What kind of side hustle actually suits you? A two-minute quiz
Six quick questions, add up your score, and find out whether you're a Maker, a Feeder, or a Fixer. A follow-up to our guide on finding your side hustle.
Answer honestly, not aspirationally
If you've read the guide on finding your side hustle, you'll know the short version: it usually starts with something people already ask you for. This is the next step. Six quick questions, a score, and a rough pointer toward the kind of side hustle that actually fits how you already like to spend your time, not the one that sounds most impressive.
Answer for how you actually are, not how you'd like to be. Add up your points as you go.
1. How much time can you realistically give it each week?
- A few hours, squeezed in wherever they fit (1 point)
- Half a day, most weeks (2 points)
- A proper block of time, most weekends (3 points)
2. Which of these sounds like the better afternoon?
- Alone, headphones in, making something with your hands until it's finished (1 point)
- A big cook-up in the kitchen, getting everything ready before people arrive (2 points)
- Properly focused on one person in front of you, sorting out exactly what they need (3 points)
3. How do you feel about talking to customers face to face?
- Happiest if it stays mostly online, a quick drop-off and done (1 point)
- Fine with some back and forth, a chat at pickup (2 points)
- Genuinely enjoy spending proper time with each customer (3 points)
4. What's your patience for repetition?
- I like making the same thing well, over and over (1 point)
- I like some variety, different orders each week (2 points)
- I like each session being different, depending on the person in front of me (3 points)
5. How important is it to be finished and handed off quickly?
- Very. I want to make it, deliver it, be done (1 point)
- Somewhat. A day or two of prep is fine (2 points)
- Not important. I don't mind an appointment taking an hour or more (3 points)
6. What's already true about you right now?
- People already ask me to make them things (1 point)
- People already ask me to cook or bake for them (2 points)
- People already ask me to do a specific skill for them, in person (3 points)
Add up your score
6 to 9: You're a Maker. You'd rather produce something well, hand it over, and move on to the next one. Low chat, low ongoing commitment per order. Corsages, candles, cards, small crafted gifts, that kind of thing. Have a read of how I built a corsage business that runs itself for what that actually looked like.
10 to 14: You're a Feeder. You like cooking or baking for an occasion, and you don't mind some back and forth to get an order right. This is cake territory, or smoked meats, or anything built around a date on someone's calendar. Have a read of how to start a home cake business or selling smoked brisket from home for what that actually looks like.
15 to 18: You're a Fixer. You're at your best doing a hands-on skill directly for a person, and you don't mind the time that takes. Bike servicing, lash application, hair, anything appointment-based. Worth a look at running a weekend bike servicing side hustle or turning a skill like lash application into a real side hustle.
None of this is a verdict
Plenty of people are a bit of two types, and plenty of people's answer changes in six months. The point isn't to lock yourself in, it's to stop staring at a blank page wondering what your side hustle could even be. Whichever one you landed closest to, that's just your starting point. You can always change your mind once you've actually tried it.