Who here has a side hustle?

Bicycle courier! then you'll be super fit.

Gentleman burglar?

Only fans?

Middle class drug dealer?

Obviously no need to associate with the oiks, but you could earn a tidy sum selling coke to bankers and local politicians.

There's always this option...

Have you thought about music?

I sell a few of my own 3-D printed designs on ebay, but it makes only a few quid.
I think so far it has just about paid for the cost of the 3-D printer, so happy with that.

I'd like to create more designs - stuff for the home, garage, bike etc. but I don't really have the time to do this, so it never actually happens.

You see a lot of peopls on Etsy just nicking designs from Thingiverse & flogging those, but I don't really wanna get involved in that.

All grand ideas.

Not much demand for a bike courier in Scottish Borders. I'd happily take on my kids paper round if they would let me. £35 for 20mins bike riding , Mon - Sat. I love doing it with them

I quite like the idea of being a gentleman burglar, will look into this.

Still struggling with the drug dealing idea. I get scared easily. I watched Outlaws recently and was a nervous wreck.

Only Fans probably not really going to produce a great income. I'm all for body positivity and stuff but I'm not going to get many fans.

Do they still do sex phone lines?
Beer Taster?
https://www.cheshire-live.co.uk/news/chester-cheshire-news/wanted-congleton-ale-taster-towns-22970182
Casting Couch?
https://www.castingcollective.co.uk/artistes/urgent-casting-calls

Gigolo?

All depends on what your main work is, and hobbies, and can you monetize them?

Main work I can't monetize unless if I was to contract, but that would involve working during work day (rather than posting on STW, I see the irony)

Hobbies are riding bikes and procrastinating.

Depends on your areas of knowledge/expertise, my step-dad used to buy old lathes off ebay, tidy them up repaint and sell them on for a profit (often at a great margin), he was an engineer though so knew what he was buying and how to re-furbish them.

Dry Stane Dyker
Street Artist
Hired Assassin (evenings)
Pole Dancer
Stalker
Lego Bricks (cleaning and sorting)
Cat Herder
Political Activist

Buy stuff from Ali Baba in bulk and sell on Ebay and try to ride waves of whatever the latest crazes are (like loom bands and fidget spinners in the past). Failing that, play safe and sell on things like phone cases.

Procrastinating - sounds like a good candidate for local politics......

Using the 'go with what you know' - Side hustle fixing bikes? Buy and sell used bikes, bike tours, etc etc

Another side hustle i commonly read about is people who write short stories for magazines etc/copyreading (proofreading).
Its what ive read so ive NO experience in that however.

Travelling knife sharpener, but also sell crystal meth under the counter.

Talking for myself but, before hitting aliexpress for the latest gadget, i could probably spend much of my spare time just selling on eBay & other sites all the crap we've accumulated over the years....from toys, to sports gear, to antiques and so on. But its easier to hoard it and procrastinate on dealing with it

Property?

Handyman
Landlord
Air and b cleaning/ managing for someone else/ yourself

If your work is flexible times sign up as film extra? Tend to be weekday daytimes though so would need current work to cooperate

Only fans?

I'll be honest, FatMiddleagedBlokeinLycra hasn't been the success I'd hoped.

MCTD - did you advertise your niche site in the classifieds?

Talking for myself but, before hitting aliexpress for the latest gadget, i could probably spend much of my spare time just selling on eBay & other sites all the crap we’ve accumulated over the years

This is true. I had a big clear out over lockdown and shifted around £2000 worth off stuff. Not tat, but really stuff I was unlikely to use. There's 80% off selling fees this weekend if you want to get going. I also have a small side hustle selling some parts I get made in China but it really only makes pocket money once you allow for selling fees and a bit for the tax man.

I’ll be honest, FatMiddleagedBlokeinLycra hasn’t been the success I’d hoped.

Do you do STW members discount? Asking for a friend

I’ll be honest, FatMiddleagedBlokeinLycra hasn’t been the success I’d hoped

Persevere. Rule 34 of the internet.

Further to the Ebay idea - rather than buy stuff to sell you could just register with all your local Freegle groups and grab anything that is saleable (stuff like power tools, hosepipes, bikes etc are often gifted on the group I am in and they all sell easily). Perhaps it is a bit disingenuous but I know lots of people do it (they are usually the ones that ask for loads of stuff all the time then don't collect if they subsequently check Ebay out to see if the item sells for decent money.

Delivery cyclist for Uber Eats/Deliveroo etc?

My wife is currently in to listing stuff on Vinted instead of ebay. You set a price instead of auction style but seems a lot less hassle. They sort all the postage and you just print a label and drop it at the nearest newsagent/drop off. She's had no issues with it so far.

Do they still do sex phone lines?

know a woman who did this! Pay wasn’t great apparently and we’ll yknow it’s pretty weird. She did have a great sex voice though

also knew a guy (lived in the flat above a good friend of mine) who composed lift music for fancy hotels. He freelanced for Otis and part of the deal to install lifts was having your own music. He also taught guitar and piano, but the lift music gig pretty much kept him going otherwise. He hated it though

Dog sitting? Maybe dog walking? Seems like there are a lot of people out there with lockdown dogs that now want to go on a foreign holiday and don't have anywhere to leave their dog.

Not sure where you are, but last time I was up, Innerleithen was in desperate need of a bike wash. Rent a hose pipe out?

Do they still do sex phone lines?

I used to work with a girl who used to write adverts for them – she was filthy and absolutely loved making up all the characters and their respective kinks.

Have a look at the flip bike series by berm peak on YouTube, probably be quite easy to buy badly advertised/not cleaned semi decent bikes that need a bit of maintenance and some cheap parts replacing for a profit.

I sell a few of my own 3-D printed designs on ebay, but it makes only a few quid.
I think so far it has just about paid for the cost of the 3-D printer, so happy with that.

I’d like to create more designs – stuff for the home, garage, bike etc. but I don’t really have the time to do this, so it never actually happens.

A colleague of mine does this, he just happened to design the right part at the right time and it took off massively, enough to buy a Tesla... And he can have his machines running printing stuff all day while still doing his day job.

I've got a 2nd job in TV (it was my only job for quite a while too). It works out well for me although I'd give it up if I hit the 40% bracket unless they were prepared to drop the requirement for everyone to be PAYE*.

Depends how much you've got to invest in it and your morals. I imagine the borders is popular for airbnb, but you're also contributing to the housing crisis by doing so. At the cheaper end flipping bikes for profit seems like the obvious choice for a cyclist. You know how much stuf is worth and how to maximise the values. You could re-invest any profits into buying on-trend bike stuff from China. Like superstar did with brake pads, on one-up did with range extenders, neither was original. Just keep an eye out for the next cycling fad. I'd bet on hidden multitools (a £5 tool for £30).

*Not tax dodging, but I could then buy kit to rent back to them etc from the gross pay. Being PAYE I'm stuck buying things at effectively a 50% markup over the .ltd guys.

Oh, is there a factory in your town that you could place an order with, slap a margin on their stuff then proclaim to have saved the factory?

I will cut you 20% on any of my art you sell : NicksArtStuff.com *

🙂

*20% discount to all STWers

. I imagine the borders is popular for airbnb, but you’re also contributing to the housing crisis by doing so

If I lived anywhere popular for mountain biking I'd seriously look into Airbnb with an annex or segregated area of the house, with proper MTB facilities like bike storage, wet room with a shower etc - even in places like the tweed valley finding somewhere with basic secure bike storage is an effort.

And the money isn't bad either, Airbnb charge 3% after a quick look, so 80-90 quid a night soon adds up.

Completely understand about the housing crisis mind you, hence I'd only do it within my own home not with an entire 2nd house.

Expert witness in doping cases*. Pro bono thus far, but like all drug pushers, the first doses are free...

*One was quite well known 😉

the first doses are free…

I’ve been offered drugs a great many times. Not once has it been for free, despite claims from teachers etc that they would be.

Buy and sell stuff......ive got a load of stuff you can buy...lol

I think the best options are
1. Make something that isn't custom but you can charge hand made perimim and you know how to make it fast and easy. Custom work takes to long.
2. Rent something out. House, flat, camp, small plant (last one you are in The easily stolen category).
3. Import / repackage something. Probably got to be niche as you can't compete on Bluetooth speakers etc.

Basically something that you can stop start easy. You can do without it being mega physically or mentally taxing.

Mrs K makes celebratory cakes for people for cash, she’s quite good at it an only works through recommendation. Not enormous but gets us about £100 a month.

Being the taste tester is at odds with my cycling w/kg ambitions though.

What about creating a dull calendar, inspired by “Best of British Roundabouts”.

Nice coincidence that there are 12 sprockets on my bike…

@fasthaggis if you add in market research interviewer, cheeses turner, gravedigger and failed TV news reader that would be my cv.

I’ll be honest, FatMiddleagedBlokeinLycra hasn’t been the success I’d hoped.

Do you do STW members discount? Asking for a friend

Even when there was a member of our cycle club who openly worked in world of niche online entertainment, it never occurred to me to ask if there was a club discount....