Corporations taking over side hustles seems to be screwing over people, since they take such a large cut and flood the market for that hustle.
But the ones I’ve personally seen people do that work pretty well (in USA) are:
Stay at home mom watching another kid (legally dubious depending on state/situation. But I ain’t no narc.)
A neighbor of my mom’s sends out a menu saying what she plans on cooking each night for that week, and for $X will deliver you some as well (Legal in Utah due to special laws, other states could be dubious. )
People who go pick up free furniture that is pretty trashed, and then refurbishes it and sells it. Or people with trucks who are like “Will deliver furniture for $30 in X area” is also pretty life saver for people without cars/trucks. Was able to get a super cheap/nice coach because of this.
People who just flip free stuff or stuff from thrift stores without doing any improvements annoy me greatly though. We broke and you’re just driving up the price!
None of these generate a ton of cash, but I like that they take very little up front cost, aren’t disruptive, and mostly take labor.
So what side hustles have you seen work out?
There’s quite a few different YouTube channels dedicated to finding scrap metal or even a guy who owns a scrap metal business who pays for scrap metal, processes it, then sells it to various foundries to be melted down into something new.
I personally like to buy used items and resell them on eBay. Sometimes at thrift stores, but also garage sales and estate auctions. You can find auctions nearby on a site called hibid. I also sell my old unused items on eBay as well or even parts from broken items. Just look up the item on eBay and filter by sold.