Thanks to the need to generate affiliate income and gain some much needed traction with giant list style posts of the “100 ways to earn extra income” malarkey I’ve decided to compile my own list of the absolute worst side hustles and passive income ideas…..most of which always appear on these giant list style posts that are just fantastic for driving traffic….whilst deluding readers, generating some income that is pi$$ poor to say the least and generally putting people off.
With that in mind I present to you the 17 bloody worst side hustles and passive income strategies you can pursue today….and firmly cripple your chances of ever FIRING off into the sunset. These are ranked from bad to worst….enjoy.
17. Start a Website
Oh god of passive income, make me a website and watch how the money flows in. The start a website and earn thousands in recurring monthly passive income is great…..if you are a marketer, if you have a working knowledge of social media promotion, expert in search engine optimisation?
This is number 17 for the simple reason – IT DOES ACTUALLY WORK.
But the problem is it doesn’t work for most people. Creating, running and writing for your own website is easy. I can write a post in an afternoon and have it on the blog. But that doesn’t mean it’s going to make me any money. Then there’s the hours I spend each week on promotional marketing, then there’s responding to all your guys emails (which I enjoy so keep them coming thanks), there’s working on ways to monetise the blog…..ebook is coming soon I swear, there’s the SEO optimisation, the keyword research and so many other things that go into making a website successful.
The truth is I have a background in marketing and SEO. I’ve been writing for the web for 12 years.
Don’t let me put you off too much, I actually think building a website is a great side hustle. It just isn’t for everyone. It takes years of work to make successful, and you aren’t ever going to stop working on your website. I’m working on my own guide to making yourself a side-hustle website, it’s probably going to be over 20,000 words long…and I’m still worried I haven’t included enough information to help you guys make it successful.
Build that website, work your ass off on it, just don’t believe the naïve hype of passive income experts who are looking to sell you courses and hosting…..here’s my hosting affiliate link btw!
16. Dog Walk, BabySit, Garden, Bar Tend (Insert side job here)
The problem with all of the side jobs that you can get is this….THEY PROBABLY PAY LESS THAN YOUR CURRENT JOB.
I’ve spent some time working on my neighbour’s farm for some extra cash. I’ve tended bar to help out a pub for a few days. I’ve picked up some extra jobs here and there along the way. THEY ALL PAID LESS THAN MY DAY JOB.
I did most of these jobs for the fun of it, and for a little bit of extra cash to put towards some beers.
If you enjoy walking dogs, or want to make some money while you work your own job then this is a great way to make your hobbies pay for themselves. Just don’t believe that this is a path to financial wealth…..it’s a way to make a few extra quid. To really head towards financial independence your going to need to hustle harder than that. You need to save, invest, hustle hard and build long term reliable income.
The problem is really that your time could be better spent. If you pick up an extra 8 hours of work a week at a second job could you have worked 5 hours extra at your current work, made it more likely you’ll get promoted in the future, still put more into your Financial Independence pot and spent 3 hours learning to code/create websites/learn the stock market/learn car maintenance or any other infinitely more rewarding financial activity.
15. Use Cashback Websites
Disclaimer: I use cashback websites.
However…..
Cashback websites often don’t have the cheapest deals.
Amazon and Ebay are usually cheaper for products.
Comparison websites are usually cheaper for services. (Insert link from AWIN here)
They encourage you to spend money.
Sure, if you can find the cheapest car insurance quote and it happens to be available as a link from a cashback website that’s great and you’ll effectively have got the cheapest price AND get some cashback. But most of the time you won’t.
Worse still these sites encourage you to spend money. We’re trying to reach financial independence not buy a load of crap we never really needed in the first place.
IN ORDER TO FIRE YOU NEED TO MOVE AWAY FROM SPENDING MONEY. CASHBACK SITES ARE DESIGNED TO DO THE OPPOSITE – THEY DO NOT EXIST TO SAVE YOU MONEY BUT TO MAKE MONEY.
14. Sell Stock Photography
If you are a really really good photographer you can probably make a reasonable recurring passive income selling stock photography.
If you are a normal person with an iphone or a normal camera you probably won’t.
The quality and competition on stock photography sites is huge. I tested this out myself and went though hundreds of my photos from travelling, picked out the best and uploaded them to a few stock photography sites. Didn’t sell any.
If you are a talented photographer – or prepared to work at becoming one you can make money from stock photography (the same applies to graphics), but for most of us this will be a big No.
13. Build an App
No experience coding, no problem. With our handy course you can go from compete beginner to building an App in just 3 weeks. Normal price £10,000 yours today for only £5.95.
You may see a theme by now. If you want to be a developer, want to learn to code and work your ass off making and marketing your apps this is definitely a viable passive income. This is for maybe 1% of the FIRE, make money online crowd. You want to do it go for it – don’t expect to make the next Candy Crush Saga or whatever the kids are playing this week.
12. Buy and Flip Domain Names
The DOTCom boom is over – didn’t you get the memo. Don’t get me wrong domains still sell for a pretty penny if you can find really popular names, or catch an upcoming trend just before it breaks mainstream news. But the reality is you’ll probably spend a thousand pounds on domains no one will ever want to buy.
For me I’d rather put my money to work in some high paying stocks than speculate on domain names. It’s like gambling….except you can’t see the odds.
11. FOREX TRADING
Hahahahahahaha.
Feel like you can predict the fluctuations of the currency markets. Know everything about the whims of international economies….congratulations you are the next Nostradamus. Go and pick tomorrow’s winning lottery numbers and you’ll achieve FIRE tomorrow.
Currency trading makes stock trading look like a children’s game of monopoly. Don’t play games you can’t understand if you’re trying to build wealth….go buy BitCoin (Joke!)
That said….I do wish I’d put all of my money into Euros right before the Brexit vote and traded it back afterwards….i’d of seen a great ROI.
10. Vending Machine Hire
Do you dream of spending your evenings filling up vending machines. Do you yearn for hours spent counting out 20ps. Do you want to explore all of your local area trying to get shops to put out your machines. No? In that case vending machines probably aren’t for you. The people who do this well do this full time, have thousands of machines in fantastic locations. This is not a side hustle.
9. Drive for UBER
If you like ferrying around drunks whilst depreciating the value of your car UBER is great. Wait no it isn’t. If you live in a big city you can make money off this…..but not enough.
This is again a case of invest your time in creating income producing assets or increasing your earning potential rather than taking a side job that requires constant effort…..not to mention cleaning vomit of the back of your seats at 3am on a Saturday morning.
8. Rent out your tools/car/other item that isn’t a house
This was a great idea. I love the sharing economy and if you live nearby and want to borrow my tools come on over. You want to lift share that’s great. But renting out my tools/car or other items isn’t going to earn me enough money to retire comfortably sipping cocktails. This is one of those ideas that’s great but in most major cities these types of sharing groups exist already – and offer the goods and services for free.
7. Wholesaling
Buy cheap sell high. Buy in bulk from China and sell to distributors/Amazon. Great idea but requires a hell of a lot of research, attention to pricing, market research and a huge number of contacts. People do this as their full time business and make a killing. You’re more likely to end up with a garage full of inflatable pink flamingos you were sure were going to shift to the Hen Party market.
6. Drop Shipping
Saturated, saturated, saturated. And requires a huge understanding of ecommerce and SEO to make profitable. If you want to drop ship on Amazon or eBay be prepared to make 2p a sale and compete with 100,000 other sellers as well as cheap imports from the Far East.
Successful drop shippers find sources directly. They research markets, build websites that are fully optimised and have budgets for marketing and advertising. They identify potential partners, arrange meetings and sales calls. They do not join the drop shippers directory to sell 5000 different kinds of sex toy.
5. Become a Mystery Shopper
Ah another below minimum wage special. Go buy things, give feedback, get a refund and some profit. This falls into the category of a bit of a laugh to do for a few months and you get to get some good freebies but it’s not a path to wealth or a reliable enough second income to subsidise your day job.
I actually did this for several months, I enjoyed lots of free coffees, meals out, and picked up some free clothes. I made about £120.
4. Car Boot Bargain Hunting
A popular pastime in the warm summer months, though personally I’d rather be on the beach or out for a nice walk. Buying second hand goods to resell is a fine hobby but its only ever a hobby.
Unless of course you are an expert in the random collectables, toys, vinyl antiques that turn up at car boot sales and you can flip for hundreds of pounds of profit. If you are, or again want to learn, then car boot sale bargain hunting is great. Otherwise, go get some exercise and enjoy the sun in other more profitable ways that don’t fill your house with crap you need to sell.
3. Be a film/TV extra
Want to start your days off at 6, sit around all day and get your 60 seconds of fame showing your mates you in the background of EastEnders…then being a TV extra may be for you. The pay as a day rate isn’t actually too bad sometimes on these – up to around £200 a day.
But again, it’s not a reliable source of income and it’s a long ass day. Do it a few times for fun, but this is not a side hustle.
2. Multi-Level Marketing
This was close to the top spot, because most MLM income opportunities are pyramid scheme scams rebranded for the modern world. The top people, and those in early make a killing, anyone joining at the bottom makes diddly.
The reality is there are some ways of making a reliable second income with MLM when it is product focused, Avon ladies, Cookery Equipment sales, Ann Summers Party Hostess. But they all mainly rely on you busting your ass off to get sales, annoying the hell out of your friends and family trying to sell them shit they don’t need or spamming social media. The reality is even the legitimate ones have much better alternatives – you know actually doing something valuable.
You’re better off getting a promotion at work or getting a bar job than you are with most MLM…..kick this to the curb where it belongs.
1. Paid Surveys
Just no, hell no. Earn £20/month completing surveys, earn cashback rewards get Amazon vouchers by completing our quick surveys. What this really means is – GET PAID BELOW MINIMUM WAGE FOR YOUR TIME WHILST WE MAKE A KILLING.
Don’t get me wrong if nothing gives you more satisfaction than answering questions on your toilet habits and company image go nuts, have a “fun” hobby that just happens to earn you a coupe of extra quid a month. But don’t for a second tout this as a reliable second income opportunity. It isn’t.
Most survey sites pay less than £2.50 a survey and surveys take 20 minutes or more. There are better paying surveys but they are few and far between….or require you to be a senior exec or purchase decision maker in a global conglomerate of some kind!
If you want to earn below minimum wage go and do something useful like walk your elderly neighbours dog.
Well I hope you enjoyed this list, and do take it all with a pinch of salt! I’ll update it when I find more things you really shouldn’t be doing! As you can probably guess – the lessons here are 1. Focus on what will actually work 2. Focus on increasing your earnings significantly and sustainably, don’t chase the pie in the sky million dollar quick win, don’t work 80 hours a week to not even double your income. Take it slow and steady and keep plugging away at FIRE.