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
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- 8 categories
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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 data146 ideas, page 3 of 4
- 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
- Digital productsProduced a video course and a book about the Flask framework. Earns ongoing royalties from sales.Hands-offOnlineHacker 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Digital productsWrote and published an e-book on Amazon about saving money so you can work less and pursue goals.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Digital productsWrote an ebook aimed at bootcamp graduates looking for their first developer job. It sells directly and through partnerships with a couple of online bootcamps.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker 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
- Digital productsCo-wrote a book on user acquisition and built a video course to go with it, funded through crowdfunding backers. Income comes from sales of the book and course.Hands-offOnlineHacker 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
- Digital productsWrites and sells a technical book about the Redux library through Leanpub, sharing the sales with a friend.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker 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
- Digital productsWrote a book that helps bootstrapped startups pick the right hosting setup. Income comes from book sales.OnlineHacker News, 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
- Software and appsEarns ongoing royalties from programming books written years ago, with little active work now.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Digital productsWrote and sells an ebook about building an app business.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Physical productsHelped a friend set up an online store selling electric bikes with a dropship model.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Digital productsWrote and sells an ebook teaching game development with a JavaScript framework.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
- Digital productsSells online courses, with income varying by how much promotion is done each month.OnlineHacker News, 2014
- Digital productsWrote and self-published an ebook about running profitable side projects.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Digital productsPublishes several nonfiction Kindle books on Amazon and markets them for ongoing sales.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
- Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Digital productsOpens new credit cards regularly for sign-up bonuses and redeems them for travel, and plans a course teaching the method.OnlineHacker News, 2014
- Physical productsResells high-end fashion, art, cars and collectibles, with sales largely automated and an emphasis on privacy.Over $10kHands-offOnline and in personHacker News, 2014
- Digital productsWrote a book on deploying PHP applications that sells steadily from the owner's website and builds an audience list.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Digital productsA site promoting ebooks on dating, requiring few hours of work per month.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Physical productsDesigned a London map in a historic style and sells it as a physical product online.A few hours a weekOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Physical productsA programmer humor coffee mug sold through a print-on-demand marketplace.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Physical productsDesigned themed t-shirts and sold them through a print-on-demand marketplace.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Digital productsWrote a PHP book and still receives small royalty payments from it.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Digital productsWrote and published a book on adult ADHD that still brings in a small amount from sales.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Digital productsWrote a short sci-fi novel sold through Kindle and iBooks stores.Under $100Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Digital productsWrote a book about payments with Stripe for Rails developers, backed by related blog posts and content.OnlineHacker News, 2014
- Physical productsDesigned and sold iPad cases through a small online store.OnlineHacker News, 2011
- Physical productsSells grafting tools made by a relative's family company through an online store, after testing demand on eBay.A few hours a weekOnlineHacker News, 2011