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Financial Independence, Side Hustling, and Ebikes

September 2022 Side Hustle Report – $1,433.16

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Once again, I’m way behind on getting this side hustle report out. Things have been really busy in our household and I’ve been doing a lot of things behind the scenes on the blog, so I’ve fallen a bit behind on writing these posts. That being said, I think they’re useful and I like keeping a record of what I’ve been doing each month. 

So with that said, let’s take a look at what I was able to earn from side hustling in the gig economy in September 2022.

Side Hustle Income for September 2022

Total Side Hustle Income for September 2022 = $1,433.16 

September was a good month for my side hustles. I didn’t make a ton of money compared to some months, but I think I did pretty well considering how much I worked. 

Here’s a pie chart detailing how my earnings were divided for the month. As you can see, Rover and Food Delivery were close, with my various other side hustles making up the remainder. 

Below is a more in-depth look at my earnings in each category for the month. 

 

Airbnb/Rental Income Income: $2,400  

I had some major expenses in September, including having to install a new dryer and repair a broken window pane. I ended up paying $1,100 to buy a new dryer and have it installed. Repairing the broken window pane cost $300. Yes, I could save money if I did this work myself, but I’m not handy and I don’t enjoy doing these types of projects, which is why I pay professionals to do them for me,

Fortunately, I don’t spend the rental income, so I had plenty of cash on hand to cover these expenses. And of course, I paid for these expenses using credit cards, which helped me meet some minimum spend requirements and earn some good credit card bonuses. 

 

Rover Income: $605.20  

Rover has become a big source of income for me, with the income coming from two things – dog boarding in my house and cat sitting where I visit someone’s house and check in on their cat.  

Below is a screenshot of my earnings for each client in September. I watched two new dogs in September and had one repeat client. All those sittings went well. 

The cat-sitting also worked out well. I ended up visiting the same cats that I’ve watched in the past – all within a few blocks of my house. This makes it easy for me to stop by in the evening after I get my son to bed. 

For more information about Rover, feel free to check out my post: Rover Pet Sitting – How To Make Money Dog Sitting With Rover. 

 

DoorDash/Uber Eats/Grubhub Income: $592.23 

Things were slower on the delivery front – they’ve actually been slower all year, mainly due to less free time. I do far fewer deliveries now on the weekend and for the most part, only do deliveries during weekday lunch hours.

Here’s what I earned with each delivery app in September.

DoorDash has been taking a hit lately. One thing DoorDash has been doing is giving “priority” orders to people with a higher acceptance rate. I keep my acceptance rate low because I’m picky with my orders. Whether this is impacting me is still a bit unclear. Accepting more orders wouldn’t necessarily help me make more since it’d require me to accept less profitable orders, so my plan is to keep doing what I’m doing and cherry-pick orders that make the most sense for me.  

Uber Eats, thankfully, picked up the slack, so the month still ended up pretty solid. I’ve been recording a lot of footage of me doing deliveries with my GoPro, so that’s going to go up on a YouTube channel soon – I just need to get off my butt and actually edit and upload the footage. 

As a reminder, I do all my deliveries using an ebike or electric scooter. If you can, I highly recommend doing deliveries on an ebike or scooter, rather than using a car. 

If you’re interested, I started up a YouTube channel where I record a lot of my delivery runs. I plan to talk about micromobility, ebikes, scooters, and the gig economy on this channel. If you can, I’d definitely appreciate it if you thumbs up and subscribe to my channel. I’m still learning how to edit and record, so it’s for sure a work in progress, but hopefully, you find it enjoyable.

 

Flipping/Trash Income: $3 

I sold one small item from a board game that I bought at Goodwill. Sometimes when I buy games, I split up the pieces and sell them as replacement parts. This earns more than selling the entire game as a set. It’s more work and takes longer to sell everything, but it’s sometimes the only way a purchase can be profitable. 

 

WeGoLook Income: $14 

I picked up an assignment from WeGoLook that asked me to take a photo of a house that’s currently on the market. This was an easy assignment since I was able to do it while my biking my son home from daycare. It took maybe 1 or 2 minutes to snap the photos, then we were on our way. 

 

ProductTube Income: $55 

I had another good month with ProductTube. Most assignments on this app are easy, only taking a few minutes to complete. I usually film my videos for this app at the Target next to my son’s daycare. It’s a nice way to start my day with some extra money in my pocket. 

 

IVueIt/ProxyPics Income: $0  

Interestingly, I didn’t make anything from IVueIt or ProxyPics last month. ProxyPics has been a bit strange, as I get notifications that there are assignments, but then when I open the app, nothing is there. I don’t know if someone else is beating me to the assignments, but I doubt it because I open the app immediately when I get these notifications. 

With IVueIt though, someone beat me to all the assignments I usually do each month. We’ll hopefully get more opportunities to do these gigs in the future.  

 

Google Opinion Rewards/Surveys On The Go/1Q Income/Facebook Viewpoints: $28.35

Here’s what I made with each of these short survey apps in September: 

I finally earned enough to cash out my earnings with Surveys On The Go, so that was a nice bonus. Facebook Viewpoints is also sporadic, so it was nice to get an easy $5 from them this month. Google Opinion Rewards and 1Q were the same as usual. 

These short survey apps are different from the normal survey websites you see a lot of websites push. That’s because all of these survey apps take just a few seconds to complete and pay relatively small amounts. Because of how fast you can do these surveys, they’re worth doing. 

 

Secret Shopping Income: $106 (plus free food) 

Secret shopping with Marketforce is lucrative these days – enough that it’s a significant source of side hustle income. In the past, I treated secret shopping as just a way to get free food, but Marketforce is good enough that you can actually earn some decent income with it. 

I did some other secret shops with A-Closer Look, Bestmark, and Reality Based Reports, but these only reimbursed my expenses. With all of these secret shop websites, I’m able to get a ton of free food each month.

Check out the below posts for more information about how secret shopping works.

 

ProductLab Income: $18 

ProductLab has been absent lately, but I finally got around to cashing out my earnings. As a recap, ProductLab pays me each week to submit screenshots of my DoorDash and Uber Eats earnings. It’s a nice way to earn a little bit more from my food delivery apps. The only annoying thing is that ProductLab now requires you to have $15 in your account before you can cash out, so it usually means I can only cash out once every 2 months (whereas before I was cashing out every month). 

 

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

Amazon Shopper Panel still seems too good to be true. I can’t imagine it stays around forever, but I’m going to ride that train while it’s there. I submitted 10 receipts to Amazon Shopper Panel and made $10, then did some short surveys in the app for another $1.35. By the end of this year, I’ll end up making over $120 with Amazon Shopper Panel, just by taking pictures of 10 receipts each month. 

 

Medium Income: $0.03

I still collect a few pennies each month from Medium and just for the sake of completeness, I’ve included that money here. Medium is an interesting platform that I’d love to do more with, but I don’t have the time and my time is better spent writing here, where I can make more on my posts (and fully own my posts too). 

 

And that concludes the September 2022 Side Hustle Report!  

This is a quick recap, as I wanted to get this post out there as soon as I could. If you want more details about anything, feel free to leave questions in the comments.

I hope you enjoyed this peek into my gig economy/side hustle earnings for last month. Maybe this post will give you some ideas about what you can do to earn more. An extra $1,000 or so in a month can be a big deal for a lot of people (myself included).

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.
  • 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.
  • Moomoo (15 free stocks and 1 stock of Tesla or Google) – Moomoo is a free investing app currently offering 3 different referral bonuses if you open an account using a referral link. Read my Moomoo referral bonus guide for more information.
  • Webull (12 free stock shares) – Webull's current promotion gives you 12 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.

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.

  • Chime ($150) - 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.
  • 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.
  • Upgrade ($150) – Upgrade is a free checking account that’s currently offering a $150 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 $150 Referral Bonus – Step By Step Directions.
  • 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 ($100) - 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 $100 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.
  • Netspend ($40 + 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 $40 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 $40 to start! Make sure to check out my in-depth guide on how to set up these accounts.
  • Digital Federal Credit Union ($20) – Digital Federal Credit Union (DCU) is a free, nationwide credit union that I recommend to readers for two reasons. First, DCU has a $20 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.
  • 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 ($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.
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 $250 if you complete a direct deposit.
  • 5% Savings Accounts. I'm currently getting 5.25% 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.
  • 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.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Financial Fives says

    I’ve been hearing both ends of the spectrum when it comes to AirBnB as side income. Knowing what you know now, would you do it again or do anything differently?

    I’m wondering if the investment is worth it. At least buying a place with the intention of AirBnB is out for me, as I don’t want to exacerbate the housing crisis and be hated by the community.

    Reply

    • Financial Panther says

      I’m too fearful to invest in a property solely for Airbnb purposes, but to be fair, my households income is built around me and my wife’s businesses, not real estate.

      My brother owns four Airbnb properties in a not-very-nice city and does very well for himself.

      I can’t say anything about Airbnb and the housing crisis. When I did Airbnb, I rented out a room in my house that I lived in, so I had no impact on any housing crisis arguments. Personally, I think the Airbnb housing crisis argument is one of those things where people argue about that, but are missing the point. It’s not Airbnb that’s the cause of the housing crisis. It’s bad zoning laws, tons of land being used for parking cars, and lack of housing being built. Airbnb is an easy scapegoat while forgetting the real problem is the world we built and think is normal.

      Reply

  2. Ryan says

    Can you break down how the Airbnb/rental income works, what is the rental vs the airbnb? How much do you typically charge per night and how many nights you are able to rent out? How does random people walking thru your house workout with your wife/family and do they use your living room?

    Also, how much do you charge per night per dog on Rover and does this impact the person staying with airbnb?

    How much do you think you make per hour with uber eats/grubhub/etc? From what I see online the estimates aren’t the best. This is also harder if you don’t live in an urban area where you can ebike or have to use a car.

    If you have a six figure job to begin with I find it not very motivating to do a low paying gig that will then get taxed 40% making it even less 🙁

    Reply

    • Financial Panther says

      Hey Ryan, I don’t do Airbnb anymore and instead turned my old house into a traditional rental. Before the pandemic, we rented out a room in our house on Airbnb, but the pandemic and then having kids changed how we felt about doing that.

      Before kids, it wasn’t a problem. We lived in a college neighborhood and most of the people staying with us were just there for conferences or grad school interviews. We barely saw them – they basically just needed a place to sleep at night.

      When we did Airbnb, we also did Rover at the same time. It wasn’t an issue since we already had a dog and made that clear in our Airbnb listing.

      For the food delivery, I make about $30 per hour, but I only work during the most prime hours (mainly lunch) and I multi-app. If I worked longer hours, that wouldn’t be sustainable.

      For me, food delivery is more about enjoying myself than it is about making money. The money is important still – I wouldn’t do it for free – but it’s also more about just enjoying myself, if that makes sense. I think that’ll be a topic of a future post. It’s basically like, if my choice is to goof for for an hour playing Xbox or goof off for an hour doing Uber Eats, I’d rather do Uber Eats.

      There are ways to make the low paying gigs more worthwhile. Solo 401ks for one. Also, deducting expenses. If you get an ebike for example, you can reasonably consider part of it as a business expense, since you’re using it for deliveries.

      Reply

  3. Debbie says

    I really enjoy reading your monthly side hustle updates.
    It’s amazing to see how the little jobs you pick up add up. Keep up the great work!

    Reply

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