What's your side-hustle?

What's your side-hustle?  I'd like some ideas how I can earn a few extra bucks for a project car & potential challenge entry.

When I first moved to Florida (2011) I did spreadsheet work in the evenings for a former coworker.  The extra $$ was crucial.  I've got a pretty good day job now, but some extra cash would be awesome.

SWMBO started selling clothes & handbags she inherited on Poshmark.  She's done pretty well buying clothes at thrift shops and reselling...maybe $1k to $2k per month at-best.  It's tough to find high dollar stuff to resell.  It's easy to find lower $$ stuff, but it's a lot of effort to measure, post, & sell. She also spends lots of time making offers to get stuff sold.  If you're not posting new stuff every day you seem to fall out of the search algorithm.

Prostitution 

Pre-covid, I was dabbling in buy/sell of salvage cars.  The real key to this was I had a flexible schedule and I could break away from business, on occasion, during the hours of 8-4.  The ability to bid and pick up the cars (as well as parts) during "business hours" is required.  

I made some money but more than that it became a replacement for "car time."  Maybe like yourself, I need a certain amount of "car-fun-time."  Rather than loosing money on things like racing, I was actually making some money in the car hobby.  But, hobby was the best way to describe it.  Sure, my target was $50 to $100 per hour of effort I had into the cars and that sounds great but only one car per month and maybe $750 cleared doesn't make it a real job in itself but a hobby that "makes" rather than "takes."  

I detailed many examples on GRM

Ford Focus ZX5

Pontiac Vibe

Three cars including the loss

Admittedly, there is an element of "gambling" to the whole thing.  That gamble does bring some rush.  Out of 13 cars I only lost money on one.  It wasn't a lot of money, but I lost.  Post covid, what was a $3k retail car, bought for $1.2k then became a $5k retail car bought for $3.5k.  This just meant that the stakes of the gamble grew.  And, they grew to a level that I was not comfortable with.  I was also a very conservative "gambler" being sure to see, touch, smell the cars before bidding on them.  Many people buy sight-unseen off just the pictures.  Too much gamble for me.  

I no longer have the schedule flexibility

Letscampsmore.com

I am an it manager during the week, professional camper by weekend. 

I'm trying to build up a bit of a YouTube thing. So far it's mainly hustlin' money out of my wallet.

Probably should've done something related to my profession (IT/software development) rather than playing with cars and motorcycles (why I did I just almost type "moroncycles"?).

I used to run an odd side business.

I was doing PC repair & IT services, which was basically my day job, although my side gig was doing it for non-native PC users & farmers. There was no conflict of interest since I lived & worked in different states. 

We had a storefront(we'd bought & remodeled the building so we could live above it). So in addition to walk-in PC clients I'd buy/sell junk & antiques, as well as do some bicycle repair & guitar/bass setup. 

We never once made a profit, but we had an amazing accountant who was able to get the most out of our taxes for us. 

Male stripper.  I start taking clothes off and women throw twenties and shout "please put it back on!"

Kidding

My real side hustle is odd projects.  People are always asking me to build stuff.  I restore furniture, build decks, do light renovations, etc.  There is a real market for what I do.  Contractors want cookie cutter stuff.  They don't want freaky custom stuff.  They want the known jobs that will pay the money; kitchens, bathrooms, roofing, flooring, plumbing, electrical.  My day job is freakishly custom building all kinds of weird stuff (theater tech director, so I build sets and props).  When someone asks a contractor to build them a secret room behind a bookshelf, they pass.  I jump in and make it happen because it's what I do.

I recently built a 7' x 11' custom table for my buddy's model trains.  Since it is so big and he can't reach the back to reset derails or change the landscape, I built it with a 30" x 30" center access tied to some pulleys on the ceiling.  He pulls a rope, the center section goes up, and he can pop through the table and reach the whole thing.  The table is built as a stressed-skin with luan and 1x lumber and weighs less than 100 lbs.  He can move it by himself on sliders.

EricM said:

Letscampsmore.com

 

I am an it manager during the week, professional camper by weekend. 

I need to get in on that.  I camp so much that I should get paid for it.

I'm on Onlyfans.

I got bills to pay, mind your business...

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

EricM said:

Letscampsmore.com

 

I am an it manager during the week, professional camper by weekend. 

I need to get in on that.  I camp so much that I should get paid for it.

It is going so well, it paid for this

In reply to EricM :

WTF - as we are all heading over to that website to see what's going on....LOL!

Two summers ago we worked with "gorving.com"   went to  a wolf rescue, a high ropes course, rafting, and a bunch of stuff like that.  

Our camping recipes, especially desert, are the most popular. Heck, the smores nachos alone payed for the 2020 rv, new outright.

In reply to EricM :

That's awesome! I've bookmarked your page; we love camping and are trying to do it more. 

My day job is the kind of thing where I can take extra shifts. This comes in handy during times in my life where I really need extra money: like trying to put together the down payment on a house a few years back.

Now I'm putting the extra time into my biotech startup. I've been hemorrhaging money, labor, and mental energy trying to get it going. Haven't made a dime so far ... but hope springs eternal! 

Hopefully this year it'll be making stuff for people!

Just got my first cut done tonight on the CNC in my garage:

Stunt C**K...There, I said it! 

I referee ice hockey. It keeps me from getting too fat, and allows me to be involved with the game I love. It started as a way to make some beer money in college, it has in the past 15 years taken me farther in hockey than any of the kids I grew up playing with... I could referee minor pro if I had the time, but since I don't, I just try to pay the mortgage bill each month from Nov-March. 

Part out cars. 

Feet finder. 
 

people pay me for pictures of my feet. 
 

Just kidding. Kinda liking for a side gig but will probably end up volunteering 

Similar to @mtn - I referee soccer.

Higher age youth games and men's or women's adult amateur recreational games pay $75 for center and $50 for sidelines. Ninety minutes of "work". During spring and fall seasons, I usually work two games per weekend. Sometimes I will do three or four depending on how badly the booker needs help (which is often).

I do it mostly for the incentivized physical fitness - but the money is easy if you have fairly thick skin. There are also frequently weekend tournaments which don't pay quite as much per game but they offer as many games as you can stand. Same for HS games... and there is a ton of advancement to regional, college, semi pro, etc if you are properly motivated. I'm not. 

I do a bit of stump grinding.   A small Husqvarna grinder is paid for and with a bit of advertising I have all the work I can handle at between $100 and $200 an hour.   A preferred job would be to have the equipment in the suburban and after my day job, stop off at a customers house for an hour of work and make $150 cash in my pocket.   

I used to roll fenders. I kept my E36 M3 in my car and charged about $20 a side. That's gone the way of the dodo because a- my roller was stolen and b- wish.com has made it cheaper just to own your own. 

I need a new side gig that doesn't require me to leave home, because my mystery temporary infirmity seems to be more permanent than anticipated 

In reply to Mndsm :

Infimity!??  

I've seen your art.  An Etsy page is what you need. 

I was flipping cars pretty regularly pre covid.  Unfortunately once covid hit the auction prices went crazy.

I made a bunch on crypto currency in 2021 which more than made up for the lack of car sales.  

I bought several flood golf carts in November.  Hopefully they will prove to be profitable.  Club cars are aluminum and plastic.  A new harness, a used motor, and a used controller completely removes the common flood damaged parts.  We will see once I get them put back together and the weather warms up.

I don't have one but I'm contemplating doing Mercedes djet and kjet retrofits and efi units. And maybe some leather work.