A while back I wrote an article on side hustles (see that article HERE), outlining why they are useful and why we might need them. Unfortunately most of those reasons have now for many come painfully true. I have a great job which I really enjoy. It earns decent money. Yet over the last year with rising interest rates and petrol costs I find myself now either scraping by, or if i miss a day of work going backwards financially. This is not acceptable so the motivation to ramp up my side hustles has now developed a sense of urgency.
Side Hustles (Continued)
Since that article I’ve developed a stream on income which isn’t huge by any means, but really helps out. The side hustles I’ve outlined are no-where near replacing my income but its a nice top-up! It means I can occasionally take the missus out for a dinner without it affecting my ability to get through the week or buy the occasional record or even just buy a nicer brand of beer.
Most of what I’m doing (Share trading, freelance web design and trading off collectables like VHS tapes) is just a case of “If you want to do it, go ahead and do it, there’s probably not much point me putting on a whole article about how this works (the share trading stuff will take years to explain) but its defs helping me out. I’ve signed up to tik tok and found a number of people also discussing Side Hustles and the idea of doing Surveys or User Testing seems to be a common thread. So I’ve tried a few and i’ll keep this article updated to see how I progress with a few of these things.
So here’s some survey sites I’ve tried. There’s probably more in your country so its well worth looking and i’ll post fair accounts of how i’ve been going:
Side hustles I’ve looked at:
- Time Bucks.com – So far seems to be paying rather poorly. Not sure if its a global site but for Australians the best you can do is around $5 per hour (I have reasonable to fast web/ computer navigational skills so it could be less if you’re a little slow). I guess if you’re an insomniac or really up against it this might be worth while, and hey a few extra dollars always helps but i’ve found I haven’t qualified for much of the surveys anyway. I’ll stick at it a bit longer and see what happens.
- Askable.com this one another survey site but pays much better than others. Many surveys come in at $10 for 15 minutes which I guess equates to around $40 per hour in real terms. These guys pay via Pay Pal or E Gift Card. Fully recommend. Easy work too 🙂 *** THE PAYOUT TIMES FOR THIS WAS REALLY FAST! SIGN UP TO ASKABLE HERE!
- Attapol again more short surveys it doesn’t pay out huge but would possibly work out to about $7 + (depending on the surveys you take) an hour if you’re reasonable on the computer. Again they payout through PayPal or gift cards. I did a few and they payed out instantly to my paypal.
- Focus Groups – I’ve tried a few like Farron Research and Focus Marketing, AVA Research and Consumer Opinions here in Australia. You’ll have to look at similar opportunities in your own country. There will be a lot of trial and error in this as well. This is by no means consistent but it pays well when when you get the surveys. I’ve been pulling in $70 or more dollars for an hours worth of work. Sometimes even more for longer jobs. Last year I probably made around $1000 out of this for minimal effort. They pay in gift cards (or cash if you do it in person) You can choose what business you take the gift cards from but I choose the Grocery options and basically go buy my weekly groceries out of it. I have to say this has come in handy on more than a few occasions. By all means check out the focus groups in your country and sign up to as many as you can. Only thing you need is a computer, with web cam and zoom capabilities and good internet connection.
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