Side Hustle Sidequest

Well then.

I’m fairly sure last month I described AI microtasking as something along the lines of “unlikely” or “not for me”. So, naturally, this has been the one that’s actually worked.

I followed my usual approach and asked ChatGPT where to start. It suggested a few platforms, and I landed on Outlier.ai.

The sign-up process felt similar to market research platforms like Respondent which was simple, but oddly slow. I had to log back in a few times over a couple of days to get everything moving. Once through, I completed onboarding, which included a short training session. The time estimates were clear and, for the most part, accurate.

The tasks themselves were more involved than I expected. I was reviewing AI-generated images, judging whether they were realistic, and explaining in detail why they weren’t if they failed. It’s not passive work, its quite involved and you do have to think.

After onboarding, I had to download tracking software that logs your working time. Pay sits around $18 per hour, with bonuses for hitting milestones. It’s fairly intense, but in a focused way.

The biggest surprise? I got paid for the training.

Within a week, £16 landed in my account. That immediate feedback loop makes a big difference. I’m still finding my feet, and it’s clear your skillset influences what projects you’re offered. I also completed an additional comprehension assessment (which was far more intense than expected) to unlock further work.

All in all, this one’s a genuine success and a noticeable upgrade from the “cheeky survey” phase.

The Bigger Picture (and a Slightly Chaotic Month)

March also marks the end of the financial year, which always makes me pause and take stock.

All was ticking along nicely until global events decided otherwise. Markets dipped sharply, which has had a knock-on effect on investments – more on that in a moment.

I also had some larger expenses this month. I moved some cash into my ISA ready to “buy the dip”, which has left me feeling slightly less liquid than usual. There’s also been… further investment into Pokémon cards. At this point, I’m just accepting that this is part of my life now but its quietly doing well.

The Numbers for March

Despite everything, it’s actually been one of my strongest months so far:

Cashback: £50.12
(Boosted by a birthday purchase — a Switch 2 — with nearly £20 back via Currys)

Interest: £16.72
Dividends: £1.30
Matched betting: £227.74
(Cheltenham doing a lot of heavy lifting here)
Reselling: £256.69

Total side hustle income: £552.57

I’ve also been testing a new app called Sprive, which gives around 1% back on voucher purchases and allows overpayments on your mortgage. It’s small, but it adds up. I haven’t included it in totals yet as nothing’s been cashed out.

Investments (A Bit Less Fun)

The side hustle investment pie has taken a hit.

I’ve contributed £520 over the last six months, but recent market drops have pulled it down to -1.7%, a loss of £5.10. My wider portfolio has dropped from around 30% up to closer to 15%.

It’s a good reminder that markets don’t move in straight lines.

That said, this is exactly what I expected. Lower prices mean better opportunities to average down and invest more efficiently. It doesn’t feel great in the moment, but it’s part of the process.

Looking Ahead

April was meant to be voice narration, which, if I’m honest, doesn’t feel like me at all.

Instead, I’m pivoting slightly and focusing on mystery shopping. It’s something I probably should have set up months ago as a “background” side hustle.

Nothing to do with confidence levels. Honestly…

As always, I’ll report back on what works and what doesn’t.

The side quest continues…!

First of all, I must apologise for going a bit quiet. As usual — and probably quite rightly — my main employment has become very busy. When that happens, the side hustling inevitably slows down. That said, February still produced some interesting observations.

The first one actually came from January’s task: market research.

Ironically, my first payment was for a study about financial awareness and responsibility. The key learning here is that you need to apply for a lot of opportunities to get a return. Making it a routine helps. Spend 30 minutes here and there checking for new submissions. This approach is what seems to make the difference. The payment itself came through in March and was only £10, but it was for a five-minute task. Compared to long survey questionnaires, that’s actually a far better return on time.

February’s main side quest — print-on-demand — unfortunately produced a nil return.

However, I did learn quite a bit about how marketing drives traffic to a shopfront. The weeks where I had social media content scheduled and ready clearly performed better than the week I ran out. That was also the same week university deadlines and work both landed heavily at the same time. Lesson learned: having templates and a monthly content plan helps keep things consistent when life inevitably gets busy.

Honesty was always something I wanted to bring to this blog. Side hustles sound great in theory, but in reality they sit alongside full-time work, further education, and life in general. Some weeks I feel motivated and productive. Other weeks I’m simply tired. One weekend recently, I realised I needed to slow down a little. I had to remind myself that this is a marathon, not a sprint. If you don’t look after yourself first, you won’t sustain anything long term.

That said, the end-of-month numbers were a pleasant surprise.

Cashback was a particularly strong area this month. Unexpectedly, Pokémon cards are still taking over my life. The February totals looked like this:

Cashback: £124.65
Interest: £25.74
Dividends: £5.97
Reselling profit: £393.11

Total side hustle income: £549.47

Alongside that, my investment pie saw £490 added in contributions, with a £18.82 return (7.1%) so far. Gold is currently carrying the portfolio. It has shown around 33% growth since the pie began. This probably says something about broader market confidence right now.

Some of my profit has also gone back into Pokémon. Like it or not, Pokémon investing is a real thing. The franchise just turned 30 and historically sealed products have tended to grow in value over time. Scalping is unfortunately a huge barrier in the hobby, with people buying stock purely to resell immediately. On one release day, my ever-patient husband and I went from shop to shop. We were with other fans trying to find stock at retail price.

We succeeded, and even opened a few packs for fun.

Which brings me to a reminder I’ve rediscovered recently: hobbies shouldn’t lose their joy just because they become profitable. We looked back at some of our old playing decks. We realized several cards inside were worth between £50 and £100 each. One particularly rare card, if it had been in mint condition, might have graded close to £1000.

Sadly ours has been thoroughly enjoyed over the years. It will never grade highly. That’s also kind of the point.

The decks were played with, shared, and enjoyed. That’s what they were made for.

Looking ahead, I’m beginning to question whether attempting twelve different side hustles in a year is the most sustainable approach. It’s probably reflective of my slightly chaotic tendency to take on too much at once.

March’s task is microtasks and data labelling. It doesn’t sound particularly like “my thing”, but I’ll give it a proper try and report back.

In the meantime, enjoy the arrival of spring and a bit of fresh growth. In a world that often feels quite heavy, remember to give yourself space for the things you enjoy.

And if you see Pokémon cards at retail price — buy them.

February’s sidequest is setting up a print-on-demand (POD) service.

In simple terms, POD means creating designs that get printed on items like T-shirts, mugs, and notebooks. It includes basically anything that can take ink. You upload your design to a provider. Then, connect it to a shopfront. When something sells, it gets printed and shipped. You do not hold any stock. Some services combine all of this, others need linking together.

You don’t need to be an artist or a professional designer. It helps, but it’s not essential. The easiest way in is text-based designs like phrases or quotes you’d actually wear yourself. That alone removes a lot of pressure. Trust me!

AI tools can help generate ideas or visuals, but there’s an important technical catch: resolution. POD providers usually specify a minimum image size, and if your file doesn’t meet it, your design simply won’t print properly. That’s something to watch carefully if you’re using AI.

Another approach is niche-based design. This works best when it’s something you already understand or care about. That might be a hobby, a job, or just a very specific interest. If you’re stuck, writing a list of things you’re good at and things you enjoy can be surprisingly helpful. This idea is related to the concept of Ikigai. This concept explores where skills, interests, and value overlap. It’s useful to avoid designing for “everyone”. You can read more about ikigai from the book by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles. (read more about it in the tools I use page)

Keeping Costs Sensible

POD isn’t completely free, but you can keep costs low.

I’ve done this before, so I’m building on previous lessons rather than starting from scratch. My current setup uses Printify linked to an Etsy storefront. That involved a £13 one-off setup fee and 20p per listing.

I’m also using tools I already pay for elsewhere. I sometimes generate concepts in Midjourney, then finish the designs in Procreate on my iPad. Platforms like Playground or Leonardo.ai offer built-in upscalers, which is useful for meeting print requirements, but those come with their own costs. Research matters here — especially if you’re trying to keep this low-risk.

Marketing (The Bit I Learned the Hard Way)
One big lesson from previous attempts: marketing matters.

I use Canva to build Pinterest and Instagram templates that fit the niche I’m targeting. I then use ChatGPT to generate a month of post ideas in one go. Doing this upfront removes the constant pressure to “think of something to post”.

Social content shouldn’t just sell. If you’re selling gardening-themed T-shirts, the page itself should feel like a gardening space, not a catalogue.

Listings, SEO, and Mockups

Creating listings takes more work than it looks. Titles, descriptions, and tags all affect visibility — this is search engine optimisation (SEO). I paid for a month of RankHero to research tags with high search volume and low competition, which helps both niche selection and listings.

Mockups also take time. POD platforms provide some, but tools like Canva or Playground can help you customise them. Don’t underestimate this step.

The Real Test

There’s no instant payoff. My plan is simple. I will design 5–10 easy designs in one session. I will list one or two a week. I will post on socials two or three times weekly, or less, if that’s all I can sustain. Slow, steady signals help platforms understand where your audience is.

I’ll explore more tools this month and check back in with what worked — and what didn’t.

(Links in the blog include affiliates. No extra cost, just helps keep Side Hustle Sidequest running.)