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. Unlike getting a second job, there’s really no commitment if you find out that you don’t have the time or inclination for the side hustle. If it’s not for you, then you can just stop using the platform. No harm, no foul, and no cost to you other than some of your time.
Earning a little extra in a side hustle might not seem like much, but a few hundred bucks a month can lead to a couple hundred thousand in 20 to 30 years. If you have trouble maxing out your Roth IRA for example, just think how hard it would be to earn $5500 a year in side money (the 2016 maximum contribution to a Roth IRA). That’s $458 per month or $15 per day. It can be done! (I know you need to account for taxes, so you need to take that into consideration as well. Save your money in the side hustle to account for taxes, but the point remains, a little bit of side income can really help and add up).
So how do I side hustle? I primarily have four sources of side hustle income:
- Renting out a spare guest room on Airbnb
- Dogsitting using DogVacay or Rover
- Making deliveries using Postmates
- Selling trash finds using Craigslist or OfferUp
To simplify my math, I’ve decided to calculate my monthly side hustle income based on payout date. So if I perform the side hustle in May but get paid for it in June, I count June as the date the income was earned.
Without further ado:
- Airbnb = $1210
- DogVacay and Rover = $531.25
- Postmates and Caviar = $695.71
- Trash Finds = $60
Total Side Hustle Income for June 2016 = $2,496.96
Admittedly, this was a uniquely high earning month. A little background into how I made that money:
Airbnb
We’ve had a college intern staying with us in our spare guest room for the entire summer. He is paying our nightly Airbnb rate, which comes out to between $45 and $55 per night. I’ll concede, this is an unusual guest. Most guests aren’t going to pay that much to rent a room for such a long period of time. Reasonably, we’re aiming to make about $600 per month from Airbnb income, so this number will not usually be so high.
Dog Sitting
We own a 5-year-old Beagle-Italian Greyhound mix and it dawned on us that it wouldn’t be difficult for us to watch a second similarly sized dog. Since we already take care of our own dog, watching a second dog really isn’t any more work.
In 2015, we found DogVacay and Rover. Both websites are basically an Airbnb for dogs – people go out of town and need someone to watch their dog for a few days. They find us on DogVacay or Rover, we meet them to make sure that they have a good dog that gets along with our dog and fits with our schedule. We’ve been charging $25 per night and usually average about $200 per month for taking another person’s dog into our home.
This month, our payout for this side hustle report was higher than usual because we had a guest pup stay with us at the end of May and stretching into June. We’re paid either 1 or 2 days after the stay ends, so the payout came in June, which skews the numbers a bit.
Delivery Services
I have so much fun doing this. Postmates and Caviar are essentially a bike messenger delivery service. People order food and the order gets dispatched out to a delivery person. As a Postmate or Caviar Courier, you can simply log in anytime you want and accept a delivery if you are pinged. If you don’t want to make the delivery, you can just reject the order or log off. I make my deliveries on bike, so I see it as a double benefit of getting exercise while also getting paid!
June was higher than normal. I quit my job at a large law firm in mid-June and had a few days off before I started my new government job the next week. Just as a test, I decided to Postmate for an entire day just to see what I could make. I had so much fun biking around town all day. Probably no one should have this much fun being a delivery man, so I’m probably just odd. Unfortunately for the Twin Cities, Caviar recently shut down. While I wasn’t getting a ton of orders on Caviar, I did find it to pay the best. Now I’ll have to rely on just Postmates. We’ll see if the orders keep coming in.
Trash Finds
I found an Ikea Entertainment Center in the trash of my old apartment building. It was disassembled and all the pieces were in a plastic bag. I sold it on Craigslist for $60. A pretty good score for something I fished out of the trash.
So there you have it. $2,496.96 in side income for June 2016. My goal for the end of the year is to make $10,000 in side income, and I believe I am well on track to reach that amount.
More information about each of these side hustles to follow in future posts!
More Recommended Ebike/Scooters
Check out these other ebikes/scooters I've had the chance to do a review for:
- GEN3 Outcross Bike – The GEN3 Outcross is a solid, affordable fat tire ebike that does a good job of doing what I need it to do. It works great for city riding, giving me a smooth ride in all conditions. It’s works really well as a winter ebike since the fat tires give it good traction over snow and ice. Check out my GEN3 Outcross Review.
- Himiway Escape Bike – 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 Bike – 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.
- 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 ($10) – 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 $10 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 $100 and you’ll get $25 of free stock. I also have a step-by-step guide for the SoFi Invest referral bonus.
- Moomoo (5 free stocks) – Moomoo is a free investing app currently offering 5 free stocks (usually worth around $75-$100) if you open an account using a referral link and deposit $2,000. Read my Moomoo referral bonus guide for more information.
- Webull (5 free stocks) – Webull also gives you 5 free stock 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 stocks using Webull.
- 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.
- 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.
- Digital Federal Credit Union ($100) – Digital Federal Credit Union (DCU) is a free, nationwide credit union that I recommend to readers for two reasons. First, DCU has a $100 referral bonus if you open a free DCU checking account with a referral link. Second, DCU has a saving account that gives you 6.17% interest on your first $1,000. Check out my in-depth post on how to set this account up.
- Upgrade ($100) – Upgrade is a free checking account that’s currently offering a $100 referral bonus if you open an account and complete three debit card transactions. These bonus terms are easy to meet, so it’s well worth doing this bonus as soon as you can. Importantly, this bonus says that it’s now scheduled to end on January 31, 2023. As long as you get your account opened before January 31st, you should be eligible. Here’s a post I wrote with more details: Upgrade $100 Referral Bonus – Step By Step Directions.
- SoFi Money ($275) – SoFi Money is a free checking account from SoFi. They’re currently offering a $25 referral bonus if you open a SoFi account with a referral link and deposit $10. You can also make an additional $250 as well if you complete a direct deposit. This is a good bank that is also 100% free, so you won’t have to worry about managing this account. Here’s a post I wrote with instructions on how to earn your SoFi Money bonus: SoFi Money Referral Bonus: Step By Step Guide.
- 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.
- Fairwinds Credit Union ($100) – 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.
- OnJuno ($60) – OnJuno is a fintech/neobank that is currently offering a $10 referral bonus if you open an account using a referral link and make a deposit of $50 or more. You will also get 1000 JCOIN. The 1000 of JCOIN is cryptocurrency. At the time I'm writing this, it'll be worth about $50. Check out my OnJuno referral bonus guide here.
- Varo ($30) – Varo is a free fintech banking app similar to Chime or Current. It’s currently offering a $30 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.
- 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.
- Albert ($150) – If you can manage to do a real direct deposit, Albert is an easy account you can use to earn a referral bonus. Here’s a review about Albert I wrote. And here’s a step-by-step guide on how to earn your Albert referral bonus.
- Netspend ($20 + 5% Interest Savings Account) – Netspend is a company that provides 5% interest savings accounts. If you sign up using my referral link, you’ll get a $20 signup bonus once you make your first deposit into your Netspend account of $40 or more. That means you get a 5% interest savings account and a free $20 to start! Make sure to check out my in-depth guide on how to set up these accounts.
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 $250 if you complete a direct deposit.
- DCU. Digital Federal Credit Union (DCU) is a free, nationwide credit union that I recommend to readers for two reasons. First, DCU has a $100 referral bonus if you open a free DCU checking account with a referral link. Second, DCU has a savings account that gives you 6.17% interest on your first $1,000.
- Novo Bank. 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. It’s the business checking account I currently use for this blog.
- 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 $10 for opening an account.
- Personal Capital. 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.
Wow, almost $2,500 in one month from side-hustling, that is awesome! The fact that you and Ms. Panther have gotten hooked on personal finance so earlier in your lives/careers bodes very well for your futures, especially since you are both in potentially high paying jobs!
Best of luck on your journey and I am looking forward to reading all about it!
Thank you for the kind words Jon! You are right that we do (will) have a particularly high income, so we definitely don’t want to squander it. Big thing we had in our relationship is communication about our finances. We’re both very open about where we stand and what our goals are. It’s one of the reasons I was able to pay my student loans off quickly, because my now fiance was on the same page as me from the beginning.
Kevin wow that’s awesome! Sounds like you are well diversified in your side hustle portfolio which is not an easy feat. Hopefully your side hustle success continues and you reach your goal $10,000 by the end of the year. But if it is within easy reach, why not strive for even more and crank out a couple extra grand!
Wow, this is impressive. $2500 in side hustle income is more than many people make in a month just from regular work! Well done. I had no idea about Rover or DogVacay–looks interesting, and something my AirBnB averse spouse might be more interested in… Thanks!
That’s some great hustling, particularly with the delivery services, nice!
You said this month was high – what do you expect it to be in future months?
Tristan
I think normally, it would be about $1000 per month in side money.