Additional/Secondary Income Streams

[chrispy]

I am an employee and do not run by own business but have been trying to find ways to make additional income that isn't selling my time on the cheap.  Was thinking about possibly tutoring kids in math but haven't pursued it yet.

 

I was curious as to what sources of additional income people have outside of their investments and primary business?

[gfp]

One good thing about being an employee these days is that it makes it easier to qualify for inexpensive loans to purchase residential real estate to rent out.  If you don't own a home, consider buying a double or three-plex (and living in one of the units), if you already own your own home, maybe consider some rental properties with 30-yr fixed rate mortgages.  Tutoring math is great - I spent a few hours today teaching algebra to a 16 yr old - but it is still trading your time for money.  For most people in the United States who aren't trying to start a business (or two) of their own, rental real estate is probably the best shot to get started with meaningful passive income. 

[DTEJD1997]

Hey all:

 

I've been selling on Ebay for quite a while now.  Somedays, I make more on Ebay than I do as an attorney.  Other days I make $10 or sometimes even zero...

 

Years ago, I ran a full time business with employees selling primarily on Ebay.  I hope to eventually get back to this as being an attorney is quite tedious and does not pay very much...

 

Another way to get income is selling covered calls.  I've made some GREAT income doing this...

[valcont]

Hey all:

 

I've been selling on Ebay for quite a while now.  Somedays, I make more on Ebay than I do as an attorney.  Other days I make $10 or sometimes even zero...

 

Years ago, I ran a full time business with employees selling primarily on Ebay.  I hope to eventually get back to this as being an attorney is quite tedious and does not pay very much...

 

Another way to get income is selling covered calls.  I've made some GREAT income doing this...

 

Do you sell a product or service? We are just getting ready to launch home automation systems on Amazon. Its a completely different beast. It took us about a year to get this product in the market. I sometimes think it would have been better to just private label something.

[oddballstocks]

Don't sell your time, sell a product.

[DTEJD1997]

Hey all:

 

I've been selling on Ebay for quite a while now.  Somedays, I make more on Ebay than I do as an attorney.  Other days I make $10 or sometimes even zero...

 

Years ago, I ran a full time business with employees selling primarily on Ebay.  I hope to eventually get back to this as being an attorney is quite tedious and does not pay very much...

 

Another way to get income is selling covered calls.  I've made some GREAT income doing this...

 

Do you sell a product or service? We are just getting ready to launch home automation systems on Amazon. Its a completely different beast. It took us about a year to get this product in the market. I sometimes think it would have been better to just private label something.

I sell products.  I sell computers, computer parts, server/s, and server parts.  I also sell silver/gold coins and bullion.

 

The computer things that I sell are USUALLY fairly high end and niche products.  That is the way to get margin and a good return.

 

I've currently got well over 8,000 feedback with 100% satisfaction from buyers.

 

MOST of the time Ebay & PayPal do a good job, the vast majority of bidders are good & honest, but when things get fouled up, they get fouled up badly...

[TwoCitiesCapital]

I live in NYC and airbnb the second bedroom in my apartment as my side gig. I spend 10-15 hours a month cleaning, entertaining guests, responding to messages, etc. and it pulls in 3-4Gs/month which basically covers my rent in a nice apartment. Not a bad return on my time, but I'm not able to legally scale it so this is probably the pinnacle of what I can hope to make from it (enough to live rent free in Manhattan in whatever apartment I choose).

 

Looking to get into rental real estate at some point in the next 2-3 years and wouldn't mind buying a small business like an ATM route that would start the transition to being my own boss.

 

 

[Jurgis]

Internet pron?  8)

[valcont]

 

I sell products.  I sell computers, computer parts, server/s, and server parts.  I also sell silver/gold coins and bullion.

 

The computer things that I sell are USUALLY fairly high end and niche products.  That is the way to get margin and a good return.

 

I've currently got well over 8,000 feedback with 100% satisfaction from buyers.

 

MOST of the time Ebay & PayPal do a good job, the vast majority of bidders are good & honest, but when things get fouled up, they get fouled up badly...

 

Thanks for sharing. My friend who sells on eBay had the same experience. Apparently one regular buyer got so pissed off that he disputed all the previous transactions with PayPal which they reversed. He swore off Paypal since then.

 

Amazon is brutally competitive. I have a digital market team for google and social media but Amazon is a completely different ball game.

[netnet]

Check out two of the better 'advisors' on internet businesses, like Tim Ferriss and Ramit Sethi. 

 

With Sethi, personally, I would only look at his free content and not buy his product. By the way he is relentlessly promotional, but my estimate is that he also gives away 20 to 50% content.  On  Ferriss, his book 4 Hour Work Week is somewhat self congratulatory, as is his website, but it still is quite useful.

 

Unless you can get a really high price for your time, sell a product.

[oddballstocks]

Ferriss is interesting.  I am friends with someone who knows him well.  He has noted that Tim is a complete workaholic, but he somehow has a cognitive dissonance that his 'work' isn't real work. So he feels like he's never working, yet he can't stop.  It's like that with most top performers.

 

DTEJD1997 - Didn't realize you were selling servers as well.  I just picked up two servers.  We're starting to rack our own equipment.  Would have looked into you guys.  Have some incredibly beefy servers that I purchased for ~$1k each.  Purchased everything separate.  I have chips, heatsinks, ram and thermal paste sitting next to my keyboard.

 

I was thinking about this as I ran today.  I think the easiest side business for anyone without a specialty is really import/export, or value-added resale.  Find a cheap source of something and resell online.  Or do the DTEJD1997 approach and buy servers/parts, fix up, and resell.

 

The two servers I purchased are used.  Some company purchased them off-lease from a client and then resold them to myself.  This is a great business, you just need to find your source.

[fareastwarriors]

I do rental real estate. It's capital intensive and can be time-consuming. It's definitely not for everyone.

[Travis Wiedower]

I recently met someone who makes ~$15k per year on the side selling bracelets from China. He ran across these cool/unique bracelets somewhere, bought a small amount, put up a landing page, did some social media marketing, people bought them, and he slowly grew it from there. Now he buys in bulk. I think he buys them for a couple bucks apiece and sells them for $10-15.

 

I've done some random stuff in the past to make money on the side, but my real jobs keep me too busy now-a-days. If you pay attention there are a lot of ways to make money doing/selling just about anything.

[BG2008]

I'm really curious as to how your landlord view this? Are they aware?  Are you in a doorman building or just a walk up?  I am NOT affiliated with the IRS or landlord or anything.  I really just want to know better as real estate is key focus of mine.

 

I live in NYC and airbnb the second bedroom in my apartment as my side gig. I spend 10-15 hours a month cleaning, entertaining guests, responding to messages, etc. and it pulls in 3-4Gs/month which basically covers my rent in a nice apartment. Not a bad return on my time, but I'm not able to legally scale it so this is probably the pinnacle of what I can hope to make from it (enough to live rent free in Manhattan in whatever apartment I choose).

 

Looking to get into rental real estate at some point in the next 2-3 years and wouldn't mind buying a small business like an ATM route that would start the transition to being my own boss.

[scorpioncapital]

If you know something or are good at summarizing something, consider selling information. You'll have to spend some time to setup the info product and marketing, but a wise young man once told me that even though all information can be obtained free on Youtube or google search, people still buy information from people they like, that solves their problem without having to go everywhere and pick and choose.

 

[SnarkyPuppy]

I'm really curious as to how your landlord view this? Are they aware?  Are you in a doorman building or just a walk up?  I am NOT affiliated with the IRS or landlord or anything.  I really just want to know better as real estate is key focus of mine.

 

I live in NYC and airbnb the second bedroom in my apartment as my side gig. I spend 10-15 hours a month cleaning, entertaining guests, responding to messages, etc. and it pulls in 3-4Gs/month which basically covers my rent in a nice apartment. Not a bad return on my time, but I'm not able to legally scale it so this is probably the pinnacle of what I can hope to make from it (enough to live rent free in Manhattan in whatever apartment I choose).

 

Looking to get into rental real estate at some point in the next 2-3 years and wouldn't mind buying a small business like an ATM route that would start the transition to being my own boss.

 

Also very curious about this.  This can obviously be very profitable but seems legal risk is very high in a city adamant about cracking down on airbnb?

[TwoCitiesCapital]

I'm really curious as to how your landlord view this? Are they aware?  Are you in a doorman building or just a walk up?  I am NOT affiliated with the IRS or landlord or anything.  I really just want to know better as real estate is key focus of mine.

 

I live in NYC and airbnb the second bedroom in my apartment as my side gig. I spend 10-15 hours a month cleaning, entertaining guests, responding to messages, etc. and it pulls in 3-4Gs/month which basically covers my rent in a nice apartment. Not a bad return on my time, but I'm not able to legally scale it so this is probably the pinnacle of what I can hope to make from it (enough to live rent free in Manhattan in whatever apartment I choose).

 

Looking to get into rental real estate at some point in the next 2-3 years and wouldn't mind buying a small business like an ATM route that would start the transition to being my own boss.

 

Also very curious about this.  This can obviously be very profitable but seems legal risk is very high in a city adamant about cracking down on airbnb?

 

The city is cracking down on hosts who rent out apartments they don't live in. I just get a bigger apartment than I need and rent out the additional bedroom to pay the entirety of my rent.

 

This is not much different than having your friends/family crash on your couch from a legal perspective - I'm just getting paid for it and that isn't what would make it "illegal." I also never rent it out when I'm out of town to ensure that I'm fully on the "right side of the law" with this.

 

Also, I've always taken the approach that it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission. If it's not written in the lease, sign it. They can't make up rules as they go along and a "sublease" is technically 30 days or more (which none of my guests have ever stayed that long).

 

Lastly, I've done it both doormen buildings and walkups. Doormen don't typically care and I go out of my way to treat them well, learn their names, etc. so as to not make easy enemies.

 

The risk is that the building finds out, doesn't like, tries to intimidate you into stopping, you stand up to them, and they refuse to renew your lease when it comes up for renewal. Has happened to me twice in 4 years now, but moving once every 12-18 months is well worth living for free in the city.

 

 

[valueventures]

Figured I'd revive this thread, as I view it as an interesting topic and the conversation is dated (the last response was from 2016!).

 

I'm looking for ways to supplement my income through side hustles. Curious if anyone has thoughts / suggestions on what has worked well for them.

[gfp]

On 10/10/2016 at 7:10 PM, gfp said:

One good thing about being an employee these days is that it makes it easier to qualify for inexpensive loans to purchase residential real estate to rent out.  If you don't own a home, consider buying a double or three-plex (and living in one of the units), if you already own your own home, maybe consider some rental properties with 30-yr fixed rate mortgages.  Tutoring math is great - I spent a few hours today teaching algebra to a 16 yr old - but it is still trading your time for money.  For most people in the United States who aren't trying to start a business (or two) of their own, rental real estate is probably the best shot to get started with meaningful passive income. 

 

Yikes!  How quick a decade goes by.  The 16 year old from my post is 25 now.  Still sucks at math.

 

Seems like everybody has a substack with subscription income these days - there must be some succeeding at that game.  Information publishing has always been a decent business and twitter seems to be a primary marketing tool.

 

Personally, we still rent out apartments.  First of the month comes around like clockwork

[Eng12345]

Yeah it's an interesting question I've been pondering a lot recently. 

 

I'm a field service engineer so I end up with long spans of time off - say anywhere from 1-3 months at a time followed by 3-4 months of 7x12s. 

 

One of the reasons I decided to take this job and get away from traditional role in manufacturing was that I would have the time to explore side ventures like this. 

 

I've tried the selling on ebay but I seem to be getting hit with fees majorly so I can't recommend that. 

 

I'm looking into finishing my basement myself - I figure I could get another 75k of home equity out of that plus the space (though I don't need the space). That would tie me up for the next year or so to do myself I figure. 

 

I've also thought about some small-scale product design and sales (and I have a few ideas for various knick nacks I think I could hock as custom gifts) but the effort there is so huge seeing as I am absolutely horrid at 3D modeling. Maybe I should just pay some college kid to do the design

 

High level bouncing around the idea of buying a work van and running a handyman service during my off time. 

 

 

 

 

 

Other thoughts also include being present with my wife and family but I am a greedy whore who perpetually feels behind and needs to buy more stocks. 

Edited July 9, 2025 by Eng12345

[Parsad]

3 hours ago, valueventures said:

Figured I'd revive this thread, as I view it as an interesting topic and the conversation is dated (the last response was from 2016!).

 

I'm looking for ways to supplement my income through side hustles. Curious if anyone has thoughts / suggestions on what has worked well for them.

 

What are your strengths?  Interests?  Do you have any capital to commit to build up the side hustle?  Any hobbies that you would like to turn into a part-time business?  Anything you could partner with someone on and do together through a sole proprietorship, LP or corporation?  Would you consider making it your primary hustle if it worked out?

 

About 23 years ago, this started off as a hobby...then like 15 years ago it turned into a side-hustle...which led to multiple other side hustles.  So you never know what may lead to something profitable, yet entertaining!  Cheers!

[Marco Van Basten]

2 hours ago, Eng12345 said:

Yeah it's an interesting question I've been pondering a lot recently. 

 

I'm a field service engineer so I end up with long spans of time off - say anywhere from 1-3 months at a time followed by 3-4 months of 7x12s. 

 

One of the reasons I decided to take this job and get away from traditional role in manufacturing was that I would have the time to explore side ventures like this. 

 

I've tried the selling on ebay but I seem to be getting hit with fees majorly so I can't recommend that. 

 

I'm looking into finishing my basement myself - I figure I could get another 75k of home equity out of that plus the space (though I don't need the space). That would tie me up for the next year or so to do myself I figure. 

 

I've also thought about some small-scale product design and sales (and I have a few ideas for various knick nacks I think I could hock as custom gifts) but the effort there is so huge seeing as I am absolutely horrid at 3D modeling. Maybe I should just pay some college kid to do the design

 

High level bouncing around the idea of buying a work van and running a handyman service during my off time. 

 

 

 

 

 

Other thoughts also include being present with my wife and family but I am a greedy whore who perpetually feels behind and needs to buy more stocks. 

I don't know where you are geographically, but I can tell you that in many parts of the country including Northeast, and as well as any place with vacation homes will be very profitable for a handyman.  

[winjitsu]

Credit cards + bank account sign ups nets me around 5-10k a year

 

Pet sitting + dog walkers make solid cash. My dog sitter charges $50-75/night and takes up to 3-4 dogs at a time. 

[SharperDingaan]

Look at time limited partnerships with some of your better known local vendors. The big buy of specialist cheeses, brews, concert tickets, etc ahead of major events. 2-4 partners spreading the financial risk, and selling through the existing channels. 

 

2-3 per year, in different things to spread the risk, and open yourself to different points of view. Those very smart retail people are just as smart as the investment people ... merely playing a different game. Realize that and you could do very well.

 

Good luck!

 

SD

 

 

 

[73 Reds]

11 hours ago, valueventures said:

Figured I'd revive this thread, as I view it as an interesting topic and the conversation is dated (the last response was from 2016!).

 

I'm looking for ways to supplement my income through side hustles. Curious if anyone has thoughts / suggestions on what has worked well for them.

About 30 years ago I had an unexpected opportunity to finance a home purchase for a couple who got turned down by their bank's underwriting department at the last minute due to some unpaid medical bills that were being disputed.  This enabled me to put spare cash to work at high interest rates, earn additional fees (loan origination) and secure the loan with a desirable asset that only increases in value.  It wasn't long before the proverbial light bulb went off.  I now do 30-40 such loans every year.  Startup costs: -0- (of course you need spare cash); advertising costs:  -0- (all leads come through existing contacts); Operating expenses:  -0-.  I personally evaluate every deal and use my own loan documents.  No other professionals are required other than a title company (another business that I own).  Total time involved for each deal is typically less than a few hours from beginning to close.