As someone who believes that all workers should be paid an actual living wage for full-time work, side hustle culture often bums me out. I don't love the idea that people should have to work constantly and monetize their hobbies just to make ends meet.
Recently, I came across 25-year-old Jackie Mitchell (@jaclynmitchelll) on TikTok, where she's sharing her 100-day challenge to earn an extra $100 a day, and I really like the way she's showing her followers exactly how she makes more money after work.
Every day since Sept. 12, Jackie has posted a video sharing her progress toward her goal, and she has quite a few different ways of getting to $100 each day.
In many of the videos, Jackie does data annotation tasks on DataAnnotation.tech in the evenings after work. Data annotation involves tagging and labeling data so that computers and AI can better understand it and put it to use.
Though Jackie makes her hustling look easy and cozy, often doing tasks while snuggled up in a heated blanket, it's still definitely a lot of work. Often, she's logging off for the night around midnight.
In the comments, people are cheering Jackie on, but also gobsmacked at the amount of work she's doing every day.
The comments are also full of other side hustle and cash-back ideas to try that can help people set aside a little more money.
People also asked how to tell if a moneymaking opportunity online is legit. This is such an important question because scammers often prey on people who are desperate to make money. Jackie shared that for her, it's been a process of trial and error, but reading reviews on Reddit can be really helpful.
People also wondered about the tax implications of making this much money on the side. Jackie shared that since these earnings are all pretax, she sets aside 20% and makes estimated quarterly tax payments.
Jackie told BuzzFeed that saving for a big personal goal is her motivation for taking on this challenge. "My husband and I are saving for a house, and we kept talking about a last push before our lease ended," she said. "I'm really competitive, especially with myself, so I sometimes turn my goals into daily or weekly challenges. I think it helps me stay motivated. When you know there's a specific number to beat for the day or that you have to beat yesterday's stats, it's a lot more motivating than just setting that kind of ethereal goal of, 'I want to buy a house.'"
And she shared that posting her progress on TikTok is really helping her stay committed to reaching her goal: "I posted my challenge on TikTok because I thought it would further motivate me to keep going with it, and that's definitely proved true!"
Jackie said she started doing side hustles as a "broke college student" because it was difficult to find a job that fit with her school schedule: "I joined a lot of communities and trial-and-errored several forms of revenue until I found the ones that worked best for me."
She also revealed her favorite kind of side hustle: "One of my favorite ways I've earned extra money is through consumer studies and focus groups! They aren't the most reliable (I only do about one a month because of how specific some of the qualifications are), but they're so entertaining to participate in, and they usually pay really well compared to the amount of work required."
And because not all gigs are created equal, I had to know her least favorite, too. "My least favorite side hustle would definitely be donating plasma," she said. "I absolutely hate needles. I did it once when I was desperate in college, and I think I passed out. The needle is huge, and it's actually really painful. Not worth it for $75!!"
Finally, she said there's no bad time to start digging into a little extra work if you're interested in dabbling in a side hustle: "You don't have to set a crazy goal, or even set a goal at all. In this economy, any extra income helps, and small savings make a big difference over time. And don't be afraid to search around for what works best for you! Identify your strong suits and look for online work that aligns with those strengths."
Is there something you're doing to earn extra money on the side, or do you have a favorite (or least favorite) side hustle?
I'll go first. I loved my old gig ghostwriting content for a major guitar brand, but I could not stand driving food deliveries for an app. It was too much wear on my car and my patience.