodwill or garage sale hunting to resell on ebay. There’s also babysitting / childcare.
I have offered babysitting and childcare, but what they pay around here is just not worth it. Unless I want to run a daycare with multiple kids, it’s just not financial viable.
I like the idea of thrift store/garage sale and resell. Might be something I look into.
I definitely recommend reselling! I currently do it part time for extra income, and my sister does it full time as her primary income source. It technically WOULD require spending money, but you could do it with a very small amount. For instance, when I am trying to keep costs low I only purchase “color tag” items at my local thrift store which cost $0.50, and flip them for at least $15 each. After fees (eBay, Paypal, shipping, cost of goods) I net about $9.60. If you ever want to dip your toe in the water and try it, you could experiment with $20. This would get you several pieces of inventory, and basic shipping supplies like packing tape and polymailers. There are also times when those $.50-$1.00 items can be turned around for $50+!
A second side hustle that I love is grocery delivery for Shipt. There’s no up front costs and you can pick up orders whenever you want to, no set schedule or minimum requirements. The major con is that you pay for your own gas, and you have to take wear and tear on your car into consideration.
I definitely recommend reselling! I do it on the side for part-time income, and my sister does it full time as her primary job. It technically does require some up front money, but you can start with very little. When I’m trying to keep costs low, I will only pick up “color tag” items at my local thrift store, which cost $0.50. I then sell them for at least $15, and net a profit of about $9.60 per item after eBay, Paypal and shipping fees. There are also times when you score bigger and the items sell for $50 and up! If you wanted to dip your toe in the water, you could spend $20 on a few shipping supplies and several pieces of inventory to see how it goes.
Another side hustle I love is doing grocery deliveries for Shipt. You can pick up orders whenever you want to, there’s no schedule or minimum requirements. The big con is that you have to pay for your own gas and account for wear and tear on your vehicle.
What about tutoring? I know people pay $50-$80/hour for high school tutoring in our area. Slightly less for younger kids. You are clearly very bright and a talented teacher. I would think just a few hours a week would be quite lucrative even adjusted to small town prices. You can also set up a tutoring small group with a set schedule for more set income.
Hope, what a great list you have! I think you could reasonably focus on 3, 4, and 5 at the same time. Of course, five won’t come to fruition until the school year starts, but three and four are things that can be very profitable. I’d spend the most time on the dog food and add dog treats. I have a friend who does just that and sets up at farmer’s markets and has a great business going. People spend a lot of money on their furry friends! You could also bring the soaps with you to those events. Another friend of mine also does face painting from her booth selling artwork, so maybe if you could have one of the kiddos handle the sales / money handling portion of your business while you’re at the market, you could do face painting.
I’m excited about the dog food idea too. Especially after doing some preliminary searching need and competition. I hadn’t thought of the farmers market to market/sell it. That’s a great idea!
I am also thinking of working the local humane society and groomers.
I second and third and fourth the tutoring idea. You have experience as a homeschool teacher. You are qualified to tutor. Asking $25/hour in a rural area is not out of range. You could also insist the kids come to you, so you’re not traipsing around. I once went to a party at the beautiful, multi-million dollar home of a young couple in Georgetown, DC. They were former teachers who started their own tutoring company. If you tutored 20 hours a month, you’ve made $500. You could even try to do it in small groups and set a rate. You would have to sell a lot of soap to make that amount. I’m sure there are parent groups you could tap into to spread the word, and reach out to teachers to let them know. They could refer people to you.
I will definitely have to consider the tutoring option. It just cuts into my already limited time with the kids, especially during the school year. But you are all right, it would be a good source of income.
I think some hard numbers would be helpful for context:
1. Effective hourly rate of 30 “core” client hours.
2. Same for 10-20 “flex” hours. (presumably similar to #1)
3. Realistic return on each side hustle, in terms of absolute dollars/month.
4. Important to contextualize #3 in terms of absolute dollars saved over alternatives. E.g., how much money do you actually spend on soap, and is this really a cost that is worth trying to offset from a purely financial perspective.
Comparing #3/#4 to #1/#2 will be important, as I would argue that hours spent on #3 are more valuable because those cut into the pool of possible “leisure time”. This is somewhat counterbalanced if the side hustle is something that you really enjoy doing and/or can help with substantial fixed costs. For instance, I’m guessing you can purchase a year’s supply of soap for ~$30 if you find a good deal, so this only seems like a good side hustle (to me) if you can make a fair amount of money and/or you really enjoy the process.
I appreciate this perspective. I hadn’t thought of it quite like that.
I will add this to my notes as something to address in a future post.
Thank you!
I teach kids in China English online for some extra cash- it pays around $22 an hour, so it’s a fun way to get an extra $1000 or so a month, just working a couple for 2 hours a morning before my full time job. Check it out!
https://t.vipkid.com.cn/?refereeId=8886146&refersourceid=a01
I definitely recommend reselling! I do it on the side for part-time income, and my sister does it full time as her primary job. It technically does require some up front money, but you can start with very little. When I’m trying to keep costs low, I will only pick up “color tag” items at my local thrift store, which cost $0.50. I then sell them for at least $15, and net a profit of about $9.60 per item after eBay, Paypal and shipping fees. There are also times when you score bigger and the items sell for $50 and up! If you wanted to dip your toe in the water, you could spend $20 on a few shipping supplies and several pieces of inventory to see how it goes.
Another side hustle I love is doing grocery deliveries for Shipt. You can pick up orders whenever you want to, there’s no schedule or minimum requirements. The big con is that you have to pay for your own gas and account for wear and tear on your vehicle.