Maybe I should get into politics!
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Curious about side hustles around here.
- Thread starter mimico_polak
- Start date
You seem like a decent person. You don't have a chance.
Thanks. Appreciate that.You seem like a decent person. You don't have a chance.
Not my side hustle, but certainly is for some people
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handi craft / artsy woodwork market is just ruined by old guys that love being in the woodshop recycling pallet lumber they get for free into tater bins and porch crap. They price it to cover beer money and suck the market down.
When you go to the "one of a Kind" craft show and see actual talent it changes, but you need to find a group of people that will give you $150 for a peppermill .
Over the years i have built literally a dozen decks , installed hardwood floors, hung multiple houses full of doors, for a cheeseburger and a beer because I really liked the work and it was on no schedule. Favor for friends, but the fun has gone out of it. Now that I'm smart enough to tell friends , sure I'll change out your kitchen cabinets for a $500 gift card to On The Twenty restaurant , nobody needs as much help LOL
My current side gig is making running rigging for sailboats , sheets/ guys/halyards and setting up race boat tweekers and assy sail systems. Mostly hi tech lines like dyneema / PBO/ and spectra. Its a lot of inventory in miles of line, but the margins are delightful . And it seems like a dark art to the majority.
cautionary tale , if you doing something and getting paid, be insured. Then get more insurance. Even your favorite Aunt will screw you if the toilet you bolted down takes out the dining room ceiling .
When you go to the "one of a Kind" craft show and see actual talent it changes, but you need to find a group of people that will give you $150 for a peppermill .
Over the years i have built literally a dozen decks , installed hardwood floors, hung multiple houses full of doors, for a cheeseburger and a beer because I really liked the work and it was on no schedule. Favor for friends, but the fun has gone out of it. Now that I'm smart enough to tell friends , sure I'll change out your kitchen cabinets for a $500 gift card to On The Twenty restaurant , nobody needs as much help LOL
My current side gig is making running rigging for sailboats , sheets/ guys/halyards and setting up race boat tweekers and assy sail systems. Mostly hi tech lines like dyneema / PBO/ and spectra. Its a lot of inventory in miles of line, but the margins are delightful . And it seems like a dark art to the majority.
cautionary tale , if you doing something and getting paid, be insured. Then get more insurance. Even your favorite Aunt will screw you if the toilet you bolted down takes out the dining room ceiling .
D
Deleted member 50930
Guest
I 3D print stuff
Almost bought one yesterday. Didnt win the auction for the printer but got a few spools of petg. Doh.
Obviously it does as someone taught LC to ride, prob his wife!
My disappointment always came when we had a great rider who cannot demonstrate under demand when the test came. Gotta fail them, even though they rode beautifully all weekend.
Not gonna make any money but as a contractor with a registered business the write-offs were good. Track day = professional development. All gear written off to company etc.
AllistonGT
Well-known member
My rule. If I can't do it for nothing then I'm not doing it. And I've done a fare bit for free. As soon as $ comes into the conversation it turns south. It took me 10 years to learn this lesson. People think time is free and materiel is cheap. When I ask if they would do their job for $10 an hour, on their time off, they get a confused look on their face.
I agree the fun has gone out of it, after 35 years. It's no longer a hobby.
Agree. With a few exceptions, if I help people, my time is free and I am doing it because I wanted to help. If the project requires materials, the receipt often gets passed to the person benefiting from the project. I dont mind throwing in some time, but when I start paying hundreds or thousands to improve your life, I get annoyed. It gets a little more complicated if project supplies are coming out of inventory. People often have no concept of what costs are actually associated with their project idea. Far more often than not they think it is cheap and simple.
Always best to keep it as unrelated and as distanced as possible from your day job.
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If you like to travel, I have had a few friends take part-time jobs with the airlines, pay is not great but the travel benefit is.
One of my old teachers took up a retirement job of international tour guide. I doubt it pays well but gets him a few free trips every year. Trips have been as small as a bus trip to Toronto to dinner and theatre up to weeks travelling around Europe.
A childhood friend of mine who does all kinds of web solutions, would travel and stay at various resorts for free, in exchange for his services to build them new websites. Worked out well for him to travel pretty extensively when he was younger and he branched out into developing the travel solutions for different countries. At the same time, he started up a bunch of Cannabis seed selling websites. When Covid hit, all the travel related websites stopped providing meaningful income, but the Cannabis websites exploded and now those provide more than enough income to support his family.
Another very good childhood friend of ours is a works in medical science. Immediately as Covid hit, she and her husband started up a business doing rapid testing for the local film/tv industry, which has also done really good.
Another very good childhood friend of ours is a works in medical science. Immediately as Covid hit, she and her husband started up a business doing rapid testing for the local film/tv industry, which has also done really good.
one of my colleagues spends part of the summer teaching ballroom dancing on cruise ships….well….maybe not now but…
It let him travel all over the world and do what he likes doing for a hobby anyway.
Me…I’m a part time international assassin but work is a bit slow.
The dollar store mentality is hard on the person expecting to be paid a fair wage. I give away baked goods to friends. That way there is no expectation on their part.
Doing things for free has a problem in that a lot of people don't know what they got and if inclined to reward the giver they either go overboard or underboard (Cheap). Trades people can make $300 to $500 a day so a case of beer or bottle of plonk isn't a thrill.
People get things wrong with meat and bread. They look at a $10.00 BBQ steak as if its gold. Meat and a few minutes on the grill and they drool. A loaf of home made bread might be $2.00 in ingredients but two or three hours of mixing, kneading and baking. At the minimum wage it adds up to about $50.00. A good soup isn't much different but veggies aren't cheap.
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Can I send you my list and can I get a volume discount?
true that…as a student I always looked at some handicrafts and thought “no way is that worth…..”. Now some of that is true…some “craftsmen” don’t produce works of art and still charge a fortune for their tat. But when you see the work that goes into throwing a good clay pot and painting it, or how a cigar is made, a carving is done or the time that goes into a painting…it’s a different story. I have a different appreciation of some artists work having seen the creation process.
Having said that, a picture frame or mirror with glued on seashells around the edge is still a piece of crap.
I’m on Linked In…accept PayPal. You should probably check out my reviews first.
”beware, assassin maybe dyslexic, I paid $38.50 CAN to rid the earth of an African dictator and assassin showed me a picture of a Kenyan potato taken in Loblaws in Oshawa”.
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AllistonGT
Well-known member
Agree. With a few exceptions. If it comes out that I've been asked so someone else can save money? Don't go there. I'll only do that for my daughters.
If I'm asked because I have the ability that they don't have then yea I have and will continue to help. I may only offer advice, if I feel with that, they can do the work. So many variables.
In my case, a good friend wanted help building decks and docks. Normally that would be a freebie but we were building 6000 sq ft of them working dawn to dusk seven days a week. That's a job, not a freebie.
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