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Peter Tasker
Peter Tasker

Posted on

What do you folks do for a side-hustle?

Hey all, I've been thinking about starting a side-hustle for myself lately, but I don't really know where to start! I'm currently working full time, but I'd like to do something on the side as well. What kinds of things are you all doing for your side-hustle? I've done freelancing in the past and always found it more trouble than it's worth if not doing it full time.

Top comments (7)

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grok profile image
Sterling Hamilton

I used to think the same thing about it not being worth it. But I realized a few things.

I target some low effort markets.

My current market right now is full of work that is cheap/low quality. The wheels are falling off, and people need competent people who can fix all of that on the first try and change the Clients current situation from things constantly breaking and constantly requiring overhead, to being more automated and stable.

I would say in the last 2 years, getting the price-point you ask for has become easier. People are super comfortable doing a time/materials model.

So, I work full time at an agency. I wake up at 5AM, spend the first 1-2 hours doing life stuff. Then spend an hour freelancing, go to work, get off work, spend another 1-2 hours doing freelancing -- then every two weeks I send out invoices that are net 30.

The result of that is I get to have full control over some production aspects instead of having the constraints defined for me. I also have a nice steady side income for savings/disposable income. I have found my work life has improved, because instead of getting upset that timelines suck, or the scope of work keeps increasing and I think I have better ideas on how those things could be applied -- I actually get to apply them to my freelance and see if they work out. Then I can propose them as tested theories to my peers and the adoption rate has been pretty good.

So the ROI is a financial one, but it's also benefiting my professional life as well. Once it's an established cadence and I have learned to reject anything that doesn't fit the low-stress model -- I don't even think about it, it's a routine and the wheels don't fall off, and I actually look forward to it.

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lukefiji profile image
Luke Fiji • Edited

Freelance WordPress development is really easy, in my opinion. You shouldn't have any trouble finding opportunities in your network for people that need websites for their business/organization/fantasy sports league.

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ben profile image
Ben Halpern

I think maintaining a data API as a service would be pretty fun. Like, take a data source that's important, make it really easy and reliable to call into it and charge a small fee for its use.

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ptasker profile image
Peter Tasker

That's actually a pretty neat idea! I've been thinking alot about weaving API's together, like using the Github API and something like Mailgun to manage Github issues via email. Seems like a lot o less technically inclined people would use something like that.

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andy profile image
Andy Zhao (he/him)

Nice, would love to see that.

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petr_dme profile image
Petr Dme

One of them is blogging, but don't expect much in the first start.
You may not be getting anything in the first 3 - 6 months.

You may also need to go into highly profitable niches such as finance, nutrition, and weight loss.
If you think a programming blog will get you into something, I'm afraid that it is difficult.

I have researched various experiences, and programming tutorials will only get you around $50/month after four years blogging of programming tutorials. I'm afraid I cannot post the link to my research to avoid moderation.

Back to topic, blogging for side hustle requires you to create valuable content. If you want to apply software engineering to this content side hustle, you can create valuable content programmatically like some kind of calculator. Pick idea on your niche, create a javascript calculator for it, then post it in your web.

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chasanpro profile image
Chaitanya_Damarasingu

Ordering App for a Coffee shop with Firebase Free-tier limit