What Is A Side Hustle Stack? (And Should You Start One?)
These days, starting a new side hustle has never been easier thanks to technology and the gig economy.
In fact, the rise of the new “gig worker” has also seen the creation of the “side hustle stack.”
This strategy involves stacking numerous side hustles together to significantly boost your income. And, when done correctly, you can make a significant increase in your cash flow and potentially replace your day job!
One website, appropriately named Side Hustle Stack, provides a great directory of different hustles you can use to make quick money.
This post is covering how Side Hustle Stack works as well as some other ideas you can use to build your own money-making stack.
What Is A Side Hustle Stack?
A side hustle stack is the concept of using two or more side hustles at the same time to make extra money. For example, you might start a side hustle stack by working a 9-5 job while also being a food delivery courier. Alternatively, some people stack several gig apps or hustles to make all of their income.
I've personally been using this strategy for years. In fact, during college, I usually had at least two or three side hustles on the go to test new ideas and to make money while in school.
Side Hustle Stack, a free directory of various side hustle ideas that you can explore, largely popularized this concept. The platform runs on Notion, a note-taking and project management tool, to neatly organize various resources for side hustles.
What I like about Side Hustle Stack is that it has plenty of different categories, including:
- Audio content creator
- Chef
- Content creator
- Ecommerce store owner
- Driver
- Personal shopper
- Reseller
- Tasks & services
- Writer
If you want to find some of the most popular side gigs out there, Side Hustle Stack is an excellent starting resource.
However, what I don't like about this site is that some of its categories are very limited and are missing many popular side hustles.
For example, its Personal Shopper section includes jobs like Instacart, but it doesn't mention making money with DoorDash, Grubhub, Cornershop, or plenty of other popular delivery jobs.
So, I think it's a useful resource for finding ways to make extra cash. But, I also think there are plenty of other side hustle opportunities out there that you can explore.
How To Create A Side Hustle Stack
If you want to increase your monthly income, starting a side hustle stack is an excellent way to get started.
The idea here is to “stack” several hustles together so you make as much money as possible. You also gain the advantage of flexibility since if one hustle slows down or isn't fun anymore, you can simply switch to another one.
The main disadvantage of side hustle stacks is that you can lack focus, which might make it hard to really maximize one hustle's income.
But if you find your main hustle is hitting a wall in terms of earnings, mixing in a few more isn't a bad idea. And there are plenty of ways you can start building your stack.
1. Stack Different Gig Apps
One of the most straightforward ways to create your side hustle stack is to work for various gig apps to make extra money.
Many people do this by multi-apping with several apps in a week to make as much money as possible. You can also test several apps to find out which one you like the most.
Some popular gig apps you can try include:
- Delivering food for DoorDash or Uber Eats
- Delivering packages with Amazon Flex or Roadie
- Delivering groceries with Instacart or Cornershop
- Becoming a rideshare driving for Uber or Lyft
- Using apps like Steadyto find local side gigs
- Completing odd jobs with websites like TaskRabbit
Between all these apps, you should have plenty of opportunities to make extra cash each week.
My friend Grant did this with Uber Eats and DoorDash after graduating college, and he made great money as a bike courier in downtown Toronto.
You can start out with one or two gigs for your side hustle stack and then slowly test new ones so you find what pays the most in your market.
2. Make Money With Blogging & YouTube
My personal favorite side hustle stack is the “content creator” stack of blogging and YouTube. This is because this stack is how I make most of my income these days, so I know it's legit.
I've been blogging since 2018, and I started my YouTube channel in 2020.
Both side hustles don't take much money and have grown considerably since their early days. For example, WebMonkey made $92,000 in 2021 from a combination of Mediavine ads and affiliate income.
Blogging took a lot of work and years to get here, but it's now a fairly passive side hustle as well since I've outsourced a lot of writing.
And between ads and affiliate income, the blog can easily make $500 a day now.
As for YouTube, my channel has slowly grown to over 15,000 subscribers at the time of writing. It now makes $1,300 to $1,500 per month in mostly semi-passive income as well.
Making money on YouTube also took a while since it takes 1,000 subscribers to monetize your channel.
But I really like this side hustle stacking idea since the income potential is basically limitless. Plus, you can get incredibly creative!
3. Become A Reseller
Another popular side hustle stack you can try is retail arbitrage, which involves buying popular products from discount stores and then reselling them for a profit.
Typically, retail arbitrage sellers purchase products from stores like Walmart, Kohl's, or thrift stores/garage sales and then resell them online.
Amazon FBA is one popular selling platform, and sellers usually buy products from popular categories like apparel, electronics, home goods, and toys.
But Amazon is just one platform you can sell on, and it's pretty competitive for beginners.
Several other online selling apps and marketplaces you can use to start include:
- Facebook Marketplace: An excellent way to sell just about anything for cash.
- Mercari: A popular selling app where you can sell anything from clothing to cars.
- OfferUp: Another app like Facebook Marketplace that's great for local cash sales.
- Poshmark: One of the best ways to sell shoes, clothing, and accessories online.
- SidelineSwap: The best way to sell sports equipment and apparel.
I made a YouTube video about some of the most popular online and local selling sites you can use. And you can start this side hustle stack by doing some Spring cleaning and selling unused stuff you don't need anymore.
Then, take the money you make and source some inventory from your local thrift store or on clearance sales at big box stores.
It can take a while to build up enough inventory for steady sales, but you could turn this hustle into a full-on resale business with enough practice!
4. Freelance For Multiple Clients
If you want to earn money online with your side hustle stack, I definitely think freelancing is the way to go.
This is another online side hustle I tried while in college and while working my full-time job out of school. I basically started freelance writing for several clients, so I had a couple of extra monthly income streams coming in.
I really like this side hustle stack because you can moonlight on the side of your main job, which is a very effective way to rapidly increase your income.
And selling your skills as a freelancer also has a high income ceiling. After about a year, I quit my day job, moved to Colombia, and became a full-time freelance writer!
Writing is just one example you can use for this side hustle stack however. Other popular freelancing fields include:
- Coding
- Graphic design
- Email marketing specialist
- SEO
- Social media management
- Website design
- Video editor
- Virtual assistant work
Even a handful of clients can mean a massive difference for your monthly income, and you never know where freelancing can take you!
I suggest turning to your network or using different remote job sites to find your first gigs. You can also start out with easy Upwork jobs to begin your portfolio and grow from there.
5. Create Passive Income Streams
One final side hustle stack you can test out is to create various passive income streams that pay you on a monthly basis.
I really like this stacking idea if you're busy with your day job or other responsibilities and don't have many hours for a full-on side hustle.
And the great news is that there are tons of different ideas you can explore like:
- Investing in income-generating real estate with companies like Arrived
- Investing in dividend-paying stocks and ETFs
- Using different passive income apps to earn small amounts of money
- Making money by renting out things for cash, like a spare room on Airbnb or storage space with Neighbor
- Making money by selling internet data
This is just the tip of the iceberg, but even a passive income stream of $500 per month is an extra $6,000 per year in income!
Personally, I started out with investing and also experimented with phone farming back in college. My advice is to pick one idea, experiment, and then scale it as you test out even more passive income ideas.
Extra Reading – The Best Ways To Make Money On Autopilot.
Benefits Of A Side Hustle Stack
Now that you know what a side hustle stack is and some popular ways to build your own, I want to cover the main benefits of this strategy.
I've been testing out side hustles for years. And during this time, here are the main advantages I've found from stacking one or two of them at a time:
- You can rapidly increase your income
- You reduce risk of losing all of your income through diversification
- You can use your extra side hustle income to invest or start other businesses
- You can learn new skills that serve you in your career and other areas of life
Personally, side hustles like writing and blogging have helped me land new jobs, expand my network, and make way more money than just a few years ago.
And the beautiful part is that you never really know where a side hustle stack will take you until you test it out.
Tips For Creating Your Side Hustle Stack
If you like the idea of stacking side hustles and want to start, you're in luck.
Here are some of my top tips that I've found very useful while using this money-making strategy over the last few years:
- Set An Income Goal: Decide how much money you want to make from your side hustle stack and then pick ideas with that potential. Maybe it's $100 a day, or $25; just pick a goal so you can hold yourself accountable.
- Play To Your Strengths: I stick with blogging and writing for my side hustles since this is what I'm good at. Play to your own skills so you have an advantage out of the gate.
- Use Gig Apps: The gig economy makes it incredibly easy to stack side hustles these days. So don't be afraid to use apps like Steady or DoorDash or any combo of apps to get started.
- Learn New Skills: Unlocking new skills opens a world of opportunity. This is why I think learning skills online and leveraging the power of the Internet is one of the best things people can do to increase their income.
This last part is really critical. If you don't feel confident enough to start a side hustle stack, start learning high-value skills online.
YouTube has a wealth of free information. And you can also find amazing courses on pretty much any topic on a website like Skillshare.
As long as you stay consistent, there's no reason why you can't diversify your income and start some fun side hustles at the same time.
Final Thoughts
I hope this guide on creating your own side hustle stack helps you find a few gigs that increase your income.
Again, I think the key is to pick one or two ideas, test them out, and then decide if they belong in your stack or not. This is what I've done since college, and over time, you'll find the ideas that work best for you.
This could mean driving for DoorDash or Amazon Flex, starting a blog, or investing with Arrived.
Whatever you choose, there's never a better time than today to create your own stack of side hustles!
Looking for even more ideas to make extra money? Checkout:
- The Best Apps That Pay You To Drive.
- The Best Apps That Pay You To Workout.
- The Best Ways To Earn $1,000 A Day.
