Side hustles surge to combat cost rises: use your skills and assets

Australians are fighting rising living costs by sharing their skills, space and assets for cash. Here’s where the money is being made.

Anthony KeanePersonal finance writer

@keanemoney

3 min read

August 30, 2022 - 9:49AM

The Australian Business Network

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Earning some money on the side is always welcome, and opportunities to do this are multiplying as the rising cost of living drains vital dollars from households.

If you have an asset or skill that someone else may want, it’s likely you can make money from it as technology helps to produce a growing range of platforms that help people profit.

Airbnb and Uber were the big guns at the beginning, but today people are sharing their cars, caravans, boats, parking spaces and clothes, or offering services such as pet minding, freelance work, handyman jobs, administration and IT.

Most of these side hustle options don’t charge upfront fees, instead taking a percentage of the income from platform users, making them a cheap way to generate extra cash.

CASH SEWN UP

Michelle Taylor has earned $10,000 so far this year by renting out her dresses on clothes sharing platform The Volte.

She says she started a few years ago after her husband complained she was spending too much money on dresses.

“So I decided it was something I could do alongside my full-time job, out of my spare bedroom,” Taylor says.

Michelle Taylor rents out dresses through The Volte. Picture: Supplied

“It’s been a huge learning curve and I’ve had to learn a whole new skillset that fits with this new industry: ironing, steaming, sewing, dry cleaning, customer service, problem solving.”

The Volte co-founder Bernadette Olivier says people are increasingly looking at sharing their possessions “which haven’t traditionally been seen as assets”.

“It’s a great way to supplement income to save for a house or a holiday, while also actively engaging in sustainable consumerism and the circular economy,” she says.

Oliver says The Volte is on track to grow 300 per cent this year.

Fellow platform Car Next Door is also enjoying strong growth as people make money from their idle vehicles.

CAR LORDS

Car Next Door CEO Will Davies says cars being added to the platform are up 70 per cent this year.

“Aussie households are turning their vehicle into an additional source of income to help meet increasing cost of living pressures,” he says.

“We’re also seeing growing numbers of people buying a car to list it on the platform, and making a business out of being a ‘car-lord’. We have owners with one, two, 10 and even over 100 cars on the platform.”

Will Davies, CEO and co-founder of car sharing platform, Car Next Door. Picture: Supplied

Other enterprising individuals are renting out their garages and parking spaces on Parkhound, storage spaces on Spacer, caravans and recreational vehicles on Camplify, skills on Airtasker and Fiverr, and pet-sitting services on Mad Paws.

Average annual earnings on Parkhound are $3600 and for Spacer it’s $4800. The CEO of both companies, Mike Rosenbaum, says location, pricing and good photographs affect the ability to attract side hustle customers.

“There are 13.5 million unused spare bedrooms in 10 million homes across Australia,” Rosenbaum says.

“A spare bedroom or garage sitting empty is a wasted asset,” he says.

TOP-UP TASKS

Online freelance services marketplace Fiverr says people who commit to 15 hours a week can potentially earn $41,000 a year, while research by fellow services marketplace Airtasker has found people earn an average $250 per job on its platform.

Airtasker has developed a Side Hustle Calculator so people can see their earning potential.

Currently the most in-demand tasks on Airtasker include plumbers, mechanics, painting services, gardening, and general handyperson.

Airtasker CEO Tim Fung says if you need $100 to put fuel in your car each week, try doing someone’s gardening – the Side Hustle Calculator shows you can earn $599 per month doing just one gardening task a week.

“People needing an extra $250 to pay their electricity this month could be a courier earning $385 in a month by doing one job a week on Airtasker,” he says.