Introduction
Side hustles are everywhere these days. Scroll through Reddit, TikTok, or YouTube, and you’ll see endless lists of “best side hustles in 2025” promising easy money and financial freedom. The problem? Most of the advice is vague, repetitive, or too good to be true.
The most common question I get asked is how to start making money. It’s easy to make money if you already have some coming in. Investing in a 22nd rental house is substantially easier than getting the first one. What I did originally to get me going may not even work now. If I had to start over, what would I do?
To start, I went straight to Reddit – one of the rawest places where people ask for advice when they need to make money fast or when they’re curious about building something bigger. Across different communities, the same recommendations kept coming up. Some were geared toward paying next month’s rent, while others were positioned as the first step toward quitting your job.
This blog post is the kickoff to what I’m calling my Side Hustle Trials. The plan is simple: I’ll take the most commonly recommended side hustles, test them out myself, and then share the real results. The goal isn’t just to see which hustles actually make money, but also to figure out which are worth the time, which are scalable, and which are just too much work for too little payoff.
Think of this as both a roadmap and an experiment: I’ll highlight what people online say works, then put those claims to the test in real life.
How I Gathered Ideas
When it comes to side hustles, the internet is flooded with options. A quick search on YouTube or TikTok will pull up flashy promises of thousands of dollars a month with little effort. But instead of chasing hype, I wanted to see what real people are recommending when they need money now or when they’re serious about building something long-term.
To do that, I dove into Reddit. Communities like r/sidehustle, r/povertyfinance, r/entrepreneur, r/passive_income, and r/beermoney are full of people sharing what’s worked for them and asking what others recommend. After reading through dozens of threads, certain ideas kept coming up again and again – no matter the subreddit.
Most were along the lines of these:
https://www.reddit.com/r/sidehustle/comments/1n86wq9/extra_money_without_second_job/
https://www.reddit.com/r/sidehustle/comments/1my6bn3/ideas_to_make_3000_this_month/
https://www.reddit.com/r/sidehustle/comments/1n559sk/looking_to_make_10_a_week/
The goal here wasn’t to collect every single suggestion out there. Instead, I focused on the most commonly recommended hustles that:
- Can be started from scratch (no huge upfront investment).
- Have a track record of being mentioned by multiple people.
- Seem realistic enough that I could actually try them myself.
By filtering through the noise, I ended up with two main categories:
- Quick Cash Hustles – best for paying bills or building short-term income.
- Long-Term Hustles – slower to start but with potential to grow into something bigger.
This approach gives me a list that’s both practical and testable – not just theory, but side hustles that real people claim have worked for them.
Quick Cash Side Hustles (Pay-the-Rent Ideas)
Not every side hustle is about building a business. Sometimes, the goal is just to cover rent, pay off a bill, or get some extra breathing room in your budget. On Reddit, a handful of “quick money” ideas come up over and over again. They’re not necessarily glamorous or scalable, but they can put cash in your pocket fast.
1. Sell What You Already Own
One of the most common recommendations is the simplest: sell things you no longer need. Platforms like Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp, Craigslist, and eBay make it easy to turn unused items into quick cash. This isn’t a long-term income stream, but it’s often the fastest way to generate money when you need it.
2. Gig Apps
Driving for Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart, or Grubhub comes up constantly in money-related threads. These apps let you start earning within days, and you can work as much or as little as you want. The downside is obvious: you’re trading time for money, and wear-and-tear on your car eats into profits. Still, it’s one of the fastest side hustles to get off the ground.
3. Odd Jobs & Local Services
When people ask Reddit how to make money fast, another frequent answer is to offer simple services in your community:
- Lawn mowing, snow shoveling, or yard work
- Moving help or hauling junk
- Car washing or detailing (which I have done)
- Handyman work
These don’t require apps or platforms – just some hustle and maybe a few supplies. Word of mouth and neighborhood groups (like Nextdoor or local Facebook groups) can help land jobs quickly.
4. Online Microtasks
Subreddits like r/beermoney often point people to quick online gigs like surveys, data entry, or testing websites. Platforms such as Amazon Mechanical Turk, Swagbucks, or UserTesting won’t make you rich, but they can generate $20-$100 here and there without much setup.
5. Flipping for Profit
Another idea that comes up often is reselling thrift store or garage sale finds. Reddit users suggest starting small – books, clothing, or electronics – and flipping them on eBay, Poshmark, or Mercari. It’s not instant money, but with a little practice, you can turn a $5 find into $20+ fairly consistently.
The Bottom Line: These hustles are about speed and flexibility. They aren’t likely to replace a full-time job, but they can keep you afloat when bills are due. In my testing, I’ll be looking at which ones actually deliver the fastest dollar with the least friction.
Long-Term Hustles (Build-for-the-Future Ideas)
While quick cash hustles are great for paying bills in the short term, many Reddit users are also thinking bigger – how to build something that could eventually replace a 9-5 job. These “long-term” hustles usually take more time and consistency before they pay off, but they also carry real growth potential.
1. Content Creation
Starting a YouTube channel, blog, podcast, or TikTok account is one of the most talked-about long-term plays. It’s not quick – building an audience and monetizing takes time – but once it works, income can scale through ads, sponsorships, and product sales.
2. Print-on-Demand & Dropshipping
Selling custom t-shirts, mugs, or digital designs through platforms like Redbubble, Teespring, or Printify is another popular suggestion. Similarly, dropshipping allows you to run an online store without holding inventory. Both require marketing effort (usually through social media or ads) but can run with low startup costs.
3. Freelancing as a Business
Many Redditors recommend turning an existing skill – writing, graphic design, coding, marketing, or video editing – into a freelance side business. Platforms like Fiverr and Upwork are common entry points, but the real money comes from landing direct clients and building a reputation. Over time, freelancing can grow from a side hustle into a full agency or consulting business.
4. Building a Niche Site
Starting a website around a specific topic (fitness, tech, finance, hobbies) is another frequent recommendation. With consistent content, these sites can grow traffic and earn through affiliate links, digital products, or ads. It’s a long game – often months before the first dollar – but it’s a proven path to passive income once established.
5. Software As A Service
The idea is simple: create software that solves a specific problem, charge users a monthly subscription, and scale from there. The reality, of course, is much harder.
The upside of SaaS is huge: recurring monthly revenue, global reach, and scalability that doesn’t depend on trading hours for dollars. The downside is the time and expertise required – validating an idea, building the product, and marketing it effectively are all major hurdles.
6. Digital Products
Creating and selling online courses, templates, guides, or eBooks is another favorite for the long term. Unlike freelancing, these products can be sold repeatedly without extra effort, making them scalable once built. The challenge, of course, is creating something people actually want and getting it in front of the right audience.
The Bottom Line: These hustles demand patience, consistency, and often skill development. They won’t cover this month’s rent, but they can create real businesses over time. When I test them, I’ll be looking not just at how much money they make, but also whether they feel sustainable and worth scaling.
How I’ll Test Them
Listing side hustles is easy – the real challenge is figuring out which ones actually deliver. That’s where the Side Hustle Trials come in. My goal isn’t just to talk about these ideas but to do them and measure what really works in practice.
Here’s how I’ll approach the testing process:
- Speed to First Dollar: How quickly can I actually make money?
- Total Earnings: How much can I realistically earn within the test window?
- Scalability: Could this hustle grow into a bigger, long-term business?
- Time Commitment: How many hours does it take to get results?
- Startup Costs: What’s the financial barrier to entry?
The Approach
I’ll start with the quick cash hustles (to get momentum and test immediate results) and then move into the longer-term plays. Along the way, I’ll share:
- What steps I took to get started.
- What worked (and what didn’t).
- Exact earnings and costs.
- Whether I’d recommend it to someone else.
The Goal
At the end, I’ll be able to rank these side hustles – not based on theory, but on experience. The ranking will show which hustles are best for:
- Making money fast.
- Building long-term income.
- Avoiding altogether because they’re too much effort for too little return.
What’s Next
This post lays out the roadmap – but the real work starts now. Over the coming weeks, I’ll begin testing these side hustles one by one, starting with the quick cash ideas to see how fast they really pay out. Each test will come with a full breakdown of what I did, how much I spent, how much I earned, and whether the hustle felt worth the effort.
As the series moves into the longer-term hustles, the updates will shift from quick results to progress tracking: audience growth, recurring income, and whether the work feels sustainable enough to eventually replace a traditional job.
If you want to follow along, make sure to subscribe to the email list or follow the Charly Gud YouTube channel – I’ll be sharing detailed updates in both places, so you can see what works (and what doesn’t) in real time.
Finally, I’d love to hear from you:
- Which hustles have you tried?
- Are there any I should add to the list before diving in?
- What do you want me to test first?
Drop your thoughts in the comments – they might shape which side hustle gets tested next.
This is just the start of the Side Hustle Trials, and I’m excited to see where it goes.
Conclusion
Side hustles mean different things to different people. For some, they’re about covering next month’s rent. For others, they’re about building a path out of the 9-5. The reality – as the Reddit community shows – is that there’s no single “best” hustle. What works depends on your goals, skills, and the time you’re willing to invest.
This first post pulled together the most commonly recommended ideas, split between quick-cash options and long-term plays. But this is only the starting line. Over the next few months, I’ll be putting these hustles to the test in real life. Some will be worth it. Others will crash and burn. Either way, you’ll see the actual numbers, time spent, and lessons learned.
The truth is, side hustles aren’t magic shortcuts – they’re experiments. Some pay off fast, others require patience, and many reveal whether you’re chasing quick money or building toward financial independence.
For me, this isn’t just about testing ideas. It’s about proving (or disproving) the claims that circulate online every day. And along the way, I’ll be sharing the honest results so you can decide which hustles are worth your time.
This is just the beginning of the Side Hustle Trials. Let’s see which of these ideas actually deliver.
