Side hustle ideas from people who actually run them
Real side businesses, described by their owners. Filter by cost, time and how they earn.
- Ideas
- 651 ideas
- Publications
- 14 publications and shows
- Categories
- 8 categories
Browse by category
- 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 data651 ideas, page 8 of 14
- Rentals and assetsRents out inherited properties, uses a management company for maintenance and screens tenants personally. Income is monthly rent.Over $10kHands-offHacker News, 2019
- Software and appsPublishes in-depth long-term stock analyses for German-speaking investors. Revenue comes from monthly subscriptions.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
- Software and appsPublishes a few small utility apps on the App Store and keeps improving them. Income comes from app sales.$100 to $1kOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Content and mediaAn information site about a specific skin condition that earns from display ads and Amazon affiliate links and is mostly left on autopilot.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Rentals and assetsOwns apartments rented to students and managed entirely by an agency that finds tenants and handles upkeep, paying a fixed guaranteed income.Over $10kHands-offHacker News, 2018
- Software and appsBuilt a stock trading model for personal use, then published it on a platform where subscribers pay to follow it. Subscribers take responsibility for any trades.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Digital productsTranslates well-regarded public domain works into English and sells them as ebooks. Finding niche topics is the key.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Software and appsBuilt a service that keeps software dependencies up to date and supports multiple programming languages. It started as a passive project and became a full-time company.OnlineHacker News, 2018
- Digital productsWrote and self-published an e-book about CSS that has kept selling a year after launch.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Content and mediaRuns a curated list of Hacker News recommendations and products. Earns small amounts from affiliate links.A few hours a weekOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Software and appsBuilt a documentation product that earned its first revenue with little maintenance, and is planning a second version.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Digital productsWrote an ebook on starting and growing a subscription box business, drawn from running one. Sold through Gumroad, Amazon and iBooks, and still sells a little each month.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Software and appsProduces long, project-based video lessons on the Elixir language, with free videos on YouTube and premium content for paying subscribers.OnlineHacker News, 2018
- Digital productsWrites and publishes erotic stories as Kindle ebooks and earns from sales.Under $100OnlineHacker News, 2018
- Digital productsA small shop selling pre-production, storyboard and film treatment templates through an online marketplace.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Content and mediaA football tipping website built on WordPress that earns from paid memberships and sponsored posts.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Digital productsSells online courses on algorithmic trading through its own site and Udemy. Maintenance is mostly answering student emails.OnlineHacker News, 2018
- Digital productsCreated video courses on Udemy that keep earning money after the initial work.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Digital productsLists virtual machines on major cloud marketplaces that come set up for Ethereum development, with video tutorials. Revenue comes from VM sales.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Content and mediaA blog about earning a professional engineering license in a niche with little coverage. Income comes from an affiliate deal with a company selling licensing prep packages.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Rentals and assetsRents out the downstairs unit of a multifamily house bought with an owner-occupant loan, collecting monthly rent with little work.Over $10kHands-offIn personHacker News, 2018
- Digital productsWrote and self-published a book about a game framework. Earns a small monthly income from sales.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Digital productsWriting and self-publishing a tutorial book on the Angular framework.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Software and appsPublishes several Android apps on Google Play. One got an editor's pick, which boosted sales for a while.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Content and mediaA personal technology blog that earns small amounts from on-page advertising.$100 to $1kOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Digital productsProduced a video course and a book about the Flask framework. Earns ongoing royalties from sales.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Content and mediaRuns a blog about watch straps featuring photography from brands and custom leather makers plus interviews. Income comes from affiliate links.OnlineHacker 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
- Rentals and assetsBought a VR headset and set up a site where people could rent it. Ranked well on Google for rental searches, then shut it down.Hacker News, 2016
- Digital productsCreated a user experience design course with a friend and sells it through Udemy. Profit is split between the two creators.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- 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
- Digital productsDesigned responsive device mockups and sells them on a graphics marketplace. Sales were strong early on and have tapered off since.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Software and appsBuilt a web-based synth and drum machine that is free as a demo. Sells a downloadable desktop version without the restrictions.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Software and appsSells a cross-platform desktop task manager with a Kanban-style board, through a trial-based license on Gumroad and the Mac App Store.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
- Software and appsRuns a site showing historical average weather by city and month. Income so far is from ad revenue, with plans to add more features.OnlineHacker News, 2016
- Content and mediaBuilt a search tool that ranks Amazon products by ratings and review volume, grouped by price range. Money comes from affiliate links.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Content and mediaWrote a blog about the process of getting a professional engineering licence, which draws search traffic. Earns from ads and affiliate referrals to a seller of exam prep materials.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Rentals and assetsBought a commercial property with a fixed rate mortgage and leases it out. Takes little time each month and pays rental income after tax.Over $10kHands-offHacker News, 2016
- Rentals and assetsHolds a portfolio of valuable domain names and sells them, using brokers to handle the deals. Income comes from large one-off sales.Over $10kHands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Software and appsA competitor monitoring product that began as a side project and grew into a systemised business with a team, so the owner now acts more like an investor.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Content and mediaMaintains a handful of websites, including a gift ideas site that earns through Amazon affiliate links and some content sites.OnlineHacker News, 2016
- Teaching and coachingTurned expertise in CSS layout into an online course and in-person workshops. Development teams buy licenses for the course, and the income funds standards work.Online and in personHacker News, 2016