Side hustle ideas from people who actually run them

232 ideas, page 1 of 5

• 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
• Whole-home water filtration sales

  Selling whole-home water filtration systems to homeowners through Facebook ads that show the price upfront, with licensed plumbers doing the installs. The channel notes that this model can require a plumbing license, for example in North Carolina.

  Services and freelancing$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
• Mobile espresso bike for events

  An espresso setup mounted on an electric-assist cargo trike that serves coffee at events without the overhead of a shop. The founder also builds and sells units to other entrepreneurs.

  Over $10k

  Side Hustle Nation, 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
• 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
• Imported perfume vending machines

  The operator imports vending machines that dispense perfume and places them in venues. Sales come from customers buying from the machines. The owner dropped it as too much hassle.

  Rentals and assetsOver $10k

  The Koerner Office, 2025
• 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
• Road trip visualization tool

  A website for visualizing road trips, earning sales through organic traffic with peaks around holidays.

  Software and appsHands-off

  Hacker News, 2024
• Co-authored tech e-book and online course

  Co-wrote a Spring Boot and AWS e-book with a companion online course, sharing the income among authors.

  Digital productsHands-off

  Hacker News, 2024
• Coding challenges newsletter and courses

  Writes a newsletter of real-world projects for learning programming, and sells paid courses.

  Hacker News, 2024
• Minimal Android launcher with pro version

  A minimalist Android launcher distributed free, with a paid pro version.

  Software and apps

  Hacker News, 2024
• Obsidian template with guide and course

  A template for a note-taking app with a user guide and video course based on the owner's personal system, sold to customers.

  Digital productsHands-off

  Hacker News, 2024
• DevOps online course for small teams

  Created an online course teaching DevOps to small companies and self-hosters, which keeps selling even against bigger instructors.

  Digital productsHands-off

  Hacker News, 2024
• GIF meme maker with watermark removal sales

  A GIF meme site that earns from one-off sales of watermark removal.

  Software and appsHands-off

  Hacker News, 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
• Screen annotation app for Mac

  Built a Mac app for drawing and highlighting on screen during calls and presentations, after needing it personally.

  Software and apps

  Hacker News, 2022
• Self-published science fiction romance

  Writes and self-publishes science fiction romance books on the side.

  Digital productsUnder $100

  Hacker News, 2022
• 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
• Improved JavaScript image cropper for CodeCanyon

  Found a popular product category on a code marketplace and built a better JavaScript image cropper and uploader to sell there.

  Digital productsUnder $100

  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
• Self-published book on deploying applications

  Wrote and sells a technical book on deployment that shows the steps without higher-level tools.

  Digital productsHands-off

  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
• Self-published fiction with newsletter

  Self-publishes fiction and is growing a backlist and an email newsletter to increase sales.

  Digital products

  Hacker News, 2022
• Blog articles turned into a sold book

  Wrote helpful articles, collected them into a book sold on Gumroad, and also builds a monitoring SaaS on the side.

  Digital products

  Hacker News, 2021
• Datasets of promotion resources sold on Gumroad

  Sells a curated list of places to promote side projects, for makers wanting traffic, directly through Gumroad.

  Digital productsUnder $100Hands-off

  Hacker News, 2021
• 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
• Online courses sold on Udemy

  Creates and sells courses on Udemy.

  Digital productsHands-off

  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
• Safari tab refresh extension for Mac

  A paid Mac App Store app that grew out of a personal need for a Safari extension that refreshes tabs automatically.

  Software and appsHands-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
• Niche Mac App Store app

  Wrote a Mac app years ago that still makes steady daily sales through the app store without marketing.

  Software and appsHands-off

  Hacker News, 2020
• Buy and sell expiring domain names

  Takes preorders for expiring domains and tries to catch them when they drop, and also holds a portfolio of domains for later development.

  Rentals and assets

  Hacker News, 2019
• 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