Was reading @HiRaj post about needing to have a side hustle just to get by these days. Made the comment:

”Have always had a side hustle since I was at school.”

Got me thinkiing

Why we are all looking for side hustle & extra income these days?

The Early Hustles

1. We lived in the country and attended a small rural school. Remember I would find things like pencils and rubbers in the school playground and would collect them. Tried to sell them to other pupils. Not sure how successful this enterprise was but it would have been my first attempt at a side hustle.

2. My dad helped me get a calf for the school Calf Club. I called her Wilma, probably from the Flinstones on TV. Hand feed Wilma and practiced leading her around the paddock. Wilma was not very good at being lead around. But on the day of the Calf Club, it could have been all the excitement but Wilma performed like a Champion. We got a ribbon and qualified for the big event at the Clevedon Agricultural and Pastoral Show. Wilma did not co-operate this time. Remember feeling very embarrassed. 

Wilma grew into a cow. She liked being brushed especially the head and neck. Would feed her chafe mixed with molasses from a bucket as a treat. We would lie together in the paddock soaking up the warm sunlight. 

Years later I found my diary. There only two types of entries

• gave Wilma a scratch today
• gave Wilma a feed today

Wilma had her first calf called Benjamin. Dad helped me source a foster calf from a local diary farmer. He was called Gorkuss, cause he was funny looking.

The following year Wilma looked after 2 more calves.

A year later we had to sell the farm and move to town. I had to sell Wilma and her grown up calves. I was very upset that I was not allowed to at least keep Wilma. Yet my sister got to keep her horse and my parents leased 5 acres on the edge of town for the horse.

But it was not all bad as the proceeds from the sale turned out to be a major windfall for a 12 year old. Many decades later it dawned in me that my Dad had introduced me to the concept of compounding.

3. At a certain time of year mushrooms would appear in the paddocks. One year thought I would sell them on the side of the road. Our house was a couple miles from the road. I had cardboard box for a table, a few paper bags of mushrooms and no customers. It was not a very busy road.

Garage Sales and Auctions

4. Was working at the Affco Piggery at Horotiu. Every Thursday evening we would take our Hillman Husky into Hamilton and attend the auction house.

There was a wave of NZers leaving for greener pastures across the ditch. They would be selling the house lot. Most of the bidders came for the big ticket items which of course sold first. We waited till the end and picked up what no one else wanted for next to nothing. 

We were able to furnish the Affco house we lived in x2, from the Thursday night auctions. When we moved to the Bay of Plenty, so I could work in the kiwifruit orchards and study for the Royal NZ Diploma of Horticulture (Fruit). We sold half the household contents and had a enough for our first home deposit.

5. Garage sales every weekend became part of our weekends. My wife liked vases and crockery. My passion was old NZ made toys, particularly Fun Ho toys. Made from sand cast aluminium from the 1940’s though to early 1980’s.

 It started out buying them for the kids at garage sales but soon realised I was really buying them for me.

When I moved across the ditch, had to sell everything. Took me over a year to sell all the toys and other collectibles on Trademe.co.nz.

Grand total came to over $40,000 NZD. Most of the toys cost 10 cents to a $1.00 so it was a very profitable side hustle

• TEAL branded Lifesaver Lollies, 4 pack. Early 60’s  New Zealand airline, $40 for 4 forty year old lollies
• Tiger Toy, Timaru, sand cast and tin crane, paid $14 at auction, got $650 on Trade Me

Trade Me

6. Had an interest in surf memorabilia. Most of the collection was sold before moving across the ditch. One of the things I kept was the collection of felt flags that tourists collected in the 60’s and 70’s. They would put them on the car aerials.

 No longer able to attend NZ garage sales, only option was Trade Me. Found I often had to buy a whole collection to get the one I wanted. Then sold off the balance of the collection individually. Postage was at letter rate as they fitted in an envelope. Trade was going so well, that started buying up collections without a surfer in it. Eventually others caught on and the trade got squeezed at both ends. Collections became dearer as more people bid. The prices came down as the Felt Flag market became flooded.

The  Verge Hustle

7. People can’t be bothered selling or taking to the Salvo’s, too much hassle. So they put it out on their verge. Alot of our house hold furniture was found on the verge. Sometimes you spot something that you can easily sell on Gumtree. Best score was a very old double wooden school desk, mint, sold $150.

The Distributor Hustle

8. This one was not really a hustle cause it just fell in our laps. 

We both take Qenda Ultimate Fibre. My wife noticed on the label that it was made in Gidgegannup. That is where she goes most Saturday evenings for collective meditation. She rang the owner Simon to see if she could buy it direct from him. 

This is like ringing Elon to see if you can buy a Tesla Model 3 direct from him, as you both live in same town.

The owner Simon is very knowledgeable and likes to chat. After telling my wife he doesn’t sell direct to the public, he offered to let us become a distributor.  

So we get the Ultimate Fibre at wholesale, sell to family and friends at 30% discount of the RRP. It is the sort of health product that sells itself by word of mouth. Win-Win.