Side hustle ideas from people who actually run them
Real side businesses, described by their owners. Filter by cost, time and how they earn.
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- 651 ideas
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- 14 publications and shows
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- Files sold online: templates, printables, ebooks, stock photos, fonts, presets, plugins, recorded courses
- A web app, SaaS, mobile app, browser extension, bot or API that people pay for or that earns from ads
- A blog, niche website, newsletter, YouTube channel, podcast or social account that earns from ads, affiliate links or sponsors
- Making, printing or reselling physical goods, online or in person
- Doing work for clients for a fee: freelance, consulting, done-for-you services, repairs, local services
- Earning from something you own: renting property, rooms, equipment, vehicles, parking, vending machines, domains
- A job board, listings site, directory or marketplace that connects buyers and sellers
- Live tutoring, lessons, workshops, coaching or cohort classes
Matching ideas
About the data105 ideas, page 2 of 3
- Physical productsDesigned a 3D printed upgrade for a worn part in certain coffee grinders and sells it through a print-on-demand storefront. Traffic comes from repair guides.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsKeeps chickens and sells the eggs, which covers little more than feed costs.A few hours a weekHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsKeeps bees and sells the honey, which brings in a few thousand a year.Hacker News, 2019
- Physical productsBuys older luxury crossovers and hybrids, does the repairs and detailing in spare time, and sells them mainly to older buyers.Over $10kPart-timeHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsRan a coffee kiosk with branding and promotions designed to make customers return daily. Profitable but demanding on time and staff.Over $10kNear full-timeIn personHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsOrdered men's bracelets with a custom logo from an overseas wholesaler and resold them on Etsy and a personal site, until dropshippers hurt the market.OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsSells custom signs to businesses, with an online sign creator for simple designs and help with more complex ones. A supplier makes and ships the signs.Part-timeOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsCuts custom tabletops compatible with a popular woodworking tool brand on a CNC router and advertises only on Craigslist. Gets repeat orders from hobbyists and contractors.Over $10kHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsA website where customers tailor a writing pad to their handwriting style, sold as a physical product.OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsBuys and restores vintage furniture, then sells it online or to local stores as a picker.Online and in personHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsSells phosphorescent cosmetic modifications for synthesizers, a niche hardware accessory product.$100 to $1kOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsDyes small batches of yarn with traditional methods for a small group of weavers who want specific colors.$100 to $1kOnline and in personHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsLicensed a home as a winery to make hard cider, selling to local stores and at a summer farmers market.Part-timeIn personHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsMakes jelly by hand from berries grown in the garden and sells it through word of mouth.Hacker News, 2019
- Physical productsDesigns outlines for cases cut on a maker space laser machine and sells them on eBay. Local materials make it possible to undercut imports on price.$100 to $1kOnline and in personHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsMakes pull-up bars for home fitness in a small craft business that also gives side-job work to a few people. Most customers buy only once.Online and in personHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsSelf-taught circuit board design, then sold a few products to a niche market with no marketing. Sales faded as cheap copies appeared.OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsRuns an online store focused on keto and nutrition products in Canada.OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsWrites nonfiction books on science and curiosity topics, landing book deals with publishers based on the success of an earlier title.Under $100OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsDesigns t-shirts with jokes for machine learning and data science fans and sells them through a print-on-demand storefront.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsSells genuine Intel processors on a local classifieds site in a country where import costs make online marketplaces hard to use, earning a margin on each sale.A few hours a weekOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsSells eggs from backyard hens when they lay more than the household uses.Hands-offHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsMakes yogurt from organic milk bought from a local dairy farmer and sells it.Hacker News, 2019
- Physical productsBought vineyard plots and makes organic wine in an old-school dry style with help from a winemaking family, selling it and reinvesting the proceeds.Over $10kIn personHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsDesigns and sells music notebooks with generated staff lines, using scripts to produce the print-ready PDF. Sold online and the owner is working on getting stores to carry them.Hacker News, 2019
- Physical productsSells women's clothing through a direct-sales company, with help from a spouse on back office, shipping and sales, part-time assistants, and local networking for marketing.Online and in personHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsSells high-quality pet toys, treats and collars, and started with dog-themed T-shirts printed and shipped by a supplier. Holds pet inventory at home and ships orders.OnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsRuns an online clothing store where ordering and fulfillment are automated. Sells meme shirts and promotes through social media only.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Physical productsDesigns and sells sketchpads for mobile and browser wireframes through a Shopify store, reordering inventory in larger batches as it sells out.$100 to $1kOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Physical productsPays writers to produce books, then lists and markets them on Amazon, releasing roughly one title a month.OnlineHacker News, 2017
- Physical productsCreates sports-themed apparel designs sold through a print-on-demand marketplace, starting with a niche. Fulfillment times and prices have been the main obstacle.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2017
- Physical productsResells items found at home, thrift stores and clearance sales through online marketplaces, and is looking at retail arbitrage on Amazon.Under $100Hacker News, 2017
- Physical productsTurned public patent drawings into wall art images, cleaned up by a hired assistant and batch processed. An online store sends orders to a print and fulfillment service automatically.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Physical productsDesigned a printed upgrade for a worn part in a popular coffee grinder and sells it through a print-on-demand marketplace. Traffic comes from a repair guide on a fix-it site.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Physical productsDesigns and builds adapters that turn surplus server power supplies into general purpose 12 volt supplies. Sold as a physical hardware product.Hacker News, 2016
- Physical productsUploaded humorous fan designs to a print-on-demand merchandise site and earns small royalties when items sell.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Physical productsRuns a site that resells SSL certificates. Margins are thin because support requests eat into profit, so the owner would rather sell an own product.OnlineHacker News, 2016
- Physical productsWrote and sells a printed guide to using a music recording program along with music technology basics. It has to be updated for each new software version.OnlineHacker News, 2016
- Physical productsWrote and self-published beginner books on building web apps with Django. A fulfillment company now handles shipping, so the work is mostly passing along orders and answering questions.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Physical productsA physical sticker product that covers laptop cameras, sold through Amazon and its own website without any advertising.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Physical productsA wholesaler supplies replacement parts to independent repair shops and recycles broken screens. Money comes from selling parts to hundreds of shops.Over $10kTop Founders, 2016
- Physical productsDesigns and sells a card game aimed at women, people of color and LGBTQ players. Ships stock to an Amazon warehouse every couple of weeks and runs some Facebook advertising.OnlineHacker News, 2016
- Physical productsWrites nonfiction books and earns from advances, royalties, foreign rights deals and Amazon affiliate links.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Physical productsHelped a friend set up an online store selling electric bikes with a dropship model.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Physical productsWrote a book on growth hacking and sells copies directly, with almost no maintenance work.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Physical productsSells a powder that turns into fake snow when water is added, promoted with a TV spot and search ads.OnlineHacker News, 2014
- Physical productsWrites and sells math textbooks as print and PDF, built around curating expert knowledge.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Physical productsCreated and sold stickers aimed at privacy concerns, shipped by hand to several countries with no marketing spend.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014