Trying Out Side Hustles from TikTok
I don't think you'll quit your day job with these "side hustles", but I took a closer look at them to see what's legit and what isn't. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it always is – at least on TikTok!
I recently spent a bit too long watching TikToks about easy ways to make money and… I feel like I’ve really dropped the ball. It turns out there are a plethora of easy ways to make crazy amounts of money that I just haven’t covered with this YouTube channel, and for that I’m sorry. But I’m here to make it right by exploring these amazing ideas from TikTok.
Make $14,000 w/ One Photo
Okay, I’m a photographer, so this sounds perfect. Well, not perfect – it sounds too good to be true. So I took a closer look.
This guy claims you get 40 cents per photo view. The only problem is he’s missing the decimal point… which I don’t really blame him because it’s formatted that way on purpose to make you initially think the payout is that much when in reality, it’s actually 4/10ths of a cent per paid photo view. So there are a few more stipulations to what constitutes a paying view, and it seems like the amount you get paid per view fluctuates.
“The way that this works, is by uploading quality content on your ClickaSnap profile, other members and users on our website will view your profile and your images. For each paid view gained, you earn 0.7¢*. Please note this is 0.7 cents ($0.007) and not 7¢ ($0.07) or 70¢ ($0.70). This benefit is included in any of our chargeable membership levels.”
So assuming all 35,000 views in his example photo are counted as paid views, that photographer earned $140, not $14,000. That’s obviously a pretty big difference.
The other catch is you also have to sign up for a paid plan in order to earn money, and these start at $2.75 per month.
I figured I’d go ahead and try it out for a few days, so I went ahead and signed up for the most expensive plan, which gives you credits to promote your photos to try and attract more views.
And here’s the other thing with this site – the photos on this in general are pretty terrible. There’s no quality control. No curation. Because of this, I question who – other than the photographers trying to earn money – would go to this site to look at photos. If you like photography, you’d probably go to a site like 500 pixels to check out photos where there is a higher standard.
Anyways, I went ahead and uploaded a few dozen photos that I think are pretty decent. I then spread out the 100 promotion credits I got when I signed up across a handful of different photos to see if they would bring me the big bucks. I assume to promote your photos, they put it on their home page or something – I’m not sure.
Right after uploading I started getting some views and a couple of comments on my photos which was good, but does it actually equate to money in my account?
Eh, no. After 11 days, I’ve earned a whopping 17 cents.
So uh, yeah, I don’t really have high hopes for this money making idea. Again, it sounded too good to be true and it definitely is.
1 out of 5 stars for this one, thanks anyways, buddy.
How to Make $150 in 45 Minutes
Okay, if you’ve seen my video on trying online surveys, you know that it really wasn’t worth all of the time and effort. At most, I might make 75 cents for a 20 minute survey… so $150 for a 45-minute survey sounds pretty good.
I went ahead and signed up at UserInterviews.com and filled out some basic information about myself and then took a look at the surveys available.
And here’s the thing – yes, these are pretty high-paying surveys and the reason why is they are pretty niche. These aren’t just basic surveys for any and everyone… they are looking for particular people who have specific experiences that would be valuable to hear about.
For instance, here is a survey looking to hear from a plumber or an owner of a plumbing company, and it pays $225 for an hour and 15 minutes. Not bad at all. And just below it is a survey for CPA auditors. Again, very niche. I looked around for one that might apply to me, and the best I found was a more generic one looking for feedback about a product the client is building.
I went ahead and applied for it… I think it was for something called Zero Grocery which I’ve never used or heard of before. I didn’t get selected for the survey, so a swing and a miss there.
User Interviews does send out emails fairly often with new surveys, so you can always sign up and keep your eye out for something that you may match for, but it does seem like the best surveys are for people who probably don’t need the money. Business owners, architects, engineers, etc.
I think at best, you’ll find maybe one or two surveys and make maybe $100, but it’s not likely going to be a strong recurring source of revenue for most people. But because it is actually legit, I’ll give this 3 out of 5 stars.
5 Websites That Pay You $60/hr to Read Books
This TikTok was the impetus for me wanting to make this video. It checks all the boxes. Starts off with a too good to be true statement, has someone pointing at text, and… well… let’s look at these websites.
WCWOnline.com. Oh look, the website doesn’t even exist. Next one.
TheUSReview.com. Sketchy looking website – looks straight out of 2003. It took me awhile to find out how to get paid to read, but here, they say they hire freelance writers to write reviews.
So it’s less about getting paid to read and more about getting paid to write. Like most other jobs you have to apply with a resume, sample work, and professional references. And I don’t see anywhere where it says how much they pay.
The next site – OnlineBookClub.com. This again, took a little digging to find how to get paid to read. Basically you have to become a member – for free – and stick around for a few months being an active poster on the forum. Then, you can apply to become a part of the review team. But it’s still not that simple. Your first reviews are free and you have to work up to paid reviews and this all depends on your level and score. So you better love reading and writing a whole freakin’ lot.
The next website is PublishersWeekly.com. Maybe I’m just missing it, but I see nowhere on the site where it mentions getting paid to do anything. So… I’m not feeling very hopeful about this whole “get paid $60 an hour to read” thing.
The last site mentioned is Anysubject.com. The website just pops up with a box asking you to login with no other details about how to even register. So uhh another swing and a miss there.
It would’ve been nice if this person did at least 5 minutes of research before making this misleading tiktok, so here’s a 0 out of 5 stars for wasting everyone’s time.
Google Opinion Rewards
Look, you aren’t going to get rich doing surveys, but if they really are under a minute long and pay alright, it might be worth it to earn a little sparkling water money. While I do feel like Google should already know everything it wants to about me, I went ahead and downloaded the app. I took their tutorial survey, which doesn’t pay, rather just gives you an idea of what the surveys are like. I signed up for this kind of late, so I haven’t received any paid survey opportunities yet, but if I do before this video goes live, I’ll let you know. I won’t give this one a rating, but if you feel like giving Google more info about yourself, feel free to check it out.
Color Pages on Etsy
This one is actually not a bad idea. I know there is a potential to make decent money with printables, but I don’t think it’s easy since it is really competitive. I currently have a couple of products in a competitive niche on Etsy and I struggle just to get people to click on my product, let alone buy what I’m selling. I’ve actually seen this TikTok a few times, so if the market wasn’t oversaturated when it was posted, it definitely is now. A search for coloring pages on Etsy returns over 130,000 results, so… I wouldn’t be too hopeful with this particular idea, but if you can take that concept and apply it to something different, it might be worth a shot.
2 out of 5 stars, buck-a-roo.
Affiliate Marketing
I came across a lot of TikToks like these pushing affiliate marketing. Supposedly, all you have to do is sign up for whatever brand you want to market and then just promote their products on social media. And yes – in a sense, that can be all there is to it, but in reality, it can be tricky to generate any meaningful revenue from affiliate marketing unless you really just have a knack for it. You can definitely try this avenue, but just keep your expectations in check because it can be tough. Over on Mango Street, we do take part in a handful of affiliate programs, and even with a sizable audience, it tends to not account for much – though I do know some people who are really good at it, and it’s a great revenue stream for them. It’s just not what I particularly like doing.
Painting Curbs
Ah, okay, I usually try to focus on making money with the internet, but here is some good old fashioned door-to-door work. This is actually a good idea. It’s simple, there’s plenty of opportunity, and not a lot – if any– competition. The startup cost is very minimal and charging $15 - $20 per curb makes sense.
Not bad at all, I’ll give this hustle 4 out of 5 stars.
Final Thoughts
Look, uhh, I have been trying out ways to make money online over the last 16 years or so, and honestly – I’ve never come across something that is easy and pays more than driving for Uber or shopping for Instacart. And not to sound too much like an old, disgruntled curmudgeon, but I hate these kind of TikToks that get peoples’ hopes up or misleads them into thinking there’s some easy way to make money they’ve been sleeping on. There’s over 4 billion people in the world with internet access, which makes legitimate methods to make money online very competitive.
The other thing that drives me nuts is with a platform like TikTok, there just seems to be very little accountability on behalf of the creator. They just give a rough idea in 15 seconds without talking about all of the time, money, and effort that would actually go into one of their hustles to make it profitable. I wish they’d spend a little more time actually trying out these ideas before suggesting them to people. To me, it's obvious they are just trying to build an audience to make money without really providing any value or insight whatsoever.
But look, I don’t want to end on a sour note, so I made my own TikTok video, just for you. So watch the video above closely, and follow for more videos like this!