Some of you may recall that a few months ago, I challenged myself to come up with $2,000 in 2 months through random gigs/side hustle ideas. Things started off slow, as one of my main ideas, mystery shopping, turned out to be a big dud. There are simply no good shops available in my area, so I quickly turned my focus away from that.
I set up some Fiverr gigs, and it took off. To my amazement, orders started rolling in. I shared my review of the site, and many people mentioned that they would not be willing to work for such little payout. I completely understand that. This is where a productivity hack comes in really handy so that you can be sure that you aren’t wasting your precious time for pennies.
You also do not have to work for just $5! You can set your minimums and make that clear to potential buyers in your gig description. Overall, Fiverr offers me a chance to do some fun little writing and editing gigs. I’ll probably stick around on there for a while, as I’ve been getting inquiries for a variety of things almost daily. If you’re struggling to find side hustles, I recommend checking it out.
Another area that I focused on was Swagbucks and MyPoints. Both of these sites will give you “bucks” and “points”, respectively, for doing things like clicking on emails, playing short videos, and using their site search engines. You then cash in those earnings for gift cards. Swagbucks gets a big thumbs-up from me, as I was able to earn Amazon gift cards with very little effort. *I included my Swagbucks referral in the link.
So, I’m sure you want me to get to the numbers. How did I do? Did I make my goal?
Well, unfortunately, I did not hit that $2k mark. Here’s the $ breakdown:
$55 in Amazon gift cards
$950 cash
Total: $1,005
So, as you can see, I came in at half. Was $2,000 unrealistic? Probably. I knew it was an aggressive goal. But that’s okay! I think the important thing is that I really did push myself to do what I could in my spare time. After all, it’s been a busy summer with an active 3-year-old by my side. This money is going to give our bank account a much-needed boost, and that makes me happy.
Sorry to disappoint anyone, but I had to keep it real and give you all the update. I will say that it’s very motivating to make challenges like this for yourself, and I will definitely do it again. I hope I’ve inspired some of you to challenge yourselves to go for some extra income through easy, random ideas. With the holidays coming up, I’m sure we could all use some extra cash 🙂
Will you be challenging yourself to earn extra money anytime soon?
Did you seriously make $950 from doing Fiver gigs? If you did that’s very impressive.
About half came from Fiverr gigs, and the rest was other one-off writing jobs I picked up. You really can make money with Fiverr!
Hey, $1k bucks isn’t anything to sneeze at! There are a lot of places in the world where you can live a very comfortable life on $1k! Good work! And I always appreciate the honest report back.
Great job Lauren! I want to challenge myself too, especially that holidays are just around the corner! Getting $1,005 in just two months is pretty awesome!
Congratulation on reaching your target! Fiverr is very easy to make money on as long as you have that single solid gig. You can make pretty good money through Fiverr if you have some SEO work or article writing gigs. Another Fiverr gig idea is to write promotion posts of other websites and products on your blog.
Great job! I need to start focusing on some other way to make additional cash.
Lauren, that’s fantastic. I realise you didn’t hit your $2k target, but 1,000 bucks is incredible. Well done!
Thank you, Myles!
Great job! I wouldn’t call that disappointing. =) Setting challenges like this is what allows us to push ourselves and look for new opportunities, which you clearly found with Fiverr. I hope you’re having fun overseas!
Thanks Erin!
Hey, $1,005 isn’t bad! Your experiment helps show that where there’s a will to reach financial goals, there’s (usually) a way. Just takes commitment and determination!
Sometimes you have to get a little creative and so some searching 🙂
I should finally signup for Swagbucks. I’ll use your link!
$1,000 is still pretty good! It’s one thousand more than I made, lol. I’m glad the fiverr gigs are working out for you. I said I was going to check them out, but still haven’t. And that’s why you made $1,000 more than I did 🙂
Lauren – I think that is some really impressive side hustle there! I’m impressed with your swagbucks earnings. I tried using that before but just couldn’t stick with it. Maybe I should try again : ) Hope you are having a great trip. You’ve definitely inspired me to work on the side hustle!
Thanks Liz! I thought Swagbucks was pretty useless when I first checked it out, because I don’t really shop online. But you can actually reach the mark for a $5 Amazon gift card really quickly by playing videos and such.
I’m so glad you shared your progress. How much time would you say you committed weekly to your side hustles? Do you think Fiverr would actually bring you up to the 3k mark if you had started it sooner?
Hmm, weekly…I’m not so sure, only because I just do things here and there when I can. Being home with my 3 year old, I keep a pretty irregular schedule online! I would say at least an hour or two every day though, sometimes more, sometimes less. It’s hard to say how much more I could have done if I started on Fiverr sooner, but it does take 30 days on there before you can add extras to boost your bottom line. It’s been a great resource for hustles, though, so I definitely recommend it!
Although you didn’t reach the $2K target, you still made some money which is great! I’ve been hustling with the freelance writing since August and it’s going really well. Hope you’re having a great time in Bulgaria 🙂
Thanks Kassandra! Freelance writing is such a fun way to earn.
Congrats Lauren!!! I set a goal to side hustle my way to FinCon earlier this year, and I made it. I am happy I did too because I am here in New Orleans now and really enjoying meeting everyone.
Thanks Shannon! Maybe I’ll try to hustle my way to FinCon next year!
Thanks for the update, Lauren. I went back and read your productivity hack article which I missed. I’ll have to try that as time spent is my biggest struggle. Like your new blog look, BTW!
Thanks Deb 🙂