I tried 2 side hustles they claim will make me $500 a day. Did it work?

I Tried 2 Side Hustles that claim I can make $500 a day with minimal time and effort.

Most of us here have jobs and families. Our time is limited. I surveyed my friends to see how much free time they would have to dedicate to a side hustle. My survey was very scientific, I sent a text saying “hey, how much free time do you have to dedicate to a side hustle?”

Those without kids said they have 3 to 4 hours a day they could dedicated to a side hustle.

Moms with jobs said their free time was spent on luxuries like showering and doing laundry.

I’m a mom with a full-time job. My son is 13 years old so I do have about 2 hours a day I can dedicate to a side hustle a few days a week. This is the time I’m using on my course, coaching clients, and you tube channel.

Side Hustle The Experts Keep Pushing

First side hustle is the Etsy Shop with Printify print on demand.

1. You create an imagine.
2. You upload the image on to a product from Printify.
3. A customer buys it.
4. It gets printed and sent to the customer.
5. You’ll make $500 a day.

That’s pretty simple, right?

Here’s what’s not mentioned.

Set up

• It takes a lot of time and effort to set up the Etsy store and your Printify account.

Creation of Products

• Creating products can take time if you’re new to a site like Canva. If you have the free account, you have less options. The pay account gives you full access.
• What you’re going to design. Cute dog tee-shirts? Abstract poster prints? Mugs with your logo?

Next Steps

1. Uploading the picture to Printify is easy.
2. Pick the product.
3. Create your masterpiece.

The product looks fantastic on your computer screen, but does it really look good on the product?

No one tells you to order a sample.

The product may look much different in real life. Samples aren’t free.

Time

It takes a few days to get verified by Etsy.

Adding your products to your Etsy store is time consuming. I wasn’t sure what to check off in the listing. I’m using print on demand. I wasn’t sure how to list where it’s being sent from. 

Cost

Cost is never mentioned. It’s .20 cents a listing. I know that doesn’t sound like a lot of money. They also don’t mention that it’s a saturated marketplace and you need to list a lot of products. It adds up.

Can Etsy be a profitable side hustle? Yes, it definitely can. BUT it’s going to take a lot of time and effort. It will also cost money in ads to get your product in front of customers.

I did decide to keep my Etsy store. I will add more products when I have the time.

Drop Shipping With A Wordpress Website

This claims to be very profitable and free to set up.

Find the perfect product on Ali Express, set up a free wordpress website, and market your product on social media.

That sounds simple. Let’s break it down and read between the lines.

Ali Express – awesome marketplace. They sell everything. You’ll easily find products to sell. They will ship the product directly to the customer.

Here’s why Ali Express isn’t good for drop shipping.

1. It takes 3 to 4 weeks to ship the product from the manufacturer.
2. You can’t sell it on Amazon or Etsy because other sellers can fulfil the order in hours.
3. You don’t know the condition of the product and packaging of your product.

Wordpress

• Wordpress is free. BUT you need to pay for a hosting site. That will cost you money every month.
• It has a user-friendly interface. You don’t need to know coding. There are lots of free and pay themes and plugins.
• It’s SEO friendly.
• The internet is full of tutorials.

Here are the issues with Wordpress.

• It’s an easy target for hackers. You must keep your plugins up to date.
• There are too many options to overwhelm a beginner.
• Because it’s open source, not all plugins work seamlessly.
• Too many plugins will slow down your site.

You’ve picked your perfect products and set up your Wordpress website and paid for hosting. Now what?

Having Ali Express send your customers the products will not work. They can find the products and have them shipped within hours instead of 3 to 4 weeks.

You buy the products, have them shipped to you and you will send it out. That also doesn’t work.

I picked earrings to sell. It took 5 weeks and packaged in dusty plastic. If I had been my customer, I would have sent them back.

I repackaged the earrings, put them on my Wordpress site, and marketed them on social media.

Crickets! Not one sale!

Can drop shipping be a profitable side hustle?  For the average person – NO!

There are a lot of scammers out there who will try to sell you courses on drop shipping and Print On Demand. Save your money.