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Revisiting Previous "Failed" Business Ideas (As Potential Side Hustles)

Anything considered a "hustle" and not necessarily a CENTS-based Fastlane

Velo

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I put "failed" in quotations because I lost interest/motivation after 1-2 months in and not because the ideas themselves were not viable or workable.

Anyway, long story short, I, like many of you, need a "side hustle" to fund the primary business of our choice.

Some previous ideas that I never pursued diligently, but merely dabbled in:

1) Wall Art/Canvas Art

2) Catering (here, some kind of ethnic cuisine that isn't seen very often like Eastern European, African, Middle Eastern, etc. should provide enough differentiation and work out - assuming either you or the head chef is somewhat competent)

3) Tutoring for skills in non-academic subjects; e.g. housework, carwork, video games (yes people will pay money for this), sports/hunting, etc.


With minimal effort, I believe you should be able to make to pay for all cost of living expenses incl. taxes + use the remainder for bootstrapping purposes. Even if it's only ~$10K it's much better than nothing.

Now here's the thing - my younger self said, "Oh yea none of these are CENTS businesses so they're worthless." That turned out to be a costly mistake.

I will go ahead and revisit these - I'm curious what "side hustles" you have come up with? You can even think of a "side hustle" as a non-CENTS business.

One last thing - TBH I'm not a big fan of web design just because every "web design agency" slaps on some theme and makes customizations and charges you $500-$10K while hiring some guy on Fiverr to make changes to Wix/Shopify/WP/whatever they're using. Obviously you CAN succeed but it seems a bit too overcrowded...
 
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DougRMR

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I put "failed" in quotations because I lost interest/motivation after 1-2 months in and not because the ideas themselves were not viable or workable.

Anyway, long story short, I, like many of you, need a "side hustle" to fund the primary business of our choice.

Some previous ideas that I never pursued diligently, but merely dabbled in:

1) Wall Art/Canvas Art

2) Catering (here, some kind of ethnic cuisine that isn't seen very often like Eastern European, African, Middle Eastern, etc. should provide enough differentiation and work out - assuming either you or the head chef is somewhat competent)

3) Tutoring for skills in non-academic subjects; e.g. housework, carwork, video games (yes people will pay money for this), sports/hunting, etc.


With minimal effort, I believe you should be able to make to pay for all cost of living expenses incl. taxes + use the remainder for bootstrapping purposes. Even if it's only ~$10K it's much better than nothing.

Now here's the thing - my younger self said, "Oh yea none of these are CENTS businesses so they're worthless." That turned out to be a costly mistake.

I will go ahead and revisit these - I'm curious what "side hustles" you have come up with? You can even think of a "side hustle" as a non-CENTS business.

One last thing - TBH I'm not a big fan of web design just because every "web design agency" slaps on some theme and makes customizations and charges you $500-$10K while hiring some guy on Fiverr to make changes to Wix/Shopify/WP/whatever they're using. Obviously you CAN succeed but it seems a bit too overcrowded...
Currently working on a chocolate chip cookie recipe to sell during work hours and to friends and family. For now it's just to make a little bit of extra money while also having fun doing it. The cookie's done from scratch with a few unique selling points (no eggs, secret ingredient) that so far have gotten good reception. A few people who tasted the samples have asked me when I'm gonna start selling them, so I'll take that as a positive :) If demand grows high enough, who knows what might happen. Also working on web design with a focus on lead generation and Facebook Ads, basically selling the whole package.

As for the fastlane business I plan for in the future when I gain enough capital I'm still working on what it could be. But for now my "side hustles" are web design and baking.
 

Andy Black

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My side project is a membership site and a paid email newsletter. It’s related to my consulting work, but a completely different market.
 

woken

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My side project pays for all my living expenses.
My #2 side project pays for ideas I’m working on.

They both violate CENTS. MJ never said a business that violates CENTS won’t make money.

I could be very stressed and try to take both to the next level or do what I do and work on a project that doesn’t violate CENTS while everything else is taken care for.
 
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Velo

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My side project pays for all my living expenses.
My #2 side project pays for ideas I’m working on.

They both violate CENTS. MJ never said a business that violates CENTS won’t make money.

I could be very stressed and try to take both to the next level or do what I do and work on a project that doesn’t violate CENTS while everything else is taken care for.

I'd like to ask how much time side projects #1 and #2 take per week or month?
 

Rabby

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Are any of these side hustles related to the main business you want to do? Do they share a customer base, or give you information about the market in which your primary business exists? Maybe lead toward an eventual sale for that business?

I see nothing wrong with "previously failed business ideas." If you can take what you learned the first time and apply it, you should at least do better. There are things I trudged along miserably at 20 years ago that I think would be easy today.
 

woken

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I'd like to ask how much time side projects #1 and #2 take per week or month?
To be honest I never really timed it.
I some time upfront doing everything I could to get them here and now the maintenance is 10 minutes a day, if that.

There might be an extra hour a week where I try some new things but that’s it. It’s at a point where it doesn’t grow or decline but keeps it steady so all of my time is focused on what I need to do.

Call it a glimpse of financial independence.

It doesn’t have to be sexy. As long as it’s on autopilot and it pays the bills, it doesn’t matter. You’re not building Facebook.

I think anyone could do this to bootstrap a business !
 
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Velo

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Are any of these side hustles related to the main business you want to do? Do they share a customer base, or give you information about the market in which your primary business exists? Maybe lead toward an eventual sale for that business?

I see nothing wrong with "previously failed business ideas." If you can take what you learned the first time and apply it, you should at least do better. There are things I trudged along miserably at 20 years ago that I think would be easy today.

Not really. I'm a bit on the erratic side so I just do w/e I feel like. Obviously I'm aware of the limitations of certain types of businesses but once I factor in those constraints I have a very laid back attitude.
 

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