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 $1,110 came from 8 different income sources – again showing the importance of having multiple streams of income when you’re trying to earn money on the side like this.
Here’s a detailed breakdown of how I earned my January side hustle income.
Airbnb Income: $668
January was a surprisingly busy month for Airbnb given that it’s the middle of winter here in Minnesota and we pretty much didn’t see any temperatures above freezing for the whole month. As a point of comparison, last winter, our Airbnb listing made $395 during January, so it’s interesting to see this number increase by so much. My guess is that its because I have a lot of reviews now. After 2 years of hosting, we’re sitting on 80+ reviews for our listing.
The guests we had for the month were pretty standard – almost all of them were grad students in town for interviews at the school (med, pharmacy, theater, and music). It’s one of the nice things about living near a large college campus. I find that professional students are pretty much the best guests you can get. They’re super low-impact, don’t need you to hold their hand, and most importantly, are rarely in your house.
In terms of specifics, we hosted a total of 6 different guests for a total of 16 nights. That’s not a huge daily rate by any means – only $41 per night – but considering that we don’t really have to do anything besides sweep up and change the sheets in the guest room, it’s still worthwhile. This spare room, even in the heart of winter, can cover more than half of our mortgage.
Rover Income: $229.50
Our Rover income for January is actually a carry-over from a guest pup that stayed with us over Christmas. For ease of accounting, I count my Rover income as income in the month that I’m actually paid for it, which is typically a day or two after the stay ends. As a result, sometimes I’ll host a pup from a previous month that ends up in the next month’s income report.
I’ve been on a good streak with pups lately, as this pup we hosted over Christmas was a winner. I sort of knew that immediately during the meet and greet – the pup was well behaved, didn’t get super excited, and the owner seemed like he knew what he was doing. It was also an older pup, which is always good as well. The nice thing about hosting pups on Rover is that, during holidays like this, my niece gets another pup to play with. She loves it.
Postmates/DoorDash/Uber Eats Income: $30.31
Not much to see here for January. Since I do deliveries on my bike, weather plays a big factor in whether I actually get out there and do deliveries. And it’s been COLD around these parts. In fact, for the month, I only ended up doing three deliveries – one of which I walked to the customer while I was out walking my dog with my wife.
Doing deliveries on Postmates, DoorDash, and Uber Eats is still my favorite side hustle because it lets me combine two things I like – earning extra money and biking. February looks like it’ll be a warmer month (or at least it seems like warmer weather is on the way), so I’ll hopefully be out doing more deliveries in February. Until then, at least I brought in a couple of bucks from deliveries.
Related: My Postmates Side Hustle: How I Get Paid To Bike Around Town
Trash Income: $35
Admittedly, I haven’t been putting much effort into finding or selling trash finds lately, and in January, I only ended up selling two things. One of the things I sold was two chairs that I found in the alley by my house. They seemed to be in good condition, so I ended up listing them for $5 and had the chairs sold within an hour. Most people don’t realize that random things like this can be sold really quickly without a lot of effort. Sure, $5 isn’t a lot, but it pretty much only took me a few minutes and someone who actually needed the chairs got them for basically nothing.
The only other thing I sold this month was a desk that my wife and I actually found a few years ago and have been using as a desk in our house. We recently decided to do a little overhaul of some stuff, so this trash find ended up getting listed. This desk sold for $30, which I think was fine – I had it listed up for as much as $50 last year, but didn’t seem to get any bites until I lowered it down to $30.
Related: Making Over $1000 Selling Trash Finds Found In One Dumpster
Wag Income: $148
Wag continues to surprise me with how much I can earn with it in my spare time. It’s definitely a time-for-money type gig since you’re signing up for 20 or 30-minute walks, but it can be useful if you’re using it like I do. I pretty much just walk dogs during my lunch break – essentially getting paid to get outside and stretch at lunch.
My favorite pup is definitely this one:
There’s also a lazy college student that lives a block away from me that keeps requesting walks, so every once in a while, I’m able to snag a walk from this college kid when I get back home from work. It’s funny because this college kid is literally sitting at home when I arrive, and he’s got his dog all leashed up and ready to go when I arrive, but instead of walking his dog himself, he’s paying someone to do it for him. Oh well. I might as well take advantage of that fact.
TaskRabbit Income: $21.25
TaskRabbit gigs don’t come very often for me (honestly, it doesn’t seem very big here in the Twin Cities), but every once in a while, if I get something I think I can do, I go and do it just to see what it’s like. In January, someone asked me to shovel their sidewalk. It took me about 15-20 minutes to complete, but I still got to bill for an entire hour, since TaskRabbit seems to requires a minimum of 1-hour of billed time. It was a pretty easy 21 bucks. I thought for sure there would be more shoveling gigs, but seems like they’re not as common as I thought.
JobSpotter Income: $13.56
Same as usual on the Job Spotter front. I say this every month, but this is an app everyone should be using. Be sure to read my in-depth review of Job Spotter if you’re looking for more information about how this app works. Really, the only downside is that JobSpotter pays you in Amazon gift cards, which I don’t think is a big deal for most people anyway. Amazon gift cards are pretty much cash equivalents for most people, and at a minimum, even if you never use Amazon, you can probably find something on there that you need. I’ve been using my Job Spotter income to buy board games lately.
Google Opinion Rewards: $2.05
This is a new addition to my side hustle reports. I’ve never really been a survey guy – I personally find that they’re a waste of time and take way too long to do for what you get.
The Google Survey’s are a little different though. They only ask you 3 or 4 questions max, and pretty much take 30 seconds or less to complete. For each survey you complete, you make somewhere between 10 and 30 cents (or at least that’s what it seems like). Once you hit a balance of $2, Google sends you your earnings via PayPal. It’s worth doing, in my opinion, just because of how quick these surveys are to complete. Obviously, you won’t get rich doing this, but considering how fast they take, it’s pretty much free money.
And that’s the January 2018 Side Hustle Report!
Sorry that this side hustle report came out later than expected. I ended up getting sick recently (my wife got sick, and naturally I caught whatever she had), and I’m now playing catchup.
If you have any questions for me about these side hustle reports, feel free to leave a comment down below.
Be sure to also check out my side hustle report page if you’re interested in seeing what I’ve made in other months. You can also check out my most recent side hustle reports below if you’re looking for quick access to other side hustle reports.
December 2017 Side Hustle Report – $1,022.53
November 2017 Side Hustle Report -$1,450.57
October 2017 Side Hustle Report – $1,884.13
September 2017 Side Hustle Report – $2,055.19
August 2017 Side Hustle Report – $2,495.50
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More Recommended Ebike/Scooters
Check out these other ebikes and scooters I've reviewed:
- Urban Arrow Ebike – Last year, I made one of the largest purchases I’ve ever made – I bought a $9,000 electric cargo bike from Urban Arrow. In my Urban Arrow review, I will discuss what it is and why I decided to buy this bike, as well as discuss how impactful a bike like this can be on your journey to financial independence.
- Troxus Explorer Step-Thru Ebike – The Troxus Explorer Step-Thru is a fat-tire ebike that I’ve had the pleasure of riding for a while now. It has amazing power, great looks, and awesome range. If you’re looking for a great fat-tire ebike that offers a lot for the price, the Troxus Explorer Step-Thru is definitely one for you to consider. Check out my Troxus Explorer Step-Thru Review.
- Hovsco HovBeta Ebike – The HovBeta is a folding ebike with great specs and a lot of interesting features, and importantly, it’s sold at a good price point. I’ve had a blast commuting with it and using it to do deliveries with DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. Check out my Hovsco HovBeta Ebike Review.
- Vanpowers Manidae Ebike – The Vanpowers Manidae is a fat tire ebike that I’ve been riding as my primary winter commuting bike and have also been using it to do food delivery with apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. After clocking in a decent number of miles with this ebike, I wanted to write a post sharing what my experience with the Vanpowers Manidae ebike has been like. Check out my Vanpowers Manidae Review.
- Sohamo S3 Step-Thru Folding EBike Review – A Great Value Folding Ebike – The Sohamo S3 Step-Thru Folding Ebike is an entry-level folding ebike that offers a lot of value for the price point. I’ve been riding the Sohamo S3 for a while now, putting the bike through its paces, and I have to say, this bike has exceeded all of my expectations. Check out my Sohamo Review.
- KBO Flip Ebike – The KBO Flip is an excellent bike. I’ve had a great time riding it and think it’s a versatile bike that can be used for a lot of purposes and can fit a variety of lifestyles. It’s worked out great for me as a general commuter bike and as a food delivery bike. Check out my KBO Flip Review.
- Hiboy P7 Commuter Ebike – The Hiboy P7 is an excellent electric commuter bike that’s offered at an affordable price point. The range and speed of this bike are both very good, so you won’t have any trouble getting anywhere you need to go with it. As a food delivery vehicle, this is also good – with how much range it offers, you’ll be able to work all day on a single charge. Check out my Hiboy P7 Commuter Electric Bike Review.
- Himiway Escape Ebike – The Himiway Escape is an interesting bike for anyone looking for a moped-style ebike. If you’re a gig economy worker, the Himiway Escape is particularly interesting and it’s possible to think of it as an investment, especially if you can opt to do deliveries with the Himiway versus using a car. It’s not cheap, but you can definitely make your money back when you compare the mileage you’ll put on your car versus using an ebike. Check out my Himiway Escape Bike Review.
- Espin Sport Ebike – The Espin Sport is a good ebike for someone who is looking for an ebike that feels and rides more like a regular bike. There are many ebikes that are really only bikes in name. In reality, they’re basically electric mopeds. The Espin Sport, by contrast, is a bike you could probably ride without the battery and you’d feel like you’re just riding a regular bike. Check out my Espin Sport Review.
- Varla Eagle One Scooter – The Varla Eagle One is an excellent scooter that can make sense for a lot of people. It can work as a primary mode of transportation. You can use it to work on gig economy apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. And it can also be a recreational vehicle if you’d prefer to use it for that. Check out my Varla Eagle One Review.
- Varla Falcon Scooter – The Varla Falcon is an excellent scooter that offers a good amount of power at a lower price point compared to more powerful scooters. It’s not exactly an entry-level scooter, nor is it a high-powered scooter. I think it fits somewhere in-between those two categories – an intermediate scooter if I had to give it a category. Check out my Varla Falcon Review.
- Hiboy S2 Scooter – The Hiboy S2 is an excellent entry-level commuter scooter that's perfect for someone looking to save some money in transportation costs and improve their commute. Check out my Hiboy S2 Review.
- Hiboy S2R Scooter – The Hiboy S2R is one of the more interesting electric scooters I’ve been able to test out. It’s not a high-powered scooter, but for an everyday transport option, it’s very useful, especially given some of the unique features that it has. Indeed, for the price, the Hiboy S2R might be the best value scooter I’ve used. Check out my Hiboy S2R Review.
- Fucare H3 Scooter – The Fucare H3 is a fun scooter and I’ve enjoyed testing it out. For a daily commuter or quick trips or errands, the Fucare H3 is probably the scooter I’ll use. It’s portable and easy to maneuver, so it’s just easier to take on the road when I need it. Check out my Fucare H3 Scooter Review.
More Recommended Investing App Bonuses
For additional investing app bonuses, be sure to check out the ones below:
- M1 Finance ($100) – This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $100 for opening an account. Check out my M1 Finance Referral Bonus – Step-By-Step Guide.
- SoFi Invest ($25) – SoFi Invest is an easy brokerage account bonus that you can earn with just a few minutes of work. Use my SoFi Invest referral link, fund your SoFi Invest brokerage account with just $10 and you’ll get $25 of free stock. I also have a step-by-step guide for the SoFi Invest referral bonus.
- Webull (20 free stock shares) – Webull's current promotion gives you 20 free shares valued between $3-$3,000 each if you open an account using my referral link. Here’s a guide I wrote about how to earn your free shares using Webull.
- Moomoo (15 free stocks) – Moomoo is a free investing app currently offering 2 different referral bonuses if you open an account using a referral link. Read my Moomoo referral bonus guide for more information.
- Robinhood (1 free stock) – Robinhood gives you a free stock valued between $2.50-$225 if you open an account using my referral link.
- Public (1 free stock) - Public gives you a free stock valued between $3-$70 if you open an account using my referral link.
More Recommended Bank Account Bonuses
If you’re looking for more easy bank bonuses, check out the below options. These bonuses are all easy to earn and have no fees or minimum balance requirements to worry about.
- Upgrade ($200) – Upgrade is a free checking account that’s currently offering a $200 referral bonus if you open an account and complete a direct deposit. These bonus terms are easy to meet, so it’s well worth doing this bonus as soon as you can. Here’s a post I wrote with more details: Upgrade $200 Referral Bonus – Step By Step Directions.
- Ally Bank ($100) – Of all the banks out there, Ally is, without a doubt, my favorite. At the moment, Ally is offering $100 to customers who open an eligible Ally account and meet the requirements. Here are the step-by-step directions to earn your Ally Bank referral bonus.
- Fairwinds Credit Union ($175) – Fairwinds Credit Union is offering a referral bonus for users that sign up using a referral link. Fairwinds has no fees or minimum balance, so this is a particularly easy bonus to earn. Since this is a smaller credit union, my gut instinct tells me this offer won’t be around long, so if you’re in a position to meet the bonus requirements, grab this bonus before it’s gone. Here is my step-by-step guide on how to earn your Fairwinds Credit Union bonus.
- Chime ($100) - Chime is a free bank account that offers a referral bonus if you use a referral link and complete a direct deposit of $200 or more. In practice, any ACH transfer into this account triggers the bonus. This bonus is easy to earn and posts instantly, so you’ll know if you met the requirements as soon as you move money into the account. I wrote a step-by-step guide on how to earn your Chime referral bonus that I recommend you check out.
- US Bank Business ($800) – This is a fairly easy bank bonus to earn, since there are no direct deposit requirements. In addition, you can open the Silver Business Checking account, which comes with no monthly fees. Check out how to earn this big bonus here.
- Fifth Third Bank ($200) – This offer is limited to customers in the following states: Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, West Virginia, and South Carolina. If you don’t live in one of those states, you won’t be able to open an account online but you can still open an account in-branch if you happen to be visiting a city that has a branch. This is a fairly easy bank bonus to earn, especially since there are plenty of data points showing what will trigger the direct deposit requirement. In addition, you can open the Fifth Third Momentum Checking bank account, which comes with no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements. Read my guide on this bonus here.
- GO2Bank ($50) - GO2Bank is an easy bank bonus that I recommend people take advantage of if they have an easy way of meeting the direct deposit requirement. I like that it’s easy to open the account and that the bonus pays out quickly. Check out my step-by-step guide on how to earn your GO2Bank $50 referral bonus.
- Current ($50) – Current is a free fintech bank that’s offering new users a $50 referral bonus after signing up for an account using a referral link. Current is an easy bonus to earn and also gives you access to three savings accounts that pay you 4% interest on up to $2,000. That means you can put away up to $6,000 earning 4% interest. That’s very good and makes Current an account I recommend to everyone. Check out my step-by-step guide on how to earn your Current Bank bonus.
- Novo Bank ($40) - Novo bank is a free business checking account that’s currently offering a $40 bonus if you open a Novo business checking account using a referral link. In addition to being a good bank bonus, Novo is also a good business checking account. It has no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements and operates a good app and website. Indeed, it’s the business checking account I currently use for this blog. Check out my post on how to easily open a Novo account.
- Varo ($25) – Varo is a free fintech banking app similar to Chime or Current. It’s currently offering a $25 bonus to new users that open a new Varo account with a referral link. The bonus for this bank is very easy to meet, all you need to do is spend $20 within 30 days of opening your Varo account. Check out my step-by-step guide to learn how to earn this bonus.
Kevin is an attorney and the blogger behind Financial Panther, a blog about personal finance, travel hacking, and side hustling using the gig economy. He paid off $87,000 worth of student loans in just 2.5 years by choosing not to live like a big shot lawyer.
Kevin is passionate about earning money using the gig economy and you can see all the ways he makes extra income every month in his side hustle reports.
Kevin is also big on using the latest fintech apps to improve his finances. Some of Kevin's favorite fintech apps include:
- SoFi Money. A really good checking account with absolutely no fees. You'll get a $25 referral bonus if you open a SoFi Money account with a referral link, and an additional $300 if you complete a direct deposit.
- 5% Savings Accounts. I'm currently getting 5.24% interest on my savings through a company called Raisin. Opening a Raisin account takes minutes to complete, it's free, and all of your funds are FDIC-insured. I explain how it works, why I'm now using it to store my emergency fund and any other cash savings I have, and why I recommend everyone check it out in this review.
- US Bank Business. US Bank is currently offering new business customers a $800 signup bonus after opening a new account and meeting certain requirements.
- M1 Finance. This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $100 for opening an account.
- Empower. One of best free apps you can use to monitor your portfolio and track your net worth. This is one of the apps I use to track my financial accounts.
Feel free to send Kevin a message here.
I love your reports (found them on the SoFi group). I’m interested Google Opinion. Do you have a referral code for this?
Hi, thanks Brittany! I don’t have a referral code for the Google Opinions app unfortunately, but thanks for asking!
Good stuff! Did I see you are over $32,000 now in total for side hustle income? That’s pretty crazy. I think I mad about $100 on Mturk because I found a really awesome job, but I met the quota they set unfortunately and they stopped letting me work that particular job. Waiting for February’s report!
Thanks! Yep, mind you that # is since I’ve started tracking in 2016, so not in 1 year or anything. Still, it’s pretty crazy that i’ve made that much literally just doing a lot of the stuff I’ve already been doing anyway. I’ve never been into Mturk since it seemed time intensive – one thing for me is that I hate doing side hustles where I’m not also getting some secondary benefit out of it (like exercising or getting outside). February’s report is coming – it’s going to be way higher than normal though due to some special circumstances this past month.
Does this blog count as side hustle income for you?
I’ve been thinking about creating my own blog (I’m starting work as a dialysis RN next week, and that might have useful info for others), but I’m not sure if the ROI is going to make it worth my efforts, though.
Good question – I don’t include this blog in my side hustle income. The reason I don’t include the blog is because of how long it takes to have a blog start making money. I definitely think blogging is worthwhile and something that people should do IF they like writing and creating content. BUT, I think if you are going into blogging with a plan of making money from it, you need to know that it’ll take time. I think at least 3 years of consistent blogging – so it really depends on whether that is something you can commit too.
Very informative! Thank you 🙂
Little streams make big rivers. It’s so refreshing to see a US lawyer who lives below his means and doesn’t find hustling below him. Most lawyers in US are NOT in big law and the fresh grads must have watched too much Legally Blonde. There really ought to be some law school exit seminar on how to manage your expenses now that you have a gigantic debt load. Of course, that would defeat the business’s, I mean school, intent right?
It’s sad that most law students esp in California don’t realize their earnings would be no different from someone who found a job at a Fortune 500 out of school as an analyst/trainee. And that big law income is only for the top 5-10% of grad class.
Those dogs are lovely!
I’m so impressed with all the money-making activities you fit in, it all adds up.
Thanks Ms. ZiYou!
Great job, Kevin! I forget that weather can play a huge role in your side income. I’ve lived in California (Los Angeles and San Francisco) my whole life so I can’t imagine a whole month of weather below freezing! Regardless, that makes your side hustle just that much more inspiring!
Is Rover walking available in your city? It’s basically the same thing Wag! offers with on-demand walks. Unlike Wag!, it makes you go in for an in-person harness test. I have mine scheduled this week.
Rover walking does appear to be available, and I set my profile up to do it, but I’ve never received a request. My friend in another city got a few walks in with Rover though.
Wag seemed interesting to me, unfortunately it’s not available in my city. Apparently Rover has a similar service called RoverGo, but I ran into the same problem: not available in my city.
Ah bummer
What are some of the board games you are looking into with your Job Spotter money?
I’m gonna try out this new game I saw called Photosynthesis.
Surprised you didn’t get more on AirBnB from the Super Bowl! Were you already booked?
Super Bowl was in February so that income won’t show up until the February side hustle report!
Another great report Kevin!
How much do you get for a 20-30 minute dog walk? I need to get out at lunch time and may need the extra motivation:)
With the tip, I usually get 15 to 18 dollars for each walk. The base pay for a 30-minute walk is only 12 dollars, but I’ve found that always get a tip of at least 4 dollars. So basically, instead of spending 10 bucks for lunch, I go and make 16 bucks at lunch and get outside. At least that’s how I justify it.