Financial Panther

Financial Independence, Side Hustling, and Ebikes

Summer 2023 Side Hustle Report - Young adult man working on the implementation of the plan.

Summer 2023 Side Hustle Report – $3,327.87

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This post may contain affiliate links. Affiliate 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.

It’s been a busy summer and unfortunately, it meant I fell massively behind on the monthly side hustle reports. That’s to be expected when you have two young children. I’m still committed to keeping these reports going, so here’s a combined Summer 2023 side hustle report detailing my earnings from June, July, August, and September 2023.

Below is what I earned for each month.

June 2023

Total Side Hustle Income for June 2023: $1,023.44

July 2023

Total Side Hustle Income for July 2023: $652.12

August 2023

Total Side Hustle Income for August 2023: $1,075.97

September 2023

Total Side Hustle Income for September 2023: $576.34

Over the course of this summer, I made a little over $3,300 from my various side hustles. That comes out to an average of about $825 per month. That’s a fairly large dip from prior years, where the summer was where I usually made most of my side hustle income – typically averaging around $1,500 and $2,000 per month.

Here’s a more detailed look at my earnings in each category for this past summer:

 

Rental Income: $8,295.17

My original tenants moved out in the middle of August after two years of renting. Getting two years from them was nice since my rental is in a college neighborhood and high turnover is to be expected. I ended up finding a new group of four college kids that started their lease in September. So over the four-month span, I collected the full rent for June, July, and September, and then half the rent in August since the original tenants moved out in the middle of August.

Having a two-week gap between when the original tenants moved out and the new tenants moved in was helpful so I could take care of some maintenance tasks. For example, I needed to patch and paint some ceilings and walls where there was some damage. The patching and painting weren’t too expensive since I did it myself, but it was fairly time-intensive. 

The big money cost during the turnover was replacing the water heater. It was 19 years old, so I had the dilemma of deciding whether to preemptively replace it or whether I should just let it run until it died. I decided to preemptively replace it just to avoid having to deal with the hassle of dealing with replacing it later when it inevitably fails.

It did cost me money, but I think in the future, I’m going to continue leaving this gap between tenants to take care of maintenance things. It’s also helpful that spending money on my rental property isn’t difficult for me since I don’t use my rental income and instead put it all back into the house. 

As for the new tenants, they officially moved into the house in September. So far things are going well. I’m hoping I get another year of good tenants and no major issues with the house.

 

Rover Income: $1692.60  

Rover did well this summer, averaging a little over $400 per month for me. August was my best month, as I had a 3-week stay with a repeat client. That single stay resulted in a lot of money. The rest of my Rover gigs this summer were standard – I watched some dogs at my house and did some cat drop-in visits for a few neighbors.

Of all my side hustles, Rover is the one that fits best with my lifestyle right now, since, other than real estate, it’s probably the most “passive” side hustle I have. Nothing is ever truly passive, but Rover is the one that doesn’t require me to dedicate specific time to it the way food delivery or other gig economy apps do.

So far this year, I’ve made about $4,300 from Rover. Assuming things continue staying busy, I’ll probably make over $5,000 from it. That is not bad at all to me, 

For more information about Rover and how it works, check out this post: Rover Pet Sitting – How To Make Money Dog Sitting With Rover.  

 

DoorDash/Uber Eats/Grubhub Income: $619.86

Here’s a breakdown of my earnings with each delivery app this summer:

In the food delivery game, things have fallen quite a bit for me since the golden age of food delivery in 2020 and 2021. During the pandemic, I was easily making $40 or $50 an hour delivering for DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub on my ebike. I also had a lot more free time since I only had 1 kid. 

In 2023, things are noticeably slower, but I do notice that there can still be money to be made so long as you work during peak times and multi-app. I can have lunch rushes that are lucrative, with $30 or more in an hour, but I can also have some days where I basically make nothing. I also simply don’t do as many deliveries as I used to because I’m busy with other things – mainly house projects and taking care of my kids. 

For the summer, I averaged about $150 per month from food delivery, which isn’t very much. But you can see how an investment in an ebike can pay off pretty quickly if you’re going to do food delivery with it. A $1,000 or $2,000 ebike can be paid off in a short amount of time if you’re able to put in the work. 

Going forward, I’m guessing that food delivery will continue to hover around this range – somewhere in the $150 to $200 per month range. If I can free up some more time, I’ll try to get those numbers back up, but for now, it is what it is.

 

Trash Finds/Flipping Income: $131.50 

I had a few random trash finds that I was able to sell over the summer. We also participated in a neighborhood-wide garage sale in September, which helped us clear out some old stuff that we no longer needed. For trash finds, I stick to small items now that I know I can sell quickly – things like dog kennels, Ikea end tables or coffee tables, and plastic storage drawers that people always seem to need. 

 

ProductTube Income: $260

ProductTube is always a nice source of extra income for me. The good thing about ProductTube is how easy the gigs are to complete – all I have to do is film a video of myself answering a few questions at a store (usually Target, Walgreens, or CVS). Usually, I’ll check ProductTube after I drop my kids off at daycare since I’m right next to a Target. It’s a nice way to start my morning with some money in my pocket. 

 

Gigwalk/EasyShift/Field Agent/Merchandiser/Observa/Pickl Income: $7  

I don’t use these apps very often anymore because there aren’t usually many assignments that are convenient for me and, more importantly, it takes me too much time and mental energy to look at these apps. I did happen to do a few shelf audit assignments that were available at the Target by my kid’s daycare. It’s not much money, but it was easy.

 

IVueIt/ProxyPics Income: $12 

IVueIt is the same as the photo apps above, where I used to do more of it, but I’m not checking the app as often due to lack of time and mental bandwidth. I did complete two IVueIt assignments over the summer that were convenient to whatever I was doing. For the most part, though, IVueIt is one of those apps that I now really only use if I happen to remember to open the app. 

 

Google Opinion Rewards/Surveys On The Go/1Q Income/Facebook Viewpoints: $51.90 

Here’s what I made from each short survey app over the summer:

Google Opinion Rewards and 1Q did their usual thing over the summer months. I also finally earned enough from Surveys On The Go to cash out. You need a $10 minimum balance to cash out and theoretically, I could reach this mark more often, but their app is so slow and crappy that I don’t open it too often.

Of these survey apps, definitely get Google Opinion Rewards and 1Q. Surveys On The Go you can ignore if you don’t want to waste your time with it. Facebook Viewpoints is fine, but you won’t get a lot 

 

Secret Shopping Income: $461 (plus a lot of free food) 

Secret shopping used to be a nice way for me to get free food, but these days, it’s also a significant source of my side hustle income. Almost all of my income from secret shopping these days comes from Marketforce. The number of assignments on Marketforce is plentiful, the assignments are easy to complete, and they all generally pay well. There are secret shopping companies that have better shops, but most of them don’t offer pay on top of the reimbursement. But with Marketforce, I can get myself some free food and make some decent money too. 

For the summer, I ended up averaging about $115 per month from my secret shops. That’s pretty good when you consider that I averaged around $150 per month from delivering food. When you consider that I also got free food on top of those earnings, I probably ended up making more from secret shopping than I did from delivering food.

For more information about secret shopping and how it works, check out these posts:

 

ReceiptPal/Receipt Hog/Fetch/CoinOut/Amazon Shopper Panel Income: $43.25

Not much to report with the receipt apps. I still take photos of all my receipts before I toss them, so over the course of the year, I make a few hundred dollars. Over the summer, I made all of my receipt income from Amazon Shopper Panel, which is the best receipt app of all the receipt apps out there. If you get this app, you’ll make a minimum of $10 per month without any issues. 

 

Medium Income: $0.26

Medium still makes me a few cents, but this will go down to zero soon as it’s been nearly 2 years since I last posted an article on Medium. For me, Medium isn’t worth my time since I have my own platform that I can earn money from writing. The only people I’d recommend using Medium as a form of income are people who are able to write a lot (like 1 article every single day for years and don’t want to write anything SEO-related. If I were a new blogger and had that sort of discipline, I’d probably use Medium, but at this stage in my blogging career, Medium isn’t a good fit.

 

And that concludes the Summer 2023 Side Hustle Report!   

This summer was a busy one for me when it comes to my personal life. It’s now been over 4 years since I left my job as an attorney to try to make it on my own blogging and doing side hustles. I’m happy to have that flexibility in my life right now because I don’t understand how I would balance my previous professional career with kids – it’d be impossible.

I hope you enjoyed this brief look into my side hustles and the income I made from them. My plan is to get back on track with these and get them out at the beginning of the month like I used to, but we’ll see what happens. 

If you want to see me doing some of my gig economy stuff, be sure to check out my YouTube channel, where I film myself doing deliveries, as well as film ebike and scooter reviews. If you’re looking for more side hustle ideas, you can check out my post, The Ultimate List Of Gig Economy Apps.

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.
  • 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.

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 ($900) – 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.
  • 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.
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 $900 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

  2. Financial Fives says

    Nice, didn’t know Rover was so lucrative, especially in the warmer and balmy summer months in MN. Are you working FT too now?

    I agree with you on the tenants and needing more time to prepare for a new move-in. Makes it much easier to not stress for repairs and updates.

    Reply

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