Many Americans work multiple jobs for a variety of reasons–including but not limited to–raising a family, saving up for a vacation, or living comfortably enough to go out for dinner every now and then.
A majority of these second jobs are freelance work or part-time gigs to supplement one's income.
While they may be hard to come by, having connections is a huge advantage.
Curious to hear from those who've held side hustles that seemed too good to be true, Reddit zackmann08 asked:
"What is the easiest, LEGAL way to make money on the side?"
Need someone to look after things in your stead while you're away? You needn't look any further.
Looking Over A Domicile
"Housesitting. No, seriously; people will pay you to just sit in their house while they're on vacation even if they don't have any pets to take care of"
– CNRavenclaw
It's Ruff Work
"I dog sit once a month, at least. If you're good with dogs, than it's an easy gig. Plus the last time I dog sat was closer to the ski hill so I rode a few hours every day. I've never worked with Rover on this side of the coin but it might be worth looking into. All I have to do is mention that I dog sit and people are asking for my number. Just be respectful to the dogs' people, be good to the dogs, and word spreads and more work opens up."
– jovial_finn
Be A Nanny
"Babysitting. I sh*t you not, if you watch people's kids you can make easy money. I watched two 8 year olds a couple times a week and it was great. Cooked a meal, hung out with some good kids, helped with homework, put them to bed and did my own thing/cleaned until parents got home."
"I made $20-25 an hour. Less if it's just one kid."
– User Deleted
These resourceful Redditors found a way to manage their time to do extra work.
Call As Needed
"I am an electrician and generally handy, have a truck, and I work off the task rabbit app. It has really helped fill the gaps in-between pay checks."
– PBRpleez
This Takes Dedication
"If you have the space and the means of transport, get free/cheap furniture on Craigslist/marketplace/etc and refinish/fix and resell. I did this through college on top of having a part time job, so it wasn't the most consistent based on how much free time I had, but on good months I could make a couple thousand bucks with not all that much work."
– AggravatingDot6
Part Of The Early Morning Rush
"Uber, crap full time, but good way to make extra money p/t. I just worked M-F mornings 6am - 9.30am, no drunks, no one wants to talk, everyone just wants to get to work or the airport."
– greedyboy61
Started As A Hobby
"My buddy tried scuba diving and thought it was a really cool hobby. So he spent like 2-3k on equipment for his weekend hobby. He started selling his funds online. Fast forward 6ish months and he quits his job because him scuba diving every other week and selling shark teeth he finds on eBay and to bulk buyer companies was making him more than his job as an EE. Last year he made over $100k doing this."
– pro185
Caveat For Delivery Service Work
" Food delivery depends on your area, for those scrolling through here."
"Doordash, Instacart, Ubereats, etc. will all earn you NEGATIVE INCOME if you live in a sh*tty area that doesn’t tip. Last summer I tried all three in the metro Atlanta area, and each one of them after weeks came out to negative income after gas mileage and packing lunches."
"If the people don’t tip, you only make six to nine dollars an hour before gas money. Where I live, most orders didn’t tip."
– brannanvitek
Sell It
"Selling sh*t on eBay or similar online market place. It requires little skill so anybody can do it and you would be surprised at the junk some people are willing to buy or the stuff you have sat around your house gathering dust. As long as you check the postage first and put the minimum price as more than postage then you are golden."
"I'm only talking about this to make a little side money like the OPs title. Obviously if you are going to be a full time Ebay trader its a different ball game."
– JavaRuby2000
Be In The Background
"Being an extra."
"You essentially get paid a couple hundred for essentially doing nothing."
– sawinnz
Who knew these jobs existed? These Redditors, that's who.
Working With Student-Athletes
"Officiate youth/high school sports. I generally make at least $30/hour and it’s good exercise."
– myjunkermail
Be A Guinea Pig
"Right now I'm in a paid medical study. I'm gettin $10k for 3 weeks of my time. You take drugs that are going through the whole approval process. If the drug gets this far, it's generally known to be safe already. They are testing for how long it lasts in your system with various dosage amounts, fasted vs unfasted, etc..."
"Edit: Lots of people are asking where to find out about these. I'm at a study for PRA Health Studies/ICON. PM me if you're interested, I get a fat bonus if you list me as a referral ;)"
– Sabiann_Tama
Niche Writing
"If you have even the slightest amount of writing talent, you can get commissions from weird furries (or other niche fandoms) to write pretty mediocre stuff for a fat pay check."
"Eg; I know this guy whose paid (on multiple occassions) 70USD a pop for poorly formatted, more or less amateur short stories (under 5 pages) about furries and pokemon or whatever."
"Seriously, these people will gladly pay mad cash for literally any quality of writing as long as it indulges their interests"
"edit:
Useful list I can think of thus far:
Furaffinity.net
Smashwords
r/eroticwriters and other erotica subs
LitErotica and other such websites
Any writing/art discord server, any furry server - especially useful cuz its straight to the source and direct
Amazon if you're looking to publish/set up a rep (Wouldn't recommend if you're only making it a side hustle)
Word of advice here though, use a damn alt - for everything but your paypal/fiver, if you dont care about starting your rep from scratch (eventually), then use an alt and spare yourself from some weird person who keeps dming you or trying to force you into doing more."
– HellOfAHeart
Want Plasma?
"Donate plasma. Especially right now. New donors in my area are getting 100-175. Ubereats or doordash. For me, I prefer Ubereats."
– Mourningair-
Furry Artists
"Well, I heard that the furry community pays artists pretty well. If you're goot at art, it might be worth looking into."
"Speaking of art-related things, virtual streamers are kinda big right now, so assets like Live2D models and backgrounds sell for quite a lot."
– LtAgn
Forget Laundry
"I know someone that sold ‘used’ underwear online."
"They had an ad in an adult magazine, a PO Box where they got requests and gifts and got a lot of money from it. Just get some cheap underwear and an open can of tuna and that makes a lot of happy clients."
"Not illegal where I’m from and super easy."
– Rwhitechocmuffin
If you're ever worried about landing a job, at least some of these side hustles mentioned above could help you through a slow period until you get lucky.
And even after finding a full-time job and you feel like you need more cash for that cruise in the Bahamas someday, you can always pen a furry story before going to bed for some extra cash.
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