5 legit ways to make extra cash on your schedule

If you’re sitting on a pile of cash sipping mai tais in Bora Bora right now, congratulations (and where’s my invite?). For the rest of us, making a little extra money never hurts.

People ask me all the time for an easy way to rake in the dough. Do those exist? Yes and no. 

Creative side hustles are sexy but not a sure bet: A recent survey of 1,000 creators shows 55% of full-time employees make money on their side hustle in the first year. But 54% of them made under $10,000. 

Lucky for you, I found a low-risk way to test drive the creator life, plus four other practical ways to make some money on the side.

Have a brick-and-mortar store? 

If you have the crew to do it, become an Amazon Hub Delivery Partner. They drop off 20 to 50 packages a day for you and your staff to deliver. As for the pay, we’re not talking peanuts — this can add as much as $27,000 per year to your bottom line. 

Have an opinion? 

Sign up for paid surveys. Just do me a favor and don’t Google “paid surveys,” or you’ll end up on junk sites. User Interviews is legit. You may have to apply for several before you get approved, but they pay well. Content Queen Allie scored $40 for a 10-minute call.

The downside? They pay in gift cards, but Amazon and Visa are both options (and basically cash).

💸 Pro tip: A lot of survey sites or product-review options will make it seem like you’re gonna make a lot of money. Try this: Search for “Reddit” and the company’s name to see recent posts from real people. One company looked great, but a quick Reddit search revealed it was more like $50 for years of work. Pass!

Have property? 

Rent it out. Here are two ways to do it without strangers stepping foot inside your house:

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ChatGPT, find me customers: Use AI to find out what people are saying online so you can better target your company’s ads. Take a lesson from Shake Shack: They used a bot to scan 80,000 Reddit threads about chicken sandwiches, narrowed it down to the 30 most active and ran ads for their new sandwich. It worked — sales were 31% higher.

Google Search is dying

Open/download audio

Younger people are turning to AI chatbots, TikTok and Reddit for answers instead. Gen-Z is also sticking with older cars to avoid new tech and high costs. Plus, Chipotle is using robots for avocado prep, and we’ll show you how to turn your smart TV into a photo frame. 

 r/f**kyourheadlights: It’s the subreddit behind a national movement to make car headlights less bright. Headlight brightness has doubled since 2015 after manufacturers made the switch to super-bright LEDs. This is wild: The standards for acceptable headlight brightness haven’t been updated since 1986. Speaking of headlights, need a smile? Look at this.

Trivia

This week 19 years ago, a site that’s still going strong launched. Was it … A.) Reddit, B.) Wikipedia, C.) Tumblr or D.) LinkedIn?

Find the answer here!

$29.9 million in profits

For Reddit in the third quarter. What’s the big deal? It’s the first time the company has been profitable in its nearly 20-year existence. The number of users jumped almost 50%, too, and they’re making millions letting AI companies use posts and comments for training.

All I want for Christmas is a capybara: No, not me! The semiaquatic rodents that live up to 12 years and weigh up to 150 pounds have stolen the internet’s heart with viral videos. In a Reddit post, a 24-year-old brother asked if he was a jerk for thinking it’s just a TikTok phase his 16-year-old sister will grow out of. Spoiler: She will.

😮 “ChatGPT saved my life”: That’s what a Redditor says after he asked the bot about chest tightness, dizziness and nausea. ChatGPT confirmed his shortness of breath and sweating, too, and suggested he might be having a cardiac event. The bot was spot on: He was in the early stages of a heart attack. Pro tip: Call 911 instead of using a chatbot.

Burned by the bot: Redditors are fuming at loved ones turning to ChatGPT mid-argument. One 25-year-old says his girlfriend consults the bot and returns with a perfectly structured argument, dissecting his every word. When he opens up about his feelings, ChatGPT calls him “insecure” and says he lacks the “emotional bandwidth” for the conversation.

40,000 steps

Reported by Target workers on a single day. That was during an especially busy time: Target Circle Week. The typical store is about 125,000 square feet, and workers took to Reddit to share how far they walked each day.

Nice change on Reddit: You can now opt out of political and religious ads. Log in from the app or your desktop, then head to this preferences page.

Don’t suffer in silence: If you get scammed, report it. You’ll save someone else from being a victim and leave a paper trail if the crook that scammed you ever gets caught. You can report online scams at the Internet Crime Complaint Center and even share your story on Reddit’s r/scams.

7% to 9% of results

On Google Search have an AI Overviews response. That’s when Google’s AI drums up an answer right at the top for you to skim. No surprise, Reddit posts fell out of the cited info big time after Redditors’ sarcastic and/or ridiculous replies made their way into Google’s real answers.

🤳 You do you, boo: Women on Reddit are asking guys to rate their nudes. Whether it’s just for the thrill or an honest opinion, r/RateMyNudeBody enforces strict rules — no insults, nothing “overly sexy.” FYI: Men can upload theirs, too, but they typically don’t get as many comments. Ya think?

The new Komando Reddit page: Find it here. I’m not sure who set it up, but it’s a nice spot to share tech intel, helpful info you read in my newsletter and anything else you want to share. I’d like each of you to make one post in this new subreddit today. Before you say, “I don’t do Reddit, Kim,” just try it. Let’s make it huge together!

Reddit to the rescue: You heard you can make bank by playing games or watching vids on an app. Before you download anything, search “[name of the app] Reddit” and look for recent posts. You’ll get feedback from real people, not sites that want to sell you stuff.

r/Update: Reddit has been crappy to navigate on mobile for, well, forever. Not anymore. The latest app update makes it easier to get to the comments (what most of us use Reddit for anyway), watch videos and add your two cents. 

38% jump in share prices for Reddit in its NYSE debut

Shares were priced at $34 but jumped to $47 at the opening bell and stayed around $50 for most of the day. To keep an eye on the current price, just Google the stock listing “RDDT.”

$750M in stock will be available when Reddit IPOs

Shares will be priced at $31 to $34, and get this: The 75,000 most loyal posters and moderators will get first dibs. Let’s see if we have another GameStop situation or if Redditors will buy the stock for keeps.

75,000 Reddit fans can buy shares in the upcoming IPO

This is usually reserved for only big investors. Redditors will be super happy if the stock flies … and have a ton to talk about if it flounders.