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?
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
Adding to google maps = easy and helpful
Making different social media pages with menu/pictures then giving it to the owner = fine
Anything beyond that?
I ain’t dealing with that. Getting people to actually click on things is a dark and maddening experience. I’ve tried to GIVE AWAY things to promote events, and I can’t get folks to click on stupid links.
Also many social media commenters prove that you don’t have to have a brain to learn to write, so Jellyfish should be writing fb comments on your local vegan restaurant complaining about lack of fish options any day now.
This is not a good side hustle. This is pain. Pure, unadulterated, pain.
I don’t think managing a social media account for a business qualifies as a side hustle. You’ll have to post and promote daily and deal with comments. Sure chatGPT and Canva can help you with copywriting stuff and graphics to make creative stuff easier. More like a part-time job to me.