Corporations taking over side hustles seems to be screwing over people, since they take such a large cut and flood the market for that hustle.
But the ones I’ve personally seen people do that work pretty well (in USA) are:
Stay at home mom watching another kid (legally dubious depending on state/situation. But I ain’t no narc.)
A neighbor of my mom’s sends out a menu saying what she plans on cooking each night for that week, and for $X will deliver you some as well (Legal in Utah due to special laws, other states could be dubious. )
People who go pick up free furniture that is pretty trashed, and then refurbishes it and sells it. Or people with trucks who are like “Will deliver furniture for $30 in X area” is also pretty life saver for people without cars/trucks. Was able to get a super cheap/nice coach because of this.
People who just flip free stuff or stuff from thrift stores without doing any improvements annoy me greatly though. We broke and you’re just driving up the price!
None of these generate a ton of cash, but I like that they take very little up front cost, aren’t disruptive, and mostly take labor.
So what side hustles have you seen work out?
Scalpers = bad
Fixing expensive things and selling them cheaper than new = based
They get money, buyer gets a cheaper appliance, OG person got what they thought was junk hauled away. 10/10 business.
Saving perfectly good things from the dump = based
Seriously, just post on marketplace “Free thing sitting out on corner of XYZ, no holds, I’ll let you know if it’s there or not” So much really good stuff ends up at the dump out of laziness.
I just do love side hustles that actually make a positive impact on their community, and I think all those do for sure do.