Side hustles what are they?
As in who actually has one and what do they do?
buy acreage and grow macadamias?
online stuff sell items on eBay?
work another job?

Start your own business is the one that appeals to me, there are a few different ideas that I like however how much capital do you really need????

Ideally being an author would be epic however my literary skills are not good enough

I had a side hustle.. It was in tourism. I don't have a side hustle anymore .

If it was my bread and butter I would've tried harder to stick it out though.

My career seems to be a side hustle these days, as more and more jobs are made contract or sourced from overseas. I guess the overseas thing might slow down for a few years though.

This website would have started as a side hustle. Its a good idea to have income coming from a variety of sources for an individual or a family. If an individual or family are dependent upon one income then it could be terrible if that source of income ceases.

The way things have gone online have opened up opportunities to create a side hustle. Back in the day if your side hustle was buying bomb cars, cleaning up and fixing them and then selling them for a profit, you probably could only advertise cars by sticking them on the side of the road or buying a classified ad in the local paper. Today you can advertise for free a myriad of ways. Of course the market for second hand cars has changed a lot so it may not be as profitable as it used to be.

I had a colleague years ago whose hustle was selling car manuals. He had a CD with heaps of manuals for old British cars. He'd get an order for a manual for something like a Austin Healy, print it out on the work printer, bound it in a folder and then ship it off. He'd do maybe three or four a week advertising on eBay. So you can start small with minimal risk. If it doesn't work then try something else.

Of course the risk with having a side hustle with low barriers to get into is that once its seen how successful it is, others will get into it. This happened in my family as my mum made some decorations for the wedding between my wife and I. She sold them on eBay after the wedding for a good price. So she made some more, sold them for a good price once more. Shortly afterwards she saw other selling the same type of decorations and quickly the market was saturated. She was annoyed about this but I think it was the market in action.

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Mobydisc said..
print it out on the work printer

LOL

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Mobydisc said..
Of course the risk with having a side hustle with low barriers to get into is that once its seen how successful it is, others will get into it. This happened in my family as my mum made some decorations for the wedding between my wife and I. She sold them on eBay after the wedding for a good price. So she made some more, sold them for a good price once more. Shortly afterwards she saw other selling the same type of decorations and quickly the market was saturated. She was annoyed about this but I think it was the market in action.

That story has a hint of intellectual property theft about it. If the copied idea was close to identical your mum could possibly sue. But you wouldn't like that interference in the market.

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Mr Milk said..

Mobydisc said..
Of course the risk with having a side hustle with low barriers to get into is that once its seen how successful it is, others will get into it. This happened in my family as my mum made some decorations for the wedding between my wife and I. She sold them on eBay after the wedding for a good price. So she made some more, sold them for a good price once more. Shortly afterwards she saw other selling the same type of decorations and quickly the market was saturated. She was annoyed about this but I think it was the market in action.

That story has a hint of intellectual property theft about it. If the copied idea was close to identical your mum could possibly sue. But you wouldn't like that interference in the market.

No different to selling copies of car manuals you don't own copyright on.

Invest in a coupla son-T's & a jupiter 2 mover if your game or plant a single row of Rosemary ( sticky grandma variety not the new commercial , glossy, white backed leaf one ) and take the trimmings to your local veggie wholesaler for cash or credit .Rosemary is practically bomb proof

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HotBodMon said..
Invest in a coupla son-T's & a jupiter 2 mover if your game or plant a single row of Rosemary ( sticky grandma variety not the new commercial , glossy, white backed leaf one ) and take the trimmings to your local veggie wholesaler for cash or credit .Rosemary is practically bomb proof

Can you sell Rosemary? I've grown a fair bit of it from cuttings but nothing like what you have here. I see it in supermarkets for something like $3 for a few sprigs of it.

I think butchers would pay for it too as meat displayed with fresh rosemary sprigs always looks very appealing.

There was an article the other day on some kid getting tshirts screen printed and selling them and making good money... until a company solicitor approached him about trademark infringement.

Intellectual property IP rights are pretty dodgy, especially if the IP is owned by a corporation considering a corporation does not have an intellect. I think the whole thing was concocted by a bunch of lawyers who approached company directors telling them about it and they signed on & lobbied for a bunch of horrid laws to be passed.

I've been growing mushrooms for a while. It's been a massive learning curve. Getting one's head around working in a sterile environment is critical as the mycelium is very fragile and succumbs to attack by mold spores when it is kicking off. If forest green mold had a market value I'd be on a winner. Anyone who believes that they can keep anything sterile ought to try working with Petri dishes and agar. You absolutely have to work in front of a HEPA hood.

I've got seven different varieties growing at the moment. My intention is to develop it into a business and I've been trying to work out a way to keep costs at a minimum and productivity at a maximum. I had a break through whist I had Ross River virus. I fell behind my target owing to being crook but chanced on a method of substrate sterilisation which utilises hydrated lime. I'd been using a pressure cooker which has obvious drawbacks, not least energy costs but also very limited to the quantity I can process. There are masses of how to videos on the net and it was this one which provide the breakthrough.

I settled on oyster mushrooms primarily, pink, yellow and pearl because the climate here suits them the best but also ulmarius, shimejei ( which I cloned from the supermarket), turkey tail and lions mane.

They oyster varieties fetch $30 a kilo. There is little competition as the shelf life is very limited and they have to be sold fresh.

All of them will pretty much colonise anything organic and I'm trying to figure out a way to automate bulk sterilisation of hardwood sawdust because it is free but you can use straw, sugar cane mulch coffee grounds, cow dung, wood pellets etc..

I produce all my own grain spawn and use oats which have been sterilised in my pressure cooker. I kicked off growing out in 2 kilo bags but have started to used poly tubing in bags that weigh 10 kilos. The smaller bags are pretty dear and take up far too much space.

Turkey tail is worth $60 but is very slow growing. Has a great reputation as a medicinal mushroom.


Bulk sterilising substrate in hydrated lime

Spawn bags

HEPA filter

Shimejei

Grow room - need fresh air, light and I use an ultrasonic humidifier

Turkey tail - these are nearly four months old


Bulk grow bags growing on sugar cane much and sawdust

Forest green mold - the bane of my existence

All American pressure cooker - does 8 spawn bags in a batch, sterilised for two hours

OOPS: edit required The company is LYFECYKEL

These guys in Fremantle started off small by collecting coffee grounds from the plethora of coffee shops around town. Their business seems to have grown quite well over a reasonably short time using sea containers as their growing rooms if I remember correctly.

I'm guessing you've probably heard of them already though Japie.

ive got a glass toilet bowl fitted with cameras and sell content via a subscription model on fetish websites

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patsken said..
OOPS: edit required The company is LYFECYKEL

These guys in Fremantle started off small by collecting coffee grounds from the plethora of coffee shops around town. Their business seems to have grown quite well over a reasonably short time using sea containers as their growing rooms if I remember correctly.

I'm guessing you've probably heard of them already though Japie.

Yes. Coffee grounds are a great substrate as they've been partially sterilised in the processing and they're free. There's a great how to video on Youtube ( no conspiracy) for growing on coffee grounds. The mob in Fremantle sell colonised spawn bags which can be fruited by exposing to humidity and light. They're expensive though and you'd be lucky to get a dollar return on them. Great for the kids to observe!

One of the things that is remarkable about mushroom growing is people are very willing to share their knowledge. Particularly Canadians. You have to put up with their pronunciation of "about" or "aboot" which I find very entertaining!

I had a couple of side hustles over the years, then worked out I was better off concentrating on what I do and doing it well.

One of my mates got hold of an oyster lease cheap as in 5000-6000. He reckons it wasnt worth it for it for the money, time and physical labour. He was over there nearly every weekend you couldnt leave it. I went to give him a hand once, you would be suprised about how much physical labour it is.He ended up selling it for what he paid for it. Never again was his message.

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japie said..
I've been growing mushrooms for a while. It's been a massive learning curve. Getting one's head around working in a sterile environment is critical as the mycelium is very fragile and succumbs to attack by mold spores when it is kicking off. If forest green mold had a market value I'd be on a winner. Anyone who believes that they can keep anything sterile ought to try working with Petri dishes and agar. You absolutely have to work in front of a HEPA hood.

I've got seven different varieties growing at the moment. My intention is to develop it into a business and I've been trying to work out a way to keep costs at a minimum and productivity at a maximum. I had a break through whist I had Ross River virus. I fell behind my target owing to being crook but chanced on a method of substrate sterilisation which utilises hydrated lime. I'd been using a pressure cooker which has obvious drawbacks, not least energy costs but also very limited to the quantity I can process. There are masses of how to videos on the net and it was this one which provide the breakthrough.

I settled on oyster mushrooms primarily, pink, yellow and pearl because the climate here suits them the best but also ulmarius, shimejei ( which I cloned from the supermarket), turkey tail and lions mane.

They oyster varieties fetch $30 a kilo. There is little competition as the shelf life is very limited and they have to be sold fresh.

All of them will pretty much colonise anything organic and I'm trying to figure out a way to automate bulk sterilisation of hardwood sawdust because it is free but you can use straw, sugar cane mulch coffee grounds, cow dung, wood pellets etc..

I produce all my own grain spawn and use oats which have been sterilised in my pressure cooker. I kicked off growing out in 2 kilo bags but have started to used poly tubing in bags that weigh 10 kilos. The smaller bags are pretty dear and take up far too much space.

Turkey tail is worth $60 but is very slow growing. Has a great reputation as a medicinal mushroom.

Bulk sterilising substrate in hydrated lime

Spawn bags

HEPA filter

Shimejei

Grow room - need fresh air, light and I use an ultrasonic humidifier

Turkey tail - these are nearly four months old


Bulk grow bags growing on sugar cane much and sawdust

Forest green mold - the bane of my existence

All American pressure cooker - does 8 spawn bags in a batch, sterilised for two hours

If you dont mind me asking japie is it more of a hobby or do you make a bit of profit out of it?

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Flatty said..
One of my mates got hold of an oyster lease cheap as in 5000-6000. He reckons it wasnt worth it for it for the money, time and physical labour. He was over there nearly every weekend you couldnt leave it. I went to give him a hand once, you would be suprised about how much physical labour it is.He ended up selling it for what he paid for it. Never again was his message.

japie said..
I've been growing mushrooms for a while. It's been a massive learning curve. Getting one's head around working in a sterile environment is critical as the mycelium is very fragile and succumbs to attack by mold spores when it is kicking off. If forest green mold had a market value I'd be on a winner. Anyone who believes that they can keep anything sterile ought to try working with Petri dishes and agar. You absolutely have to work in front of a HEPA hood.

I've got seven different varieties growing at the moment. My intention is to develop it into a business and I've been trying to work out a way to keep costs at a minimum and productivity at a maximum. I had a break through whist I had Ross River virus. I fell behind my target owing to being crook but chanced on a method of substrate sterilisation which utilises hydrated lime. I'd been using a pressure cooker which has obvious drawbacks, not least energy costs but also very limited to the quantity I can process. There are masses of how to videos on the net and it was this one which provide the breakthrough.

I settled on oyster mushrooms primarily, pink, yellow and pearl because the climate here suits them the best but also ulmarius, shimejei ( which I cloned from the supermarket), turkey tail and lions mane.

They oyster varieties fetch $30 a kilo. There is little competition as the shelf life is very limited and they have to be sold fresh.

All of them will pretty much colonise anything organic and I'm trying to figure out a way to automate bulk sterilisation of hardwood sawdust because it is free but you can use straw, sugar cane mulch coffee grounds, cow dung, wood pellets etc..

I produce all my own grain spawn and use oats which have been sterilised in my pressure cooker. I kicked off growing out in 2 kilo bags but have started to used poly tubing in bags that weigh 10 kilos. The smaller bags are pretty dear and take up far too much space.

Turkey tail is worth $60 but is very slow growing. Has a great reputation as a medicinal mushroom.

Bulk sterilising substrate in hydrated lime

Spawn bags

HEPA filter

Shimejei

Grow room - need fresh air, light and I use an ultrasonic humidifier

Turkey tail - these are nearly four months old


Bulk grow bags growing on sugar cane much and sawdust

Forest green mold - the bane of my existence

All American pressure cooker - does 8 spawn bags in a batch, sterilised for two hours

If you dont mind me asking japie is it more of a hobby or do you make a bit of profit out of it?

It started off as a hobby but I soon realised the potential. The overheads are pretty low. I run the pressure cooker for six to eight hours a day plus there is a little bit of extra electricity running the fans and the humidifier. The sawdust is free, sugar can mulch $13.50 a bale. Oats are$1.40 a kilo.

A few other things, lime etc. I rent the house so can't really count that in. I'm still in the very early stages whilst I've been doing it for a while, making all the obligatory mistakes!

I have a market for the colonised spawn bags at $25 each and can produce 24 a day quite easily. And I can sell all the mushrooms I can produce at the moment through my daughter's organic vegetable co-operative. Hopefully I'll be able to produce and sell 50kgs a week within a month or so which will net quite a nice income.

But to answer your question, no, not at the moment.

One thing I will say though is that it is bloody good fun. Frustrating at times but fun! Alot more fun than driving Agi's!

We took time off to lap Aus and I made 12 volt Repair stickers for the Patrol, wrote to a few companies too and received heaps of products in return for blog mentions. I actually took the stickers off the car half way around because there was too much work, people would approach me before we had even set up camp or right in the middle of beer o'clock. I fixed 4x4's, caravans, camper trailers, bore pumps, fridges, solar panels and whatever else people needed. This only required a few tools that I was already carrying myself anyways - a multimeter, soldering iron, crimpers, lugs, side cutter. Inventory was bought cheap off ebay - anderson plugs, fuses, solar controllers, zip ties, lugs, heat shrink. I could carry everything I needed in one soft bag. The side hustle earned us cash but we also bartered for meals, fishing trips, camping, etc. With all learned and experienced I could have easily carried it on as a side hustle to my regular office job when I got home but just didn't. I thought about setting up a website with tutorials on how to fix common problems - because most problems are common. But never had the enthusiasm to follow through with that either

Thank you for all the input, I like the idea of growing the mushrooms, we have limited space and I once had one of those supermarket boxes that grew mushrooms it was epic as it pumped out quite a few.
Its true as well that if you focus on what you do alreadythe financial rewards will often be better but I also want to feed the soul.

Often thought about writing a book

when I was a bit younger me and a mate used to splice ropes for a few of the boats, marinas and the likes. It was actually quite a good paying gig but we used to drop tools as soon as the wind went offshore or there were waves.
So it never really became successful, we were not focused enough and had no accounting or paperwork skills at the time, I've often wondered how it would of turned out had I not taken an apprenticeship on as a fitter and forgotten all about it..... (18-20 years ago) he went and became a sparkie and the dream just dissipated.

The idea of getting a larger block/house moving up/down the coast really appeals, I see everyone who has low food bills and eats like a king has this set up, chooks, trees for firewood, fruit trees, ie advocados oranges etc etc and a couple acres.

I think on the money that most are on that slight shift in living circumstances could drastically increase satisfaction and quality of life, also to have a hobby that pays for itself and you can eat is appealing

the problem is, if you get paid reasonable for your day gig, it makes hard for your side hustle to seem worthwhile.
I bought an industrial sewing machine to sew my own gear for the boat, boom bags, interiors etc.

I made a few custom boom bags for friends, but for the time taken to do a decent job, you cant really charge whats needed.
They ended up with good products, for not much more than materials cost, which is fine, but I would technically have been better sticking with the day job.

mate of mine used to work oyster farms, became very disinterested when chest deep in water a 4M white pointer went past him trying to get a belly rub.I am in my early 70's supposed to be retired, on age pension same as wife, we look after a young energetic young man in his 20's with a physical disability, good money as carer but its hard work keeping up with his smart mouth.
I also manage a camp site and also work for a freight company half day a fortnight collecting cadavers to be forwarded to their destination.

one glass of red and Iam asleep but live comfortably ,plus the Jobkeeper