Hey all,
most of this forum is about investing and spending less, but what about earning more? besides swiching jobs, there is plenty of other opportunities.
what do you do/ what Ideas do you have to earn some money besides your job? investing doesn’t count
me:
sell some equipment that accumulated in my possessions. via friends, ricardo, tutti, anibis, facebook,… various amounts
use my instrument to play on paid gigs. couple of hundred franks each, but quite low CHF/h
teach Kantonsschüler some Math & Physics on private basis, 40-60 CHF/h
I guess the first thing to note is that if your employer has a simple paid overtime structure (one additional hour worked = one additional hour paid, usually with a higher rate), then in a lot of cases doing a little bit of overtime will beat any side gig if you compare the hourly rate. Unfortunately I don’t have this type of overtime structure at work.
Regarding side gigs in itself :
-I have sold recently quite a lot of stuffs I had accumulated over the years, mainly to declutter my home. But at some point there is only so much of my own stuffs I can sell. The next step would perhaps be to do some kind of arbitrage on tutti and co : buy at a very low price, sell at a slightly higher price. However, that would be very time-consuming compared to the bid-ask spread I would get…
-I (used to)play music as well at a honest++ level, but I haven’t played a lot in last 2 years. If I can get my level back I could teach the saxophone in private lesson -> at least 50 CHF/hr. For reference prices for adults at conservatory music school is more than 80CHF/hour.
-I haven’t thought about teaching maths but that would be a good hypothesis as well.
On a side note, a thought I have been having a lot recently : What are the members in this forum good at? =>Optimizing their finances. Isn’t it something we could leverage in any way to turn it in a side gig? So far i haven’t found any answer, mostly because the very point of people like us is that we try to get rid of middle-men and their costs
However, since I embarked in this journey, I’ve learned a lot, especially about accounting. If I push a little bit further, that could something I could use to help people fill their tax declarations/ help very small companies with bookkeeping.
This has been the most profitable so far: We started last year doing AirBnB, since we have an extra room at home it’s quite interesting to meet other people. We earned more than what we pay for rent so, technically we lived for free. and we earned extra money for that.
We abandoned this income since Baby HdLR came into play.
I have experimented with niche websites quite a very common thing, I have running now Camiping Lanterns and Joe Muer Seefood These 2 sites bring me 50 CHF per month fully passively so, it’s good!
I have look for some freelancing jobs on the web, but there is no way you can beat 5 box gigs from Fiverr and 5 boxes is not worthed my time.
If someone is interested we can make a team to build something to launch through Indiegogo or Kickstarter I know that some of you are into software/hardware. so… just thinking loudly here.
Ok guys, I’d like to hear some other ideas or experiences and try them ASAP!
Selling household items is fine, it’s not considered income, but side gigs, freelance, teaching etc is technically self employment and may need approval or registration with authorities, depending on your permit, if you want to do it fully legit. In addition, 10.25%, but minimum a few hundred a year, of AHV would need to be paid on the profit, not to mention income taxes.
Airbnbing your spare rooms is subject to landlord’s approval. Making a significant profit out of it, so much that you live for free, would cross the line and is a sure way to get kicked out of the apartment once he learns about it
Mr.HdLR, I would be super interested to find out what you used to make those websites. Seems like something I could do in my spare time btw, I think there is a minimum of side income before any declaration is necessary or when you actually start paying contributions/taxes. I think it was somewhere around 800chf per year (at least the last time I checked in Aargau).
The sites are still online and running. I uploaded them more than one year ago and they have generated >1k CHF (see screenshot above).
Take into account that: that income is purely passive, I invest no time at all now.
I spent like one week putting the sites together and online and since then I haven’t dedicated any time to that activity.
That’s why recently Joe Muer website lost ranking position so I have less traffic and by consequence less income from Google ads. I might have to update something to bring it to rank higher but that requires time…
Up to 2200 chf you don’t need to pay social security taxes and insurances, but you still need to add it to your income.
Over 2200 chf you should pay social securities stuff on it, if not and they discover it there cuold be a hefty fine.
On top of that be careful with your job contract: sometimes it is explicitly forbidden that you take up a second job or that you work in similar industries, you could get in trouble or at least you have to ask for permission at your workplace.
They want you rested on the weekend, not working a second job.
Hmmmm,
my intention with this thread was more how to combine hobbies/ free-time activities with earning some francs instead of just picking up an additional 10% paid job
I don’t know if I’m allowed to post a referral link: TestingTime - Referral link (It would pay me 5 CHF if you apply via this link and participate in one of their studies).
interesting topic. I’ve been doing side gigs since I’ve been working. Partly for the ‘beer money’, but also because it was a fun (and paid) way to acquire skills and build relationships I couldn’t have built otherwise. All jobs below were activities on the side of my full time work.
From age 19-26 I worked as a bouncer in some boutique clubs; can’t recommend, all my friends who worked on the bar med 3x the money AND had fun. Made around 3-400 EUR / months
From age 24-29 I worked as a skydive tandem master on the weekends; this was a fantastic way to pay for my hobby (skydiving, duh), while skydiving
however a big downside was that after doing 8+ jumps/day EVERY weekend, the hobby turned into work, and with that some of the fun went away and it just become another job. Made around 3-4000 EUR / months but only during jumping season (april - sep)
Since age 30 I lecture at a university; this activity has developed significantly, and I now lead one small research department at this Uni, which means around 80+ students every year will run through my curriculum (i lecture less myself but have a pool of around 8 lecturers/experts on various topics), and approx. 22 students write their Bachelor’s or Master Thesis in my area every year; most of the time is now spent mentoring this students and advising them on their thesis. I spend 1 day/month on the weekends at University and about 1 hour per day reviewing draft dissertations and preparing comments; this pays an additional 3000 CHF / month
Lastly, I’m in the EU Commission Pool of Experts to be on Ethic Screening Panels for funding research project. This is a fantastic activity that gives me great insights into cutting edge research projects and regularly gets me in touch with experts from various different fields (nano science, robotics, AI, law, biology, IT, etc.) to evaluate research proposals from an ethical perspective. it’s not very regularly or frequent (approx. 3-4 times per year) and requires about 10 days of home prep (reading the proposals) and a 3-5 days trip to Brussels for the actual work on the panel; pays about EUR 400/day, so could even be a stand-alone gig if the frequency increases.
As a bonus, I managed to convince my employer to let me do this activity as part of my personal development, so I don’t need to take additional days off for the Brussel trips (unlike the Uni work, which happens all in my free time).
Hi Alex, interesting gigs… I liked them.
How did you get to lecture in a University? as far as I know that kind of “jobs” are quite difficult to get. 3k per month seems good to me for the time you’re putting into and the learning you’re getting.
any suggestions on how to get this kind of gig?
The same question for the EU commission pool of Experts…
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and we earned extra money for that.
btw, I think there is a minimum of side income before any declaration is necessary or when you actually start paying contributions/taxes. I think it was somewhere around 800chf per year (at least the last time I checked in Aargau).