Hustling is an interesting word with positive and negative connotations.  When it happens to you (i.e. – I got hustled) it is a bad thing.  But when you’re the one that is hustling it can be a positive thing.  Most everyone I know has a side hustle.  Some are good and some are a bit questionable.  Lately I’ve been having a lot of success with my side hustle and I’d like to tell you about it…but first an update on something else I have been trying…

Low Information Diet: Six Week Update

About six weeks ago I decided to turn off the news and uninstall Facebook from my phone.  I have managed to keep Facebook off my phone and drastically cut back on my news viewing/reading/listening.  My conclusion at the end of six weeks?  Ahhhhh!  It’s great!

I don’t feel uninformed at all.  It seems like when I do catch the news they are detailing some horrific tragedy that I didn’t necessarily need to know about.  Like early this morning when I was watching for the weather and they told about a horrible tragedy where two children were killed in an apartment fire.  Tragedy and heart ache exist all around us.  I have found that limiting my exposure to the news has helped me be more compassionate and thoughtful towards the tragedies among my own friends and the congregation I minister to.

And life without Facebook in my pocket has been pretty good too.  Gone is the urge to whip out my phone and constantly check to see what is going on.  Sometimes my phone can go for a few days without charging.  I have also enjoyed having almost all of the notification sounds and buzzes turned off too.  I have turned a few select notifications back on but still observe a quiet period between noon and 2pm on weekdays.  I’m in control of my technology, not vice versa.

My Side Hustle Update

I have written about selling stuff on Craigslist (CL) several times before.  Currently my CL activity and cashflow are at record levels.  I am in the mood to purge items from our house and apparently there are lots of people looking to buy.  In the last four weeks I have cleared just over $900 of sales in my online activities.  I have about 50 hours into my efforts so that is around $18 an hour.  Here are a few new helpful tips…

High Volume Is Helpful

The majority of items I am selling are in the $20 to $30 price range.  You can’t list just a few items and expect to achieve a solid flow of sales.  I currently have 42 items listed on Craigslist.  I often go in binges, listing 5 or 6 items at a time instead of one or two a day.  I always include one or two photos and just a sentence or two about the item.  I never include a phone number in my ad because I don’t want that information out there.  It takes about 5 to 7 minutes total to snap pics of an item and get it listed.  Selling items in the $5 to $10 price range will also yield poor results.  Consider bundling small items into groups and selling them that way.

Setup An Alternate Email

If you’re going to do some serious purging on Craigslist or any online selling site, I would encourage you to setup an alternate email address before you start.  I have been transitioning to an alternative email address and it has been a hassle.  The only thing worse than transitioning is clogging up your primary email with notifications and possibly becoming a target of spam.

Craigslist People Are Flaky

Prepare to have deals fall through, especially if you are selling electronics and video game systems.  You will get email messages from people who are interested in an item that you have for sale.  A few messages will go back and forth and then they disappear.  Even worse is when you arrange to meet someone to sell an item and they don’t show up.

The flakiness of the customer is usually tied to the type of item being sold.  I have an old video game system that has been sitting in our closet for years that I am selling.  Twice I have had a buyer coming to meet me and twice they have flaked out on me.  That doesn’t happen when I am selling tools or antiques.  People who buy tools and antiques (oh, and baby items too) almost always show up.

Know Where To Sell An Item

Different items will fetch higher prices in different sales venues.  Most stuff can be sold on CL for a fair and quick price, but some items will fetch a premium on eBay or Amazon.  My friend John wrote a great post about selling on eBay.  Selling on that auction site can be fun, but as with all auctions your item may go for less than you want it to.

I have recently started selling items on Amazon.  So far my success rate has been pretty high since I am particular about the items I sell on Amazon.  A ‘new in box’ item will sell for premium dollar on Amazon.  As an example, I am helping a friend from church sell some items from an estate.  One of the items was a ‘new in box’ Black and Decker jar opener.  While picking out items to sell I used the Amazon app to scan the bar code of the jar opener box.  Would you believe those things were selling for $75 to $150?!?  I posted the jar opener on Amazon on Saturday afternoon and less than 24 hours later it had sold for $85.  By the time I pay shipping and Amazon takes a percentage I should take in about $65.  The same item would have sold for $30 to $40 on Craigslist after a few weeks had gone by.  I have had similar success with other ‘new in box’ items.

Selling Online Is Fun And Addictive

A few months back I was on a kick with geocaching, spending 30 minutes to an hour a day hunting down hidden caches in nearby areas.  Selling online has replaced geocaching and now the treasures I am hunting for are real.

Not every month of selling online will be as good as this one.  I have been able to purge out some larger items from our attic and garage as well as score some high value items for free.  (More on that free stuff in a post tomorrow.)  A big driving force has been clearing out clutter.  In the past four weeks I have regained control of our garage.  It is still somewhat chaotic but my workbench is useable again and there are no longer items that we must dodge in order to park our cars.

What Is Your Side Hustle?

I am curious to hear from some of you about your side hustle.  What are you doing?  Is the income/time ratio pretty good?  Tell me about it in the comments section below…