Tell me about the side business you started that succeeded, especially if it had nothing to do with you day job.
Not my story but one that a former co-worker had when he was in college - he and his buddies lived off-campus and were perfectly situated between the school and all of the downtown bars, so they bought a few George Foreman grills and sold grilled cheese sandwiches from their porch Thursday-Saturday nights throughout the school year as kids stumbled back to their dorms after a night out. $1 per sandwich; only overhead was the initial cost of the grills and then buying loaves of bread and long blocks of cheese slices at the local Costco. They made enough money to cover their rent for the two years that they lived there.
lemonade stand
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I make an extra $2k a month selling essential oils. PM me if you want to join my team!
A friend of mine is a really good musician.
A friend asked him to DJ his wedding, so he downloaded some software for his laptop, rented some speakers and went at it.
He got a few referrals, and did those weddings.
Now, he is booked 2 years in advance, all summer, at $1000 a pop plus travel expenses. He DJ’s for the university basketball team, and other events. He won’t get rich doing it, but, it’s a pretty sweet side gig.
Another friend of mine did roughly the same thing with photography and weddings. He is now a full time self employed photographer. He was won national awards for his work.
I turned my side hustle in to my career, but, it was in the same field. I would do side jobs for friends and family, build decks, Reno bathrooms, etc, in my spare time. Then someone asked me to do a big, 8 month renovation on their place. I quit my job, did that project, and have been busy ever since.
A friend of mine was working in graphics design and had his own graphics design side business going.
His side company managed to win a contract to redesign the web page for a sports league that will not be named and for all the teams in said league.
His work was noticed by somebody at a large company in Mountain View, California and he was offered a job with said large company.
He now lives in California making very good money for the large company.
20 something years back (ugh, I’m old) I got into Aussie wines. Started buying from Australia (this was before most were imported). Bought A LOT, and got to know all the producers/distributors in Australia really well. Robert Parker does his first Aussie issue and everything I’ve been acquiring/collecting gets massive points. Start selling on ebay (back when you could), and a couple of on-line wine auction sites (back when you could). Was doing low 5 figures profit monthly part time. Quit job, started import & logistics business, and had a good 10 year run (almost $20m revenue final year) until recession wiped out the high-end wine market + US dollar basically collapsed vs Aussie.
Couldn’t do that now though: all the big distributors were able to enact state legislation during the recession that basically eliminated all grey-market commerce & shipping.
New side gig is sourcing, restoring, and importing FJ40s from South America. Ditto 105/115 series Alfa’s from Europe.
However hobbies that turn into real businesses have a tendency to destroy the passion/interest that attracted one into that hobby to begin with.
One of the people I work with has a Dolewhip stand. He goes to all sorts of weekend events. Said it pays better than primary job - and he plans to do it in retirement.
You have to work weekends making ice cream cones in the summer though- crazy lines.
One of the people I work with has a Dolewhip stand. He goes to all sorts of weekend events. Said it pays better than primary job - and he plans to do it in retirement.
You have to work weekends making ice cream cones in the summer though- crazy lines.
There’s got to be some upfront costs for that though
Not mine, but…
Guy I used to work with owned a bunch of carnival-type stuff - sumo suits, an inflatable thing where two people each stand on top of a column and try and knock each other off with huge Q-Tip-looking things, a bungee run and one of those big gyroscopey things you strap into and spin around while trying not to puke. I helped him out a few times at events and the amount of cash he used to take in over the course of a day (or weekend) was insane.
Then he and a couple of his neighbors bought an old short school bus and ran a shuttle service between his local developments and the bar district in his town. Made a killing on that (this was pre-Uber) and then sold the business when they got tired of dealing with the bullshit of drunks, drivers not showing up etc
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Quit my job to start a business.
Grew to 11 employees and I was one of the largest contractors for what I did in the TX/NM/OK/LA region.
Had some bad hires and better fires.
Now I’m back to a W2 job and don’t miss the stress and 70 hour work weeks.
I fix bikes for people for free and with a good reputation, and they pay me sometimes with a bottle of wine or a 6-pack. Not sure if it’s side hustle, but I enjoy it. Work is slow these days 
I’ve turned hobbies into part time businesses. Wedding photography, scuba diving charters, freelance automotive journalism and fixing up/flipping the odd classic car. Never made enough to quit my day job, but picked up a few extra bucks as a side gig. Thinking of doing a few classic motorcycle restoration flips as my next hobby.
I did wedding photography for a while. Made decent money working a lot of Saturdays, especially in the summer and fall. Some months i made more doing that part time than my regular job.
Here’s a side hustle fail…had friend who played guitar in a band (race traitor) for a while, they had a small following . His bandmates said they wanted to go in a different direction and he was a pouty dick about it. about a lot of things actually. Anyway, they left him behind and formed Fall Out Boy.
I fix bikes for people for free and with a good reputation, and they pay me sometimes with a bottle of wine or a 6-pack. Not sure if it’s side hustle, but I enjoy it. Work is slow these days
I did that too! At my old neighborhood, all the kids would ride up to my garage when something was wrong with their bikes. It made me happy.
I started my side hustle by writing. Writing is a big deal as all businesses need content. I grew that into an internet marketing specialty.
I did this while working a full time job. In 2008 I was laid off without warning. I was able to fall back on my side hustle
Now, that side hustle has turned into an amazing career where I work from home - which allows me to train and travel
There are so many ways to make money using the internet, but with writing, you could be making money by the end of the night if you wanted.
My kid buys 24’s of pop for $9, and sits with a cooler at the local lake and sells for $1 a can.
Turns a tidy profit.
Here’s a side hustle fail…had friend who played guitar in a band (race traitor) for a while, they had a small following . His bandmates said they wanted to go in a different direction and he was a pouty dick about it. about a lot of things actually. Anyway, they left him behind and formed Fall Out Boy.
Wow. Thats a tough pill to swallow!
Many years ago, I played the drums in a few bands around town. One of them was for this singer who had real talent. His voice turned heads, he had this insane charisma, and he could write great songs. He was also a complete emotional basket case.
We had an opportunity to open two shows in Vancouver, one for Mathiew Good Band (Americans wouldn’t know him, but he was massive in Canada in the late ,90’s early 2000’s, and the other for Nickleback, right when they were blowing up. The singer blew both opportunities due to petty disputes.
I was pissed at the time, but, it was probably for the best. It may have just been a couple shows, it may have led to bigger breaks, but, I don’t think any of us were ready to take music that seriously. I was just out of highschool and still living with my parents. We were way out of our league.
The singer is still a bit of a local name, he now lives in a van and plays all the local festivals and whatnot.
Here’s a side hustle fail…had friend who played guitar in a band (race traitor) for a while, they had a small following . His bandmates said they wanted to go in a different direction and he was a pouty dick about it. about a lot of things actually. Anyway, they left him behind and formed Fall Out Boy.
Epic