My Journey Through Side Hustles: What to Avoid and How to Succeed
Introduction to Side Hustles
As soon as I left school, I started my first side hustle and became a millionaire overnight. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Most side hustles that the gurus talk about won’t make you rich, and a lot of them should be avoided at all costs.
Believe me, I’ve tried so many different side hustles before finally escaping my 9-to-5 job and becoming a millionaire in my 20s. I now own multiple million-dollar businesses, so this video comes from experience. Not only am I going to expose the top seven side hustles to avoid, but I’m also going to reveal how you can actually be successful with some clever tweaks.
Top Seven Side Hustles to Avoid
Common Pitfalls and Personal Experiences
Side Hustles That May Seem Tempting but Are Not Worth It
E-Commerce: The Challenges
I’m sure you’ve all seen those TikTok videos where people claim to have got rich from selling Christmas gnomes on Amazon. It might seem like a walk in the park, but behind all the flashy success stories you see online, it can be an extremely tough game.
Honestly, I think the number one issue here is customer data. This is the ability to know your customer’s purchasing habits. This specific type of data is a game-changer. Knowing this information allows you to build a much stronger returning customer base as you can market to them again and again at almost no cost.
If a huge corporation like Amazon owns all of your customer data, then who’s to say they can’t use this to push you out and start selling a product like yours?
Speaking of being powerless, there was a time when I got banned from one of these internet giants myself. A few years back, I listed some craft knives on my RC model business, and they got taken down. I was told that I’d broken their terms and conditions for a little craft knife. I know, how ridiculous!
As a punishment, they banned me from listing any new items for an entire month.
So, should we completely forget about Amazon and eBay?
Well, it might surprise you to hear that I actually do sell on eBay. This is my warehouse. But why sell on eBay after I’ve just said third-party platforms are not a good idea?
Well, I only do it to draw attention to my brand. I see it more as a marketing tool and use it to funnel as many people to my website as possible.
A little trick I use to achieve this is by having my staff include business brochures with every order we sell on a third-party platform. These brochures contain a discount code that customers can use on my website. By doing this, you can redirect these customers to your website where you play by your own rules and regain that control.
Real Estate: The Hard Truths
The ultimate path to passive income?
Earning an extra yearly salary effortlessly and riding that relaxing wave to financial freedom?
Absolute nonsense!
Well, coming from someone who owns multiple properties, I can promise you it’s not that easy.
First off, to even purchase a property, you need a significant amount of money. It’s highly illiquid — you’ll have a large chunk of your money tied up, which you’re unable to use, and you must be prepared for that.
Even if you can afford to buy a property, it will typically require ongoing expenses like tax and insurance, not to mention the maintenance. I’m sure many of you have lived or currently live in student housing. Just consider the damage that is caused over a year and how many times the handyman is called in to fix yet another cold shower.
This house behind me is one of my single-family rental properties. Stunning, even though I do say so myself. But it hasn’t always been that way. Honestly, it took me about 4 years to make this house worthwhile. Check out the tiling on the roof up there. Looks decent, right?
Well, that’s because I had to refit them.
One of the ridge tiles fell off, which caused the wind to blow down many more. At the time, I decided to do the job myself, thinking, “How hard can it be?
“ But then I realized how high a roof on a two-story building is. I’m not even afraid of heights, but it’s extremely difficult to lay tiles when you’re 26 feet up a ladder and shaking with fear. It feels like being on one of those Mr. Beast videos.
The frustrating part is that if I’d have found out when that first tile had fallen off, I could have saved a lot of money and fixed that problem immediately. I’ve been very lucky that my tenants have always paid on time, but this isn’t the case for everyone. So ask yourself, is it worth it?
Look, despite all the chaos that comes with real estate, I’m still very passionate about it. I usually aim to keep a good 15% of my annual rental money aside, which protects me against some of the issues we’ve discussed along the way. Ultimately, it’s a great way to build long-term wealth. So when you have enough money to tie up into an investment property, then it can be a good idea, but it’s definitely not a side hustle.
Day Trading: A High-Risk Venture
Right, imagine waking up at 5:00 a.m., armed with a protein shaker, ready to take on the financial market. The day begins with one simple premise: all you have to do is sit with your laptop following charts and boom, you’ve made a profit. This is the illusion that fake gurus put out on social media, and I can confirm that this is one daring adventure where profits can be lost in the blink of an eye.
Believe it or not, I’ve tried trading myself, and you want to know how long I lasted?
8 months, not even a year. One of my shares bombed because I wasn’t online enough to monitor its progress, resulting in a loss of money. I’m grateful that I didn’t have a significant amount invested, as a large sum could have sunk me at the time.
The biggest issue I have with online trading is fake gurus selling signals to unsuspecting people that don’t know any better. The pitch is you just do what they tell you, and you’ll be rich. But you have to ask yourself if they actually know how to beat the market, then why would they be making most of their money from selling these signals instead of from trading themselves?
Ultimately, to start trading, you need to have a decent amount of money and be in a financial position where potential losses will not significantly affect you. I know this is usually the point where I tell you how to make this side hustle a success, but to be honest with you, unless you’re going to dedicate your life to it, then I don’t see how day trading is going to work out for you. AI will be far better at spotting patterns than any human brain, so I think the days of even the best human traders are pretty limited.
Low-Skilled Service-Based Businesses
Low-skilled service-based businesses are probably the most common side hustle shared in those top 10 side hustle videos on YouTube. You’ve probably heard them talking about getting paid to complete online surveys and for writing video captions.
The harsh truth is when it comes to a low-skilled service-based business, it doesn’t matter who you are or where you’ve come from. Your value is purely on the quality of the service you provide. Those typical barriers like age and experience become a thing of the past. So as long as there’s an internet connection, anyone anywhere in the world can compete with you.
It’s important to remember that this includes kids and people in less economically developed countries, so this is going to drive down the amount that you can charge. I mean, look around. AI is slowly integrating itself into many areas within society. Who’s to say it won’t take over some service-based businesses?
AI is advancing by the day, and it’s already replaced the role of a caption creator. I have a feeling that the days of copywriting and certain services might be numbered.
If you’re considering starting a service-based business, remember that even if you’re earning a decent amount of money, you’re still tied down by time.
It’s not all doom and gloom.
You just need to make sure that you start a service-based business that is not only successful but also scalable.
Video editing is a great example of this, as it allows you to establish an agency-style business.
This way, you can avoid being limited to manual work.
Remember, life is short, so make sure you’re the one in control of the stopwatch.
