$6 as a freelancer, $2 as a t shirt designer and $0 trying to be Seth Godin
I’m a quitter.
Every side hustle I quit had t
I’m a quitter.
Every side hustle I quit had the promise of a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Most side hustles left me standing up to my arse in a bog with the rain beating on my head.
Even worse, I was often out of pocket. Instead of starting some of them I may as well have walked into a casino and put $100 on Black 13. At least gambling would only have wasted money, not my time.
The Side Hustles That Broke My Heart
- $6 for My One and Only Freelance Writing Gig
“Write a 300 word review of a toothbrush”. That was the brief. I excitedly hurried to pen out the most majestic review ever written about a Phillips Sonicare. I redrafted it four times to be safe and sent it over. The feedback I received? My writing was ‘very very not good’…
Wow.
But the kicker was that Upwork’s 20% fee bumped me under the minimum $5 payment threshold, so I couldn’t even withdraw it! Talk about insult to injury.
The rage bubbled inside me as I read the feedback. I quit on the spot. I vowed never to work as a freelance writer again, I’d write for my own niche sites instead. I’d show them.
Arrogance won the day. The site I went on to build became my full time income for the next 5 years.
- Selling the World’s Least Attractive T-shirt
I was there for the opening of the Merch By Amazon program after coming across it on Reddit. “Hells yes” I thought. Ol’ Tim Ferris says you gotta be first, best, or cheapest, to win at business and I was ready to be first.
Only… I forgot one crucial detail.
I have the same eye for design that an elephant has for ballet. I can’t tell a great design from a shitty one to save my life so guess what happened when I started designing T-shirts to sell on Amazon? Absolutely nothing. No sales and a whole load of time wasted.
Okay, there were some sales. I still make $2 every couple of months selling a T-shirt with an obscure reference to a small genre of metal music – djent. It’s still for sale for those curious.
It has the ugliest font anyone has ever picked and sells purely because I’m the only person selling one. All my other designs were taken down because they never sold any units. You know, on account of being horrible T-shirts…
Would you work 40 hours to earn $2 every month? Well, I can at least tell you I won’t do it twice. I quit as a T-shirt designer.
- Trying to Be Seth Godin
Next up was the nine months I spent pretending to be Seth Godin. I wasn’t trying to assume his identity or anything, but I was inspired by his work and wanted to emulate it so I began a daily blogging practice. Eleven months and 330 posts later I had gained 14 email subscribers, not made any money, and had hit the wall. I quit.
I did actually enjoy this but I took my writing elsewhere for the more profitable work that I needed. All the hosting fees add up to $100 I’ll never see again.
Screenshot of Authors blog: I had about 40 posts already published before I started daily blogging
- For Reasons Unknown, I Tried Design Work. Again. (Web Design)
Yes, dear reader, after such an epic fail as a T-shirt designer I got the great idea to design websites instead. The only problem? I still suck at design.
Image supplied by author (Pictured: A logo I designed on Microsoft Paint. Can you tell what it’s for? No one else could either.)
I created a website for my uncle and his self-catering business. It looked… passable. But the experience of being a freelancer again? I couldn’t stand it. I hated being on call to a client. I did get paid but it was not something I could emotionally face doing twice.
I completed the website and I quit as a web designer.
- I Quit 4 of my 8 Niche Sites
Only 2 of my niche sites have been remarkable successes. The others were either steps to get here or distractions on the way. Either way, here are my quitters:
- A dog niche site – I didn’t own a dog and never had. What was I thinking? Oh yeah, money. Luckily I quit this after 1 month.
- 7 and 8 string guitars – Possibly the world’s smallest and least popular niche. It took me 7 years before I quit this one.
- Blogging – Every blogger tries to blog about blogging right? I quit after 1 post.
- Eco-friendly living – I quit this last month. I just couldn’t face niche sites any more
If you want to create a niche site, choose something you’re interested in. Showing up every day to write about a topic you don’t care about isn’t a fun way to live.
Avoid These Side Hustles like a Man on Stilts in a Room Full of Banana Peels
Every so often Mr. Get Rich Quick knocks on my door and tries to sell me the dream:
“You should definitely try X. It’ll be an easy way to make money”
*Big red siren goes off*
THERE ARE NO EASY WAYS TO MAKE MONEY.
Even passive income is only passive after you’ve put in a shit ton of work for several years. Here are a few “opportunities” that have been pushed at me over the years.
- “Just Get AI to Do It”
A friend of mine came to me saying he’d found someone selling AI content at $1 per 1000 words (this was before ChatGPT). He suggested If I just get AI to fill my website with content I’d be laughing my way to the bank.
I declined. He decided to go for it.
He blasted out AI-generated lists of anime. He made $10 a month for 6 months before Google took his site down. Frankly more than I thought he’d make but not worth the time it took. And he wouldn’t tell me how much he spent…
Granted, this was before ChatGPT but even now I avoid AI projects like the plague. ChatGPT can be a great assistant but it can’t do your work for you. There is no easy money. If an AI can do it, soon enough everyone will try and it will get marked as spam. No matter what it is.
There is no easy money.
- You Know Those 8 Hour Sleep Videos? Anyone Could Make Those!
The same friend came to me again. “How easy are those 8-hour repeat videos to make? You could easily throw up a white noise video on Youtube and earn big.”
I declined. He decided to go for it.
To date, he has about 30 views on that video and the project has long since been forgotten.
Until you leave the mindset of finding something easy “just to try” you’ll never succeed with side hustles. Commit to doing hard work.
There is no easy money.
- Do You Know How Much People Make Day Trading?!?
A couple I know were into this. They were in a paid support group for traders and they tried to get me to join, like some sort of MLM.
I declined. They decided to go for it.
12 months later and a few hours of each of their mornings was spent trading. Their initial $100 pot had grown to, wait for it… $100. The fact that they didn’t lose money is a miracle.
If any Joe Bloggs could make money doing it at home, they would. You won’t. You’ll just burn money like you’re staying alive in the Arctic.
There is no easy money.
- Have You Seen the Commission on Crypto Sales??
In an old mastermind group I was in, one Danish guy was making big bucks on Crypto websites in his own country (allegedly). He was setting up in different countries and wanted me to head up his UK site.
I declined. He decided to go for it.
I don’t get crypto. It’s not for me. Frankly, it seems like made up money that has no real value except that people keep buying it in a frenzy.
However, my friend Mr. Get Rich Quick jumped on the opportunity and guess what? He didn’t make any money. He worked his ass off for 6 months for nada.
If the offer is too good to be true then it probably is.
There is no easy money.
Final Thoughts
Whether you were lead astray by Mr Get Rich Quick, playing against your strengths, or you simply got distracted. Quitting is the superpower that will get you back on track. And remember, every mistake is an important lesson. They aren’t failures, they’re stepping stones.
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