Any ideas for some pin money side hustles?

[Tao]

So - I made the mistake of looking at my bank balance this morning when I went to withdraw some cash.
I have managed to get myself into the situation where our monthly salaries cancel out our overdraft (+1k) and then we just eat back through to almost at our overdraft limit again by the end of the month.

I have plans to sell one of our cars as we don't need both and am looking at reducing spend elsewhere (bye bye shared hosting I didn't use for over 3 years!!!) - so I have plans...

But - I would like to be able to do something that could bring in some extra cash whilst I am still working on improving and growing my site.

Does anyone have any ideas of side-gigs I could do for some extra cash here and there? However, the massive caveat is that my time/energy is limited because of the 9-to-5 and family - so it would have to be something quite simple and easy to implement if possible. (yeah... kick me, right! ).

I have skills with things like photoshop, canva, can write a bit (when I have time) and know quite a bit about SEO and online marketing (despite not really doing much of it myself). I'm the person who can tell you what is wrong with your site, how to tweak it to gain new visitors and traffic - but doesn't do it himself (let's just call me a "consultant" )

 

[chanilla]

Want to write some articles? What are your passions? Can Venmo you same day.

 

[Sutra]

Uber.

 

[darkzerothree]

Why would I trust a consultant who can’t make ends meet?

What are sites you led to success?

 

[zelch]

reduce expenses. has allowed me to weather many financial storms, knowing no matter what happens I know how to live on very little. Haven't had to do that for a long time but when things were tight, it brought a lot of peace knowing how little I actually needed on a monthly basis

 

[Cash Builder]

If it were me, I would forget about a side hustle at the moment.

You say you are using your full overdraft every month but as long as you can pay the bills and survive, I would keep doing what you are doing. You are already short on time and taking on something else for a short-term financial boost will only take away time that could be spent on you site, which is the end goal.

Let me ask you this: would you rather live on the breadline for another 6 - 12 months and then never have to worry about money again, or would you rather have a little bit extra cash now at the expense of potentially never making your site profitable?

I would focus on reducing your spend, selling a car, doing whatever you need to that will allow you to grind on your site every spare minute you have. If you truly believe in your site's potential and put the work in, this time next year could be a very different story for you.

 

[Tao]

Thanks all - I think I was just having a bit of a wobble when I posted (I do suffer from depression and lack of money is something that drags me down).

Why would I trust a consultant who can’t make ends meet?

Yes - but the "consultant" bit was just a joke really. "Those who can't do, teach".

reduce expenses.

yes - already on that one - I have been trying to reduce spending and outgoing for a while now. The fact that I was nearly hitting my overdraft limit was just a bit of a shock as I thought I had been doing well this month.

If you truly believe in your site's potential

I guess this might be the kicker.... will it pay off - but I guess there is only one way to find out!

 

[Ryuzaki]

Is it possible to negotiate a raise at your work?

 

[Tao]

Is it possible to negotiate a raise at your work?

Probably not - I am paid well for what I do and my job does allow me a certain amount of freedom (from location and workload) so I don't want to rock the boat there too much.

 

[zelch]

Here are some Win Win ways to decrease expenses and gain other benefits.
1) Instead of driving, get a bike or walk. It will take extra time, but you're going to save time from #2 and #3 below. Reduce gas/car payment expenses = WIN. Get exercise= WIN
2) An added benefit of #1 above is you can cancel your gym membership = WIN
3) Sell/get rid of your TV and cancel cable (save $). I shouldn't have to explain how this is a win.
4) Cook for yourself and stop going out to eat (save $). Again, do I need to explain why this is good? (hint: health).
5) Stop wasting money on alcohol and weed, women, porn, other drugs. Shouldn't have to explain this one either.
6) Cancel your credit cards so the debt hemorrhage stops.

anyone else?

 

[darkzerothree]

Yes to reducing expenses.
However, there is a hard limit to that. (And it often is not that much, as smart people try to not overspend anyway. How much is cable, really?)

BUT
YES - to cutting credit cards

AND
Get a budget going, and stick to it. Important budget category: Investing (in your entrepreneurial ventures)

So you need to build up more income.
Invest time and knowledge into your site.
See if there are side hustles you can do - writing?

And when it takes off, you might even be able to consult others.


That said, I didn't mean to come across mean. That is why I offered "what sites have you helped" as a golden bridge. "Those who can't teach" Well, then show me who you consulted and how they are doing.

For those that might point out that I'm in the same boat

1. yes, my own sites are not paying my salary (yet)
2. I have consulted several sites across different niches (ecommerce, portal, job board, local news,etc..) and they are all better off now - portal got huge traffic gains, local news doubled their traffic and revenue, ecommerce is running now (more of a tech consult there)

So yeah... my own shit ain't doing shit, but my consulting is on point.

 

[Tao]

Thanks, all (again) - yes, the budgeting will be key to staying on track.

The whole "consultant" thing was just a joke really and more of a reference to the fact that I know more than I implement. All those years of listening to Pat Flynn has armed me with a raft of ideas to give others on what to do for their business or how to improve their websites, but turning that knowledge into my own ventures is hard! I know it is me who is the stumbling block too though...

 

[CCarter]

Anything talking about "budget by cutting expenses" is equivalent of closing the barn door after the horses have bolted.

Why aren't you guys calling out bullshit answers?

He's asking for a solution for RIGHT NOW. Not a fix for when he had a time machine and can can go back a year from now.

Here is the reality OP, (@Tao), you've made BAD decisions. To get out of BAD decisions you'll now have to make HARD decisions. You'll have to make A LOT of HARD decisions until you get out from the hole you dug and then avoid making those same bad decisions next time.

Let's get started - first off, if you have $0 ALL your free time, including family time is out the window for the next 3 months, 6 months, a year or however long it takes you to build up a cushion. That's a HARD decision that you now have to deal with - otherwise long term no roof over your head.

When you have to make HARD decisions there is nothing beneath you, if you have zero ability then go get a job at the funeral parlor digging holes - there is always a job around town that people think are beneath them. Nothing is beneath you when you have $0 in your bank account.

If I had $0 and no internet access I'd go to every fast food restaurant, every store, every business, etc - in a 3 mile radius and fill out a job application, work nights, work weekends, work holidays, miss your kid's birthday parties - actually you shouldn't be throwing birthday parties cause you know what poor people do? Don't have birthday parties, so the HARD lesson for YOU and YOUR FAMILY is if you don't bring enough money home you'll ALL have to sacrifice. A HARD decision but that's where you are at.

Sit down with your wife and kids and explain to them you'll need to hustle and make money to get them out of the hole you guys are in - that gives everyone an explanation so they know it's rough waters you're all in - a HARD thing to do, and a HARD lesson your kids need to learn early on so they don't find themselves in the exact situation.

But you have access to the internet and seem to have some competence in running websites, so you don't have to walk around filling out job applications. However you will have to get on Fiverr, Upwork, Textbroker, and other places where you can post gigs like "wordpress install" and "content writing" and get paid $5, $10, $20, or $50 for one-time setups. Do that until you have $1000, $5000, then $10,000 in savings as a cushion. That can be achieved within a month for ANYONE with internet access - PERIOD. It's going to suck but that's a HARD lesson you are learning - to never be in this situation ever again and have to get small time gigs.

The real problem is you have to get over yourself and thinking something is beneath you when you have $0 in your bank account. If anyone thinks "Fiverr" is beneath them, then you are going to stay in the retarded situation you got yourself in.

Lets see how easy it is - to get to $10,000 at $5 a gig, that's 2000 jobs of "wordpress installs" you have to do. If it takes you 10 mins to do a wordpress install that's $30 a hour, it'll take you 334 hours to do that - approximately 14 days of work.

You'll need to spread that over probably a month or several to get there - but that's reality. If they need plugins installed that's another $5, and now you've got a menu you are creating for people needing wordpress installed.

Do other simple gigs, "wordpress upgrades" - $5. "Update wordpress theme" - $10-$20s.

Yes you'll be working deep in the digital mines at the bottom of the bottom, but the bottom of the barrel is where all the leftovers sink, and since you have $0 you'll need to eat off that bottom for a long while.

Once you get that cushion then start scaling back your expenses and start playing with your wife and kids and doing that PC family stuff. But until then you'll need to go into hustle mode like there is no tomorrow cause if you are at $0 - there literally is no tomorrow for you if a major accident happens - health, car, house, kids, whatever.

I know hundreds of people looking for competent people to do odd jobs on their websites or setup a website for $5 - the problem is if you think doing jobs like "digging ditches" is beneath you well - look at your bank account, it's at $0. A ditch digger has more money than you at this moment.

The reality is BAD decisions need to be answered with HARD decisions.

P.S. You can also upload your skills set to the Human Resources section a "For Hire" post in there.

Then afterwards simply go around hustling in skype chats, reddit, slack chats, Craigslist and other classified Ads; hitting up everyone on your contact list letting them know if they need any help with "XYZ" to give you a shout, starting off at $5, and BAM someone knows someone that needs help and has $5, I mean it's impossible not to. You won't even need to find 2,000 people to, you'll find a group of people that will send you dozens of odd jobs within hours and pay you a lot more than $5 to do them once they see you are competent.

It's all about sacrifice - unless you want to know this one weird trick to make you $10,000 over the weekend...

 

[lion1978]

I have skills with things like photoshop, canva, can write a bit (when I have time) and know quite a bit about SEO and online marketing (despite not really doing much of it myself). I'm the person who can tell you what is wrong with your site, how to tweak it to gain new visitors and traffic - but doesn't do it himself (let's just call me a "consultant" )

Everything you just mentioned are side gigs you can do, and sell at various places like @CCarter mentioned above, write and sell articles for seo or otherwise, use photoshoiop skills to create and sell logos and what have you, use you seo knowledge to sell linkbuilding campaigns.
Use your ability to drive traffic to websites as an affiliate.
Wheater you choose one or all of them is up to you but like Nike says "Just do it"

In fact why not go a little bit further and start teaching some of those skills in online courses there is a few platforms out there that allows you to do that, then take the material that from your courses and turn them into ebooks and start selling on kindle, then use it again and create apps out of the course material and either sell them or monetize them through ads.

 

[Tao]

As I mentioned in the another thread, the advice at BuSo is spot on and direct.

Thanks @CCarter you speak the truth - thanks for the HARD words - I think I needed them. I have already joined Fiverr and started a gig and will be looking for others I can add soon. It's time to double down and get shit done..

The only issue I have with your suggestion of taking small gigs is that my spare time is limited so I will need to focus on more of a "do once, sell often" type thing (such as packages of graphics or ebooks?). I do work a 9-to-5 and then have to do family stuff when I get home (it's a long story) so I suspect I will need to be having a coffee at 11pm and doing a few hours instead of going to bed.

And yes, I have made bad decisions in the past to get myself to this situation and have not been honest with others or focused enough to stop myself from buying things I can't really afford (or that I have not sat down and worked out the costs properly). My mind is a mess most of the time, so part of my process will have to also involve unravelling that a bit too. I guess I could find 10 minutes to meditate each day, even if it meant doing it on the toilet at work

 

[CCarter]

I do work a 9-to-5 and then have to do family stuff when I get home (it's a long story) so I suspect I will need to be having a coffee at 11pm and doing a few hours instead of going to bed.

You'd better wise up to sacrifice - something has to go.

"do once, sell often"

Everyone wants to get the "one big score" than I can relax - life doesn't work that way. I honestly wouldn't hire you with this work ethic - you've got excuses before you even started. Either change or don't - the world won't give two shits either way, but your family will.

The reality is you are comfortable being broke - that's the life you know and are comfortable with and therefore when told you have to tell your family to fuck off for 3, 6 or 12 months you'll find an excuse to say otherwise.

It is very simple - if you have $0 - there shouldn't be any question as to what your focus should be.

If you really wanted to get out of your situation you have the perfect blueprint, but if you don't want to get out of your situation you'll find excuses like you've already started mentioning about spare time and family.

Guess what? All the super successful people like Elon Musk, Zuckerberg, and Bill Gates slept in their offices for several years when starting their companies. But YOU - you can't spare even 3, 6, or 12 months? Not even for your family's financial security? Seriously?

It sounds like you want to stay broke and living at the $0 mark - where you are drowning but "only slightly". The reality you have to face is much harder - one day something bad is going to happen and then you'll be really shit out of luck since you made excuses to not take the time to give you and your family that cushion of savings - and $10K isn't a lot of cushion, but it's $10K more than you have.

 

[JasonSc]

I do work a 9-to-5 and then have to do family stuff when I get home (it's a long story) so I suspect I will need to be having a coffee at 11pm and doing a few hours instead of going to bed.

I'm in the same situation. I have 2 younger children and a 9-5. Between soccer, school BS, homework, and all the other fun things, my time is spread thin.

Even with the job and parent responsibilities I am able to squeeze in 25-30 hours a week on my own project.

I'm not one to tell someone how to manage their household, but this is what I did. I explained to my wife what I wanted to do and where I was going. She was onboard. We worked together to setup a schedule which we both could live with.

We both are making sacrifices. I don't get to spend as much time with the kids and she has to spend more time with the kids.

I figured out the least amount of sleep I could function on by shortening my sleep schedule by a 1/2 hour every week. I personally need 6 hours. MTTF I work 8PM-1PM on my stuff.

The weekends I carry a laptop around with me and squeeze in a 5-10 more hours. Weekend work is typically low level things which does not need a lot of thought and the task can be done in under a 1/2 hour.

The bottom line is you need to get your wife onboard because you both are going to need to make sacrifices.

 

[DarkRed]

You can join FB groups and build wordpress PBN sites for $10. I think there's a lot of demand there.

Also if you know another language you can offer translation services on upwork/fiverr

 

[Joe]

Even with the job and parent responsibilities I am able to squeeze in 25-30 hours a week on my own project

A 70-hour work week family man? Is that even physically possible? Jesus, wish I had your constitution.

 

[Cash Builder]

A 70-hour work week family man? Is that even physically possible? Jesus, wish I had your constitution.

It's definitely possible, and I also have a very understanding wife who knows that I am working every hour under the sun to secure our future and that of our kids.

 

[kittybanks]

Uber.

Depending on where you are located, Uber is a great and easy source of active income. You can get your budget up quickly if you get out there and put in the work.

 

[Joe]

A member posted a little while ago about how he was struggling to make ends meet, and didn't know what to do to get a bit of extra cash.

Someone recommended "$5 wordpress installs" on fiver. And having recently bought something from there, I noticed something interesting: wordpress jobs list the queue size on them.

Getting live labour market data like that is a rare find. Could be very useful if you're looking for side work and need to know what's "hot".

Edit: wow, fast merge

 

[cobblepot]

@Tao You should start building "professional websites" for 45 year old lawyers in your area or some self employed woman who wants to take her accounting shop online, now you can charge for $500 for the same wordpress installs.

Cold calls will be shitty but if you can get in front of 100 people and get maybe 3 Yeses thats $1500.

A little alcohol and music could even help you survive 100 NOs per day, the Yeses are actually certain merely due to the sheer numbers you call

The concept is start consulting for older middle class tech illiterates that have a profitable thing going on, that's where you have a shot at being god

might be useful to anyone else down the line

 

[yogipanda]

@Tao I've been in your position with comparable skills. Personally I always liked UpWork, especially if you want to find a writing gig. I recommend posting a video to your profile so potential clients can get a feel for who you are. Too often, the ICs combing the web for the lowest of the low jobs @CCarter (wonderfully) ranted about are ghosts, and that's an opportunity for you. Write a good bio/CV, post a warm video, and start searching for job postings that match up with your skills. Best part is, UpWork is pretty good about linking "rising talent" (their words) with jobs before they become available to the whole community. After 2 well-received jobs, I even had a talent manager reach out to me to get a better idea of what kind of clients I wanted. With a bit of consistent effort, I'd imagine you could pull in $500 within a couple weeks.

Full disclaimer, I have no vested interest in UpWork. Just had a good couple months and felt compelled to share. (And that, friends, is why you should always place UX and customer service at the top of your Give A F*s List.)

And if this seems overwhelming, just remember this: There is nothing worse than living on 0. But you don't HAVE to live on 0. Every moment of every day, you have a choice.