Going into 2020, I had the intention of becoming debt-free. I owed about $31,329.96 across both my car loan and student loans. One of the ways I thought to tackle this debt was through side hustles.
Even with a less than ideal 2020, I actually made some money with my side hustles and was able to donate to social justice causes close to me as well as pay down my debt.
I was thinking to double down in 2021 in order to double this income. For the first half of the year, I actually did that. Then somewhere along the way in 2021, my focus shifted. I stopped creating new items for my shops and even closed down some of them.
I feel like my side hustles were a distraction from my actual goals. I tend to source my self-worth from how ‘busy’ I am. Hence my overall involvement in several organizations, business ventures, projects, etc.
I no longer want to live my life that way.
I believe stepping away from some of these side hustles and putting more of an emphasis on things that actually matter is the way to go.
Amazon Merch – Q3 Income $22.38
In total, I made $22.38 off Amazon Merch this quarter. This is primarily due to the fact that I only had one active month of selling on the site (July).
This is one side hustle I will not be continuing going forward.
Zazzle – Q3 Income $1.42
In total, I made $1.42 off Zazzle this quarter by selling one thing. My item was priced around $12 but the royalties from Zazzle are basically crap. I need to have $150 in earnings before they will send me a check. This means I will probably never see this money.
This is one side hustle I will not be continuing going forward. If I get residual income, cool. However, I cannot see myself logging into the site to add anything to my online store.
Etsy #1 – Q3 Income $17.13
I actually closed down this store in July.
Some day when I have the energy I may re-open the store. Maybe in retirement. The total income for this quarter was $17.13 after accounting for shipping etc.
Etsy #2 – Q3 Income $515.86
This Etsy store is completely passive. This is why I will be continuing this side hustle going forward.
The only things I have to respond to are:
- When people do not know how to digitally download their items/open a zip file
- When people do not realize they bought a digital game
I have canned responses written for each of these scenarios so I just copy and paste. Easy peasy.
All In All
All in all, I made $556.79 over the months of July to September. I donated a portion of this money and used the rest to fund my Blanco’s habit.