Category: Side Hustle

One of my favorite developments in recent years has been the rise of alternative transportation methods. I've written in the past about bikeshare systems and why I think they are an amazing form of what is essentially mass transit. In the time since I wrote that post, bikeshare systems have started to go dockless and other forms of non-car based transportation methods have also started to pop up. The latest innovations in this space are electric scooters made by companies like Bird and Lime. If you live in any decently sized city, you've probably seen these scooters around. They've even gone international (see my brother below, scooting around last summer on a Bird in Paris).  So, first things first, I am absolutely obsessed with these scooters - not just because they provide an alternative mode of transportation that I think is good for cities, but also because of what they present in the way of side hustle opportunities (more on that later). They're also just plain fun to ride. There are two big players in the scooter world - Bird and Lime, but there are other scooter companies out there, including Skip, Spin, and others too numerous to name (even Uber and Lyft have come out ...

I remember when my brother first told me about a new app he'd found called Postmates. He'd just returned home to the US after living overseas for a few years and didn't have a job. So, in order to make a bit of cash while he was job hunting, he picked up a side gig as a Postmates courier, delivering food for people around the city. Here was my brother, a college educated, smart, hard working millennial...working as a delivery man. He was really putting that college degree to use...

Table of Contents What Is The Job Spotter App? How The Job Spotter App Works How Much Can You Make With The Job Spotter App? The Main Reason I Like The Job Spotter App: It's Fun! Job Spotter Tips and Tricks In one of my Side Hustle Reports, I wrote about how I made a little over $25 taking pictures of hiring signs using an app called Job Spotter.  Since that didn't seem like all that much money, I didn't expect a lot of people to care too much about the app.  I was pleasantly surprised though at how many people asked for more info about the Job Spotter app.  Goes to show that the hustle doesn't stop around here, no matter how small it might seem. Those of you who follow Financial Panther know that I'm all about trying to monetize the things I'm already doing.  It's why I do bike deliveries when I'm trying to get some exercise, walk dogs during my lunch hour, and charge up Bird and Lime scooters on my way to and from work. All of these activities mean that I'm out and about a lot. And while I'm out in the city, I pass by countless stores and restaurants that ...

One of the great benefits with starting up a side hustle is the ability to get paid as an independent contractor. When you consider all of the sweet benefits you get from side hustling, you have to assume that the government must want us to side hustle. Take tax deductions, for example. The government lets you deduct expenses related to your side hustle for things you might already be doing anyway. With a little planning, someone driving for Uber in their spare time could easily offset the costs of driving that they're already doing anyway. Perhaps the most amazing thing that the government lets you do as a side hustler is to save money into extra retirement accounts that other people don't have access to. Start up a side hustle and you can save some- or in some cases, almost all of your side income - into a Solo 401(k), a SEP-IRA, or a Simple IRA. Depending on how much you make and what type of retirement accounts you already have, you could potentially save thousands more per year in tax-advantaged savings.

Table of Contents The Signup Process My First Wag Walk How Much Can You Make With Wag? How Can You Use Wag? One of the reasons I like the gig economy is because it lets me try out weird jobs that I might not otherwise get to do in a normal setting. I'm sure you've had times where you thought it'd be fun to do a certain type of job for a day (I know I've always thought it'd be interesting to be a postman for a day). Unfortunately, with the way jobs work, you can't just sign up and go do a job randomly just to see what it's like. These gig economy apps, on the other hand, allow you to do just that. It's opened up a whole new world for experimenters like me. The latest gig that I've been trying out is working as an on-demand dog walker with an app called Wag. Like a lot of these type of apps, I first learned about the Wag app from my brother, who signed up for it back when it first launched. He lives out on the East Coast, so he tends to get these apps before they make their way over to me in the Midwest. So what is Wag? The ...

Over the past two years or so, I've earned a little over $30,000 doing a bunch of interesting side hustles. The question I often get is how I find the time to do all of these things. For most people, the ability to earn extra money comes down to time - most people work all day, and when combined with other obligations, there are pretty much no hours left in the day to keep working. However, that hasn't been the case for me. Even though I work a full-time job, I've still found a way to consistently earn extra income every month by incorporating my side hustles into my everyday life. It's a strategy I call monetizing your life. The idea behind monetizing your life is pretty simple - take the things you're already doing and figure out how you can make money doing them. By doing this, you earn extra money without having to use up a lot of your time. In theory, the money you earn from monetizing your life can be used to subsidize your living expenses. It also provides a nice cushion - if I needed to live lean, I could probably survive just from the stuff I'm ...

It never really occurred to me how much space in a typical house goes unused until Ms. FP and I moved back into her four bedroom house. As a renter, we never lived in an apartment bigger than 800 square feet or so. Our smallest apartment (where we found all of that sweet, sweet trash) was about 600 square feet. At the beginning of this year the two of us moved back into a 4 bedroom house that was double or triple the size of any apartment we'd ever lived in. It seemed like a waste to have so much space for just two people. But we didn't want to get roommates either. That's when we decided to try out our hand at Airbnb...

This is a story about our unorthodox adventures in side hustling by selling trash finds. It all started when Ms. Panther and I moved into a luxury apartment building in early 2015. We'd received a deal from a guy who wanted us to take over his lease, and as a result, we were able to move into a luxury building paying less rent compared to what we had previously been paying in our "normal" apartment. It was a deal too good for us to pass up. After getting our keys from the leasing office, we walked out of the building through the garage. And there I saw it - a perfectly good coffee table sitting right by the dumpster. On a whim, I grabbed it and listed it up for sale on Craigslist. It sold just a day later to young couple for $25. In my mind, it felt as if I had just found $25 in the trash.

One of the big benefits of side hustling is the ability to bring in extra income that you don't need to spend. Arguably, you might need every last bit of your day job income in order to survive. But if you're already making ends meet with your day job income, that means that every single dollar you make on the side can be saved. It might not seem like that big a deal to make a few extra hundred bucks a month. But the power of being able to save the entirety of that money shouldn't be underestimated.

Welcome back to another Financial Panther side hustle report! For new readers, each month, I document exactly what I earned from side hustling using various sharing economy and gig economy apps. I've been tracking all of my side hustle income since 2016, so if you're interested, be sure to check out my past side hustle reports to see how my side hustle income has evolved over time. One of the things I've learned from writing these reports is how consistency really matters. People often think that sharing economy and gig economy apps don't take any skill - and admittedly, that's true to an extent. Anyone can go walk dogs and deliver food - these aren't hard jobs to do. However, like with anything in life, you just tend to get better and more efficient at certain skills as you do them more. Over the years, I've just gotten better at doing all of these gigs. And in the process, I've also figured out the systems and processes that make these gigs work out really well for me and my lifestyle. That didn't happen overnight. The important thing to remember is that, when you start out, you're probably not going to be as good ...

Something that often gets forgotten in the side hustling discussion is the impact of taxes. If you're like most people, taxes are probably a thing that you don't think about all that much. You get your paycheck, you file your taxes at the end of the year, and you probably end up with a tax refund most of the time. In its base form, income that you earn from normal employment (W-2 income as its called) is pretty simple. You're taxed on that income in essentially three ways: Federal Income Tax State Income Tax FICA Taxes (employee portion) These taxes get taken directly out of your paycheck, which is helpful for you since it means that you don't really have to do anything. You just get your money from your employer and you're good to go. Obviously, you'll pay more or less in taxes depending on where you live. Some places have local taxes (I'm looking at you New York). Other places have no state income tax at all. But in general, federal, state, and the employee portion of FICA taxes are the three taxes that you're going to be paying on your regular, W-2 income. The landscape looks a bit different when you're earning ...

Welcome to another side hustle report! Each month, I document what I earned doing various side hustles outside of my day job. I'm a firm believer that anyone can find a way to make some extra money on the side. Even just a few years ago, starting up a side hustle required a bit of work and might have required some upfront capital costs. And picking up a second job meant you'd have to go to work whenever your boss scheduled you. But not anymore. Today, with the advance of technology, anyone can find a way to make some extra money on their own time, whenever they want! Remember, your side hustle is worth a lot more than you think. Even making a few thousand dollars a year can add up to a ton of money over time. That's because every dollar you earn in your side hustle is another dollar you can save. If you're living fine on your regular income, then you don't need to spend your side hustle income at all!

The start of April means it's tax time here in the Financial Panther household. As I've been gathering up all my tax documents, I thought it'd be helpful to share with you exactly what I made in 2016 via the sharing economy. Without a doubt, 2016 was my biggest side hustle year. Altogether, I pulled in a total of $14,181.43 by taking advantage of sharing economy apps like Airbnb, DogVacay, and Postmates! That's a pretty surprising number to me, especially considering the fact that I spent essentially no money in startup costs and that I made this money by doing things that I was already doing anyway.

It's time for the September 2018 edition of the Financial Panther side hustle report! If you're new here, welcome! September was another big month on the side hustle front, with me bringing in over $2,000 from various sharing economy and gig economy side hustles. That's pretty remarkable in my book. Most importantly, all of the side hustles I did in September are ones that pretty much anyone can do. As a quick recap, for the past two years, I've been tracking every dollar I make doing various side hustles, primarily through sharing economy and gig economy apps. I have two main goals with these reports:  To show you exactly what someone can make side hustling while also working full-time; and To inspire you and give you ideas so that you can do the same thing. I really like sharing economy and gig economy apps because of how flexible they are and how well they incorporate into my day-to-day life. I'm the type of person that likes to optimize each part of my day, and these sharing and gig economy apps let you do just that. At least if you know how to use them.  So what did I make in September 2018? Let's take a look.   Side ...

A new month means it's a good time for another side hustle report! For those of you that are new to the blog, each month, I document what I earned from side hustling using sharing economy websites. My purpose in writing these reports is to show you the type of money that you can make using some of the skills and assets you already own. Even small amounts of side hustle income can add up to a large sum of money given enough time. The beauty of a side hustle, in particular, is the huge impact it can have on your savings rate. This is because every dollar you earn in a side hustle can be saved.

Welcome folks to another side hustle report! People seem to love these reports because they give some insight into whether any of these quirky side hustles that I do actually make me any money. It's not every day that a "big shot" lawyer hops on a bike and becomes a delivery man! Now for the usual background. For those of you new to this, each month, I document what I earned doing various side hustles outside of my day job. These side hustles are primarily done using sharing economy and gig economy platforms (think of things like Airbnb and Uber). The great thing is that anyone can do these type of side hustles. You don't need to get a business plan or invest any capital. Instead, just utilize the skills and resources you already have.

Welcome to this month's side hustle report! If you've been following along, each month, I document what I made using various sharing economy and gig economy apps. It's pretty great to have a little bit of extra income coming in each month for things that I'm basically already doing...

I think most of us could use a little more money in our lives. The only problem is that earning more money isn't always that easy or immediate. Raises are typically an annual thing and definitely not guaranteed. Bonuses are the same way. You could switch jobs to make more money, but that's not always an option for everyone. One surefire way to make some extra money is to get yourself some overtime hours. But, if you're a white collar worker - like a lot of us are - you're probably getting paid a salary. Even those of you who might be eligible for overtime probably can't do so on a regular basis. Most organizations limit the amount of overtime that you can work.

Thanks for stopping by for another side hustle report! Sorry about putting this out a little later than usual. For those of you new to this, each month, I document what I earned doing various side hustles outside of my day job. With the rise of the sharing and on-demand economy, it's super easy to pick up a flexible side hustle. There's literally never been a time in history where you could work in your spare time like you can today. The beauty of your side hustle income is that you can save every single dollar of it! Just think about what that can do for your savings rate...

One of the best ways to get into real estate is to start house hacking - that is, using the house you already live in to generate income. Since housing is likely going to be your biggest monthly expense, if you can figure out ways to reduce those costs, you can dramatically increase your ability to save and speed up your path towards financial independence. House hacking can come in many forms, but the traditional view of house hacking says that you should get a multi-unit property (a duplex, triplex, or something similar), live in one unit, then rent out the other units. If you do this right, the income you generate from your other units should be enough to cover some or all of your monthly housing expenses. However, there are a lot of ways to get into house hacking besides getting a duplex, and perhaps the easiest way to get started is to just take advantage of the extra space you already have in your house. For the past three years, my wife and I have done exactly that by renting out a spare room in our house on Airbnb. It's worked out well and has substantially reduced our monthly housing expenses. (Read more about why we ...

Thanks for tuning in to another edition of the Financial Panther side hustle report! I'm coming at you a little late with this past month's report, but for good reason. As I wrote in my last post, I quit my job a little over a month ago, and as a result, this side hustle report has to be read with a little bit of a caveat. As a brief recap in case you missed it, after 5 years of working as an attorney, last month, I decided to quit my job and make the move to full-time blogging and content creation. It's a bold move. This blog isn't a behemoth yet by any means - but it has grown a lot over the past three years and it's at the point where it's making a regular monthly income. Quitting my job and going all-in on myself is obviously a high-stakes move, but I think it's the right move for me at this point in my life. I gave lawyering a shot for five years and was never happy with my professional life - it's part of the reason I've had three jobs in five years. At some point, you have to ...

It's a new month, which means it's time to fire up another Financial Panther side hustle report! In today's post, I'll be looking back at exactly what I made from side hustling in June 2019.  As a quick recap, each month, I document exactly what I earned from side hustling using different sharing economy and gig economy apps. These are apps that, for the most part, anyone can do. And even better, they're so flexible that most people can figure out ways to incorporate these apps into their day-to-day lives. In most months, I earn income from 10 or more different sources. Sometimes it's large amounts. Other times I bring in small amounts. What's important is that it all adds up - even small amounts, over time, can yield something pretty significant. You just need to be consistent.  With that said, let's take a look at what I made side hustling in June 2019.   Side Hustle Income for June 2019 Airbnb: $1,589.83 Rover: $657.90 Postmates/DoorDash/Uber Eats/Amazon Flex/Grubhub: $786.13 Wag: $198 Bird/Lime: $636.07 Selling Trash Finds/Flipping: $50 Job Spotter: $24.42 Gigwalk/EasyShift/Field Agent/Observa/Merchandiser: $15  WeGoLook: $74 Roadie: $12 ProductTube: $25 Google Opinion Rewards/1Q/Surveys On The Go: $5.41 Receipt Pal/Receipt Hog/Fetch: $40 Secret Shopping: $16 Total Side Hustle Income for June 2019 = $4,129.76 June was another big income month, resulting in over ...

Welcome back to another edition of the Financial Panther Side Hustle Report. For those of you that are new here, each month, I document exactly what I made using different sharing economy and gig economy apps.  In the past, these reports were mainly about showing what I made side hustling while working a full-time job. However, since I quit my job, these side hustle reports have transformed into more of a gig economy "hustle" report, demonstrating what I've been able to make to support my life while I transition from an attorney to a full-time, self-employed blogger, writer, and business owner. There's a lot of value in having this sort of income, as it basically gives me a sort of income floor while I pursue my online business.  So, let's take a look at what I made in July from all of the different apps I use.   Side Hustle Income for July 2019 Airbnb: $1,079.61 Rover: $374 Postmates/DoorDash/Uber Eats/Amazon Flex/Grubhub: $995.29 Wag: $75.10 Bird/Lime: $858.59 Selling Trash Finds/Flipping: $104.35 TaskRabbit: $179.55 Job Spotter: $25.18 Gigwalk/EasyShift/Field Agent/Observa/Merchandiser: $17.90 WeGoLook: $71 Roadie: $31 ProductTube: $10 Google Opinion Rewards/1Q/Surveys On The Go: $30.45 Receipt Pal/Receipt Hog/Fetch/Trunow: $20.58 Total Side Hustle Income for July 2019 = $3,872.60 In July, I made over $3,800 from 14 different income sources. This was similar to last month ...

A common criticism that I get with some of my side hustles is that they're - to be frank - a waste of my time. In all honesty, I can't necessarily argue with that. I went to four years of college and three years of law school. My education has a retail value of well over $200,000. With all of this expense to educate myself, my time (at least in theory) should be pretty valuable. Yet, if you follow along with this blog, you know that I spend a lot of my free time doing things that seem pretty stupid - things like delivering food on my bike or walking dogs. Depending on your point of view, these side hustles could really be viewed as pretty stupid - at least "beneath" what someone with my credentials should be doing. Instead of wasting my time doing these things, I could be hustling more at work to try to improve my income at my job. Or I could instead be doing something on the side that actually uses my legal training, and that presumably, would allow me to earn more on an hourly basis. Instead, I've basically done the opposite of that. Over the ...

We live in the golden age of side hustling. If you're looking to make some extra money in order to pay off debt, save more, or even to buy that shiny new toy, there's really no excuse for why you can't do it. Compare the nature of a part time gig today, as compared to just a few years ago. There wasn't a sharing economy or on-demand economy. Things like Uber and Airbnb didn't exist. When I was in college, making extra money meant either finding a part time job or figuring out a way to make your own job. Finding a part time job meant working when your boss told you to work. That's a problem for people who want flexibility. And creating your own job meant figuring out a skill you had and finding customers, not to mention you probably needed to spend some money in order to get your hustle started...

It's been a busy month for me at work, so I've been really slacking on the writing. Argh! I just need to work on creating a better routine between the blog and the day job. But in the meantime, here's the March side hustle report so that I stay on top of things. As explained in previous months, the purpose of these side hustle reports is two-fold: (1) to show you exactly how much someone can make on the side with pretty simple side hustles while also working a full-time day job, and (2) to give you ideas for ways you can earn extra income in your life. The key with these side hustle reports - and what I think is useful about them - is that I personally do everything I write about. It's a bit of an experiment. I'm basically being a guinea pig for you by signing up for everything I can and seeing what it's like. There's also a journalism aspect that I think is useful. I feel like it gives a better idea of what's possible in the gig economy/sharing economy when you're actually out there doing this stuff. Anyway, with that intro out of the way, let's ...

Thank you for joining me for another edition of the Financial Panther side hustle report! As you can probably tell from reading the title of this post, August was a very lucrative side hustle month for me. In fact, it's my highest side hustle income month to date. It's months like this where I seriously think I could try to go all-in with this whole self-employment thing. After all, if I'm able to make this much while also working full-time, how much could I make if I spent full days doing all of these side hustles? Before we continue on, I'm just going to go through my basic background on what these side hustle reports are all about. Each month, I document exactly what I earned from side hustling using all of the various sharing economy and gig economy apps. I do this for two reasons:  To show you exactly what someone can make side hustling while also working full-time; and To inspire you and give you ideas so that you can do the same thing. What you can take away from all this is that there is money to be made out there. When I side hustle, I try to break things down into ...

Welcome to the September 2017 Side Hustle Report. September ended up being a big side hustle month for me and altogether, I was able to pull in over $2,000 worth of side hustle income. I earned all of this side income using sharing economy and gig economy apps that pretty much anyone can use. There are two reasons why I share this side hustle income (besides the fact that I think it's entertaining): I want to show you exactly how much someone can earn through the sharing economy/gig economy while also holding down a full-time job, and I want to inspire those of you that need extra money to go out there and get it for yourself. The thing that I can't stress enough is that I earned all of this income while also working a full-time day job. If you need to earn extra money, I'm an example of exactly how you can do it. And trust me, if I can do this, I know you can too. With that said, let’s see what I was able to bring in this month from side hustling on top of my day job.   Side Hustle Income for September 2017 Here’s a breakdown of my side hustle earnings ...

Welcome to the January 2018 edition of the side hustle report. This is a popular series that I've been writing now for a year-and-a-half and that I think provides a great look at how anyone can earn extra money outside of their day job using sharing economy and gig economy apps. I've written this before, but to recap, I document this income for two main reasons: I want to show you exactly how much someone can earn on the side. Remember, I do all of this stuff while also holding down a full-time, 9-5 job, as well as working on this blog. I want to give you ideas and inspire those of you who are looking to make a little extra income. If I can do this, I know you can too. With that said, let’s take a look at how I did in January 2018:   Side Hustle Income for January 2018 Here’s a breakdown of my side hustle earnings in December. Airbnb:  $668 Rover: $229.50 Postmates/DoorDash/Uber Eats: $30.31 Selling Trash Finds: $35 Wag: $148 TaskRabbit: $21.25 Job Spotter: $13.56 Google Opinion Rewards: $2.05 Total Side Hustle Income for January 2018 = $1,147.67 It's always nice to start the new year off strong, and bringing in over $1,100 in January is a pretty decent way to start off the new year. The ...

A lot of people ask me why I waste my time with all of these silly side hustles.  To most people, it doesn't make much sense that someone like me - a lawyer with a perfectly good job - would spend my free time doing things like delivering food to people, renting out a room on Airbnb, or selling trash that I find in the street.  It makes even less sense that I do this stuff when you consider the fact that my wife is a dentist. People with my background just aren't supposed to be doing work like this. Admittedly, these side hustles don't make me a ton of money - at least not in the traditional sense.  Sure, I can make an extra couple thousand dollars in a year.  In fact, last year I made over $14,000 doing a bunch of different side hustles that pretty much anyone can do.  An extra $14,000 in a year is nice, but it isn't going to be enough for me to live on. In the grand scheme of things, it seems pretty small. But, like with most things in the personal finance world, there's much more than meets the eye.  We already know about ...

Welcome to the August 2017 edition of the Financial Panther Side Hustle Report! If you’re a new reader, let me take a few moments here to recap what these side hustle reports are all about. For the past 2 years, I’ve been earning extra income on top of my day job by doing work in the sharing economy, gig economy, on-demand economy, or whatever else you want to call this new style of earning money. Since starting this blog, I’ve been tracking all of the income I earn from these side gigs on a monthly basis and reporting it all here. The reason for tracking and writing about this income is two-fold: I want to show people exactly how much someone can earn doing these sharing/gig economy gigs while also holding down a full-time job, and I want to inspire those of you that need extra money to go out there and get it for yourself. Writing about these gigs, in addition to being some fun journalism, is a nice look into the real potential of these side hustles.  I’m not just out there writing about these apps - I’m on the ground floor doing them and showing you how it’s done! And if I can ...

A huge point of controversy in the sharing/gig economy world has been how to classify those of us who work in it. Most people reading this have probably seen or read about lawsuits challenging Uber's classification of its drivers as independent contractors, rather than as employees. The same lawsuits have been raging on with basically every app out there in this space, including delivery apps like Postmates, DoorDash, and Caviar. I've sometimes wondered if the folks fighting to be classified as employees understand the huge benefits they could be giving up by going that route. Don't get me wrong, I totally understand the problem with misclassifying workers. Most people need the benefits and protections that come with traditional employment. But, I suspect that many people fighting to be classified as employees under these apps don't really understand what they stand to lose.

After a busy October, I'm back with another edition of the Financial Panther Side Hustle Report. Like in previous editions, in this month's report, I share exactly what I earned from all of the sharing economy gigs that I completed in my spare time. My primary goals with these side hustle reports are two-fold: I want to show you exactly how much someone can earn through the sharing economy/gig economy while also holding down a full-time job, and I want to inspire those of you that need to earn extra money and give you ideas so that you can do the same. The thing that I like to point out is that I'm able to earn this side income while also holding down a full-time job and working on this blog. As you can probably imagine, that doesn't leave me with a ton of free time. And yet, I'm still able to do this. What this means is that this is something that everyone - and I really mean everyone - can do. With that said, let’s see what I was able to bring in this month from side hustling on top of my day job.   Side Hustle Income for October 2017 Here’s a breakdown of ...

I know I'm super late getting this side hustle report out - but hey, better late than never. For those of you new to Financial Panther, each month, I document exactly what I earned in the previous month from side hustling using sharing economy and gig economy apps. In today's side hustle report, I'll be looking at what I earned side hustling in February 2018 (yeah, I know, really late considering the fact that we're almost into April now).  I share these reports, not only because some people find them entertaining, but also because I think they demonstrate something very important. If you want to earn extra income on the side, you can do it. In today's world, I think everyone should be able to make at least a few hundred bucks a month doing something. And if you don't think you can, then you really aren't trying hard enough. These side hustles might seem stupid to some people, and depending on how you live your life, they might very well be. For me, these side hustles are all part of my strategy of monetizing my life - essentially, getting paid to do the things I'm already doing. The point of these ...

Welcome to another edition of the Financial Panther side hustle report! Over the last few years, I've sort of become known as the dude that does a lot of weird sharing economy and gig economy side hustles - so much so that I was even featured in an article on Marketwatch. I haven't read the comments to that article because, well, I'm sure I know what they say (I'm stupid, I should be working to build my skills at my job instead of wasting my time doing these gigs, etc). To that, I say, sure, that makes sense if you love what you're doing and are trying to stay and advance in that field. I'm not about that life though and honestly, these side hustles are about more than just the money to me. I suspect that a lot of you pursuing the whole financial independence thing are in the same position, looking to get out of what you're doing and try something different. Anyway, if you're new here, each month I document exactly what I made side hustling using various sharing economy and gig economy apps (I've been tracking all of this income since 2016). Today, we'll be taking a look ...

Whew! I just got back from a week at FinCon, so I am absolutely exhausted. Still, this blog doesn't sleep, so I'm back today with another Financial Panther Side Hustle Report! If you're a new reader, the basic gist is that each month, I document exactly what I made side hustling using various sharing economy and gig economy apps.  I think there's a lot of value in working in different gig economy apps into your life, but for me, the biggest thing is that it gives me a good base to work from while I continue building this blog and working on earning a living as a writer and content creator. It always amazes me how much I'm able to bring in each month from doing all of these different gigs. With that background out of the way, let's take a look at what I earned this month from side hustling in the sharing and gig economy.   Side Hustle Income for August 2019 Airbnb: $905 Rover: $510 Postmates/DoorDash/Uber Eats/Amazon Flex/Grubhub: $432.07 Wag: $119.70 Bird/Lime: $764 Shipt/Instacart: $273.29 Selling Trash Finds/Flipping: $106.12 TaskRabbit: $68 Job Spotter: $21.53 Gigwalk/EasyShift/Field Agent/Observa/Merchandiser: $91 WeGoLook: $19 ProductTube: $10 VoxPopMe: $15 Google Opinion Rewards/1Q/Surveys On The Go: $21.56 Total Side Hustle Income for August 2019 = $3,356.27 August ended up being a pretty good month on ...

I recently did a presentation on the gig economy and it got me thinking about all of the different gig economy apps that are currently available. For years, I've been using gig economy apps to generate extra income - first, while holding a traditional and demanding 9-5 job, then as a side thing while I transitioned to self-employment. Over the years, I've regularly tracked this income in my monthly side hustle reports, the goal of which is to show people exactly what someone can make from side hustling using various gig economy apps.  For many people, these gig economy apps don't seem very valuable. But a side hustle is worth a lot more than you think, and small amounts, when given enough time, really do add up. Indeed, over the past four years, I've been able to make over $100,000 from all of my various gig economy side hustles. Interestingly, these are side hustles that pretty much anyone can do. And if saved and invested over the long-term, it can add up to even more. In fact, these side hustles can literally make you a millionaire (see The Reverse Latte Factor for more information about how this is possible). When you think ...

With June recently in the books, it's time to take a look back at what I was able to make side hustling over the past month. As regular readers know, each month I document exactly what I was able to make from side hustling using gig economy apps. My goal with these posts is to give you an idea of what is possible with the gig economy.  On the personal front, June was a crazy month, as I imagine every month has been for most of us. We have a pandemic continuing to rage here in the United States, which has isolated us as we've socially distanced from our family and friends. Right now, any interaction we do have is exclusively outdoors, which the research says is much less risky compared to indoor gatherings. It's been tough though, as our baby definitely is missing out on a lot of hugs and smooches he should be getting from his aunts and cousins. Adding to the craziness, my wife recently reopened her practice, which means she's back at work now while I'm at home with the baby. One of the advantages of this move towards self-employment is that my schedule is completely flexible, which ...

One of the unexpected benefits of side hustling is that it helps you gain a better understanding of how your taxes work. It's sometimes hard to understand what's happening with your income when you're only making money from your day job. Since your employer handles your taxes for you, all of the tax stuff just sort of happens in the background. In contrast, when you're side hustling and earning income on your own, you're the one that's responsible for understanding and paying your own taxes. It's not happening in the background - it's happening right in front of you. If you don't know what you're doing, you'll probably be surprised at just how expensive earning a side hustle income can be.  That's because side hustle income has a lot of inherent disadvantages when it comes to taxes. First, since it's money that you might otherwise not have earned, it's fair to say that any side hustle income you earn will be taxed at your highest marginal tax rate. If you're already a high-income professional, this can be problematic since it means you'll be paying a large portion of your side hustle income to federal and state governments. Second, in addition to paying federal ...

Anyone who owns a dog knows that dogs cost money. Food, vet bills, random accidents - these little things all add up. Dogs also cost you time. You have to feed them, take them for walks, and all the other tasks that come along with dog ownership. It's pretty crazy how much a dog can change your schedule. About a year ago, I started up a side hustle petsitting business on two sharing economy platforms: DogVacay and Rover. I thought I'd share some thoughts on how dog owners, like myself, can use their dog to actually help them make money. I'm a firm believer in finding side hustles that incorporate tasks that I’m already doing, and one thing Ms. Panther and I had definitely been doing for the past five years was taking care of our dog. Surely there was...

Last November, our furnace went out. It wasn't a good time for that to happen. The weather had just started to get cold and my sister-in-law was staying at our house for the month with her newborn baby and a 3-year-old child. Needless to say, not having heat for even a day wasn't very convenient for us. With temperatures low enough where we could see our breaths, we ended up having to call an emergency repair person to come fix the furnace. Just to have the guy come to our house cost us $200 (furnace repair places must make a killing in those first weeks of winter). After examining our furnace, the guy told us that the furnace could be repaired later that week. All he needed to do was to rush order some parts and he could come back in a day or two to begin the repair. He estimated that the cost of the parts and repairs would be a few hundred bucks. When it was all said and done, we got our heat working. But, it wasn't cheap. For many people, a situation like this could be problematic. There are tons of studies out there that show that most people ...

As regular readers know, for the past four years, I've been documenting exactly what I've made from side hustling using various sharing economy and gig economy apps. It's a strange time to be writing about side hustles when you consider what's happening all around us, but given the current state of the world, I feel like these side hustle reports have a lot of value - perhaps more than usual. That's because the side hustles that I do are the type of side hustles that most people think of as low-level work - things done by people that are less educated or that have fewer skills, often the forgotten working class among us. But now it seems like a lot of people are depending on these same workers to keep their lives running. It's pretty eye-opening I think to see just how businesses cannot run without the "low-level" workers out there doing the work that a lot of people think are beneath them. Which brings me to the value of this month's side hustle report. The pandemic broke out towards the beginning of the month and really hit full force throughout the nation around mid-March. For most of the month, even with everything ...

It's time for another side hustle report. For new readers, every month, I like to document what I earned from side hustling using sharing economy websites. I hope that these reports can help show you the type of money you can make using some of the skills and assets you already own. Use the money you earn from side hustling to pay off debt, super charge your savings, or buy yourself something you want. The key to these sides hustles are basically three-fold: (1) I find them fun to do, (2) these side hustles generally incorporate tasks that I'm already doing; and (3) I find that I derive a benefit from them beyond just making money.

Here at Financial Panther, we're all about looking for weird money making opportunities. And if we can make a little bit of extra money while doing something we're already doing, all the better! That's why when I received the below email from Postmates, I immediately started figuring what I could do to snag that referral bonus. As some of you already know, I'm a big fan of on-demand delivery services. I've written in a previous post about how I get paid to bike around town in my spare time using Postmates...

Most people that I talk to about Airbnb agree that it's a cool concept. Now that Airbnb has become pretty mainstream, my guess is that most of you have used it before or at least know someone who has. At this point, I think it's probably more surprising to find someone who doesn't know what Airbnb is. Even though there are a ton of people using Airbnb on the guest side, the majority of people I talk to are understandably hesitant about actually hosting guests on Airbnb. I definitely understand the concerns - they're ones I still think about as an Airbnb host. My biggest fears are having someone steal from me or otherwise mess up my house. Luckily, nothing like that has happened to me yet. Even though I know that most people won't sign up to be an Airbnb host, I still always try to convince people to at least give Airbnb hosting a shot. My rationale is that you don't need to do it all that time. Instead, you can just try it out a few times and see what it's like. If it's too weird for you, you can just ...

It's a new month (and a new year too) which means that it's time for another side hustle report! For new readers who have found this blog, I just want to welcome you and thank you for stopping by my little corner of the web. As for what's going on here, each month I document exactly what I earned from side hustling using various sharing economy and gig economy apps and platforms. My purpose in documenting this income is two-fold: I want to show you exactly how much someone can earn on the side. Remember, I do all of the stuff I write about here while also holding down a full-time, 9-5 day job, as well as working on this blog. I want to give you ideas and inspire those of you who are looking to make a little extra income. If I can do this, I know you can too. I think what's particularly useful about these side hustle reports are that they consist of stuff that most people can do. You don't have to spend a lot of time or money to get started earning extra money on your own time - most of the things I do are just a simple matter of ...

One of the things I've done over the years is pick up a ton of different side hustles - side hustles that are, to be frank, probably "beneath" someone with my level of pedigree and prestige. After all, I went to a top law school and worked at one of the largest law firms in the country. Despite this background, in my spare time, I dogsit and walk dogs, work as a bike messenger, charge electric scooters, rent out a room in my house on Airbnb, and do all sorts of other stuff in the sharing and gig economy that people like me just aren't "supposed" to do.  For years, I've been convinced that the gig economy is something that a lot of people should take advantage of. For one thing, it works out perfectly for many young professionals. We tend to live and work in dense neighborhoods in major cities. That means the gig economy is all around us, just ready to be tapped. And since this world is so flexible, it's not that hard to fit many of these gigs into the spare moments in our lives. When used strategically, it's possible to basically use the gig economy to ...

A few years ago, Mr. Money Mustache wrote a blog post about his experience driving for Uber that really caught my attention. Regular readers of this blog know that I've been working in the gig economy for years in what I think is the most efficient and optimal way possible - mainly by using my bike to do all of my gigs and monetizing my life by fitting these gigs into my day-to-day activity. The gig economy has had a big impact on my life, so needless to say, I was eager to see what the king of efficiency and optimization had to say about his gig economy experience. As can be expected, MMM looked at Uber from a Mustachian perspective - namely, with a real understanding of how much cars cost to operate, as well as how frustrating and ridiculous cars can be when used in certain situations. In what should come as no surprise, MMM found that driving for Uber wasn't all that great, as it came with all of the problems you'd expect with driving around a city in your car. For example: Slogging through dense traffic and throngs of pedestrians in busy areas at a speed that is ...

Welcome to another edition of the Financial Panther side hustle report! I've now been tracking my side hustle income since 2016, and it's just incredible to me how I've been able to earn significant income outside of my day job, all by utilizing the sharing and gig economy. Today's post marks the final side hustle report for 2018. I've written in the past about why I write these side hustle reports, but as a refresher, I write these side hustle reports for two reasons:  To show you exactly what someone can make side hustling while also working a full-time job; and To inspire you and give you ideas so that you can do the same thing.  Anyway, without further ado, here is a breakdown of my side hustle earnings in December 2018:  Side Hustle Income for December 2018 Airbnb:  $568.42 Rover: $127.50 Postmates/DoorDash/Uber Eats/Amazon Flex: $232.44 Wag: $234.60 Bird/Lime: $52 Selling Trash Finds: $107.50 Flipping: $70 Job Spotter: $16.82 Market Force: $15 (plus $23.64 of free food) Gigwalk/EasyShift/Field Agent/Merchandiser: $3 WeGoLook: $57 ProductTube: $5 Google Opinion Rewards/Dabbl/1Q: $4.55 Total Side Hustle Income for December 2018 = $1,493.83 December turned out to be a surprisingly good month for side hustling, bringing in close to $1,500 of extra income. What made December an interesting month is that my wife and I travel hacked our way to Paris for ...

This past October turned out to be another great side hustle month thanks to some strong showings from Airbnb and my new side hustle obsession, Bird and Lime. It's nice to have a strong month at this point in the season since we're now going full speed into winter, where my side hustle earnings typically take a dip (a lot of my side hustles require me to be outside, and even as hardy as I am, I really don't have a lot of fun being outside for extended periods of time in freezing cold temps).  If you're new here, allow me to take a few minutes of your time to explain what these side hustle reports are all about. For the last two years, I've been tracking every dollar I make doing various side hustles using sharing economy and gig economy apps. I have two main goals with these reports:  To show you exactly what someone can make side hustling while also working full-time; and To inspire you and give you ideas so that you can do the same thing. These are side hustles that pretty much anyone can do and, more importantly, that most people can do without taking up a lot of their ...

Welcome to the July 2018 Side Hustle Report. As you can obviously tell, this post is coming out very late (my bad). What this does mean is that today's post will be followed up pretty soon by the August side hustle report, so you'll get a double dose of side hustle numbers in the next few days/weeks.  For those of you that are new here, let me explain what this post is about. Each month, I document exactly what I earned side hustling using sharing economy and gig economy apps. I do this for two reasons:  To show you exactly what someone can make doing these side hustles while also working a full-time job; and To inspire you and give you ideas so that you can do the same thing if you want to. I seem to be getting more interest in these reports and whenever I talk about this stuff, people always tell me they can see my enthusiasm. It's because I really do believe that sharing economy and gig economy apps are something that most people can use to earn extra income without taking up a ton of their time (and it can be really fun). If you're making a ton of ...

For over a year now, I've been tracking what I've been earning each month from side hustling using sharing economy apps.  I never really tracked what I was earning before starting this blog - I just knew that I had some extra money coming in. Tracking this income has really opened my eyes up to what's possible.  And my hope is that these reports have helped to show people that anyone can make an extra $500 or $1,000 per month without a ton of extra work. Believe me, as a lawyer and blogger, I'm not sitting on a bunch of free time or something. The thing that stops a lot of people from making extra money is that they let fear or laziness stop them. Starting up a side hustle can be risky. It takes time and costs money. Time and money are what stops most people from trying out ways to make extra money on the side. The nice thing is that with these sharing economy apps, anyone can get started without spending very much time or money at all.  It's just a matter of going out there and doing it! I primarily earn my side hustle income through four avenues: Renting ...

It's moving season in my neighborhood and, as a result, the streets are getting filled with trash as the college kids in my neighborhood move out. For someone like me, it's like Christmas. There's more trash out there than I can even realistically grab. If you're a new reader, you're probably wondering what the heck I'm talking about. As a bit of recap, for the past few years, I've been grabbing furniture and other junk that people throw out and reselling it.  It's pretty crazy how much stuff is just sitting out there waiting to be sold. Over the past year, I've documented exactly how much I've made selling these unwanted treasures in my monthly Side Hustle Reports. In some months, I make just a few bucks from trash.  In other months, I can sometimes make hundreds for just a small amount of work. Remember, this is money I make from stuff I literally find in the street while I'm out and about. I've made it a goal to earn $1,000 per year from selling trash finds and for 2017, I've already surpassed that mark.  Back in 2015, I made over $1,000 just selling stuff I found in the dumpster of my ...

November's side hustle report is coming out much, much later than usual (my bad), but it's here! I didn't forget about it! As you can imagine, it's been a busy month with the holidays coming around. The other day, I finally got around to getting all these numbers from November together. For those of you that are new here, every month, I document exactly what I earned from side hustling using sharing economy apps and websites. There are two main reasons I share these side hustle reports: I want to show you exactly how much a regular person can earn in the sharing economy/gig economy while also holding down a full-time job, and I want to give you the inspiration to go out there and earn some extra money. The key thing to remember here is that I do all of this while also holding a full-time job and doing this whole blog thing. It doesn't leave me with a ton of free time on my hands - and yet, I can still do this. It's not necessarily a ton of money, but it's something that I think can help anyone looking to make more money. What I also know is that if I can ...

Welcome to another month of the Financial Panther Side Hustle Report. These posts detail all of the income I earned from side hustling using sharing economy and gig economy apps.  It's been a busy few weeks at work lately, which hasn't helped me on the blogging and side hustle front, but I'm still making an effort to share all of the income I earned from side hustling in January.  Let's see how I did.    Side Hustle Income for January 2019 Airbnb:  $575.24 Rover: $277.95 Postmates/DoorDash/Uber Eats/Amazon Flex: $174.79 Wag: $135.20 Selling Trash Finds/Flipping: $61.05 Job Spotter: $9.19 Gigwalk/EasyShift/Field Agent/Merchandiser: $11 WeGoLook: $114 ProductTube: $10 Google Opinion Rewards/Dabbl/1Q: $3.29 Qualtrics: $10 Total Side Hustle Income for January 2019 = $1,381.71 The beginning of the year is always slower for me on the side hustle front simply because of the nature of most of my side hustles - a lot of my side hustles rely on people traveling, which tends to decrease in the early part of the year (it's cold, people are just getting back to work after the holidays, etc). Despite the fact that January was pretty slow, I still managed to bring in over $1,300 from side hustling during the month. That's not bad at all, and it brings some comfort to know that, no matter what happens, I probably can figure ...

Welcome to my April 2020 Side Hustle Report, where I break down all of the side hustle income I was able to generate in April 2020. Things have been pretty busy here in the Financial Panther household. My wife and I had a baby boy at the beginning of March, so we're still getting used to this new role we have as parents to a human baby. We've been pretty lucky so far. He started sleeping through the night very early, which means that both my wife and I have been able to get full chunks of uninterrupted sleep over the past month. We have no idea if this will continue, but we're counting our blessings! (due to my obsessive nature, I've also been reading a lot of sleep training books, so maybe that has helped us with the sleep thing as well) April was also the first full pandemic side hustling month for me. And with everything going on, it's an excellent example of just how important it can be to have diversified streams of income. Many of my side hustles are on a complete pause. Others though have seen huge increases. I'll explain more about what's happening in today's post.  Side ...

Hello everyone and welcome back to another Financial Panther side hustle report. In today's post, we'll be taking a look at what I was able to earn from side hustling in the gig economy in May of 2020.  As was the case in March and April, many of my side hustles continue to be dramatically impacted by the pandemic, but other side hustles - mainly my delivery side hustles - have been able to pick up the slack.  Let's take a look at what I made in May 2020: Side Hustle Income for May 2020 Airbnb: $0 Rover: $0 Postmates/DoorDash/Uber Eats/Grubhub/Amazon Flex: $1,772.87 Wag: $0 Shipt/Instacart: $32.50 Selling Trash Finds/Flipping: $47.10 Roadie: $28.74 ProductTube: $20 Google Opinion Rewards/Surveys On The Go/1Q/Facebook Viewpoints: $32.82 Random Survey: $5 Total Side Hustle Income for May 2020 = $1,939.03 Similar to April, in May, almost all of my side hustle income came from doing food deliveries. I think it's pretty remarkable just how profitable the food delivery game has been for me. It's at a point where there's really no reason for me to do any other gig economy apps, at least not right now while the food deliveries are paying so well.  One thing is that my side hustle income is definitely less diversified than it was before. In ...

Welcome to this month's side hustle report!  It's been a busy summer for me, and unfortunately, it's led to me not posting as often as I'd like.  My bad.  But, there are some big changes going on with my professional life that I'm hoping will help me get back on track.  Can't wait to share it with you when I get the chance!  For now, though, let's get right to it with this month's side hustle report. For those of you that are new to this, each month, I document exactly what I made side hustling using the sharing economy.  The nice thing about sharing economy side hustles is that they're low risk and easy to do.  You can start making money immediately and most of the time, you don't even have to spend any money upfront in order to get started.  You can't say that with pretty much any other business.

Today's post is from my friend Erik, who runs the blog The Mastermind Within, where he writes about personal finance, self-improvement, and entrepreneurship. Erik and I have been friends for a few years now, and we actually meet up pretty regularly to bounce ideas off each other and figure out our plans to grow our businesses and live life a little differently. What I really admire about Erik is how hardworking he is - the man knows how to hustle! In this guest post, Erik goes over how he's made nearly $60,000 of extra income over the past few years and gives you ideas on how you can use your skills to do the same. There's some good information in this post, so it's worth reading. Take it away Erik!  How would your life change if you could increase your income by $10,000 a year through side hustles? Making an extra $10,000 a year through side hustling could make a significant impact on your finances. You could pay down debt, go on an extra vacation or two, or save more for retirement. One way I’ve gotten to $10,000 in extra side income is by using my existing knowledge and skills to create value ...

It's time to hit you up with another edition of the Financial Panther side hustle report! It's hard to believe it, but it's now been over 2 months since I quit my job to try my hand at making a living as a blogger and sharing economy/gig economy worker. After years of being pretty unhappy professionally, for the first time in a long time, I actually look forward to working the next day! As a quick recap, last month, I revealed that after 5 years of working as an attorney, I finally worked up the courage to quit my job and take a chance on becoming a full-time blogger. I debated whether to continue to call these posts side hustle reports since eventually, I'll likely need to start digging into the income I earn from these different gigs (at the moment, I have a pretty solid runway simply from cash savings I put aside before making this leap to self-employment).  Still, I'm doing most of these gigs during my lunch and evening hours, so for the most part, my schedule hasn't changed too much, and hence, why I'm still calling it a side hustle report (and why I think it's still something ...

Thanks for tuning in to another Financial Panther Side Hustle Report. Over the past three years, I've tracked exactly what I've made from side hustling using various sharing economy and gig economy apps. Each month, I share those numbers with you. Today I'll be sharing my September 2019 side hustling numbers. Below is a breakdown of what I earned from each app:  Side Hustle Income for September 2019 Airbnb: $780 Rover: $170 Postmates/DoorDash/Uber Eats/Amazon Flex/Grubhub: $452.92 Wag: $72.70 Bird/Lime: $1,102.66 Shipt/Instacart: $110.32 Selling Trash Finds/Flipping: $28.04 Job Spotter: $31.75 WeGoLook: $16 Google Opinion Rewards/1Q/Surveys On The Go: $4.42 Lawn Mowing (via NextDoor): $20 User Interviews: $10 Secret Shopping: $8 Total Side Hustle Income for September 2019 = $2,806.81 September was a down month compared to previous months, but still very good when you consider that I spent an entire week in DC attending FinCon. I did make a few bucks side hustling in DC during the week, but most of my time was spent hanging out with people and doing FinCon things. Other than attending FinCon, September was a pretty normal month for me. I did a little work. Watched some dogs. Biked and scootered around places. But otherwise, nothing too crazy.  The breakdown of my income for the month is pretty interesting. Airbnb did pretty well, but it ...

Welcome back to another edition of the Financial Panther Side Hustle Report. Today we'll be taking a look at what I was able to make from the gig economy in July 2020.  As a recap, over the past four years, I've tracked all of the side hustle income that I've made via gig economy and sharing economy apps. Each month, I share exactly what I made from each app and go into detail about how I made my money and the strategies that I've been using. It's hard to believe it, but I've been able to make over $100,000 over the past four years, just by taking advantage of all of these different apps. That's pretty amazing to me, especially when you consider that when I started side hustling, I was also working a very demanding, full-time job as a lawyer. Below is a breakdown of my earnings with each app in July 2020. As a side note, if you want to see a list of all of these different apps in one place, I wrote a really long post last month titled: The Ultimate List of Gig Economy Apps. Be sure to check that post out if you want to get some ...

Welcome to this month's edition of the side hustle report. If you're new, each month I document exactly what I earned doing various side hustles using sharing economy and gig economy apps. I think there's a lot of value in showing exactly what you can make with these types of apps. They're super flexible and cost pretty much nothing in upfront costs. There aren't a lot of businesses that allow you to make money pretty much overnight, whenever you want. When it comes to side hustling, I have four main sources of income:

After a few bad months, I'm doing my best to get the May side hustle report out in a timely manner (instead of at the end of the month, as has so often been the case). So, welcome to the May 2018 side hustle report!  If you're new here, let me break down what these side hustle reports are all about. Each month, I document exactly what I earned from side hustling using sharing economy and gig economy apps. I share these reports for two reasons:  To show exactly what someone can make doing these side hustles while also working a full-time job; and To inspire you and give you ideas so that you can do the same thing if you want to. The nice thing about writing these side hustle reports is that it gives me something to look back on. I've been doing these side hustles for years, and before starting this blog, I never really kept track of it. It still surprises me today what someone can make doing all of these little things on the side.  Anyway, with that said, let's see what I made in May from side hustling:   Side Hustle Income for May 2018 Airbnb:  $878.82 Rover: $106.25 Postmates/DoorDash/Uber Eats/Amazon Flex/ClusterTruck: $200.85 Wag: $241.80 Private Dog Walking Client: ...

One of the things I enjoy about the current state of the side hustling world is just how easy it is to fit various side hustles into your day-to-day life. We live in a really unique time in history where it's actually possible to piecemeal a few bucks here and there whenever you want. When you think about it, even just 10 years ago, things were vastly different. All of these gig economy and sharing economy apps didn't exist yet and if you wanted to make extra money, you basically had to find a part-time job or create your own side hustle. A part-time job meant that you had to work shifts with no flexibility or ability to incorporate whatever you were doing into your day-to-day life. And creating a side hustle often required capital and time to actually build it up so that it earned income. The big thing was that you couldn't just go out and make 5 or 10 bucks randomly when you felt like it. Contrast that with today's world, where I can literally turn on my phone, step out of my front door, and make 5 or 10 bucks with a few minutes of work using any ...

One of the mistakes a lot of people make when they first start side hustling is mixing their side hustle income and their day job income into their main checking account. Aside from the obvious administrative hassles that come with doing this, the biggest problem really has to do with the fact that your main checking account just really isn't designed to handle things beyond your typical paychecks. It bears repeating because I think a lot of people forget this, but the money you earn from your side hustle isn't the same thing as a paycheck. No matter what it is you're doing - even if it's just the simple gigs I do like dog walking and delivering food - you need to think of your side hustle earnings as business income. You can't just treat your side hustle income like it's a paycheck. Rather, your paycheck is ultimately what you decide to pay yourself after you've taken care of expenses and taxes. Because of how side hustle income works, it's important to create systems so that the money we earn from our side hustles can flow to the appropriate places. I tend to think of side hustle income as flowing into three ...

Recently, I finally got around to trying out a new side hustle, signing up to be a Shipt Shopper with the grocery delivery app Shipt. The gig is pretty straightforward - I shop for and deliver groceries to people that place orders using the Shipt app. With a decent number of Shipt deliveries under my belt, I thought it'd make sense for me to go over what my experience as a Shipt Shopper has been like, how I've made it work for me, and whether it's something that you could incorporate into your own life.  As a bit of background, Shipt is a grocery delivery service similar to Instacart. Customers order groceries using the app and independent contractors, called Shipt Shoppers, shop for these orders and deliver them to customers. Target purchased Shipt back in 2017, so it seems like most Shipt deliveries today come from Target. At the outset, I was definitely skeptical about signing up for Shipt due to my previous experiences in the grocery delivery space. I signed up to be an Instacart Shopper in 2015. However, I found that the way Instacart works didn't really work well for me and ended up quitting after doing just a few ...

Welcome to another edition of the Financial Panther side hustle report! In today's post, I'll be looking over my side hustle earnings from April 2018. If you're new to the site, each month, I document exactly what I earned from side hustling in the previous month. The vast majority of my side hustles are sharing economy/gig economy related, and most importantly, are things that I think anyone can do. If you're struggling to find ways to make extra income, hopefully, these side hustle reports can help give you ideas about things you can do to change that. It seems to be a trend that April tends to be a down month for me on the side hustle front. Last year, I had a good excuse - I was getting married and was way too busy with wedding stuff to be doing any side hustling (though I still managed to make about $400 on the side). This year, my excuse was that I was traveling pretty much every single weekend in April. My wife and I flew to Atlanta to visit a friend, Chicago for our anniversary weekend, and DC to visit family. With all of these weekend trips, it was hard to find ...

It's been a busy month of work, meetings, and other stuff like that, but I still always have time to get some good side hustling in. Today's post shares what I made in June 2018. If you're a new reader, each month, I share exactly what I earned from side hustling using sharing economy and gig economy apps. I share these reports for two reasons:  To show you exactly what someone can make doing these side hustles while also working a full-time job; and To inspire you and give you ideas so that you can do the same thing if you want to. There are a lot of ways to make extra money out there. If you're smart, you can copy my style and try to do things that fit in well with your schedule. It's an idea I call monetizing your life, and almost anyone can do it! Just take the things you're already doing, and try to get paid for doing it. And, it can be fun too! With that said, here's a look at my side hustle income in June.   Side Hustle Income for June 2018 Airbnb:  $1,695.22 Rover: $127.50 Postmates/DoorDash/Uber Eats: $105.49  Wag: $117.60 Selling Trash Finds: $26.01 Job Spotter: $12.40 Gigwalk/EasyShift/Field Agent/Observa/Merchandiser: $36.90 + $4 = $40.90 ISecretShop: $40 Google Opinion Rewards/Dabbl/1Q: $2.31 + $0.75 ...

Whenever I bring up my various side hustles, I'll sometimes get criticisms that these gigs aren't worth doing since I have to pay taxes on that income. I was reminded of this in a recent guest post I wrote over on Money Wizard, where I talked about how I've made around $90,000 from side hustling over the past four years. On the one hand, I get the rationale behind this criticism. If I'm making $100 but have to pay a large portion of that income to taxes, then I'm not really making that much, which then begs the question of whether whatever I'm doing is worth my time. This is even more true with side hustle income, which arguably is taxed at your highest marginal tax rate since, in theory, you could have opted to not make that extra income at all. (One solution to this problem is to think about side hustling differently - it doesn't have to be just about the money.) That said, this idea that earning extra income isn't worth it because you have to pay taxes is sort of confusing to me. Making more money - especially if you can make more money doing something that you ...

There's a concept that I've been thinking about over the past couple of years, especially as I've made this transition from a full-time, professional, real job, to a quasi-fake job as a blogger and gig economy worker. It has to do with a concept you could call the relative value of money. When I think about what that means, it's basically the idea that money you earn from one activity might be worth more to you personally compared to the money you earn from another activity. In fact, it might be worth so much more to you that you'll opt to spend your days earning money in that manner even if it means you're making less money from an objective standpoint. This concept has really come into clearer focus to me over the past few years and I think it helps explain why I've made a lot of the work decisions I've made. One of the weird things I've done consistently over the past few years is doing pretty low-level side hustles using sharing economy and gig economy apps. From an objective standpoint, it really didn't make much sense for me to do all of this stuff. At the peak of my ...

One of the things that I think this pandemic has taught us is just how important it is to have a lot of backup plans. When times are good, many people have this assumption that the good times will never come to an end, and as a result, they don't prepare for any contingencies, instead, riding the one plan they have or relying on that one income source or assuming that nothing can go wrong with whatever it is they're doing. I believe that the future is bright, but I always have my Plan Bs, Cs, and Ds too. The area of my life where I have a lot of contingency plans in place is with my income. Over the years, I've continued to add different sources of income to my life, to the point where, in any given month, I have income coming in from 10 or more different sources. The benefit of this approach is that I'm generally not dependent on any single thing to make ends meet. And when one income source sees a decline, another income source might be able to cover the difference. Nowhere is the benefit of this diversification more apparent than in the current demand ...

Hello and welcome to another edition of the Financial Panther Side Hustle Report. Each month, I document exactly what I made from side hustling using sharing economy and gig economy apps. In today's report, I'll be recapping what I made from the gig economy in August 2020. Here's the breakdown of my side hustle earnings for each last month: Side Hustle Income for August 2020 Rover: $0 Postmates/DoorDash/Uber Eats/Grubhub: $2,148.67 Wag: $0 Shipt/Instacart: $0 Lime/Bird: $0 Selling Trash Finds/Flipping: $95.98 WeGoLook: $47 ProductTube: $35  Gigwalk/EasyShift/Field Agent/Merchandiser: $19 Google Opinion Rewards/Surveys On The Go/1Q/Facebook Viewpoints: $27.03 Secret Shopping: $75 Total Side Hustle Income for August 2020 = $2,447.68 August was a bit of a down month for my gig economy/side hustle income, primarily because I took two weeks off at the end of the month to visit my parents. My wife and I were originally scheduled to fly to Greece for a friend's wedding during that stretch, but that trip was obviously canceled due to the pandemic. Still, since we had two weeks already blocked off, we decided to take that opportunity to drive home to visit my parents. Our son was born a week before the pandemic broke out, so, unfortunately, my parents have only been able to see their only grandchild via Facetime. We're not ...

We're heading towards Thanksgiving, so it's time for me to provide a recap of what I earned from side hustling in the sharing and gig economy in October 2019. As a quick recap, each month, I document exactly what I made from various sharing economy and gig economy apps. Before I quit my job to do this blog full-time, these reports served more as side hustle reports, showing readers what a regular person could make by fitting these various apps into their day-to-day life. Today, I have a lot more flexibility with when and where I work, which has made it much easier for me to bring in extra income via these different apps. I still call these posts my side hustle reports because that's how I treat these gigs. The nice thing about these gigs is that they provide me a sort of income floor while I continue to pursue this whole full-time blogger thing. With that introduction out of the way, let's take a look at what I made from the sharing and gig economy in October 2019. Below is a breakdown of my earnings for the month.  Side Hustle Income for October 2019 Airbnb: $1,477 Rover: $164.05 Postmates/DoorDash/Uber Eats/Amazon Flex/Grubhub: $211.75 Wag: $29.40 Bird/Lime: $858.58 Shipt/Instacart: $81.95 Selling ...

When I first started figuring out my side hustle strategy years ago, I found that the gig economy and sharing economy worked best for me. What made it work so well was the flexibility that came with these gigs. I was working a full-time, demanding job at the time, so my ability to side hustle was fairly limited. The gig economy worked well because I could turn on the apps whenever I wanted and pick up a random gig whenever it made sense for me. In the history of work up to that point, there really wasn't a way to work like this, so I took advantage of it. The criticism that gig economy work often gets is that it's low-value work that can't really scale. I can't say that this statement is entirely wrong because it's true, the nature of gig economy work means that you have a natural cap as to what you can earn. You only have so many hours in a day and doing any of these gigs takes time. As many would point out, when you do gig work, you're trading time for money. And yet, this isn't exactly true either. When you think about it, doing ...

One feature I thought I'd put on this blog is a monthly Side Hustle Report to track my side hustle income. What I love most about side hustling is how easy it is to develop a side hustle today. Back in the old days, you really needed a specific skill, maybe needed to develop a website, and definitely needed a way to reach customers. That's all changed with the new sharing economy platforms that have sprung up in the past few years - think Airbnb, Uber, Postmates, etc. For anyone looking to make a couple extra bucks a month I always recommend getting involved in these sharing economy platforms.

It's time for another edition of the Financial Panther Side Hustle Report! In today's post, I share exactly how I earned extra income from side hustling in November 2018. The goal of these side hustle reports is two-fold: To show you exactly what someone can make side hustling while also working a full-time job; and To inspire you and give you ideas so that you can do the same thing.  Regular readers of this blog know that I'm a big believer in using the sharing and gig economy to generate extra income. I think the legitimacy of these side hustles as a builder of wealth gets underappreciated because the amount you earn from each side hustle doesn't necessarily seem all that big, not to mention that earning money by doing food deliveries, walking dogs, or charging scooters doesn't really seem all that challenging. But there's a lot more to the sharing economy and gig economy than most people think, and I truly think it can be a real and viable strategy to push yourself closer to financial independence as long as you're strategic about how you do these different gigs. The impact of these side hustles is bigger than you think. Indeed, over the past couple ...

Welcome back to another edition of the Financial Panther Side Hustle Report. Each month, I document exactly what I made using different sharing economy and gig economy apps. I started documenting all of these different side hustles back in 2016 (over three years ago) and it's amazing to me that I've been able to keep doing this for so long. My hope is that by sharing this information with you, you'll be able to gain a better understanding as to what you can make doing these gigs and hopefully get some ideas about how you can incorporate some of these side hustles into your day-to-day life.  Since I quit my job back in March, all of my monthly income has come from two things - the money I earn from these various side hustles and the income I generate via this blog. I don't share my blog income, mainly because I feel like blogging is very different compared to the type of stuff I write about in these reports. Blogging also feels much less relatable compared to these gig economy side hustles, which I think almost anyone can do.  What I can say is that when I combine my blog income with ...

Welcome to the first side hustle report of the new decade! In today's post, we'll be taking a look at what I earned from side hustling in January 2020. To give you a bit of context on what these side hustle reports are about, last year I took a big leap and quit my job to pursue this blog full-time. I've gone through a bit of a career crisis over the past few years which ended up with me finding myself pretty unhappy professionally (think living for the weekend and dreading Mondays). After spending 5 years practicing law in three different settings (biglaw, govt, and non-profit), it became clear to me that it was time for me to move on and work on things that I found more fulfilling. The way I see it, work is just too important and takes up too much time to spend most of that time being unhappy and unfulfilled. So, for the past year, my full-time job has been this blog, where I'm able to make a humble living from the ads and affiliate revenue that I generate. In addition to this blog, I also do my best to bring in extra income through a variety of ...

With everything that's been going on in the world, being able to generate income on your own terms is probably more important now than ever. Over the past few years, that's pretty much been my goal - generate income in whatever manner I can using nothing but my own wits. I do that via this blog. And I do that via all of the gig economy side hustles that I've incorporated into my day-to-day life. A few months ago, however, I saw my side hustle income take a steep dive due to the current worldwide crisis. In the past, I've regularly made between $1,000 and $3,000 per month with all of my various side hustles, with the bulk of that coming from fairly passive side hustle sources such as Airbnb. The pandemic changed things quite a bit. Airbnb income dropped to zero since I stopped hosting. Rover and Wag also dropped to zero since people were working from home and weren't traveling.  Luckily, because I have so many different side hustles, I have a sort of natural diversification with my side hustle income sources and as a result of changing demands, some of my other gigs were able to pick up the ...

Hello folks! Just wanted to recap my July side hustle report. This is an ongoing series that I plan to do each month to document my side hustle earnings through the sharing economy. As detailed in my first side hustle report from June 2016, I have several side hustles that I perform using sharing economy websites. These side hustles are great because they are super flexible, yet can still bring in a significant income. I recommend saving that side hustle money and using it to turbocharge your savings.

One of the best ways to guard against a potential job loss is to create an emergency fund. But perhaps an even better thing you can do is to set things up so that if something does happen to your job, you have other jobs still waiting for you. That way, no matter what happens, your income generating power can never be taken away. To do this, I recommend creating what I call a "side hustle emergency fund." A side hustle emergency fund consists of all the income generating things you can do outside of your full-time job. If something happens to your day job, rather than having to live on your cash savings, you'll be able to fall back of your side hustles and continue to create an income to cover some or all of your expenses. What's important is that you've spent time doing them, to the point where you can generate income with your side hustles anytime you want - no ramp-up period needed.  I've got a pretty good side hustle emergency fund that has taken me years to build up. It includes hundreds of reviews on Airbnb, dozens of reviews on Rover, over a hundred reviews on Wag ...

One thing that I think a lot of people want to do is to be able to make money while traveling. Doing this is something that has generally been in the domain of the digital nomad types, typically young people who work online and are able to do their work from anywhere. For the rest of us, the ability to make money while traveling has always been a sort of pipe dream, something that you can't really do without creating some flourishing online business. Interestingly enough, however, I've found that it actually is possible for most people to make money while traveling - and it doesn't require you to start a travel blog, either. That isn't to say you'll make tons of money in a large scale way, but for sure most people can do things to earn a little bit of money to at least subsidize some of their travel costs. Indeed, over the past few years, that's exactly what I've done. The strategy I've used to earn money while traveling is to take advantage of the flexibility that comes with the sharing economy and gig economy. If used strategically, it's possible to use these apps to travel, explore new places ...

Welcome to the last side hustle report for 2019! In today's report, I'll be sharing what I made from side hustling using various sharing economy and gig economy apps in December 2019.  As a quick recap, over the past four years, I've tracked all of the side hustle income I've made from using these different apps. Each month, I compile them into these detailed side hustle reports. My hope is that these posts give you some ideas about things you can do to earn extra income on your own time. With that background out of the way, let's take a look at what I made from the sharing economy and gig economy last month. Below is a breakdown of my earnings for the month: Side Hustle Income for December 2019 Airbnb: $430 Rover: $324.70 Postmates/DoorDash/Uber Eats/Amazon Flex/Grubhub: $271.21 Wag: $23.80 Bird/Lime: $0 Shipt/Instacart: $116.23 Selling Trash Finds/Flipping: $76.55 Job Spotter: $3.83 Gigwalk/EasyShift/Field Agent/Merchandiser: $3.90 ProductTube: $145 Google Opinion Rewards/1Q/Surveys On The Go: $21.28 User Interviews: $125 Secret Shopping: $570 of free food Total Side Hustle Income for December 2019 = $1,541.50 December was a down month compared to my other months, although honestly, I think making between $1,000 and $2,000 per month is more sustainable and realistic over the long-term.  Winter is always a tougher time for me. My ...

Hello readers and welcome to another edition of the Financial Panther side hustle report! In today's post, we'll be taking a look at what I was able to earn from side hustling in February 2020.  As regular readers know, each month I document exactly what I earned from side hustling using various sharing economy and gig economy apps. I've been tracking this data since 2016 and over the past four years, I've managed to bring in a significant amount from my various side hustles - over $90,000 doing dozens of different side hustles over the years.  My side hustle life has changed a lot ever since I quit my job last year to go all-in on this blog. My schedule is a lot more flexible these days, which makes it much easier for me to fit these gigs around my day-to-day life. The nice thing about having all of these different side hustles is that it gives me a sort of income floor while I continue to work on building up my online income.  Now, let's take a look at my different side hustle income streams in February:  Side Hustle Income for February 2020 Airbnb: $0 Rover: $97.75 Postmates/DoorDash/Uber Eats/Amazon Flex/Grubhub: $595.96 Wag: $11.20 Shipt/Instacart: $395.08  Selling Trash Finds/Flipping: $8.70 Job ...

The past few months have been a bit of a whirlwind of travel for me. During this stretch, I visited some friends in New York and San Francisco, did some hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park, stayed at the Waldorf Astoria while my wife and I were in Chicago for a conference, and relaxed at a $2,000 per night all-inclusive resort and spa in Arizona over the holiday weekend. And of course, all of this travel was paid for with points and miles. Even more interesting might be the fact that, even as I was traveling, my house continued to generate income for me - essentially making it seem as if I was getting "paid" to vacation. Regular readers know that for the past four years, my wife and I have house hacked by renting out a spare room in our house on Airbnb, allowing what would otherwise be an empty room in our house to generate pretty significant income for us (on average, around $10,000 or so per year). My other recent house hacking strategy has been to rent out our entire house on Airbnb when we're traveling. The way I see it, if our house is going to be ...

One of the books that I think everyone should read is The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. It's a book that's about much more than it seems - far more, anyway, than just a book about how to tidy and clean your house. Those of us who consume content about financial independence and early retirement are, I think, on a mission to change how we move through the world. I know that I first stumbled onto the financial independence community because I felt that something I was doing just didn't feel right. For me, life felt like it was on auto-pilot. I was doing all of the things I thought I was supposed to be doing without really thinking about whether the path I was on was right for me.  Too many of us do things without thinking about why we do it. There's a lot of value, I think, in challenging your default settings and assumptions. Marie Kondo's book, in my opinion, does exactly that. It takes something that seems pretty simple - cleaning and organizing your house - and challenges you to think differently, flipping everything that you think about cleaning and organizing on its head. I've been in ...