The “Normal Person” Guide To Stacking Extra Cash
The Modern Playbook for Making Money Outside Your Day Job
We’re in an era where a lot of people think they need to “build a brand,” “raise capital,” or “go all in” on entrepreneurship to get wealthy.
Entrepreneur influencers love peddling this idea too. Especially if they have an expensive course to sell you.
The truth is that most people don’t need to do this.
There is more to life than working. And in many cases, you can keep your 9-5 (if you enjoy it) and still stack serious side income—sometimes more than your paycheck—with just a few smart plays and consistent effort.
This is exactly what I did with freelance writing, blogging, and YouTube until I decided it was time to go full-time.
So if you’re looking to diversify and boost your income this year, buckle up!
Here are five side hustles that are still viable if you have a 9-5 job that also have decent earning potential.
📹 1. YouTube
YouTube is a real grind at first. But this is a side hustle that really has snowball potential.
Now, I started my personal finance channel back in 2020.
It took a few months to get monetized. I posted one long-form, talking head video a week targeting topics people were searching for and stayed consistent to get there.
Once I was monetized, I quickly began making $10 to $15 per day in AdSense revenue.
Then, $20 to $30 per day.
Pretty soon, my YouTube channel was covering my grocery bills and part of rent. And this was in the first year of posting a video every week or two.
These days, I outsource my video editing, thumbnails, and some scripting.
But for years, YouTube was my 2-3 hour per week side hustle that slowly grew, month over month.
If you have any interest in content creation, affiliate marketing, and working with brands, this is the side hustle I recommend starting this year. Plus, AI tools are making it cheaper and easier to start than ever before (you can check out my YouTube framework here since I wrote about it recently.)
🧠 2. Selling Digital Products
I wrote a post about this covering my experiment of selling a freelance writing eBook.
Generally, I think digital products are an awesome side hustle busy people can find success with.
First off, they’re high margin.
Secondly, there’s basically no risk in creating one because you’re not spending money on inventory or shipping physical goods. And if you’re a busy professional, you probably have some skill or knowledge that someone out there would be willing to pay you for.
eBooks, templates, Notion dashboards, budget trackers, digital art, AI prompts, meal plans—you name it.
Create once, sell forever.
You can host your products on Gumroad, Stan, Etsy, or my new favorite, (referral link here shamelessly) Pillar.io.
Traffics is tricky to get at first, I’ll admit. Marketplaces like Gumroad or Etsy can have some organic visitors, however, which is nice. Alternatively, use Pinterest to start promoting your products.
😎 PS: Here’s my updated list of money-making tools I use to run my businesses. This includes helpful AI software plus some other cool stuff, like my Skool community and some fun earning opportunities.
📱 3. Micro-Influencing / Creating Niche Social Pages
An interesting trend in the influencer-marketing world is that nano- and micro-influencers are increasingly delivering the best ROI for brands.
In other words, highly targeted, small pages run by passionate influencers are pretty effective marketing channels.
This means that even small pages on Instagram and TikTok land brand deals. This can include getting free products but also getting paid to create sponsored content.
I even know a few user-generated content (UGC) creators who make a couple thousand dollars a month creating UGC content for brands.
AND - this route leads perfectly into affiliate marketing or selling digital products.
👕 4. Print-On-Demand Selling
This was another side hustle I tested out in college.
I started selling meme mugs and coasters on Etsy. I used Printify, a leading print on demand company, to make and fulfill orders.
This one ended up being a flop for me.
However, print-on-demand is another low-risk side hustle you can tackle outside of your 9-5 job. It also has some pretty decent income potential once you find the right niche.
Etsy + Printify is my suggested route. A few of my friends sell stickers and digital art using this combo and do pretty well. You can also check out platforms like Redbubble or Teespring.
No inventory headaches. No shipping hassles. Use trends or niche memes to go viral. The right design can bring in consistent sales every month once it ranks on a marketplace.
💼 5. Gig Economy Work
I’ve been writing about the gig economy and testing out different side hustles since 2018.
A lot of gigs out there don’t pay very much.
However, if you’re willing to hustle, there are plenty of platforms where you can make some decent side cash.
I have two friends who do this in Toronto. They have online jobs, but for exercise and extra income, they deliver for Uber Eats and DoorDash on their bikes.
There’s no gas costs or depreciation on their cars. And they can make about $20 per hour while getting some exercise in.
There’s all sorts of gigs like this…Rover for walking dogs, Taskrabbit for doing odd jobs, Craigslist for finding cash gigs.
I like some of the more passive platforms too. Like did you know you can rent out your parking space on SpotHero? Or, use Neighbor to rent out extra storage space you’re not using? It’s wild!
What’s Next?
I love writing and talking about online businesses and side hustles.
However, this whole space often demonizes the 9-5 job.
The truth is that working a 9-5 job isn’t universally bad or good. It’s up to you to decide if you’re happy with your current lifestyle.
But if you’re looking to scale your income, you don’t always have to quit your day job in a blaze of glory and move to Thailand to launch your startup.
Way more millionaires are made by diligently saving, keeping living expenses low, working a decent job, and investing for the long term.
Throw an effective side hustle or two in there along the way? You’re cooking with gas!
For me, digital hustles have always been what’s worked best. I’ll keep testing them too and writing about them here on Substack if you want to follow along. But there’s nothing wrong with becoming an Airbnb host, or delivering food on your bike, or finding something that brings in a bit of extra monthly income.
These 5 paths are ones I suggest for people with limited time. What would you suggest?
Catch you in the next one!
Let’s connect 👉 pillar.io/tomblakefinance
Helpful article. Selling digital product is a challenge if you do not have a broad audience. How do you make your first sell as a beginner , just a thought!