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?
Scrap metal. I always leave my scrap metal out on trash day next to the trash can. A guy in a pickup will come around and get it. I would have to save it up for years for it to be worth a single trip, but he’s getting a full load or two every day. I’m sure I’ve lost out on a few hundred bucks over the years.
I’m sure if you started an electronics recycling company or a clean out business you could get people to pay you to take their stuff.
There’s a dude in our town that has a lot where everyone dumps their scrap metal and he takes it to recycle. It’s pretty rad since our local trash service won’t take it (even though they dump everything together, including recyclables, at the transfer station to be hauled off to the dump out of town).