Advice, resources and getting started guide for home working

What do you do when the product you need simply doesn’t exist? Alexandra Rutkay is the founder of Citymouse, a diaper bag brand that’s generated almost $2 million in sales in just a few years. Before this, she was a serial side hustler who’d dabbled in jewelry, print on demand, and Amazon FBA, including one Amazon product she sank $8,000 into and had to liquidate. The idea for Citymouse came from her own frustration. Heading to dinner with her husband and toddler son, she couldn’t find a bag that fit her diapers, wipes, and bottle without looking like a bulky, traditional diaper bag. So she decided to make one herself. With no design background, she sketched a rough concept and brought it straight to Alibaba to find a bag manufacturer. After a few failed samples, she ordered 500 units for close to $10,000, against her husband’s advice to stop investing in new products.

Between jobs, still in school, or just done with the 9-to-5? You can still bring in money without a traditional job. The fastest ways to get money without a job are selling stuff you don't need, delivering with apps like DoorDash and Instacart, and donating plasma, which can all pay the same day. If you recently lost your job, apply for unemployment benefits right away, too.

Can you really make money on Instagram? Yes, and you don't need a huge following to get started. Instagram has more than 3 billion monthly users, and it's where a lot of people discover the products, local businesses, and creators they end up paying.

Can 100 pieces of content really replace your day job? One YouTuber says yes, and he's doing it with reviews and tutorials that still pay him months after he hits publish. Jacob Wade runs Roadmap Money, a personal finance YouTube channel built almost entirely on search traffic and affiliate commissions. He started by writing about budgeting apps and savings accounts for years, but it wasn't until he brought that same expertise to YouTube that things clicked. One video, "best budgeting apps of 2024," started pulling in daily search traffic. Nine months ago he had around 7,000 subscribers. Today he's closing in on 25,000, with some months topping $15,000 from the channel.

What’s the scariest moment you’ve faced as an entrepreneur? For Halloween, I asked Side Hustle Show listeners to share theirs. You’ll hear about a 1.1 million-follower Instagram account deleted overnight, a Google update that wiped out 60% of one freelancer’s income, a warehouse that miscounted inventory right before the holidays, and 10,000 unusable DVDs. You’ll also hear from entrepreneurs who chose to be scared: quitting a job, walking away from an eight-figure business, and laying off a team they loved. I’ll share a few of my own along the way, including a Google ad ban on my first day of full-time self-employment, a ladder crash from my house-painting days, and a Bitcoin ransom email that came from my own address.