Income

Everyone talks about side hustles, but nobody shows the real numbers. I spent early 2026 trying four income streams while keeping my day job. Here’s what worked, what didn’t, and what I’d recommend.

Important: Your results may vary depending on market conditions, effort, and location. Pricing and availability for the tools mentioned may change over time.

What I Tried

Uber Driving — €800/month

The easiest to start. Signed up in January, approved within two weeks, and drove Friday and Saturday evenings using the Uber app, Waze, and a phone mount.

Results: ~€800/month for 15–20 weekend hours. Reliable but pure time-for-money — no way to scale. I underestimated fuel costs early on and didn’t track mileage properly. Switching to MileageWise saved me hundreds at tax time. Great for quick cash, terrible for long-term.

Print on Demand — €150/month

Set up Redbubble and TeePublic in February, uploaded 40 Canva designs targeting niches like hiking quotes and programmer humour. Passive sales within two months.

Results: ~€150/month with almost zero maintenance. Out of 40+ uploads, maybe 10–12 generate regular income. Generic designs flopped — niche targeting (“cat mom,” “devops engineer”) improved conversion dramatically. Don’t try to appeal to everyone.

Affiliate Blog — €50/month

Launched a niche blog on remote work tools in March. WordPress with GeneratePress, RankMath for SEO, and 15 comparison posts.

Results: €50/month and growing. Traffic is compounding (~2,000 monthly visitors). Long-tail, low-competition keywords are what actually rank. Patience is everything with SEO — don’t expect results for at least three months.

Web App SaaS — €0 (Still Building)

Building a freelancer tool for tracking hours and invoicing with Next.js and Supabase. Beta launch targeting August. No revenue yet, but the skills are making me better at the other hustles.

Biggest lesson: Ship an ugly MVP first and let real users tell you what to build next. I wasted time on features nobody asked for.

Key Lessons

Start with one thing. I tried launching Uber, POD, and the blog all at once — chaotic. Master one hustle until it’s on autopilot, then layer in the next.

The first €1,000 is the hardest. After that, momentum builds. Success breeds confidence.

Track everything. A simple Notion dashboard logging hours, earnings, and costs reveals your true hourly rate and where to invest your time.

Don’t quit your day job too early. All four hustles combined still don’t match a full salary. Building something that can takes time.

Be honest about what’s working. Uber pays but won’t scale. The blog might hit €2,000/month in a year — or €100. Keep measuring results.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

Pick the hustle that excites you most, commit to 90 days of consistent effort, and track your results. The perfect time to start was six months ago — the second best time is now.