Writer Heather Larson

I’m just going to share a few thoughts on the JOY of failing forward quickly.

Maybe this is something only we who have a freelance and/or entrepreneurial streak have in our arsenal of gifts. I always think I have to do or try all the things. I am filled with ideas. I can brainstorm daily. It doesn’t mean they are all good ideas I come up with, but I just flex that muscle quite a bit.

I’d like to share the good ideas on here as well as the things that weren’t horrible failures. It’s not going to become a bitch blog. I simply won’t draw attention to the things that sucked and wasted my time. Why let them waste more of my time? It’s not about my failures either. What I plan to share is about what I learned.

Fact is, there are a ton of blogs and YouTube channels dedicated to, “Top 5 Ways to Earn Quick Income That Pays Directly to PayPal,” or “Earn $250 This Weekend with a Side Hustle!” Nope. I’m just not one of those oh-so-Pinteresting bloggers.

What I do know is I enjoy trying things, experimenting, and tweaking these experiments. But I can also admit when I’m licked. And I am.

I won’t mention ALL the things I tried last month to make “quick money online.” But I certainly tried a few! I was quite spooked at one point, having lost my voice and hearing in one ear temporarily. It was a good experience in that it made me entertain a host of what-if questions. What if I had to make money like this? What do you do if stuck at home? I totally get why there are so many work-at-home-mommy blogs on Pinterest now!

There are a ton of articles about taking surveys and using iBotta to “earn money” out there. Those are the first things you’ll find online when you begin searching the “work from home” type stuff.

I had signed up for Postmates in May, but never had the time to actually start it. The experience probably needs its own full post. But I’ll just briefly mention the failure that it was.

I’m in Wichita, Kansas. At the end of the month, it’s not exactly the most fruitful economic time here. I had that going against me. Also, I went out for three hours one day and made $13. Only one of three deliveries tipped. I got a sunburn. It wasn’t my first day. My first day was great and made me love Postmates because I had all great customers and they tipped. The days in between, I either ran the app and picked up NO pings, or got only ONE ping for a delivery.

I have no idea how many Postmates drivers there are in Wichita, or if it’s the time of the month, or my city’s economy, or what. It just wasn’t a big earner for my time. There was a bonus when I started. It said I’d receive a $150 bonus for 30 deliveries, which I thought was doable. Not at all! I struggled to get the few deliveries I got. The next week, no bonus opportunity showed up in the app.

The Pros? It’s the easiest money you can make. The work is easy. Get a delivery ping, pick it up, check the order, then drive it to the customer. Everyone loves the person who delivers food!

The Cons? It took a ton of time. A delivery would take me 15 minutes, but I’d be waiting 17-45 minutes to get the ping. I got sunburnt (my own fault). I decided the wear/tear plus mileage on my car was too much for what it is worth.

Also, you don’t know where you are delivering to until after you’ve picked up the food. It was a safety concern for me because I want to be able to opt out of certain places I know I don’t want to go to. Or just places where I just don’t want to go for personal reasons.

It made me a few bucks at a time when I could definitely use it; I hardly worked in the month of July. If you want to do Postmates, it’s ideal for you if you are great at car maintenance yourself or have a newer car you own. It’s also great if you have time to kill. Trying to multitask phone calls and emails while waiting on orders was a problem for me, personally. But that may not be an issue for you.

I decided my time is better spent on the Life Coaching & Reiki business I run. I did a fire sale and made just as much — actually more — than I did with Postmates. That was in less time than I spent on Postmates with zero wear/tear on my car.

I’ll keep trying side hustles and let you know how they go!

Why?

Because failure is the best teacher.

I learned the value of side hustles long ago. Will I make my entire annual income from being a writer? I may. I may not.

What I do know is I can’t spend ALL my working hours writing. Oh, my eyes! Oh, the sedentary lifestyle of it all!

I should probably try that dog walking thing…

I’ll share some goals.

I’m working on a Reiki ebook through my Patreon page. Come be a Patron, be the first! (At the time of this writing)

Creating passive income through ebooks is a goal.

Excellent-paying freelance writing gigs that don’t take too much time is also a goal. (Been there, done that in 2006).

Having a side-hustle that doesn’t require staring at a computer screen is a goal. I’m working on jewelry making.

Creating income through my blogs and websites is a goal.

Driving people their Chipotle orders isn’t really on the list. I’ll file that one under, “Stuff I tried that was fun for a minute which then became a total drag.”

Another reason I want to share side hustle info is because I think people want it. I wish the world had been like it is today with so much online opportunity when I had gotten into freelancing in 2006! I would have never left. I was lucky to leave the freelance life at the beginning of 2008, just before the economy crashed.

The economy is changing.

What I see in my own experience and those of my friends is that work is changing. Someone moved our cheese. Time to find the new cheese. Time to try new tactics, fill new niches, and solve new problems. Are 40-hour-a-week jobs proliferating in a time when healthcare costs are rising? I don’t know. What I do see is a lot of under-40-hour-per-week jobs now so companies do NOT have to provide you healthcare. Are you prepared for this? Are you ready for the gig economy? Does it matter how many college degrees we have? Or the decades of experience we have? Not with how things are changing and I feel this on the gut level. I could be wrong. But what if I’m not…?