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Hi all,

I am contemplating starting a side business. One to make some money on the side and two for a bit of fun as hopefully it will be something I’m interested in. I have a couple ideas but was just wondering how many of the community do something like this and what is it you do? Has it been hard?Worthwhile?

Thanks

18 Spice ups
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I have a development company on the side. It’s grown pretty well, but it is taxing to do that and have a full-time day job. By the time I get home I just want to relax, but I have to work. Weekends too. It certainly is nice having extra money for hobbies, but it’s tiresome.

Also remember your tax rate is going to be higher since your employer typically pays half of your taxes, so you will pay roughly 40% of every dollar you make on your own.

Eventually I would like to do that full-time, but with taxes, no benefits, and mandatory healthcare requirements…I’m not sure it’s worth it for me.

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I am actually heading to my lawyer tomorrow to setup my side business. Mac repair and training center.

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I did for a little bit. One of the jobs became the job I’m at now full-time .I had to stop my own business when my late wife was diagnosed with cancer, and our son was diagnosed with Autism two years before that, so that had to become my focus. Fortunately, I got a job where both my wife worked, and where my son got treated at.

It was fun, as I got to network with different people, and learn a little about different companies. It also helped in trying to find my niche and what I could do and offer a particular field (corporate, education, medical, etc.). I’m proud to be where I am at right now.

2 Spice ups
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yeah, i do a little PC work on the side. i started mostly because i was tired of people getting ripped off by geek squad. its nice for a little extra running around money but the down side is the work. you are working on computers all day every day and then you go home to find more PCs to fix. Usually its not even an issue but sometimes its like you dont want to even look at a computer you just want to put your feet up and relax.

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I was thinking about doing something really simple. Purchasing something and adding value to it and re-selling. One idea is to buy Raspberry Pi’s and build them to how / what the customer wants them to do. For example I could have 5 or 6 pre set images. For example one running XMBC, one set up as a VPN server, one set up as a SAMBA server, one set up as a Games Emulator. These are just off the top of my head so don’t read too much into them!! I could then give customers the option to tell me what they want and I will build it for them. My only thinking behind this is I currently have 5 Raspberry Pi’s and love messing around with them. I do not know the technicalities around buying them and re-selling them or if that’s even legal.

Another idea is more obvious in running an IT repair shop out of my house but that is a bit boring and would have more competition but probably more demand also.

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I do some PC servicing on the side, but I’m not running myself ragged again. I’ve had 3 jobs at once, to the point that I couldn’t move some days. Now, it’s my full time job, a very small amount of side work, and a hobby or two.

1 Spice up
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I work on all the family computers.

:slight_smile:

And Mother-In-Law always pays me in gourmet jelly (yum)!

I occasionally do side jobs for folks - mostly tune-up work with their personal computers / virus removal / etc. Given all the family obligations I don’t think I could support a true “side job”. I don’t usually ask for payment and if they insist I usually prefer brownies…and my waistline sometimes shows that business is good.

It would be nice to have some extra income, however.

2 Spice ups
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My side business went a little viral and I had to get a “real job”. I was up invoicing at 2am nearly every night. Now, it’s just staff. Pocket money.

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I do home automation on the side, and wireless site surveys. I try to limit what I do and when i do it. Just to keep some personal life. Usually only do the extra work in the winter. Dont want to interfere with the outside time of the year.

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I run a non profit making service that takes up all my time when not at work, its called “fatherhood” lol

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I do the usual IT stuff for home users. Upgrades, PC cleaning (physical / virtual), and just generic IT help. I don’t go looking for the work, it just tends to find me. I will only do it for actual money now though. There have been a few exceptions (an attractive single female and a request to be taken out to dinner were involved), but mostly I just ask for my going rate.

I don’t do anything too big, because I don’t want the liability. When I get ready to retire, many years from now, I would like to have a small client base built up that I can expand upon a bit and do part time IT work in retirement.

It’s funny, because when I was working crappy odd jobs part time and wanted all the IT business I could get, I couldn’t get much. Now that I am employed full time as a systems administrator, I have no problem getting business, and I can charge more than double what I used to, and people are happy to pay it. I guess it’s the whole “this guy is a sys admin, he knows what he’s doing, he’s worth the money” type deal.

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I’ve been considering doing a side business too, but I value my free time too much. I do work on computer for friends and family, but that’s about it.

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I do side work - so far I have been lucky in that it has not leaked over into my day job. But when I interviewed for this job I was open and honest that I do side work for my own firm.

The guy who hired me said that’s fine - as long as they are not our competitors I have no issue with that.

He also said that if I needed to leave to go to see a customer of mine he has no issue with that either.

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I’ve got 5 kids I’m willing to rent out for light labor (because that’s all they will do). Wait, is that considered a side business if I end up having to pay customers back due to damages?

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My boss, whenever one of our users asks him for help on their personal computer, he gives them my email and has them contact me because I do the work on the side. He made sure to tell me that I can NOT work on people’s personal computers during work hours, and he lets everyone else know that too.Oh, and he continually reminds me to charge people.I’ve never heard of a boss saying it was ok to leave work to go see a customer of your own business though, that’s kinda odd to me.

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No “moonlighting”. =/

But between you and me, I make and sell jelly

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Used to run a mobile computer repair business - closed it down - not enough hours in the day to commit to both my day job and side business. Now, I get to fix family/friends computers - not a big deal. Also, I support a local non profit on a best efforts basis - website, computers, network etc - nothing big, nothing fancy. I do that as I support what they are doing (animal rescue basically)

G

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Howdy,

I currently don’t have a side business, but am very very ready to start one. My goal is to be self employed. I have been afraid of having a conflict of interest with my current employer so I always turn down clients and friends that ask for help with their personal computers/devices. This past week I have made the decision to change that.

My heart is not really in 24 hour IT. I am hoping and planning to have several small businesses in the beginning. The one that is the most profitable I plan on growing as much as possible. So here they are.

  • Web hosting (I have a re seller account through Hostgator). I want to host sites and train non tech people how to create sites and update/manage content.
  • PC repair/cleanup.
  • Small business Tech consulting. Have several friends that are small business owners. I hope to be able to help them build their tech and improve business. This will hopefully lead to more jobs.
  • Lawn mowing - Yes lawn mowing. Out of all of the jobs that I have had, it is one of my favorites!
  • Home flipping - My wife and I bought a government repo house a year ago and have been remodeling it. We plan to sell it as soon as we are ready and take the profit to re-invest it into another property just like it. We want to keep doing this until we have enough equity to own multiple houses and just manage rental properties.

Thanks!

Eric-

1 Spice up
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Surprisingly, there is quite a bit of money in lawn service. I know a guy who does it and has one or two helpers and he can do anywhere from $500-2000 in business a day. They occasional do big stuff, like ranches, and charge about $800.