Lessons on Freelancing I Learned After Failing at 5 Side Hustles

Is it just me or are successful side hustles not actually that easy?

Side hustles just seem so sexy.

A bit of extra income padding your wallet. Monetizing your hobby. Growing something you’re passionate about into a business.

The Internet god algorithms have smelled my interest like sharks to a drop of blood. I receive targeted advertisements left, right, and center about finding your dream career at the age of 25 and achieving your financial freedom.

First off, I’ve passed that milestone of 25. That exit ramp for a quarter-life crisis? I see you in my rearview mirror (and I do not miss that chapter of my life).

Secondly, they just make it look so achievable! So easy and within reach, with all these first-hand success stories.

Well folks, after reading far too many, “10 Easy Side Hustles To Make You Some Extra Money!” posts, I’m here to report back to yours truly.

Only instead of a success story, mine is … the opposite.

Sell Things

Sure, I made $20 here and $30 there selling on Facebook marketplace. My biggest sell was my bicycle and I brought in a whopping $225 off that — $100 more than what I paid for it four years ago thanks to COVID.

But I only had one bicycle to sell … how many other things around the house am I supposed to find to sell? It hasn’t exactly been sustainable. After selling off the things that actually have value, I feel like I’m just peddling junk now.

Is anyone interested in a disco ball that I won from Chuck E. Cheese over a decade ago? I promise it still works.

Fill Out Surveys

I spent four years submitting my grocery bill weekly to Nielsen Homescan and doing surveys for them. When I first signed up, they were offering a $15/month cash incentive for the first year on top of their usual points. You can use these points to exchange for gifts in their gift catalog.

Spoiler alert. Those points are worth just slightly more than garbage and after the first year, that cash incentive never came back to reward me for being a long-time participant.

I recently cashed out my points and closed the account. Do you want to know what this four-year commitment got me? An 8 pack of Riedel wine glasses.

Don’t get me wrong - I love Riedel, I love wine, and I love wine glasses. I love them enough to know that while the market price of that set is $110, that same set of wine glasses just went on sale at Costco for $39.97.

Become a Pet Influencer

Oh yeah, no biggie, let me just grow my base of followers for my dog’s Instagram account, and then I’ll be pulling in the big bucks.

Well, I actually did grow my dog’s account to 17.2k followers. Unfortunately, she has yet to pull in a single penny to earn her keep.

Instead, I just receive plenty of “Hey DM me to collab!” messages, which I sometimes follow up on. I’ve received my fair share of discount codes. But I fundamentally struggle to see why I should purchase from a website that, even at 50% off, is still more expensive than Amazon. It’s probably all coming from the same handful of factories in China anyways!

My puppy remains a freeloader in my household.

Freelance on Fiverr

Fiverr made it onto my radar when the Internet algorithms decided it was time I “meet” this 28-year-old freelancer who makes $378,000 per year on Fiverr.

Wow! That’s a lot of money! I should try!

So I set up my profile, carefully followed all the instructions and tips, and set up my “gigs” (basically, what I can offer my potential clients). Eagerly, I sat back and waited … and waited … and I’m still waiting.

It’s been almost a month, and I still don’t have anyone interested in hiring me for a gig. I’ve already set my gigs to $5 (the lowest possible price) and while I could expand and play with different gig options, let’s be honest. I’m not really going to be able to price match editing services from India on a per word basis.

Freelance Writing

This one’s funny because I’m still writing!

After getting wind of people actually being paid to write, I thought I’d try my hand at it. After writing and publishing 12 articles in the span of a year, I made $0.23 in 2020.

Not $0.23 per article — $0.23 in total. That’s not even a quarter and probably puts my hourly rate at approximately one one-thousandth of a penny.

Cue the starving writer jokes.

Well, with those failures under my belt, what’s next? Do I accept that this dream of having a successful side hustle just isn’t written in the stars for me?

Nah, I’m not that easily discouraged!

I enjoy dabbling and experimenting with different things so I’ll continue trying my hand at whatever tickles my fancy. Who knows what hidden talent I might accidentally unlock through this series of trial-and-error?

It does, however, mean that I definitely won’t be quitting my day job anytime soon.