Who’s Behind Side Hustle Science?
My name is John.
I’m just a guy, who loves technology, camping, side hustles, and photography.
Like most people, I was caught up in the salary trap. Tethered to the ✨golden handcuffs✨ if you will.
I wanted more from life than a safe and predictable 9-5. I wanted my time and autonomy back.
But I was so insanely scared to leave what I knew to be “secure” behind.
Finally, in the midst of a pandemic, I took a leap. I quit my job and went all in on my freelance business.
My only regret was not leaving sooner.
I built Side Hustle Science to help others earn, save, and achieve more.
Whether you’re trying to build a lifestyle business and escape the rat race, or just make an extra $200 a month to fund that vaycay, you’ll find it here.
My hope is that you take what you learn here, and apply it to your life. So you too can cross more things off your bucket list, and help others who need it along the way.
The purpose of life is a life of purpose.
– John
Rating System
I put a lot of thought into our rating system. Here’s a breakdown of some of the metrics you might see on some of our reviews, comparisons, or guides.
Our rating system is generally 1-5, where 5 indicates the most positive outcome.
Speed
How long does this business or money-making method take to actually start showing results? 1 would indicate a very slow return on time/investment where a 5 would indicate a quick turnaround.
Methods like Amazon FBA would likely be ranked lower than starting a service business because the amount of time it takes to find a product, launch a store, and make a return is considerably longer than most methods.
Difficulty
How hard is it to actually implement this money-making method? I take into account the current competition, market saturation, and how difficult the actual activities are to carry out.
While everyone’s background and experience differs, I assume that most people have an average understanding of the method, and will be able to learn most of what is being taught in the course.
For example, learning an advanced day trading method may rank a 2, whereas a print on demand business may rank a 4.
Cost To Start
What is the cost to start this business? This rating does not take into account the price of the course, the course pricing is separate from this calculation. This might include additional tools like Clickfunnels, domain hosting, marketing, and email.
A print-on-demand business might cost nearly nothing to start and get a 5, whereas an Amazon FBA method might require $2000 in inventory and get ranked a 2.
Passiveness
Is there a point where you can walk away from this business and just kick your feet up and chill? While every single business will require either your time, or your money, some online businesses are structured better to allow for passive income once everything is set up.
A niche blog style business might get ranked a 4, because once the articles are up and ranking there is very little action needed to keep that traffic flowing.
On the flip side, a service-based business like copywriting requires your direct involvement, and is difficult to outsource since it’s such a high-touch skill.
Longevity
I’m not talking about living to 100! How long will this method be viable for? How long will it continue to make you money and work?
Blackhat SEO courses that teach tricks to get fast rankings in Google will score poorly on this metric. If an entire course is centered around a technique, that technique very well could be wiped out by an algorithm change, along with your profits.
Compare that to email marketing. When you own an email list, no one can take that away from you, or restrict your reach. The longevity of that method is solid, and built on a platform that isn’t going anywhere.
Relevance
How relevant is this information as of right now? Are they teaching outdated methods, using old videos that no longer match the current interface? Is the strategy they’re teaching already completely saturated?
All of these questions are taken into account when determining if a course, tool, or method is relevant.
Support
If you make an investment into a product or service, you’re going to want a proportional level of support for it. We’ll often look to see if a course has a community, weekly Q&A, tech team, or email support.
I take into account the level of support proportional to the product. Meaning if a tool is completely free, you might not expect 24/7 live support ready and waiting for your questions.
In addition to checking for these elements I also sometimes test the response times of support teams with tickets, and verify just how active and helpful a group or community is when asking questions.
Organization
I could lay out a treasure map to a million dollars, but if it was in a million pieces, it wouldn’t do you much good would it? When reviewing courses I look for exactly how information is structured, how and when it is presented, and just how easy the course itself is to navigate.
I also take into account accessibility. Are the videos downloadable? Is there a PDF version? Will this course material work on my phone? All of this is taken into account when checking for a product’s organization.
Value
Last, but certainly not least we have the value metric. When looking at value we primarily look at two elements.
How quickly can you learn and implement this method to achieve an ROI?
How much does the course cost?
The course could have 30 hours worth of training, live Q&A’s, 50,000 members, and still get a 1-star rating.
It’s not about volume of content in a course, it’s about how quick it can be learned and applied to make money verse what you paid for the course itself.
I always aiming to improve our methodology and increase the quality of our site to all of our visitors. If you have any questions, or suggestions for our rating system, be sure to let us know.
Also, keep in mind that not every online business is right for everyone. While making money on YouTube might be an amazing way to start a business, it would be a terrible fit for someone who hates being in front of the camera.
We’re currently working on developing a lifestyle business quiz to help anyone looking to make money online find a business that matches them perfectly.
How Does This Site Make Money?
This site uses affiliate marketing by recommending products to make money.
It’s literally what keeps the lights on, and pays for our server hosting.
I pour through hundreds of hours of content to find the very best methods of making money online that are working today. When I compare my findings internally, I reach out to who I find is the best option, and ask to partner with them.
It’s through that affiliate partnership that I can recommend the very best products and receive compensation at no cost to you. I also provide 100% free trainings that sometimes use affiliate links for tools or software that work the best for that given method.
You can learn more about this on our affiliate disclosure page.