3 Side Hustles That Are a Total Waste of Time

After surviving 2020, I’d argue that everyone needs a side hustle. As we learned, having one source of income — particularly coming from an employer — is incredibly high-risk.

Not all side hustles are created equally, and most articles on the topic suggest either very basic ideas (driving for Uber, delivering food, etc.) that can’t be scaled into a profitable business, or they sell you a pipe dream — you know, “Quit your job in 90 days by starting a Shopify store. My course will teach you everything you need to know, for just one small payment of $999.”

I’ve tried a few different side hustles, including starting an online business that ended up in the toilet and cost me thousands of dollars.

A side hustle should be fun, scalable, and profitable; I’ve tried all of the below methods for creating additional income, and none of them worked for me. I ended up wasting a ton of time and money, but at least I learned what doesn’t work.

Creating the wrong content on the wrong platform

A few weeks ago my mentee, John, was picking my brain on content creation. He’s on year 2 of the corporate grind and wants to create a source of income outside of his day job.

John was asking me whether he should start posting here on this platform, create his own blog, start a YouTube channel, etc. — he wanted to know what platform was going to be the most profitable.

I asked him a very simple question:

“What do you like to do?”

He told me he likes creating videos.

“Great! A YouTube channel is going to be your most profitable option”, I said.

A few years ago, I started a YouTube channel, and I absolutely hated it. Creating content was a chore, and thus, I rarely ever posted. Looking back, I realize that I made two mistakes:

I was making videos about topics that I thought would grab a viewer’s attention — but I didn’t like the topics I was covering and found them boring.

I hated the process of filming and editing.

I’ve considered starting a YouTube channel or podcast again, except this time, I’d choose a topic that I actually care about (investing and entrepreneurship); I’d also outsource the video editing.

Before dabbling in the world of content creation, it’s vital to understand what you like and dislike. Just like any job, it’s very difficult to sink countless hours into something you hate.

If writing comes easy to you and is enjoyable — start writing. If it’s being on video, start filming. The best and most profitable platform is the one you enjoy, and the same advice goes for choosing a niche to create content around.

Starting an eCommerce business and expecting to be profitable the first year

I already previously noted that I started a business that went down the drain. My “business idea” was to sell breast pump bags on Amazon because that’s what I thought would be profitable out of the gate.

To make a long story short, I was making incredibly near-term decisions in the pursuit of making fast money; I was desperate to leave a job I hated.

Building an online business takes a ton of time, and you shouldn’t expect to quit your day job anytime soon.

If you are expecting to replace your income with your eCommerce store within the first year, you’re wasting time and should choose a different side hustle.

Your business requires money to grow and scale; not to mention, you still have bills to pay at home.

For anyone going down the eCommerce route, I’d suggest keeping your day job as long as possible and reinvesting as much of your income as you can to grow your business — before you even consider taking a paycheck.

Looking back, I would have left the job that I hated for a better one. In parallel, I would have spent the time building a real business.

I would have continued working my day job without any expectation of quitting in the near term to pursue my business.

If I would have been more strategic and focused on my long-term goals of building a sustainable business, I would have saved myself thousands of dollars and my most valuable asset — my time.

Affiliate marketing with a small audience

This might make a few people mad, but affiliate marketing is a waste of time for most content creators.

If you aren’t generating tens of thousands of page views each month, stay away from affiliate marketing.

I signed up for an affiliate program and can attest to the fact that you’re not going to get rich by posting a 15% affiliate link for anything.

Sure, you might make a few dollars — but there are much better uses of your time.

I’m also not interested in building squeeze pages, funnels, paid traffic ads, etc. in hopes of earning a small commission.

The better alternative, in my opinion, is to continue creating valuable content in your niche, building your audience, and offering a small product — like a master class or 1–1 coaching as you continue to climb in readers before you try affiliate marketing.

If you’re just starting to think about creating a side hustle that serves as an additional source of income, consider the following:

Write down the skills that you currently have and think about how you can leverage them to add value to others.

Make sure you actually enjoy the side hustle.

Whether you create a blog or an eCommerce business, don’t expect to replace your income immediately.

You can have a blog, launch products, and be a successful affiliate marketer — just not on day 1, when your audience is still small.