What are your favorite side-hustle ideas?
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Apparently, I am now qualified to give employment advice.
This is interesting because I already have a full-time job that consumes most of my waking hours, a decent portion of the hours when I should be sleeping and, depending on the week, at least part of my soul. I’m a teacher, which means my primary side hustle is occasionally doing more work for the same amount of money.
Still, I do know a few people who have figured this out better than I have.
Refereeing is one option. I’ve done enough of it over the years to know that it can put some extra money in your pocket while also giving complete strangers an opportunity to question your eyesight, intelligence and moral character. It’s basically customer service with a whistle.
I also know someone who donates plasma. There’s something admirably efficient about turning your own circulatory system into a revenue stream. I’m not sure I’m quite ready to put “blood products” into the income column of my household budget, but I respect the creativity.
Then there’s my best friend, Scott, who has become something of a one-man transportation and food-delivery conglomerate. He drives Uber and Uber Eats and somehow manages to make a pretty impressive amount of side cash doing it. I’m beginning to suspect that while I’m sitting at home grading essays about symbolism, Scott is quietly building a small empire one airport run and chicken sandwich at a time.
Those are all legitimate ideas. The problem for me is time.
Teaching full-time has a way of occupying not only the hours listed on your contract but also evenings, weekends and random moments when you suddenly remember that you promised a class you would have something graded by tomorrow. By the time I finish the school day, deal with whatever still needs to be done and get home, the thought of announcing, “Excellent. Now I will begin Job Number Two,” does not fill me with entrepreneurial enthusiasm.
Summer would seem to be the obvious answer, except I have other plans for summer.
I want to see family. I want to visit Scott. I want to make my way back to the Bourbon Trail. I want to sit somewhere without hearing a bell every 50 minutes. I want to wake up occasionally without immediately wondering whether I forgot to post an assignment.
Most importantly, I want to rest.
That may make me a lousy side-hustle expert, but I’ve reached the point where I think free time has value, too. There’s nothing wrong with earning extra money, and there are plenty of smart ways to do it. But there’s also nothing wrong with deciding that every available hour of your life does not have to be monetized.
So my favorite side-hustle ideas are refereeing, plasma donation and driving Uber.
For other people.
For me, I’m currently exploring a bold new income strategy called “keeping my regular job and then going home.”
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Copyright © 2026 Doug DeBolt.
