make a template (or print one out) for halloween faces and reverse engineer the dimensions. garden planters are easy boxes to make.
right now would be a good time to start making christmas junk:
|
|
|
Curious about side hustles around here.
- Thread starter mimico_polak
- Start date
make a template (or print one out) for halloween faces and reverse engineer the dimensions. garden planters are easy boxes to make.
right now would be a good time to start making christmas junk:
That's what pinterest and etsy are for. "Borrow" the ideas and crank some out.
Right now these wooden Halloween boxes are all the rage. It doesn't look too difficult to make these with a mitre saw and a jigsaw or scroll saw. A few dollars worth of pine and some stain and they can be sold for some profit
I made some craft stuff long before etsy and asked some people what they thought they should sell for. I must have cheap friends because they barely covered the cost of materials. Maybe times have changed.
Fuzzbuster
Well-known member
Provide assembly services.
You would be able to book them in according to your schedule. Probably wouldn't have to worry about material runs. Kijiji ad for starters. Most would be weekends and evenings. Furniture assembly, gazebos, sheds, bbq's, etc.
You would be able to book them in according to your schedule. Probably wouldn't have to worry about material runs. Kijiji ad for starters. Most would be weekends and evenings. Furniture assembly, gazebos, sheds, bbq's, etc.
To make money making things, you need to get the time and materials to almost nothing. Those pine halloween things are great for both. I talked to a canoe maker a long time that did great work. He sold canoes for $2500+ and figured he made a little more than 50% of minimum wage as his hourly rate. Pricing canoes at a fair rate to cover his labor would mean he never finds a buyer.
Someone here must be a good web developer
Ask the pharma guy
Wouldn’t posting on Kijiji work? Or approaching real estate agents??
I'm too lazy lol
But you're right, web presence wouldn't be a bad idea. I've noticed a lot of "hands on" work like this either lacks web presence or has a website but it looks like it was made in 2000s.
Really easy bar to leap if you want to market online.
D
Deleted member 50930
Guest
Yes. I have seen some contractor websites and it's blah or they spend a fortune for something like WIX.
Help him, no time to be lazy ^_^
I'm seriously too lazy, lazy enough that I turn down contract offers lol, no sense in agreeing to do something and producing something half assed.
I'll give advice though; just don't want to actually code because I already do it too much. How much does WIX and similar stuff cost anyway? I never looked into it.
I wouldnt be too concerned about the website. A couple flyers in strategic locations get the ball rolling and then its word of mouth. Make sure flyers include other languages you can speak as some people are more comfortable hiring people with their native language.
I find wix sites slow and normally a design disaster as people get enamored by the crap and dont think. Like the old days of laser letters in PowerPoint presentations. I setup a dream press site. Wasnt hard. ~$3 a month for hosting or ~$15 a month if they manage it, install updates, keep SSH certificates up to date etc.
If you want to use dreamhost, my referral code is 2183015 (DreamHost | Web Hosting For Your Purpose). I've used them for years and friends have used them for decades without issue.
As for all in vs part time, it's not simple. To carry the insurance, bookkeeping and paperwork required makes part time a tough slog. Operate for cash and the burden drops but you risk your house.
Also spam is a big online presence downside. I rmb making a website for a workplace and when I checked the inbox there was a lot of "love you long time, suckie suckie" bot messages lol
I'd imagine you would hire someone to help with the scheduling, and paperwork...but I'm aware good secretaries might not exist.
I made up a bunch of email accounts. The contact email on the website is a dedicated address just for that purpose. It collects a lot of crap. When they submit via the form, they get an email from another address with that as its only purpose. If spam becomes too annoying, I can setup a filter so bounces from address two delete the associated message on address one. Another email for corporate crap (insurance, software licences, etc), A/R email and then emails for individuals. At previous companies, things were far too annoyingly intertwined. Boss wanted their finger on everything so to get in to deactivate license keys on computers that failed, I had to try to log in, boss would get the email, forward it to me and I'd click the link. When A/R people changed (which happened reasonably often), clients would be told the new email address to use. wtf. Clients don't care, they want simple. People were still emailing staff that hadn't been around for years.
Mad Mike
Well-known member
Handymen that can handle variety and deliver quality are currently impossible to find. I know a couple that use Home Depot rates and one even uses Home Depot to book his jobs. Change a faucet - $175, change a toilet $150, light fixtures $75 and they could be working 7x24. The guy I use in the west end to do odd jobs is booked out 6 months doing only small bathroom renos and occasional favors for his good clients. His price in 2018 averaged $3000 for a 2 piece and $5000 for a full bathroom (not including fixtures and tile). It's double that today, partly because he can't find helpers and has to do the demo and cleanup himself, partly because that's the going rate.
No side hustle at the moment but I have looked into it multiple times, what I have learned through my research....
Those craft things are usually a no-go as the end cost is too low vs material costs.
Sweet spot IMO, landscaping, fences, sheds, and decks. Stay away from ones that need permits. Easy jobs that can be done in a weekend or two. In and out. Not great for a winter play though. Some interior work looks to be OK as long as the project is small enough to be done in a couple of days but make sure to avoid ones that could become a bigger problem (remove a toilet to replace and find the plumbing is NFG, etc.). Avoid large projects that will suck up all your free time or will cause you to miss family events etc.
As others noted, many larger contractors are fat with work these days and they can't be bothered with small jobs.
Those craft things are usually a no-go as the end cost is too low vs material costs.
Sweet spot IMO, landscaping, fences, sheds, and decks. Stay away from ones that need permits. Easy jobs that can be done in a weekend or two. In and out. Not great for a winter play though. Some interior work looks to be OK as long as the project is small enough to be done in a couple of days but make sure to avoid ones that could become a bigger problem (remove a toilet to replace and find the plumbing is NFG, etc.). Avoid large projects that will suck up all your free time or will cause you to miss family events etc.
As others noted, many larger contractors are fat with work these days and they can't be bothered with small jobs.
BigEvilDoer
Well-known member
Lets see...
I work for Canada Post - sometimes as a postie, sometimes as internal clerk sorting and scanning mail, parcels etc. Been there for a year now, so I'm still a casual worker - schedule changes from week to week.
On to the side hustles:
1) I'm a graphic artist by trade with 28 years of experience... unfortunately, at my age, I'm not a "culture fit" for most of the millennial based teams out there. They simply don't want an "old guy" on their team. So, I do that kind of stuff on the side now for several clients (including photography, high end photo editing etc).
2) Teach the M1 Exit (to get your M2) motorcycle courses.
3) Referee ice hockey - that's been very curtailed due to Covid of course, but once we get started up with that, I'm usually on the ice 5-8 hours a week doing that.
Sports officiating can be a serious pain with all the ill-behaved parents or adult players, but it can also be very lucrative.
I work for Canada Post - sometimes as a postie, sometimes as internal clerk sorting and scanning mail, parcels etc. Been there for a year now, so I'm still a casual worker - schedule changes from week to week.
On to the side hustles:
1) I'm a graphic artist by trade with 28 years of experience... unfortunately, at my age, I'm not a "culture fit" for most of the millennial based teams out there. They simply don't want an "old guy" on their team. So, I do that kind of stuff on the side now for several clients (including photography, high end photo editing etc).
2) Teach the M1 Exit (to get your M2) motorcycle courses.
3) Referee ice hockey - that's been very curtailed due to Covid of course, but once we get started up with that, I'm usually on the ice 5-8 hours a week doing that.
Sports officiating can be a serious pain with all the ill-behaved parents or adult players, but it can also be very lucrative.
I like that most of your side hussles are walk away type jobs. They require your full attention while you are there but they are mostly scheduled and have little time required outside of the scheduled periods. A side hussle can consume you life and make for an unhappy family.
If you want to do small contracting work, you are out pricing jobs, talking to tire kickers, etc almost more than you are actually doing paid work. Add in the job prep, sourcing materials, ordering dumpsters etc and your actual time on the tools is probably closer to 30% of the hours required.
D
Deleted member 50930
Guest
I want to be a motorcycle instructor 
|
|
|
|
|