Side hustle

[seabod]

So I work in the sheet metal industry at a family run company that ticks all the boxes. They let us work on our own projects, get materials in for us and pretty much game as long as work goes out you can do what you want.

I’m looking for ideas for a small side hustle, nothing serious but I’d love for it to pay off getting my bike license and getting a bike one day.

I can do a range of things from drawing and designing, cutting, bending, welding.

What would your side hustle be ?

 

[hotponyshoes]

A service turning hand drawings into dxf files so people can get dream's laser cut etc?
Doesn't involve much use of the facilities you have available but has no investment/startup cost.

The best side hustles are doing the day job for yourself rather than your employer although you want to be petty sure they are happy about you doing it..
It also gets boring quickly as it's just more of the same.

I'd start by making stuff I actually wanted for myself and seeing what you can sell out of that.. not a problem to keep hold of it then if you can't shift it.

Unless anyone happens to offer you an idea for a unique product, that you just happen to have the skills and facilities to knock out, you'll be competing with every other hustler out there and some of the stuff you see for sale must actually be making the seller a loss. If you can come up with something unique by yourself you'll have a head start if you can market it and find the buyers but services / non physical objects are far more profitable if you have the skills.

 

[seabod]

A service turning hand drawings into dxf files so people can get dream's laser cut etc?
Doesn't involve much use of the facilities you have available but has no investment/startup cost.

The best side hustles are doing the day job for yourself rather than your employer although you want to be petty sure they are happy about you doing it..
It also gets boring quickly as it's just more of the same.

I'd start by making stuff I actually wanted for myself and seeing what you can sell out of that.. not a problem to keep hold of it then if you can't shift it.

Unless anyone happens to offer you an idea for a unique product, that you just happen to have the skills and facilities to knock out, you'll be competing with every other hustler out there and some of the stuff you see for sale must actually be making the seller a loss. If you can come up with something unique by yourself you'll have a head start if you can market it and find the buyers but services / non physical objects are far more profitable if you have the skills.

Cheers mate. Converting hand drawings to ready cut out step files is a good shout.

I already make bbq stuff but it’s so long winded.

 

[badabec]

With my miserable head, if the job ticks all the boxes, why?

 

[gaz1]

any hustle done at work becomes the companys

any hustle done at home is yours so get the materials cheap and do it at home

 

[Wozzaaah]

So I work in the sheet metal industry at a family run company that ticks all the boxes. They let us work on our own projects, get materials in for us and pretty much game as long as work goes out you can do what you want.

any hustle done at work becomes the companys

any hustle done at home is yours so get the materials cheap and do it at home

Did you not even read this bit?

 

[Erie Fred]

Just because they have allowed it, un restricted, I would not take that to the xtreme.
They are handing you your paycheck, I would tread carefully, very carefully.

"This is getting out of hand" is not what you want to hear.

 

[roofman]

Sometimes here looking for positivity is an up hill struggle The lad has been given the green light from the boss which is family run. Any ideas for his own bits and pieces on the side to make and sell would be very welcoming i am sure...To the OP, what sort of machinery you have there would help this end..tube benders, folders, etc.

 

[Craig-S]

Sometimes here looking for positivity is an up hill struggle The lad has been given the green light from the boss which is family run. Any ideas for his own bits and pieces on the side to make and sell would be very welcoming i am sure...To the OP, what sort of machinery you have there would help this end..tube benders, folders, etc.

valid.

That being said, only the OP can figure out what he wants to do, no one can tell him what he should do/make/sell to make him money and also happy. also if it was that easy everyone would be doing it.

not to put a downer on it, but not exactly choosing the best time, people these days have far less disposable income and sales on everything are down including things they dont need but look pretty.

 

[roofman]

I have recently seen coffee tables made from rebar all welded together being laid out flat, then clear coated...special and cool looking. Or coffee tables made from engine blocks and chrome powder coated sell well. lamps from upstanding crankshafts etc. There is still money about in the hipster world looking for something different.

 

[seabod]

Just because they have allowed it, un restricted, I would not take that to the xtreme.
They are handing you your paycheck, I would tread carefully, very carefully.

"This is getting out of hand" is not what you want to hear.

Don’t worry. I do a lot of favour work for the boss for his cash jobs. We do half days on Fridays and then stay late for side hustle / personal projects.

 

[Craig-S]

Don’t worry. I do a lot of favour work for the boss for his cash jobs. We do half days on Fridays and then stay late for side hustle / personal projects.

The easy way is to just ask the owners of the business if they are ok with the OP using the facilities to make money as a side gig.

They might be ok doing personal stuff and bits for mates but that could be quite different if he is using their facilities to make money essentially running his own business at their expense on a regular basis.

 

[seabod]

Sometimes here looking for positivity is an up hill struggle The lad has been given the green light from the boss which is family run. Any ideas for his own bits and pieces on the side to make and sell would be very welcoming i am sure...To the OP, what sort of machinery you have there would help this end..tube benders, folders, etc.

Cheers mate. We are a fully equipped sheet metal company. Lasers, press brakes, welding booths, milling, powder coating. Pretty well equipped.

This is a Santa Maria grill I made and sold but it’s just so long winded.

Waiting for the welders to be free it the main wait so I’m wanting to convert a play house in my back garden into a little workshop where I can do the welding.

 

[mike 109444]

Just a thought...

B

Thread 'Your thoughts on well-covers'

Yesterday at 4:33 PM

I'm starting to think that this old pallet that keeps people and animals from falling to their deaths has perhaps had its day.

Has anyone done any decent grates for wells? Do I just weld something up and be done with it? The easy solution. Or do I make more of an effort and have a go at making a rivetted or morticed affair? Or something else? Either way, I might need to make it in two parts because of the upstands. I won't need access so there is no need for a gate / door.

Separately, I will get a roof on it at some point and repair the winding mechanism, but they are not...

• Bouledogue
• Replies: 38
• forum: Architectural

• 

 

[Seadog]

I have recently seen coffee tables made from rebar all welded together being laid out flat, then clear coated...special and cool looking. Or coffee tables made from engine blocks and chrome powder coated sell well. lamps from upstanding crankshafts etc. There is still money about in the hipster world looking for something different.

 

[daedalusminos]

Not sure how the side hustle would work.

Is it a case you have access to all the equipment but would need to rely on other people to do some of the work e.g welding?

For the grill you say it was long winded....did the selling price cover all materials and time?

 

[Erie Fred]

Don’t worry. I do a lot of favour work for the boss for his cash jobs. We do half days on Fridays and then stay late for side hustle / personal projects.

I am not worried in the least.
It's not my job on the line.
I am speaking from past experiences I have witnessed "over here".

BTW what happens when a customer of yours (not the shop) is not happy with your product/work ?
What if what you made in the owners shop get's used in a crime ?
What if someone get's hurt with something you made ?
Who carries the liability ?

 

[seabod]

I am not worried in the least.
It's not my job on the line.
I am speaking from past experiences I have witnessed "over here".

BTW what happens when a customer of yours (not the shop) is not happy with your product/work ?
What if what you made in the owners shop get's used in a crime ?
What if someone get's hurt with something you made ?
Who carries the liability ?

You are looking into this way deeper than it is.

Everything is on me. In my name. What does where something is made have to do with it ?

You buy a product from a company and are not happy with it, you take it up with that company. You don’t go finding out where it was produced.

 

[bricol]

You are looking into this way deeper than it is.

In today's world I don't think he is.

My age and life experience makes me agree with him. Just because you wouldn't, doesn't mean others won't.

 

[skotl]

So I work in the sheet metal industry at a family run company that ticks all the boxes. They let us work on our own projects, get materials in for us and pretty much game as long as work goes out you can do what you want.

I’m looking for ideas for a small side hustle, nothing serious but I’d love for it to pay off getting my bike license and getting a bike one day.

I can do a range of things from drawing and designing, cutting, bending, welding.

What would your side hustle be ?

Don't have any suggestions for actual hustles, other than to not let the doom mongers on here grind you down.
There's far too many tales of horrible places to work, horrid bosses and competent, smart people being treated like poo.

It's tremendous that your employer seems like a clear exception and I'm sure it's almost certainly down to how you treat them as well! So good luck with the endeavour, and hopefully all the naysayers have got it out of their system by now.