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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.
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.
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).
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.
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!"
organising violence against the state.
I've already said too much.
If youβre willing to do that for the US state, thereβs certainly money to be made.
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
^ has never worked in the google ads hell pit
The only one Iβve heard of working really well was 3D printing copyrighted material that is usually way overpriced. Board game pieces, figurines, etc.
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.
My side hustle is real estate photography. Very flexible timing and I already had all the equipment. If I didnβt already own the equipment I wouldnβt have done it.
Good excuse to buy a drone.
You have to have a license to do that in the US. It's not super hard to get but not as easy as just buying a drone.
I know here in Canada if a drone is 250g or under, you don't need a license. I'm pretty sure that maby of the camera-drone manufactuers make variants that are just under 250g to make them more accessible.
The DJI Mini Series comes to mind. They are great little drones.
Stay at home mom watching another kid (legally dubious depending on state/situation. But I ain't no narc.)
Wtf is u talking about?
So a baby sitter baby sitting and the home of the child is completely legally fine. If you are doing it at your own home, or watching unrelated children, it can be iffy.
That's why I said it depends on state/situation.
the fact pattern you provided mother watching another child with her own... i don't think that would quality anywhere but i did not check all the rules.
if they are running something resembling a commercial operation that would be a different story.
It fully depends on if you're doing it at your house, or the house of the child you are watching, and the state.
But the rules don't matter as long as no one is a narc!
βFor instance, most states and territories do not require an in-home child care provider to be licensed if they provide care on an occasional basis, provide care in your home, or are related to the children in their care.β
Which my thing "might" break.
Running illegal home daycares is a thing
why would a person watching a child or two be considered a day care?
Getting paid for it crosses a threshold I'll bet
do baby sitters register? i never heard of this.
Are y'all spit balling here or do you have an actual example to substitute this claim?
"For instance, most states and territories do not require an in-home child care provider to be licensed if they provide care on an occasional basis, provide care in your home, or are related to the children in their care."
That is why I gave the "it depends"
Try googling it. It my state day cares must be registered and it looks like there's lots of regulations. If there is any government funding you can bet your britches there are inspections.
we are talking about a specific fact pattern here. OP made unsubstantiated allegation, you are not willing to produce any evidence either...
day care business is heavily regulated, you are stretching applicability of these laws to a mother baby sitting another child.
people do nany share all the time with out having to check with in daddy government lol
also... wtf are you talking about "government funding", is this government funding in the room with us right now?
when does government "fund" child care? at best they give you few grand of pre-tax income to be used for it in the world where it starts at 20Kπ€‘
My state will subsidize child care for parents under a certain income. Nobody is saying anyone will get in trouble for babysitting family members. You could simply Google it and save yourself some typing and a whole lot of embarrassment
subsidize child care for parents under a certain income
"funded"
What do you think subsidies are?
these 3 people getting some money from a state if they check 69 boxes is not "funded"
you are white washing facts. vats majority of people don't get any "funded"
My Etsy shop hit a very niche market and was pulling around $3k a year. I didn't put any effort into advertising, it kinda did that on its own
I'm also a performer which is a great side hustle for my creative fulfillment, but pays nearly nothing
You donβt have to confirm/deny - but Iβm going to pretend this niche is selling tiefling horns/ears.
Flaming nipple tassels
You read that right π
By "performer" do you mean musician? Playing bars or coffee shops here and there? I've done that for a free drink or two here and there. I think that would be one of my retirement activities if I had loads of free time, but it takes a lot of energy to set it all up and be "on" regularly while also working full time.
I'm a fire and sideshow performer weirdly enough, we're a dying breed. I mostly do shows at bars and host my own, but every now and then I get a nicer gig that pays a bit more, like at a faire.
Oh man I loved when Evermore (RIP) had fire dancers. But it was funny because for their major events they would hire super skilled pros, then their daily shows they would have a staff member that they had taught or was a hobbyist before being hired. They were fun and skilled, but the difference was very obvious in variety of tricks and number of failed tricks.
Which makes sense considering their financial troubles, but imagine being that fire dancer on staff being like "Super hyped for tonight's show!" and them just being like "Ahh, did no one tell you? We hired someone for five times your nightly wage to do tonight's show cause they're a lot better"
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.
Editing ChatGPT generated content sounds soul crushing tbh.
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