As our plans for CityWell shifted from launching large to planting small it became obvious it was time for me to seek outside employment. This sounds easy considering I have a CDL, a degree, and we are in a labor shortage…but I quickly realized most companies are so desperate for workers they wanted me to agree to a lot of overtime. The income level for some of these jobs sounded nice, but the schedule would make it hard for our family to lead a ministry.

I decided to start my own thing and fired up an LLC doing handyman work. Unfortunately, I don’t quite have enough work to pay our bills, so I’ve added a few gig-economy items also. Here’s what I’ve currently got going.

Hustle #1: Handyman Business: Six Gricks Solutions

Website, Yelp, and organic referals

Right now I’m having about 1-2 jobs per week coming in through our website, Google searches, Yelp page, or organic referrals. These are by far the best earning opportunities I get and my long-term strategy for providing for my family, but it needs time to build.

I’ve been reaching out to contractors I know letting them know I’m available to subcontract if they just need an extra hand for a day or two. But we needed a little more work than this.

Handy App

I started using an app called Handy to find some work but have been pretty unimpressed. If you are looking to pick up a couple of extra bucks this app might be great, but if you are trying to make a living…don’t bother.

Handy finds jobs from Wayfair, Target, Walmart, and Lowes, plus then has their own job lead site. When someone purchases furniture through a big name and requests assembly Handy connects the customer to the handyman. From what I have seen they keep 50-75% of the price the buyer pays which leaves the handyman struggling to get by.

As a Handy Pro User, they keep recommending jobs that are about 3 hours away, and many of them would only pay $50-$75 each. I have yet to find a way to limit my area. So there is a lot of things you just skip.

The only benefit I’ve seen to using handy is portfolio building. Many of the jobs I have posted came from Handy.

If you want to try being a Handy Pro even after my negative review please consider using my referral code: DJ0542

TaskRabbit

I’m currently waiting for a background check from TaskRabbit. This seems like a better option for decent-paying jobs…I’ll update this post once I have to use the app for a few weeks.

Hustle #2: Driving Uber

So a few weeks ago I decided I needed to keep busy and signed up to drive Uber also. I’ve had a lot of people ask me “how does that work” so I’ll pull back the curtain a little for you.

When I decide to drive I tell the app that I’m online. I could get a 5-minute trip or a long drive (my second drive ever was to the middle of New Jersey). I typically block out 3-6 hours when I’m going out. There’s a lot of opportunities in the Coatesville area, but drives seem to always get me into West Chester, King of Prussia, or Philly. About 2 hours before I’m ready to call it quits I’ll tell the app to set home as a destination and I start getting rides heading that way.

Here are some stats from my Uber experience:

  • Rides Completed: 58
  • Hours Online: 36.75
  • Total Earning: $973.42

If you do a little quick math you will see I’m grossing about $26.50/hour. This sounds decent but remembers it doesn’t include gas, maintenance, or self-employment taxes.

The biggest thing I’ve learned is that Uber is all about timing. If you are in the right place at the right time you can make good money (one night I averaged $35/h). If you try driving at a slow time your earnings are considerably less (my slowest day was $13/h). My preference right now is getting out at 4:30 in the morning and driving the morning rush.

I’ve really been enjoying this! If you have ever considered Uber driving and want to sign up here’s my referral code: s89leeqr

Hustle #3: We Six Gricks

Let’s be honest. This blog was always intended to be a little bit of a hustle. I was pretty upfront about that from the beginning (Example). Over the last few days, I’ve upped my game with content creation. From everything I’ve read I need to be at about 5,000 active users a month before I can monetize the site and see any benefit (Our best month ever was 1,200 but we average around 120). My goal with content is to be found more often in searches. Interesting enough my most read post was about MLK’s 10 Commandments to join his movement. We get search hits on this every month and a ton in February.

The other great thing about our blog is that it allows us to journal our experiences. Yes it’s public, but it gives us something to go back and look at that’s outside of social media.

What’s Next:

I don’t know what the next season looks like for us, but im so glad we follow a God who is a provider. Yeah we might be hustling a but God meets out needs.

I would love to hear from you! What are you doing to hustle in this season? Any tip? Drop them in the comments below.


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