I Tried 3 Side Hustles in 90 Days, Here's What Actually Made Money

Let’s face it, nearly every “side-hustle” video you come across on YouTube is either a scam or an exaggeration in some way.

This time I intended to thoroughly assess my hypothesis. I actually put in the effort over a period of 90 days and tested 3 widely recommended side hustles. My only question was:

What is actually achievable if the starting point is from scratch?

I will walk you through the steps I took, the earnings I generated, and the lessons learned.

1. Dropshipping (15 Days)

Hustle Rating: ⭐⭐☆☆☆

Time Spent: ~2 hrs./day

Earnings: $0

With the amount of success stories available online, dropshipping is all the rage these days. This intrigued me. I spent countless hours watching tutorials, setting up a Shopify account, adding products on AliExpress, and spending $50 on Facebook ads.

But there was no magic – no “$50 to riches!” deal.

Full of competition, with no experience managing customer complaints, and with all the other terrific issues, customer service alone was a nightmare. Not to forget the “hundreds” of unapologetically stringent ads that I managed myself.

👉 Verdict: Yes, in an ideal world everything is hunky dory, but dropshipping is marketed as a seamless solution for ad experts with a tight budget. With zero available funds for a testing out marketing plans, it's nothing but chaos, and it’s easy to get overwhelmed.

2. Freelance Writing (30 Days)

Hustle Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

Time Spent: 1-2 hours / day

Earnings: $285

Writing has always been one of my hobbies, hence why this particular side hustle interested me. I began by creating a Fiverr account and immediately set to work pitching myself to small blogs via cold emails.

Within two weeks, I got my first freelance writing gig. It was a pretty low-paying blog but I was able to hone my skills and build my portfolio. By week four, I was comfortably earning an additional $285.

The most important factor when freelance writing is being persistent and knowing how to pitch correctly. For me, it took a few tries, but all of a sudden, the gigs started rolling in after I figured it out.

👉 Verdict: Freelance writing is a good alternative if you are passionate about the subject and ready to put in the work. There is no financial investment at the start, and the returns are decent once you develop a rhythm.

3. Selling Digital Products (45 Days)

Hustle Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Time Spent: Front-load (10-12 hours for product creation)

Earnings: $470 (after 45 days)

This was something extraordinary. Selling digital products such as templates and eBooks on marketplaces like Gumroad and Etsy transformed how I earned money. I created a Notion template and wrote a short eBook which I marketed.

My marketing efforts in Facebook groups and through relevant subreddits started slow but significantly paid off. Search engine optimization (SEO) where focus direct to keyword made products findable was another game changer.

👉 Verdict: Selling digital products yielded the best return on investment. The selling effort was comparatively low as compared with outcomes. Winning in the market took time, but gaining market visibility took longer compared to holding onto existing customers.

The Final Slide to Winning?

The exultant sellers of templates won offering my niche products within the highly competitive dropshipping and freelancing spaces. Despite having a developed product I believed needing improvement, the community turned the tides for me. The SEO presence with considerable initial effort transformed the-return-on-sustained-effort perspectives for ongoing products.

Conclusions:

While I may not have gotten rich from any of these side hustles, here is what I have achieved:

I discovered a dependable way to make an additional $500 per month, a figure that feels completely attainable now.

A side-hustle that from its inception practically guarantees revenue permitting me little ongoing effort once it is established.

The newfound confidence has allowed me to aim for more challenging initiatives in the future.

Side hustles don’t need to be grand. They don’t even need to limitless funding upfront. But if they are approached like actual businesses, you’d be amazed by what could be done.

Optional Call to Action:

Would you want a comprehensive breakdown of the tools that I used or a guide on how to set up a gumroad store?

Comments and DMs are welcome if you would like to talk more – I’d be more than happy to share the entire process! count words