Yahoo Finance 8 Side Gigs That Don’t Pay Enough To Be Worth Your Time
Side hustles can offer easy access to cash, but they’re not all created equal. Some are more reliable than others, so it’s important to know where to invest your time and energy.
As with most jobs, some side gigs pay relatively well, while others don’t. Here’s a look at eight it’s probably best to pass on.
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Paid Survey Sites
“Answering online surveys for money is an extremely popular side hustle,” said Tom Blake, managing editor at WebMonkey.
While this can be an effective way to make some pocket money, he said it won’t serve as a full-time income opportunity.
“Websites like InboxDollars, Swagbucks and Survey Junkie generally pay a few dollars per hour at most,” he said. “It’s the kind of side hustle you might do while watching TV or passing the time on the city bus — not the kind of hustle that can pay off your major bills.”
Personally, he said he’s a fan of survey sites and has used dozens over the years. “However, people must have realistic expectations about the earning potential of this hustle, so they’re not disappointed,” he said.
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Multi-Level Marketing Companies
“MLM, or multilevel marketing, is a business model in which members are rewarded for recruiting other members to join the business and purchase products or services from the company,” Blake said. “MLMs are often used by direct-sales companies and highly motivate existing members to recruit new representatives to earn commissions.”
When it comes to legitimacy, he said MLMs are a bit of a gray area.
“They’re quite similar to pyramid schemes, which are illegal,” he said. “And, unfortunately, many MLMs are extremely lucrative for top members, but barely pay anything to new recruits who haven’t referred anyone.”
New members might even lose money on membership fees and purchasing startup products and services, he said.
“Overall, this business model is highly unlikely to work for most people, and even the FTC thinks so.”
Selling Internet Bandwidth
“One passive side hustle that’s growing in popularity involves selling your internet bandwidth,” Blake said. “Companies like Honeygain and Pawns let you turn your IP address into an income source.”
He said the reason these companies want your internet bandwidth is to rent out IP addresses, so people around the world can do things like watch Netflix in a different country or use a VPN.
“Selling your bandwidth can turn into a decent side hustle,” he said. “However, how much you earn depends on how much data you share and where you live.”
He said there’s a greater demand for IP addresses from major cities than those in rural or suburban areas.
“This means that for millions of people, these bandwidth sharing applications pay pennies per day, or nothing at all,” he said.
Drop-Off Catering
If you enjoy cooking or baking, you might think about turning this into a side hustle, but Christine Schaub, an author and host of the “Come On Over” web series, said it probably won’t pay off.
“Unless you live in a wealthy area — where clients will pay $5 per cookie or $50 per person for meals — it’s not worth the time [and/or] effort to shop, prep, cook [and/or] bake and deliver food items,” she said. “Food ingredients and fuel are too pricey in a high-inflation economy, and you wind up making less than $2 per hour for your efforts.”
Custom Art
“The average consumer has no idea how much time [and] effort goes into custom artwork,” Schaub said. “They shop at discount stores for prints — not actual paintings or illustrations — or lightweight sculptures — not actual wood, ivory or marble — so they scoff at the high price.”
If you’re an artist, she said it will take days or weeks to create one custom piece, and you need to be paid for your time and materials.
“The term ‘starving artist’ is on-point for a reason,” she said.
ZipRecruiter places artist earnings around $29 an hour on average, but Indeed reports about $21 an hour as the average — but keep in mind that these averages may not take into account the cost of materials and the time it could take to gain enough of a reputation to charge top rates for your art. They also include artists who are employed full time to produce art for companies.
Selling Stock Photos
If you consider yourself an amateur photographer, selling stock photos might sound appealing. However, Scott Lieberman, founder of Touchdown Money, said this won’t provide any consistent income.
“The stock photo platforms are oversaturated and plentiful, meaning that if you have not jumped into doing this before now, chances are likely that you won’t make much money even if you upload hundreds of photos,” he said. “And even if you do, most people only make around $500 a month, who have been doing it for years.”
Being a Driver
“Delivery service side hustles are available with companies like Uber and Door Dash,” Lieberman said.
While you will earn money, he said you’ll also incur expenditures that will eat into your profits. “Vehicle costs, repairs and upkeep will keep you spending, reducing your income,” he said.
He said you also might have trouble gaining consistent, reliable work.
“Often these types of hustles require you to be in an on-call situation, so you spend your time waiting for a phone call to fulfill a request for your services,” he said.
Pay for these services varies widely, as well, with location, demand and tips factoring heavily into how much you’ll earn.
Creating a Stand-Alone Online Course
People might think it’s easy to create a successful stand-alone online course, but Eddy Ballesteros, a full-time content creator and YouTuber, said this couldn’t be further from the truth. “To sell anything online, you have to spend time and energy to build an audience of fans who trust you and your content,” he said.
If you have a fan base, he said people will be happy to buy from you, but it can be a hard sell otherwise. Beyond that, he said people these days want more value from a purchase.
“I think the days of just selling courses are mostly done,” he said. “People in 2024 want to belong to a community of people who share a common goal or interest.”
Finally, he said people have grown used to spending money in monthly amounts — i.e., not paying for an expensive stand-alone course. “The beauty of an online community is that it can be a monthly subscription cost rather than a prohibitively large one-time fee,” he said.
Therefore, opting to take this route can help increase your earnings. Building a community might take more time, but it can be the more lucrative option.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 8 Side Gigs That Don’t Pay Enough To Be Worth Your Time
