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- 5 Cheeky Side Hustles That Could Make You Bank — If You’re Up for It
5 Cheeky Side Hustles That Could Make You Bank — If You’re Up for It
Instagram @depop
Life is expensive and it’s pretty hard to do all the things we want on a minimum income. Even if you’re working in a 9-5 job, it’s super rare to be on the higher-end of a salary range in your young adult years. Which does make drinking all of the cocktails and treating yourself to fancy dinners a little bit tricky.
If the stress of money is ever-looming and and you’re finding you have so many things you want to do, a side hustle could be the way to go. They can not only help you to earn bank, but also serve to enrich you as a person, giving you other purposes and creative outlets that you may not have even realised you needed.
Here are five surprisingly successful side hustles to try:
Sell your knickers
I know this sounds suss, but stick with me. I didn’t believe this was even a thing until I witnessed my housemate do it firsthand. Given the transparent and growing sex positive world we live in, it’s probably not that surprising that people will pay the big bucks for some dirty knickers. We’re aware of kinks and we know that used knickers are a huge turn-on for some.
If you can get past the image of a stranger sniffing your knickers, then this is honestly a great side hustle for more than one reason. Firstly, it’s sustainable — all knickers have a shelf life, but instead of throwing them out, you can give them a second life! Secondly, you don’t have to do much to get this side hustle off the ground.
My old housemate has been kind enough to lend her advice, although we’re going to keep her identity hush-hush, for obvious reasons.
“If you’d have told me as a teen that I’d be selling my knickers to pay for uni as a young adult, I would’ve laughed out loud,” my housemate says. “But honestly, we should judge people less and be fearless when it comes to our side hustles because damn, life is expensive.”
My housemate used the platform Locanto where she set up an anonymous personal ad sharing simply that she had used knickers and was happy to deliver them for a fee. She would then charge based on the requests of the individual.
“For example, one guy wanted me to wear the same undies for five days and do all my yoga sessions in them… so I charged him more,” she says.
“My average price was $250 per pair, which sometimes went up to $500 or $800 depending on requests. They’d send me an address of a PO box (usually) and I’d just pop them in an envelope and send them in the mail.”
To keep her privacy, my housemate created a new email address and PayPal account in which she’d ask the buyers to transfer the money to before she posted the undies. “Sometimes, if they didn’t have anywhere safe to receive deliveries, they’d want to exchange knickers and cash in person,” she says. “If this was the case, we’d choose a pickup spot in public and work out an exchange.”
While my housemate does admit you have to have open mind to partake in this side hustle, she says that for her, it’s been well worth it. “I was very careful and never had any dramas,” she says. “No joke, this side hustle allowed me to go to uni full-time without having to work at all. I’d absolutely recommend it to anyone who’s game, you just have to be smart and safe.”
Become a life coach
Are you the go-to gal pal for whenever one of your mates needs a pep-talk? If yes, then this side hustle might be for you.
A life coach is basically someone who helps other people make the most out of their life. According to life-coach-turned-billionaire Tony Robbins, a life coach is “someone professionally trained to help you maximise your full potential and reach your desired results”.
“They are like a supportive friend and a trusted adviser rolled into one,” Robbins continues. “They’re someone who will push you to identify your goals, hold you accountable and provide encouragement throughout your journey to become a better version of yourself.”
Now don’t get caught on “professionally trained”. You can do a Practitioner of Life Coaching course in only four days, and come out the other end able to practise life-coaching with qualifications. The Life Coaching College is an Australian institution that is highly-regarded in this field. You can do a face-to-face course or complete it online.
Once you’ve completed the course, you’re ready to go. Set yourself up with a cute website and Instagram account, and start booking clients. The best thing about this side hustle is that you can do it face-to-face or remotely, which makes it super flexible and easy to do slotted around your other commitments.
Life coaches charge anywhere between $150-$650 per hour for their work and their clients are usually ongoing.
Get paid to go on dates
Yes, this is really a thing. If you consider yourself to be a great date, which means you love to dress up, you’re a conversationalist and you’re interested in meeting a bunch of new people… then why not treat it like a business?
WhatsYourPrice.com is a website that allows you to pitch yourself as a date that users can win. Basically, you choose a price that you’re happy with and put a date with you up for auction. The starting price/cheapest rate is $150, with rates going up from there. It’s like eBay, for dates.
There is also the option of putting up a personal ad on Locanto, which gives you a little more freedom to set the “rules”. However, websites like WhatsYourPrice are safer, given that there are security protocols to go through when you make an account.
Although this can be an amazing money-maker, you’ve definitely got to be careful when planning to meet up with people from the internet. Although we live in an era of online dating, this kind of online dating is a little different and requires you to put some firm boundaries in place.
Tips: Make sure you always meet at a public place. Never allow a stranger to pick you up or drop you off at your home. Have at least one friend whoknows where you are and is able to get you out of bind should you ever feel uncomfortable. Turning on “Find My Friends” on your phone is a great idea, too.
Teach people to dance
Being a dance teacher pays surprisingly well. While it does require you to have reasonable dance experience, many who dance as a hobby don’t realise it can work for your side hustle, too.
I’m a ballroom and Latin dancer and have been training on and off since I was nine. Having recently gotten back into it at a competitive level, I’ve realised it’s a relatively expensive hobby that takes up a lot of my extra time.
That said, these issues are solved when you add into your schedule dance teaching. Not only is dance teaching super fun, but it actually helps you to better understand the craft, as well as help to pay for the costs.
Dance teachers can make anything from $40-$300 an hour. Depending on what style of dance you’d like to teach, accreditation is necessary but doesn’t take a long time to achieve. There are different levels of teaching creds, but if you’re just interested in teaching kids and beginners, it’s as simple as knowing the basics.
Teaching dance is also a super creative endeavour and if you already enjoy dancing, it doesn’t even feel like work.
This mentality could be carried through with other hobbies, such as yoga, Pilates or Zumba. Running gym classes is a great way to make good cash, while keeping fit and doing something you love. You can actually become a licensed Zumba instructor via an online course that only takes a few weeks.
Have a look into how to become a teacher in your dance style or hobby of choice — it’s guaranteed to be an easier transition than it seems.
Repurpose and resell clothes
If you’re a fan of vintage shopping or have more clothes than you know what to do with, then this one is absolutely for you.
I find vintage shopping to be super therapeutic. Pop a good podcast on and go for a road trip to visit all the massive op shops you can think of, spending a good amount of time in each one hunting for gems.
Instead of looking for things that are fully-formed and ready to be sold, think about what you could add to them to make them extra fabulous. For example, you could find a cool pair of baggy, high-waisted jeans and decorate the pockets with diamantes. Or, you could spot a satin bomber jacket and paint a cool graphic print on the back.
If you have basic sewing skills, even better. You can do things like adjust the hem, add in waist ties, mend any holes or rips or even transform a dress into a skirt. Think outside the box and create true one-off pieces that will catch people’s eye.
There are so many different platforms to set up online stores, but one great one for vintage clothes is Depop. With a little bit of added flair and clear craftmanship, you could absolutely sell your pieces anywhere upwards from $80. Not only is this a super-profitable side hustle, but it’s also really creative and fun.
