Financial Panther

Financial Independence, Side Hustling, and Ebikes

January 2023 Side Hustle Report – $791.59

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This post may contain affiliate links. Advertiser Disclosure.This post may contain affiliate links. Financial Panther has partnered with AwardWallet and CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Financial Panther, AwardWallet, and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies, or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

Hey everyone. It’s been a busy couple of months, so I apologize for getting this side hustle report out so late. In this post, we’ll look at what I was able to earn from my various side hustles and gig economy apps in January 2023.

Below is a breakdown of my gig economy earnings for last month. 

Side Hustle Income for January 2023

Total Side Hustle Income for January 2023 = $791.59 

January was a slow month for me and, as you can see, I didn’t hit my monthly side hustle goal of $1,000 or more. A lot of this was due to general tiredness and fatigue. With two kids and a busy household, time is short and my mind isn’t always focused on these side hustles. 

My delivery earnings from DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub were also low for the month due to the weather. As regular readers know, I do all of my food deliveries using an ebike, and while I bike year-round, being out in the cold and snow isn’t that enjoyable for me. So, in the winter, I’ll often cut back on doing deliveries. If you look back at prior years, you’ll see that January and February are consistently my worst-performing side hustle months precisely because of this.

That being said, I still was able to earn some side hustle income despite not doing that much side hustling last month. It goes to show that even if you’re busy, you can still earn some extra income if you’re strategic with the side hustles you do. 

Let’s take a closer look at my earnings for last month.

 

Rental Income: $2,400

There’s not much to report with the rental property. For January, I had to swing by the house a few times to shovel some snow, but other than that, there weren’t any other maintenance items I had to handle. Fortunately, shoveling snow isn’t difficult for me since my son’s daycare is a few blocks away, so I’m able to swing by in the morning after I drop him off.

 

Rover Income: $379.10  

Rover was busier than it would appear from the numbers, but the one long stay we had rolled into February so that income will be included in the February side hustle report. The earnings you see here were from a few boardings over Christmas that rolled into the New Year. 

If you’ve been following these posts, you’ll notice that Rover continues to make up a significant portion of my side hustle earnings each month. This is for the better, as Rover is an excellent side hustle for a busy parent. The way I do Rover, it’s almost passive – especially since I already have a dog and people drop off their dogs at my house. If you’re a parent and need a side hustle you can do from home, consider taking a closer look at Rover. You just want to make sure you only accept easy dogs (no potentially aggressive dogs or very active dogs that require a lot of work).

For more info about Rover and how to incorporate it into your side hustle strategy, check out this post: Rover Pet Sitting – How To Make Money Dog Sitting With Rover. 

 

DoorDash/Uber Eats/Grubhub Income: $168.18 

DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub were slow in January, largely because of the weather. I do all of my deliveries using an ebike and while I do ride all year, I take things a bit slower in the winter just because it’s not that fun to be delivering food in the cold. I was still able to get some deliveries done on the nicer days, though. If you’re interested, you can see some of my delivery runs on my YouTube Channel.

Here’s what I made with each delivery app in January: 

DoorDash used to be the busiest delivery app for me but I’ve noticed things getting slower on it in the past few months. They recently have been promoting “priority” deliveries for people with high acceptance rates, and since I’m picky about the orders I accept, it’s possible this is leading to me getting fewer delivery requests. I’m still not convinced that this is actually why I’m getting fewer requests, however, and I think it’s really more just fewer people ordering or more Dashers online.

In any event, Uber Eats is still strong and has been able to pick up the slack for me. This is why multi-apping is so important. If you aren’t multi-apping, you need to do it if you want to maximize your earnings. It takes practice to get good at multi-apping, but it’s worth it.

 

Flipping/Trash Income: $5

It was a slow month on the flipping front. The only thing I sold in January was an old barstool that I found long ago and had in the basement of my old house. I put it up on Facebook Marketplace for $5 and eventually found a buyer. I didn’t sell anything on eBay in January. 

 

WeGoLook Income: $75  

WeGoLook was fairly lucrative in January, bringing in $75 from three gigs. These were all exterior photo gigs that I was able to complete quickly on my ebike.

You do have to be a bit strategic with the WeGoLook gigs you accept because some of the gigs are better than others. I tend to stick to scene inspection or exterior photo gigs, which don’t require any interaction with property owners.

 

ProductTube Income: $10  

I usually do better with ProductTube but fell behind on it this past month. I think ProductTube usually starts out slow to begin the year since companies still need to figure out their market research budgets. That being said, besides the app being slow, I also forgot to check it a lot because I was busy with other things. 

 

IVueIt/ProxyPics Income: $32  

IVueIt brought in $32 for the month, which is a solid amount. One of the gigs was a “snow” gig that required me to take photos of a convenience store after a recent snowstorm to make sure it was properly shoveled. The other gig was my usual “dark store” gig where I took photos of a closed-down coffee shop. Both of these gigs were easy and I was able to complete them with my son on our bike ride home from daycare.

 

Google Opinion Rewards/Surveys On The Go/1Q Income/Facebook Viewpoints: $13.38 

Here’s what I made with each short survey app in January:

Google Opinion Rewards was slower than usual. I think part of the reason it was slow was that I was at home for much of the last two months and many of the surveys from Google Opinion Rewards are based on your location. If you go near certain stores, it’ll tend to send you more surveys. Since I wasn’t out and about much, I didn’t receive as many surveys.

1Q made a surprising amount. I think a lot of it came because I was answering questions about draft Super Bowl ads. Those took a little longer to complete because you had to watch an ad, but they paid more because of it.

 

Secret Shopping Income: $97.50 (plus free food) 

Secret shopping was solid. I made almost $100 from secret shopping using the Marketforce app. Plus I got free food too. In addition to the usual Marketforce shops, I also completed shops with Bestmark, Reality Based Reports, A Closer Look, and others. These all allowed me to get plenty of free food, but they didn’t offer additional payments beyond the reimbursements.

If you can, I highly recommend taking a look at secret shopping. I’m able to get so many free meals because of it. For more information, check out the below posts I wrote about secret shopping and how it works.

 

ReceiptPal/Receipt Hog/Fetch/CoinOut/Amazon Shopper Panel Income: $11.35

Amazon Shopper Panel paid $11.35 in January. This is the easiest receipt app out there, so if you are able to do, you need to download it. I’m able to make an easy $120 or more each year by taking pictures of 10 receipts each month. I can’t imagine this app will stick around forever, but while it’s here, I’m going to continue to take advantage of it. 

 

Medium Income: $0.08

Medium generates a few cents for me each month and in the interest of completeness, I include it here since it’s technically side hustle income. My time is better served writing content for this blog, which is why Medium isn’t a big deal for me. If I wanted to, I’m sure I could make Medium a better source of income, but my time is stretched too thin as it is.

 

And that concludes the January 2023 Side Hustle Report!  

January was a slow month for me, which is to be expected. Historically, January and February are always my lowest earning months, primarily because I’m staying home more due to the weather. In next month’s report, I expect that February will be even lower-earning but then things should hopefully pick back up again the rest of the year as the weather gets nicer.

I hope you enjoyed this look into my side hustle earnings. Thanks for reading!

This post may contain affiliate links. Financial Panther has partnered with AwardWallet and CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Financial Panther, AwardWallet, and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies, or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

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.
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Recommended Bank Account Bonuses

If you’re looking for 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.
  • 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.
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  • 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.
financial panther

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.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ariane says

    I just found your blog after seeing you speak at EconoME. This side hustle information is really interesting. Thank you for sharing and I will look into a few of these!

    Reply

  3. Financial Fives says

    Really interesting to see how the various side hustles vary from month to month. I’m surprised Rover is still that busy for you in the cold Minnesota winters! Is it pretty passive because the dogs don’t go outside much?

    Also, is the $2,400 in rental income gross rent or profit after mortgage, upkeep, etc?

    Great work!

    Reply

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