Author Topic: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!  (Read 508854 times)

greenmimama

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #150 on: January 08, 2014, 08:40:10 AM »
I live on a main road so there is lots of traffic going past. I got a small sign made up offering advertising space on my fence. Currently I have two signs up bringing in $400/mth and after putting the sign up all I do is invoice once a month so the hourly rate is pretty healthy.

That is a great idea, way to use what you have.

vespito

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #151 on: January 08, 2014, 12:44:31 PM »
Tax question for those with side gigs - how do you state this extra income?  Do you consider it a business or hobby income?  If I remember correctly, 'hobby income' gets taxed pretty heavy.

tariskat

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #152 on: January 08, 2014, 01:08:20 PM »
This is a really inspiring thread. I am already self-employed and so slotting in some time to do a new thing should be relatively easy. It's just getting up the confidence to try something outside my usual work. Tutoring or teaching has always appealed to me, especially to adults. It's something I really need to get out of my system even if only to find out it's not for me. I did an introductory course in adult education but was put off from going further because I'd have had to basically get a degree to earn less than I earn now in my profession.

My ideas so far have been basic maths and English (especially to parents worried about helping their kids with homework) budgeting and financial education, basic PC and Internet skills, Excel and knitting. It's something that I could do for free to get experience and work on my planning and materials and then offer it out for money. I have the desire to teach *something* so it would be shame if I never tried it.

I tutored a college student for the math component of a licensing exam, that was very nice pocket money.  I also teach a computer science class as an adjunct (not very much pay, but it's a great experience) and I only needed a Master's for that, nothing actually teaching-related.  I also tutor for an adult education class (but that's for free, and very enjoyable).  The same adult education system has community classes that the instructor gets pair for, in whatever - computers, gardening, home brew, cooking, etc., in which courses might be 1 night (a single 2 hour cooking class) or a 15 week program (2 hours in one night a week for a language or something) that I haven't taught for myself but will probably try in the next year.  See if your community has something similar.

vespito

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #153 on: January 08, 2014, 01:13:47 PM »
@Maigahane - thanks for the reply!

mrsggrowsveg

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #154 on: January 08, 2014, 02:25:15 PM »
I sell vegetables at the local farmers market.  I am also adding eggs and pastured meat this year.  Some of our produce and eggs is sold to coworkers.  I also sell tea that I import and blend at the local farmers market.

MicroRN

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #155 on: January 08, 2014, 02:54:41 PM »
If you're good at standardized exams, test prep teaching is great.  I did that on the side for 7 years, and I plan to go back when the kiddos are older.  I had to score at least 90th percentile on a diagnostic version of any exam I taught (SAT, LSAT, GMAT, and GRE).  Paid prep time, $20+/hour for teaching - the teaching rate goes up as you accumulate high reviews from your students.  I'd sign up per course, which would be anywhere from 8-13 sessions, 1-3 evenings a week, so no long-term commitments.  Tutoring was super-flexible.  If I had no extra time, I just didn't take any classes.  When I wasn't working otherwise, I picked up over 20 hours a week. 

iwasjustwondering

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #156 on: January 08, 2014, 04:01:44 PM »
Hi Frankh, I have a friend who coordinates the adjuncts at the university where I'm going to teach.  Keep in mind this school is in NYC, where they pay a lot more than other areas. 

But, on a whim, I just emailed the head of a department at Rutgers, to ask if they need adjuncts, and she emailed me back within a day to set up an interview.  They have offered me an adjunct gig, but I can only take on one at a time.

So I would just send a couple of emails with resume attached.  Do you have a master's or PhD?  I think you need at least some advanced education.

HayMaker

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #157 on: January 10, 2014, 05:26:04 PM »
I was looking out of my home office window this morning, watching a new house being built across the street when this van pulls up with a vehicle wrap that says "The Glove Lady."  All of the construction workers come over and most of them walk away with a pair or two of gloves.  Don't know if it's a side gig or not but seems like a pretty flexible, cash only business.  I thought it was a clever way to make a few bucks, driving home the point that people need things and you can make money by providing them.

k-vette

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #158 on: January 11, 2014, 03:10:32 PM »
Selling on ebay: get items for free then sell.  Not a lot of profit competing with chinese, but its something.  The numbers help my ebay feedback for the times I do have big ticket items.  My friend works a computer place and they throw away thousands of new cables.  He collects the cables, I sell them.
2.  Vending machines.  Part time since the machines only need to be checked every other week.  Machines can be bought cheap used, then we find a place to put them.  Sometimes you get lucky and find free machines.  When someone goes out of business they often leave the machine.  My uncle works at a place where they've been sending letters for months for the owner to come get a snack machine.  Legally its now theirs, but they don't want or need it - so its mine.




basd

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #159 on: January 12, 2014, 01:29:53 AM »
I like the vending machine business :)

Just finished another writing assignment on Elance. Still a highly irregular extra income, but it's better than nothing!

FrugalityFan

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #160 on: January 12, 2014, 03:24:32 AM »
If you're good at standardized exams, test prep teaching is great.  I did that on the side for 7 years, and I plan to go back when the kiddos are older.  I had to score at least 90th percentile on a diagnostic version of any exam I taught (SAT, LSAT, GMAT, and GRE).  Paid prep time, $20+/hour for teaching - the teaching rate goes up as you accumulate high reviews from your students.  I'd sign up per course, which would be anywhere from 8-13 sessions, 1-3 evenings a week, so no long-term commitments.  Tutoring was super-flexible.  If I had no extra time, I just didn't take any classes.  When I wasn't working otherwise, I picked up over 20 hours a week.

This sounds really interesting. Could you tell me if you did this through Princeton Review, Kaplan, or some other similar provider?

Tyler Newleaf

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #161 on: January 12, 2014, 06:55:53 AM »
I sell books on Amazon. I buy them at the Goodwill for $1 or $2, then list them and send 'em off when they sell. The best one I found was a book on internal combustion mechanics that I bought for $2 and sold for $125.

This sounds interesting, and dare I say it, pretty easy (as long as you've got storage space, have patience, and can organize your books easily and efficiently).  How much do you make in a normal month?

It is honestly the easiest thing. I have a designated bookshelf that I use to store the books until they sell, though you could use almost any kind of anything that works for you. I don't bother sorting them by author or title; what I do is catalog them on my own spreadsheet that includes title, author, and ISBN. Since I only have around 50 books up for sale at any one time, I don't usually sort them out and just double-check the title and author when I pull books that have sold.

As far as the monthly income is concerned, I don't really have a reliable figure to cite. Amazon pays out every two weeks, depending on when you start your account: I started mine on a Thursday, so I get paid every other Thursday. The least I've made with one of these payments was $5.27 on June 13, 2013, which was due to not listing many books, a week on vacation with the store closed, and slow summer sales; the most I've made was $803.46 on March 8, 2012, which was due to the fact that I bought 1,500 books from a liquidation auction and flipped most of them quickly. (It wasn't really worth it, in the end.) Tomorrow I will make $267.74, though $145.44 of that is books I'm selling on behalf of my EGA chapter that belonged to a member who passed away earlier this year. I volunteered to sell the valuable books on Amazon to achieve a greater profit for the chapter than if the books were sold at a rummage sale. (We'll probably use the money to hire a fancy, nationally-recognized teacher to come teach us something interesting.)

I average about $200 of income per month and somewhere between $50 and $80 in expenses - after all, I do have to buy the books from somewhere. I pick them up mostly at Goodwill, and if I see something else there that I like, I throw it in my bag, so I count that as an expense, too. Plus if there are books I want to read, they go in the bag as well. I have an extensive personal library as a result.

Doing this could be a real job-job if I got more serious about it, but right now it's just a casual thing for me. It is enjoyable, V, and when a book sells for $50 or more, it's quite pleasant.

I do know a guy who does this full time.  Very interesting...

frugaldrummer

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #162 on: January 12, 2014, 02:39:49 PM »
@k-vette -
I'm curious to know more about your vending machine sideline.  I just saw an ad in my area, someone selling their vending machine business, 60 machines all placed in our area, supposedly $70k net/year, for sale for $65k. 

Seems cheap, and I'm guessing either the machines are old or badly placed.  But I have a friend who used to work a very lucrative vending machine business with his girlfriend, and has lots of experience on the sales/placement side of things.  On looking up statistics on professional sites, I saw that 18% of vending machine businesses make over $1 million a year!  Considering that many vendors would be part-time side-line types dragging down the statistics, I was impressed that a truly professional full-time operator might make real money if they knew what they were doing.

It was just an idle though on my part, thinking about my kids in their young 20's and whether such a business opportunity might be right for one of them.

k-vette

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #163 on: January 13, 2014, 07:03:56 AM »
Certainly a viable business.  The advantages to vending machines are the low startup costs, and its a cash business.  To start you could find a basic soda machine for around $250, stock it with $200 in product, and make your money back in a few months.  (Or in 1 month at a good location)  A teenager could do it.  Location is everything.  Summer time and sodas is where the money is.
I started because I always wanted my own business and it was cheap to start.  We only have 5 machines placed so far.  However when we got started we met 2 people doing this.  1 guy we bought a machine from had over 300 in operation.  He had two full time guys stocking machines and had a service call 1 to 2 times per week.  It was clear he was doing well.  Another guy we saw at sams club while buying product.  He had the same things in his cart, so my wife asked if he had vending machines.  He also gave us some helpful tips.  He didn't say how many machines, but he did it part time in addition to his regular job and did say that he made about $4,000/mo.
Location location.  We have more snack machines, but sodas are easier to maintain since you don't have to worry as much about shelf life. 

Easiest way to start is put a machine where you currently work.  If the place has less than 15 employees don't bother.  (Unless it has high traffic of cuatomers that come through)  More than that I think is worthwhile.  You can see the machine every day and stock when needed without an extra trip anywhere.

I buy almost all the product at sams club for snacks.  They sell items specifically for vending.

If you're wondering what the location cost - $0.  No one charges me to place the machines.  In fact one company sees it as a perk and subsidizes 50% of the cost.  I artificially lower the price so they buy more,  and the company pays the other half.

It seems to be a transient business.  Machines and locations for sale the time.

frugaldrummer

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #164 on: January 13, 2014, 11:21:27 AM »
Thanks for the input! 
I was thinking that $65k was a pretty small price to pay to "buy" a job that pays you $70k/year.  And that it might be a good investment for one of my kids, who are working low-wage jobs right now.  If I financed it and they really could make the stated income, they could pay me back over two years while still making a living wage, and then they'd be set with a pretty good income (and the possibility of more if they grew the business).

Interesting that you don't have to pay to place your machines - I'd read that 10-40% was often the case.  And yes, my friend who used to do this, says you really want 50 employees or more, or lots of foot traffic.


Chris86

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #165 on: January 13, 2014, 01:42:58 PM »
Army Reservist ~ $500 for two days of work = roughly $7,500 per year

Rental property = $800/mo (Technically I don't see the cash since it pays a mortgage but it is equity) = roughly $9,500 per year

I am considering another rental property or two, with a goal of $100,000 per year income before I turn 30. My regular full-time job pays $60,000 per year.

k-vette

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #166 on: January 13, 2014, 02:09:09 PM »
Thanks for the input! 
I was thinking that $65k was a pretty small price to pay to "buy" a job that pays you $70k/year.  And that it might be a good investment for one of my kids, who are working low-wage jobs right now.  If I financed it and they really could make the stated income, they could pay me back over two years while still making a living wage, and then they'd be set with a pretty good income (and the possibility of more if they grew the business).

Interesting that you don't have to pay to place your machines - I'd read that 10-40% was often the case.  And yes, my friend who used to do this, says you really want 50 employees or more, or lots of foot traffic.

If it does make what they quoted, that's a decent roi.  One thing I forgot to mention.  For anyone looking at it for part time work - place machines where you can access them off of your normal work hours.  I work mon-fri, so I try to place machines that I can stock on saturday.  Makes it much easier.  I go about 2 weeks between stocking most machines. 

LibrarIan

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #167 on: January 13, 2014, 02:26:35 PM »
This is one you won't come across often:

I used to work in this public library that got loads of donated books, CDs, DVDs, games, magazines... you name it. The library would periodically have used item sales, but the incoming donations vs. the output from people buying items/the library cataloging them/etc was totally unbalanced. They got way more than they knew how to deal with. There'd be boxes and boxes of things that they'd just offer up to whoever wanted them. I used to take boxes of books and other things, run the items through Amazon to see if they'd be worth listing and all the other stuff got carted to Half Price Books and sold off. I bought a car with the income from that stuff.

ShawnRulesAll

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #168 on: January 15, 2014, 08:17:22 AM »
My side gig : Poker

Poker can be controversial with many people, but I take it serious and earn an average of $16/hr over a few hundred hours sample at $1/$2 blinds no limit holdem. I am currently transitioning back to online poker and hoping to surpass that hourly rate.
Poker has afforded me the luxury of saving almost all my primary income.

I am interested in the vending machines side gig. I think it might be something I can do with my extra capital and create another income stream.
I am definitely interested in hearing more about vending machines :) and if anyone has poker questions feel free to ask!

FlowerPower

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #169 on: January 30, 2014, 06:29:27 PM »
My side gig is delivering newspapers!  4 hours per day/ 7 days a week....$1000 a month.  It's a great way to make extra cash while I'm in school. 

Kaminoge

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #170 on: January 31, 2014, 03:31:01 AM »
I've had lots of different side gigs over the years. Tutoring has always been a good one for me (although I'm not doing it now) because there's always a demand for Maths teachers. I supported myself all through university tutoring and at various times since it's provided a nice little bit of cash.

I was also really into AirBnB for a while. I was living in Tokyo and found that people would pay 3000 yen (roughly $30) a night to sleep on the floor of my little apartment. Funded a nice summer trip to Alaska that way. Now I'm in Bulgaria it's not worth the hassle, demand is low and there's already a lot of very cheap accommodation options.

I've also worked as a cleaner, a research assistant (for a guy studying parrots) and done one off events for Japanese schools where I was basically paid to turn up and speak English.

Currently my only side gig is working for a big international education outfit. Twice a year I do marking for them. It's not great pay (it's per piece so it's hard to estimate on an hourly basis - a really crappy piece of work might need 5 minutes to mark, something more detailed and of good quality could take me half an hour to understand) but it's excellent professional development (I'm a teacher). And as I've moved up the food chain there are occasionally other benefits - in a couple of months they're flying me to Cardiff (Wales) for some meetings, it conveniently backs on to my own Easter break so I'll be getting free flights for my Easter holiday.

I love the buying/reselling idea from second hand shops. I LOVE second hand and thrift shops. Unfortunately I've found the postal system here to be way too unreliable for me to even consider it now but maybe in a future country (I change every few years).

yoyalia

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #171 on: January 31, 2014, 01:54:30 PM »
We rent out our extra room in NYC on Airbnb - brings in anywhere from $2,000-$4,000/month, before taxes, but still pretty sweet :) I would say I spend about 2-4 hours a week communicating with guests and cleaning the room - less if it's a longer stay. Minor annoyance because rarely do guests know how long it takes to get into Manhattan from the airport, so we do sometimes end up waiting around for hours for them to show up, despite trying to coordinate this beforehand.  But worth it nonetheless and we have met some really awesome people from all over the world.

I also co-lecture classes at the university I work at for $5,000/semester.

Trying225

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #172 on: February 06, 2014, 01:36:02 PM »
I babysit and do some online marketing for a friend. I've been babysitting since I was about 12 years old. Although I don't always know when my next babysitting job will be, I usually have at least one per month. That's at least an extra $30.00. I know a lot of guys feel uncomfortable with babysitting so I always tell male friends that they could try petsitting if they're uncomfortable with babysitting. Sittercity.com has gotten me a couple of clients.

Unionville

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #173 on: February 06, 2014, 04:32:29 PM »
I teach a class on skillshare.com

kkbmustang

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #174 on: February 06, 2014, 09:47:19 PM »
kkbmustang: Could you send my PM to Mom to 5? Apparently, I did not set up my profile so that it automatically saves my outgoing messages.  Oops!  Or, you could just post it on this thread.

Sorry, just now saw this. Here you go:

Hello there,

To answer your questions:

Most of the time, I tutor standardized tests (SAT, LSAT, MCAT, GRE, and GMAT), high school entrance exams, and most middle school and high school subjects.  That being said, my current jobs involve college admissions counseling and assisting a middle school student with her science fair project.  I never really targeted a specific age range - I just take students where I can get them. 

If you have contacts at private schools, that is fantastic for marketing purposes.  Although I advertise via craigslist, wyzant.com, and private school bulletin boards, the majority of my clients come from referrals.  Every time I start a new market (I've moved five times since I started teaching as a side business), it's been the same.  I get one success story fairly early on, and then suddenly I am completely flush with clients. 

Case in point: I just moved a few months ago, and managed to score a new client using wyzant.com within a few days of my move.  My client's mother wanted me to prepare her son for the SAT *every* day, which was only a few weeks away.  Although I initially balked at the idea of teaching every day, including weekends, I knew that it would only be for a short period of time and since I was starting my tutoring business from scratch all over again, who knew when my next client would appear?  As luck would have it, my student's score went up well over 300 points in less than a month.  The mother was so proud of her son's success and sang my praises to all her friends. 

So now I have a consistent client base - at least, for the next year or so.  Since I have a full time job, I can only take two or three students at a time before I get antsy about all the extra work that I am doing.  While I love making additional income, the whole point of my taking a government attorney position (yes, you are right, I am a lawyer) was so that I would have an excellent work life balance, and on days that I teach, I'm essentially working from 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.  While that is fine for a couple of days a week, I find doing it every day extremely unpleasant.  If I wanted to work those hours, I would still be at my law firm and making a lot more money!

Anyway, I hope my response helps.

Good luck,

MJD

pdxvandal

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #175 on: February 06, 2014, 11:07:36 PM »
Professional sports statistician. Brings in about 4-5k per year, some of it cash payments.

SisterX

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #176 on: February 11, 2014, 01:12:53 PM »
This is one you won't come across often:

I used to work in this public library that got loads of donated books, CDs, DVDs, games, magazines... you name it. The library would periodically have used item sales, but the incoming donations vs. the output from people buying items/the library cataloging them/etc was totally unbalanced. They got way more than they knew how to deal with. There'd be boxes and boxes of things that they'd just offer up to whoever wanted them. I used to take boxes of books and other things, run the items through Amazon to see if they'd be worth listing and all the other stuff got carted to Half Price Books and sold off. I bought a car with the income from that stuff.

A lot of libraries (I work in one) have now discovered Better World Books and are directly selling their own surplus items/withdrawn items.  For us, a few things get put on our "sale" shelf but everything else gets shipped directly to BWB.  And thankfully, we've made over $10,000 doing that.  (The shipping is free.)

Professional sports statistician. Brings in about 4-5k per year, some of it cash payments.

Please, PLEASE tell me how you got into this?  My younger brother is amazing with sports and does the statistics on his own, for fun.  And he's better than the professionals at ESPN.  I've seen him nail what the point spread of a football game would be, and when he's "off", it's by no more than 10 points (and he's almost always right about who will win).  The family's been telling him for years to go after a job in this field but he's not a self-starter and not particularly ambitious.  Also, I think he's a bit scared to go after something that means so much to him.  So if I could point him in the right direction, he might actually do it.

Elyse

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #177 on: February 16, 2014, 08:42:57 AM »
Certainly a viable business.  The advantages to vending machines are the low startup costs, and its a cash business.  To start you could find a basic soda machine for around $250, stock it with $200 in product, and make your money back in a few months.  (Or in 1 month at a good location)  A teenager could do it.  Location is everything.  Summer time and sodas is where the money is.
I started because I always wanted my own business and it was cheap to start.  We only have 5 machines placed so far.  However when we got started we met 2 people doing this.  1 guy we bought a machine from had over 300 in operation.  He had two full time guys stocking machines and had a service call 1 to 2 times per week.  It was clear he was doing well.  Another guy we saw at sams club while buying product.  He had the same things in his cart, so my wife asked if he had vending machines.  He also gave us some helpful tips.  He didn't say how many machines, but he did it part time in addition to his regular job and did say that he made about $4,000/mo.
Location location.  We have more snack machines, but sodas are easier to maintain since you don't have to worry as much about shelf life. 

Easiest way to start is put a machine where you currently work.  If the place has less than 15 employees don't bother.  (Unless it has high traffic of cuatomers that come through)  More than that I think is worthwhile.  You can see the machine every day and stock when needed without an extra trip anywhere.

I buy almost all the product at sams club for snacks.  They sell items specifically for vending.

If you're wondering what the location cost - $0.  No one charges me to place the machines.  In fact one company sees it as a perk and subsidizes 50% of the cost.  I artificially lower the price so they buy more,  and the company pays the other half.

It seems to be a transient business.  Machines and locations for sale the time.

The cheapest soda machine I could find was $850 + shipping for used ones.  Where are you finding a $250 one?

phred

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #178 on: February 16, 2014, 08:55:50 AM »
PE engineers who want to part time teach besides the university, don't overlook your local community college.  I suppose CPAs and CFPs could do this as well

k-vette

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #179 on: February 24, 2014, 08:33:13 PM »
Did you try Craig's list for the vending machine?

Elyse

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #180 on: February 25, 2014, 10:21:06 AM »
Did you try Craig's list for the vending machine?

Yep, and the cheapest there is $1200, no negotiating.
I live near a big city, so it looks like this is a common side gig

SisterX

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #181 on: February 25, 2014, 01:19:48 PM »
I do solavei.  I set up a website and blog about the great cell phone service they provide.  cost nothing to join except for the cell phone service you have to have thru them which can be as low as 39 bucks a month and you make 5 bucks/month on every person who signs up and stays signed up.  there is a MLM system with it too... but my wife and i have no cell phone bills and i make a few extra bucks each month.

So...it's a pyramid scheme?

Ashyukun

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #182 on: February 25, 2014, 01:42:59 PM »
After reading through this thread a ways back, the fiancee and I started having fun hitting the nearby Goodwill & Salvation Army stores. I use my phone to find media that can be resold for a profit and she looks for knicknacks and furniture she can repaint. In the few weeks we've been doing this, I've made about $15 profit with the potential for $150 or so if everything I have up sells. She hasn't actually sold anything yet, but has a much higher profit potential given how cheap we've found the things she's working on vs. what they should sell for painted up nicely. She found a really nice solid wood end table at a nearby ReStore that was 50% off and cost $1.59 including taxes! She could do nothing at all to that piece and turn around and sell it for 20x that easily.

We hit a yard sale on Saturday- and walked away from it with more stuff pulled for free (with their approval) from their construction debris dumpster than we bought from the sale itself. :P

ethereality

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #183 on: February 25, 2014, 02:02:51 PM »
I teach piano private and group lessons. I make about $1000/month doing that! Not a bad way to make some money considering it has no start up costs (I've owned the piano for years)

LibraTraci

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #184 on: February 26, 2014, 12:49:16 AM »

This winter I've been working in a ski rental shop at the foot of a ski resort.  It is my "fun job"!

It also keeps me from entertaining myself with donuts and cookies on my days off.  Which, in turn, keeps me from needing a new wardrobe in the next size up. 

(Free rentals and ski pass, too -- not bad.)

Elyse

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #185 on: February 26, 2014, 06:35:54 AM »

This winter I've been working in a ski rental shop at the foot of a ski resort.  It is my "fun job"!

It also keeps me from entertaining myself with donuts and cookies on my days off.  Which, in turn, keeps me from needing a new wardrobe in the next size up. 

(Free rentals and ski pass, too -- not bad.)

I would work for free just for the rentals and pass.

That stuff is expensive!

Now I know when I retire I need to work part time over there so I can ski!

highwayskies

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #186 on: March 25, 2014, 03:56:26 PM »
Can you teach?  The best way to come up with a side hustle, is to think of something you know how to do that others would like to.  Impostor Syndrome prevents many from getting into teaching before they're masters, but you really just have to know what you know, and that has to be more than the other person (and not even always, if you can distinguish coaching improvement from teaching anew).  Almost all my income is side-hustling, thanks to a passion for learning/teaching.

I play guitar, so I teach guitar
I am a massage therapist who runs a business, so I teach business at the area massage school
I do Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, so I teach Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

If I'd been a better student I'd tutor.  If I could dance, I'd advertise lessons on CL.  Most one-on-one teaching/tutoring can fetch $40/hr, at least.  Everyone knows something better than most other people.  It's probably marketable!

Cassie

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #187 on: March 25, 2014, 04:50:10 PM »
Teach a university course online each semester. The pay can really vary from $3000-8000/semester depending on the university.  Also have my own consulting business that I don't spend more then 10 hours/week on. 

La Bibliotecaria Feroz

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #188 on: March 25, 2014, 06:30:14 PM »
I do Leapforce at Home. The pay is just OK but you can do it in your jammies, so it's a good gig if, like me, you are not particularly entrepreneurial and/or you have other things going on. (Advantages and disadvantages: http://frugalparagon.com/2014/02/05/why-the-frugal-paragon-loves-leapforce-at-home/)

nikki

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #189 on: March 25, 2014, 08:49:46 PM »
I do Leapforce at Home. The pay is just OK but you can do it in your jammies, so it's a good gig if, like me, you are not particularly entrepreneurial and/or you have other things going on. (Advantages and disadvantages: http://frugalparagon.com/2014/02/05/why-the-frugal-paragon-loves-leapforce-at-home/)

Hi frugalparagon--

What exactly do you do for Leapforce at Home? Look at websites and generate relevant search keywords or something like that?

basd

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #190 on: March 26, 2014, 01:50:20 AM »
Also have my own consulting business that I don't spend more then 10 hours/week on.
May I ask in what field you're a consultant? Just curious.

Emilyngh

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #191 on: March 26, 2014, 09:00:33 AM »


Hi frugalparagon--

What exactly do you do for Leapforce at Home? Look at websites and generate relevant search keywords or something like that?

I'm not frugalparagon, but I just tested for Leapforce, passed the first 2 sections and am waiting to here back about the 3rd.   I think there are rules about discussing exactly what one does working for Leapforce, but it's along the lines of what you're guessing.   If you're interested, you can sign up with them to get the guidelines (140 page book that explains it all in great detail) and take the tests.   Then, you can always decide whether or not to continue.

La Bibliotecaria Feroz

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #192 on: March 26, 2014, 11:55:44 AM »
I do Leapforce at Home. The pay is just OK but you can do it in your jammies, so it's a good gig if, like me, you are not particularly entrepreneurial and/or you have other things going on. (Advantages and disadvantages: http://frugalparagon.com/2014/02/05/why-the-frugal-paragon-loves-leapforce-at-home/)

Hi frugalparagon--

What exactly do you do for Leapforce at Home? Look at websites and generate relevant search keywords or something like that?

Yep, there's a nondisclosure agreement, but the test will give you a better idea what's involved. There are actually a lot of different kinds of tasks

Emilyngh, congrats on passing the first two parts of the test! Good luck. Everyone remember to use my link in the blog post if you want to sign up, because then I get a bonus :-).

Cassie

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #193 on: March 26, 2014, 12:01:34 PM »
BASD, the field is worker's compensation.

nikki

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #194 on: March 26, 2014, 10:56:26 PM »


Hi frugalparagon--

What exactly do you do for Leapforce at Home? Look at websites and generate relevant search keywords or something like that?

I'm not frugalparagon, but I just tested for Leapforce, passed the first 2 sections and am waiting to here back about the 3rd.   I think there are rules about discussing exactly what one does working for Leapforce, but it's along the lines of what you're guessing.   If you're interested, you can sign up with them to get the guidelines (140 page book that explains it all in great detail) and take the tests.   Then, you can always decide whether or not to continue.

Thanks, Emily!

CarDude

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #195 on: March 27, 2014, 12:13:03 AM »
I spread the word about auto safety. You'd be amazed how many fewer deaths we'd have each year if people simply didn't drink or speed (20,000+).

innerscorecard

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #196 on: March 27, 2014, 01:23:18 AM »
BASD, the field is worker's compensation.

What is BASD?

innerscorecard

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #197 on: March 27, 2014, 01:24:32 AM »
I spread the word about auto safety. You'd be amazed how many fewer deaths we'd have each year if people simply didn't drink or speed (20,000+).

Do you simply earn money doing that (awesome and rewarding work) through the blog? Or do you do real life events too?

basd

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #198 on: March 27, 2014, 06:00:23 AM »
BASD, the field is worker's compensation.

What is BASD?
It's me :) She was responding to a question of mine.

iwasjustwondering

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Re: Who has a side gig/job that brings in extra cash?? Share with us!
« Reply #199 on: March 27, 2014, 09:39:21 AM »
Here's a cool thing.  I live in NJ, but my side gig as an adjunct professor is in NYC.  I had 529 plans for my kids through Fidelity, through the Rhode Island plan (NJ doesn't have a 529 plan that lets you invest $ before state income tax, so we just choose plans from other states and live without the tax benefit).

BUT, this year I wanted to open Vanguard 529s, since I have other investments there.  I discovered that, if I chose the New York state plan, I can deduct state income tax on any $ earned in New York and invested in the 529s.  Since I am putting more than my total salary earned in New York into the 529s, that means that all the money I earn from my side gig is now free of state income tax.  Depending on my tax rate, I will save at least $400, possibly more, on this.  :)