Side hustle ideas from people who actually run them

105 ideas, page 1 of 3

• Stylish diaper bag brand

  A diaper bag brand designed to look less bulky than traditional bags, manufactured through Alibaba. Preorders and organic TikTok content helped fund inventory.

  Physical productsOver $10k

  Side Hustle Nation, 2026
• Front porch home bakery

  A home micro bakery selling sourdough, cinnamon rolls, cookies and bagels from a front porch on Saturday mornings. Customers preorder and items sell out to lines of local buyers.

  Physical products$100 to $1k

  The Koerner Office, 2026
• High-ticket dropshipping of camper van accessories

  An online store dropshipping high-ticket camper van and motorhome accessories in the UK, with the niche chosen from search and competitor data. Sales come through Google Shopping ads as an authorized reseller.

  Physical products

  Side Hustle Nation, 2026
• Flipping used couches

  Buying poorly listed couches, negotiating the price down and reselling them with better photos, including AI-generated backgrounds. The operator is a teenager working in spare time.

  Physical products

  The Koerner Office, 2026
• Small-space gourmet mushroom farm

  Growing gourmet and medicinal mushrooms such as oyster, lion's mane and reishi, starting in a very small space. It grew into a farm operation alongside a growing club.

  Physical products$100 to $1k

  Side Hustle Nation, 2026
• Sell goat milk to a zoo nursery

  Sold unprocessed goat milk to a zoo's exotic animal nursery, used to feed young animals.

  Physical products

  Hacker News, 2026
• Wild-harvested produce at farmers markets

  Sold pesticide-free produce foraged from leased land and roadsides at farmers markets.

  Physical products

  Hacker News, 2026
• Turmeric coffee brand sold by subscription

  An anti-inflammatory coffee brand made with turmeric, produced by a local manufacturing partner. Sales come from subscriptions, bundles and influencer-driven social proof, run alongside a full-time job.

  Physical products$1k to $10k

  Side Hustle Nation, 2026
• Live selling golf gear on Whatnot

  Selling golf equipment through live shows on the Whatnot app, built on top of a brick-and-mortar golf shop and its brand relationships.

  Physical productsOver $10k

  Side Hustle Nation, 2026
• Flipping liquidation pallets for resale

  Buying goods from government and retail liquidation auctions and reselling them. The method relies on researching before bidding and having a solid selling system.

  Physical productsPart-time

  Side Hustle Nation, 2026
• Improved small pet products brand

  A pet products company that reworked the hamster ball, an item unchanged for decades, started by a college student. It sells on Amazon and through a big-box retail deal.

  Physical productsOver $10k

  Side Hustle Nation, 2026
• Flipping used lawnmowers

  Buying underpriced lawnmowers, fixing common problems and reselling them. The operator ran it while in college.

  Physical products

  Side Hustle Nation, 2025
• High-ticket dropshipping of pond supplies

  A dropshipping store selling high-ticket outdoor products for ponds and water features. Sales come from Google ads aimed at ready-to-buy shoppers, with supplier relationships in place of inventory.

  Physical products

  Side Hustle Nation, 2025
• Themed running skirt brand

  A handmade e-commerce brand selling Disney-inspired running skirts to a niche community of runners. It grew through ambassadors and social media and was later sold through Flippa.

  Physical products

  Side Hustle Nation, 2025
• Resale store for popular regional snacks

  A shop buys a famous roadside chain's snacks and resells them to customers elsewhere. Revenue comes from retail sales of the resold goods.

  Physical products

  The Hustle, 2024
• Grounded charger adapters for MacBooks

  Worked with a factory to make grounded power adapters that stop case buzzing, sold on Amazon.

  Physical productsHands-off

  Hacker News, 2024
• 3D print farm making workshop clips

  Operates a small 3D print farm that sells custom clips and connectors for workshop equipment.

  Physical products$1k to $10k

  Hacker News, 2022
• Online CAD learning course and community

  Built an online resource for learning CAD with a supporting community, aimed at people who want to design and sell products.

  Hacker News, 2022
• Software error-message T-shirt designs

  Put cartoon T-shirt designs about software error messages on craft sites.

  Physical productsUnder $100Hands-off

  Hacker News, 2022
• Build boats on commission

  Builds dinghies, canoes, catamarans and other small boats in spare time, selling some and taking commissions from friends.

  Physical products$1k to $10kPart-time

  Hacker News, 2021
• Flip collectibles and collector cars

  Buys and resells collectibles, cars and sometimes collectible cars.

  Physical products

  Hacker News, 2021
• Home-printed zines and fandom art

  Makes zines and artwork about fandom and adult themes, printing them at home and selling them.

  Physical products$100 to $1k

  Hacker News, 2021
• Music manuscript notebooks

  Makes and sells notebooks with music staff paper for musicians.

  Physical products

  Hacker News, 2021
• Niche gadget made and shipped at home

  Makes and ships a gadget for a small niche market from home, with no software in the product, and also plays music part-time.

  Physical products

  Hacker News, 2021
• Niche menswear online business

  Started a niche menswear business alongside a full-time job. It now runs mostly on its own at small scale.

  Physical productsHands-off

  Hacker News, 2021
• Hardware security keys with partners

  Launched hardware security keys with partners, working on it part time at first.

  Physical productsOver $10k

  Hacker News, 2021
• Amazon third-party seller side business

  Sells products as a third-party seller on Amazon, treated as a semi-passive side business.

  Physical products

  Hacker News, 2019
• Book royalties and foreign translation deals

  Earns twice-yearly royalties from a published book and small licensing deals for translations in other countries.

  Hands-off

  Hacker News, 2019
• Men's skincare product line

  Launched a men's skincare line as a first physical product business, handling ads, customer service and fulfillment.

  Physical productsOver $10k

  Hacker News, 2019
• Programming reference book for a publisher

  Wrote a regular expressions pocket reference for a technical publisher, earning ongoing royalties.

  Hands-off

  Hacker News, 2019
• Resell imported computer chips locally

  Sold used but valuable computer chips in a local market, delivering in person to bakeries or by post, until import tax changes ended the margins.

  Physical products

  Hacker News, 2019
• Trading card buying and selling store

  Buys and sells collectible trading cards such as Pokemon and Magic, managing an online store and in-person sales.

  Physical products

  Hacker News, 2019
• Twitter bot with related merchandise

  A bot that posts a space-weather graph and built a following, which led to selling related t-shirts.

  Physical productsHands-off

  Hacker News, 2019
• Buy iPhones in low-tax state, resell abroad

  Travels to the US regularly, buys phones where there is no sales tax, and resells them locally in a country where import taxes make them much more expensive.

  Physical productsOver $10k

  Hacker News, 2019
• Cookie bakery with delivery and shipping

  Runs a cookie bakery with mostly local delivery and some nationwide shipping, run alongside a career.

  Physical productsPart-time

  Hacker News, 2019
• Export baby milk powder to Chinese buyers

  Sells baby milk powder from Germany to mothers in China.

  Physical products

  Hacker News, 2019
• Resell tested bulk disk drives

  Bought rejected disk drives in bulk at auction from PC makers, tested them, and sold the working ones to shops and individuals.

  Physical products

  Hacker News, 2019
• Design and build high-quality ceiling lights

  Designed and built ceiling lights with high brightness and color quality, working with manufacturers and selling to real-world customers.

  Physical products

  Hacker News, 2019
• Dry-aged meat sold online

  Dry ages meat in specialized fridges and bags in a place where it is hard to find, then resells it online and over messaging apps at a large markup.

  Physical products

  Hacker News, 2019
• Handtool furniture building for paid commissions

  Builds furniture using only hand tools and takes the occasional paid project.

  Physical products

  Hacker News, 2019
• Historic-style city maps sold online

  Runs a hobby business selling maps made in a historic style.

  Physical products

  Hacker News, 2019
• Laser-cut wooden fan merchandise on Etsy

  Makes wooden items with a laser cutter based on video games and shows, and sells them on Etsy. Covers materials and machine time.

  Physical products$1k to $10kA few hours a week

  Hacker News, 2019
• Multi-camera trigger system for photo booths

  Designed hardware and an iPhone app that remotely control arrays of cameras. Sold mainly to photo booth operators.

  Physical products

  Hacker News, 2019
• Refurbish and resell old furniture

  Buys old and mid-century furniture from thrift shops and garage sales, fixes it up and resells it on Craigslist.

  Physical products

  Hacker News, 2019
• Refurbish and resell used business laptops

  With a friend, bought off-warranty corporate laptops, upgraded memory and storage or fixed keyboards, and resold them on eBay.

  Physical products

  Hacker News, 2019
• Restore vintage computers and resell on eBay

  Buys broken old computers, restores them and sells them on eBay.

  Physical products

  Hacker News, 2019
• Sell music CDs and crafts at fan conventions

  Sells folk music CDs and handmade items at science fiction and fantasy conventions.

  Physical products$100 to $1k

  Hacker News, 2019
• Small hot sauce brand

  Ran a hot sauce business with real sales until it started eating all spare time, then dropped it.

  Physical products

  Hacker News, 2019