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?

  • TwoBeeSan@lemmy.world
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    6 minutes ago

    Tech support for elderly.

    I don’t want to start it yet because of the obligation and enjoyment of free time. Once it starts reputation is everything, especially with the demographic.

    You need patience, kindness, and a general enjoyment in helping others.

    Have seen the need. And will increase as time goes on.

    Support extending to personal traxjing sessions as well as just fixing basic shit.

    One day.

  • Shimitar@feddit.it
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    8 hours ago

    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.

  • PriorityMotif@lemmy.world
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    10 hours ago

    Scrap metal. I always leave my scrap metal out on trash day next to the trash can. A guy in a pickup will come around and get it. I would have to save it up for years for it to be worth a single trip, but he’s getting a full load or two every day. I’m sure I’ve lost out on a few hundred bucks over the years.

    I’m sure if you started an electronics recycling company or a clean out business you could get people to pay you to take their stuff.

    • TwoBeeSan@lemmy.world
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      12 minutes ago

      Ex con neighbor started a junk hauling business after he couldn’t get hired.

      Dude was making it but was definitely busting his ass daily. Ended up needing to expand and get another trailer.

    • bobs_monkey@lemm.ee
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      8 hours ago

      There’s a dude in our town that has a lot where everyone dumps their scrap metal and he takes it to recycle. It’s pretty rad since our local trash service won’t take it (even though they dump everything together, including recyclables, at the transfer station to be hauled off to the dump out of town).

  • shalafi@lemmy.world
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    13 hours ago

    Buddy of mine picked up old washers and dryers for free or close enough. Fixed and flipped 'em on eBay marketplace. Made several hundred a week.

    The genius is that those appliances are easy to work on and usually have compatible parts. I went over to get a part from him and there were only 2 that fit all American washers.

    I used to pick up vacuum cleaners on my paper route. Got stoned at night and cleaned them, maybe added a new belt and bag, perfect. Sold for $20 a pop. (This was in the 90s).

    Another friend used to go out with her husband early on trash days and pick up free stuff by the road. Had a garage sale every Saturday, 6-7 hours tops, made $300-$400. “We take our neighbor’s trash and sell it back to them!”

  • Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    18 hours ago

    I wish I had some good ones but I’ll be watching this thread.

    What I can say is that anyone on youtube that’s got a channel dedicated to a particular hustle is no longer making their money doing that hustle. They are an influencer now.

    • ericbomb@lemmy.worldOP
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      17 hours ago

      Oh yeah all the influencer side hustles are straight trash.

      My friend if you actually made $1000 a day working 2 hour, you wouldn’t be uploading here my dude!

  • Pistcow@lemm.ee
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    13 hours ago

    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.

  • Sequentialsilence@lemmy.world
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    15 hours ago

    My side hustle is real estate photography. Very flexible timing and I already had all the equipment. If I didn’t already own the equipment I wouldn’t have done it.

  • ℕ𝕖𝕞𝕠@slrpnk.net
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    18 hours ago

    My wife does the furniture flipping thing. I don’t think we make any money on it — but we have much nicer furniture than we could afford otherwise and between reselling the items we get rid of the low prices we pay for the incoming, we’re certainly not spending money on it, either, and that’s counting the cost of renting trucks to move it around.

      • daq@lemmy.sdf.org
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        12 hours ago

        Maybe if you live in an area with mostly SFHs so bugs can’t spread as aggressively? I’d never take furniture off the street. I’d rather sleep on bare floor than deal with bed bugs.

    • ericbomb@lemmy.worldOP
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      17 hours ago

      Well getting nice furniture from a hobby sounds pretty chill regardless!

      Every now and then my eyes pop at the cost of new furniture.

  • iii@mander.xyz
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    18 hours ago

    Dog hotel. I’ve a dog. I take in other dogs when their owners are on holiday. Walking 2 dogs isn’t much more work than walking 1.

    • UnrepentantAlgebra@lemmy.world
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      17 hours ago

      Taking on one extra dog for a few days seems like the easiest, most chill way to make a little money on the side if you are careful about which dogs you take. Those people who sit 4+ dogs at a time are insane but must pull in a good bit of money.

    • ericbomb@lemmy.worldOP
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      14 hours ago

      That makes sense! If they are similar to my dog, I probably wouldn’t notice that much, and if they provided the food and stuff, I wouldn’t need to charge much.

  • Hikermick@lemmy.world
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    15 hours ago

    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

  • _bcron_@lemmy.world
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    17 hours ago

    If I ever picked up a side hustle, it’d be basic editing. ChatGPT has displaced the ghost writer but it can’t polish its own turd.

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        16 hours ago

        I think the thing that would keep me sane is that I’m fascinated in trying to figure out how a single AI-generated paragraph can be accurately detected.

        But yeah, the common permutation of multiple pargraphs, the first starting with reaffirm/validate/reiterate is downright obnoxious.

        ‘I’m sorry to hear you’re having such difficulties with editing ChatGPT-generated content. It can be challenging and even frustrating at times, but with’ lol

  • sosodev@lemmy.world
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    15 hours ago

    The only one I’ve heard of working really well was 3D printing copyrighted material that is usually way overpriced. Board game pieces, figurines, etc.

    • ericbomb@lemmy.worldOP
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      15 hours ago

      A little bit of legally dubious action to pay the bills and siphon money from billion dollar companies never hurt nobody!

      https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08FW99X9Z?psc=1

      $50 dollars for THREE, UNASSEMBLED, and UNPAINTED minis? Yeah man, I ain’t gonna question why the texture of your warhammer minis are different. Game on.