Transcription
Most people waste their entire life on side hustles that sound smart but yet magically make no money. They see AI plaster on something and suddenly think, "Well, here it is. This is the opportunity I've been waiting my whole life for." And honestly, I get it. AI has genuinely changed what's possible. It has made it easier than ever to build a profitable side hustle, but it's also created a lot of noise. You see, most people have no idea how to tell the good side hustles from the bad. They are obsessed with what sounds futuristic, not what actually makes money. The problem is that they think the money is in the AI itself. It's not. AI is just a tool. The money is in using AI to create something that people are already paying for and using it to do it faster, cheaper, and at scale. Just like the internet, you don't make money with the internet. The internet is just the infrastructure. So, in today's video, I am ranking 17 side hustles from S tier to absolute dog. So, that way you know which ones quite frankly are just a waste of your time.
All right, so side hustle number one, AI trading bots. This is where people get sold the dream that a bot will magically do all of the hard work and generate money for them. It's the classic "this bot will print money." It is complete nonsense. So, look, yeah, sure, it might sound good on paper to people who don't understand the risk. But look, quite frankly, it's just gambling with a little bit of branding on top. It's like putting lipstick on a pig. If you do not understand the market, the rules, the downside, well, then you're not building a side hustle. You're just burning money. So, if you want to throw your money down the drain, congratulations. Do this one. The risk is very high with this one. This whole thing is just a trap for beginners. So quite frankly, I'm putting this in F tier.
And that brings us on to side hustle number two, AI UGC. With this one, you're going to create content for brands using AI. Businesses pay for this because it's tied directly to performance. If the content helps them sell more, well then they'll keep paying you to create this type of content for them. The problem is if it doesn't feel authentic or if the content doesn't perform, well then you have a problem on your hands. And with that problem, you're going to struggle to make money with this. Now, look, there is demand, but this whole thing lives or dies on the content and how authentic it feels, as well as how it performs. So, because of that, I'm going to have to put it in C tier.
Now, moving on, let's talk about AI clipping. This one I'm seeing everywhere. With this, you're going to turn long-form content into shorts, reals, and clips. And you're going to do that using AI. Now, I'll be honest, there's actually real demand here. It's easy to explain, and it's easy to sell to creators and businesses who already know that they need more distribution. The only issue is everyone and their mom seems to be doing it, which means the market is getting crowded fast. And once again, if your clips don't perform, you become replaceable very, very quickly. Now, look, because there's clear demand, but very little differentiation, I'm going to go ahead and put this in B tier.
So, just a quick note before we move on, if you didn't already know, I've been giving away a MacBook every video for the last few weeks. The winner from the last video is down in the pin comment below this video along with the instructions on how to claim it. And today I'm giving away another MacBook, but this time the dynamic is a little different. I'm gathering some market research to understand what are some of the main reasons stopping you from starting a side hustle and how I can help you the most. But instead of just guessing, I want to ask you directly. So, I've prepared a few questions for you that should take no longer than 2 minutes to answer. All you need to do to enter the MacBook giveaway is click the link in the description and answer these questions on WhatsApp. Then come back here and comment on what you found most useful from today's video. The winner will be announced in my next video as always. So come back here on the next one to check if you won.
So let's talk about AI drop shipping. You're going to use AI to help you source, research, and sell products. I mean, literally just drop shipping, but with AI layered on top to really speed up some of the process. The upside is the exact same as regular drop shipping. You have low inventory risk, and it's relatively straightforward to test products without too much upfront commitment, but a lot of times you're going to have to spend money on ads, which is what gives me anxiety for beginners. And that's really why the core problems never changed because drop shipping really is a race to the bottom. And AI still doesn't fix the problems with this model, which is really bad margins and a lot of cost to actually test products. So look, because this is an actual legitimate business model. It's not a gimmick, but the cost of testing products is just too much. And I've just seen way too many beginners get burned with this. I'm going to go ahead and put this in C tier.
And that brings us on to side hustle number five, which is AI voice agents. You're actually going to go ahead and build AI phone agents that can actually handle calls and bookings for businesses. And you can imagine why this is valuable, right? Because it saves businesses time. And quite frankly, time is money. If the agent can answer calls, book in appointments, as well as sometimes even go as far as to handle basic objections, well then of course that's something the businesses will pay for. The setup though is not easy and businesses get really impatient if it becomes clunky, robotic or breaks their customer experience. Now, if I go ahead and summarize this entire side hustle because the value is real, but the execution is more complex than most people actually assume going into it, I'm going to go ahead and put this in B tier.
All right, moving on. Number six, AI lead generation. Quite simply, this is where you're going to use AI to help businesses find and qualify leads. Let's talk about the big benefit here. This is directly tied to revenue, and that's why businesses will always need this. So, the demand is there, okay? If you can put qualified prospects in front of a business, you can make money. It's plain and simple. With this one, you're not really selling a nice to have. You are selling something that businesses need, okay? Something that drives revenue. So, the value is there. The only downside is that if your data or targeting is bad, well then unfortunately that means your leads are going to be bad and the whole thing falls apart. So, you are 100% dependent on that. So, if I had to score it because it connects straight to revenue and it solves a real business problem, I'm actually going to go ahead and put it in A tier.
All right, let's talk about AI chat bots. With this one, you are going to go ahead and build support or sales bots for businesses. Once again, the appeal is very obvious with this one. It saves businesses time. It handles repetitive questions and it can actually take a lot of pressure off of the team from a business point of perspective. But unfortunately, a lot of these chat bots are just very gimmicky and it's pretending to be a business. So to summarize, because there is utility, but unfortunately a lot of it is overhyped and really easy to commoditize in today's day and age, and it doesn't have that same excitement factor as the voice agents. I'm actually going to go ahead and put this in C tier.
Moving on, let's talk about an interesting one, and that's actually AI ghost writing. With this, you're going to use AI to help founders, creators, and experts to write newsletters, posts, emails, scripts, you know, whatever it may be. And this can actually be highly valuable if you can match the founder's voice and strategy. Now, when you do this properly, it can actually turn into strong recurring revenue because good operators don't want one-off content. They usually want to commit to this for a long period of time, but you also need to be consistent with it to benefit from the recurring potential of this side hustle. Look, to be honest, if you're just churning out content with no thinking behind it, clients can smell that from a mile away. And the second they feel that, you become replaceable. I'm actually quite conflicted on this one because it can go really well when you dial in the voice and the strategy or it can go really bad when it just turns into AI slop. So, because of that, I'm actually going to go ahead and put it in B tier.
All right, moving on to number nine, and that is AI websites. So, with this, it's pretty easy to understand. It just involves building websites faster for businesses that need an online presence. Now, the mistake that most people make is they sell pretty pages instead of outcomes. Okay? And the second you just sell a nice-looking website instead of what that website can do for the business, well then you immediately become commoditized. I'm actually going to go ahead and put this in B tier.
All right. And that brings us on to number 10, AI digital products. So with this very simple, you're going to use AI to create ebooks, templates, guides, or courses that help people solve real problems. This is high leverage. It's scalable and it can be done completely faceless. It's also very beginner friendly, which is something I value highly. Now, when we talk about the flaws, the model only works if the problem that you're solving has enough demand. So, if the pain is small, the product revenue might also be small. But then again, I guess that's not really a model problem. That's just a general business problem. But what I love about this model is just like when you have a winner, how crazy and scalable the business becomes. Now, I also want to make it clear, I'm co-owner at a company called WAP, which is a digital product platform, and I've also been involved in the space for a decade. So, I do want to say I have some bias towards this, but all in all, I've seen people make crazy money as a side hustle all the way into the millions and millions of dollars, which is why for me, because of the scalability of this business model, I'm going to go ahead and put it in S tier.
All right, moving on. Side hustle 11, AI apps. Now, with this side hustle, you're actually going to use AI to create software apps faster. And the way you're going to do that is by reducing coding and product building time. We live in a cool world where this actually possible. And there's actually good upside here if the app actually solves a real problem and people keep paying to use it. The issue is that most beginners confuse building an app with building a business. And that is a very expensive mistake. An app is just a product. The business is distribution, retention, and monetization. Now, because the upside is big, but the execution and then managing churn and just the general business model is very tricky as someone who's in it myself. I'm going to go ahead and put this one in B tier.
All right, moving on. This is actually a blast from the past for me. This is AI meme pages. So what you're going to do here is you're going to grow meme pages using AI generated or AI assisted content and then actually monetizing later through brand deals or paid shoutouts or even affiliate stuff like that. And the reason I say this a blast from the past is this was actually probably my first if not one of my first side hustles when I was 14 years old. I actually had my own Instagram accounts where I was doing this. Now they weren't meme pages. They were branded pages and they were all like sort of motivational luxury lifestyle pages. And back then I also didn't have AI to help me and that opens up a lot of opportunities. Okay, now with AI it is cheap to start and if the content is genuinely good, it can grow. Attention is fickle and the content being good is a big if. Okay, most pages never actually amount to any money. So because it's easy to start but also really difficult to turn into a serious business. I'm going to go ahead and put this in D tier.
All right, moving on. AI faceless YouTube channels. With this, you're going to use AI to script, voice, and produce videos without ever showing your face. It's scalable. You don't need to show your face or build a personal brand, which of course makes it very appealing for people who want leverage without having to be the product. The problem with this is that it's very slow to monetize, and most people quit before they make any money here. The grind looks simple from the outside, but the patience requirements, most people unfortunately just can't handle it. So, if I had to summarize it, because the model has some leverage, but the timeline is just too long and most people don't stay in it long enough to see results. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to go ahead and put this in C tier.
All right, moving on. AI video editing. Very simple. You're going to use AI tools to cut, edit, and repurpose videos for creators and brands. The demand exists. It's fast to deliver, and it is relatively easy to productize if you're efficient, and you can get moving quickly. Issue is the barrier to entry is very, very low. So, the market gets flooded with people offering the same copypaste BS. And because of that, clients are always going to compare you based on price instead of value. And the issue with this is that it quickly becomes a race to the bottom. So, because it's easy to sell, but it's also easy to copy, I'm going to go ahead and have to put this in C tier.
All right, number 15. AI print on demand. Very simple. You are going to use AI to generate designs, and then you're going to sell them on shirts, on mugs, on posters, stuff like that. Once again, it's very low upfront cost and it is simple to test. So, it looks attractive to beginners who want to get started fast. The problem is with this one, you have no moat. The competition is brutal and most stores die in the first few weeks or months. So, to summarize, it's easy to launch, but it's hard to build it into anything durable. I'd say really this one is more of a gimmick than anything. I would put it in F tier. Don't waste your time.
Now, let's move on to something that is not a gimmick, but also has some of its own downsides, I guess, like every model, and that is AI automation agency. Simple concept. This is where you're going to build systems that replace boring, repetitive work for businesses. Once again, the demand is there, okay? And there's a real high ticket potential if you are solving problems that actually save time, make things more efficient, and reduce the need for businesses to hire more people. Where the downsides come in is that delivery can get messy and you will need some operational skill because once you start playing with internal systems, things can get tricky. So to summarize, the need is real and the upside is there, but the execution can get tricky at times. Nonetheless, I'm going to go ahead and put this in A tier.
All right, and that brings us on to number 17, and this is AI prompts. Very simple. You're going to sell prompt bundles for different use cases. It's easy to create and it's easy to package. So, on the surface, it looks like a solid side hustle, but look, there's no moat. The perceived value is low, and most of it is just AI slop if we're being entirely honest. Anyone can make prompts, which means no one really cares about this too much. So, look, because it's easy to produce, but also very hard to make valuable. I'm going to go ahead and put this in D tier.
All right, so there we have it. 17 side hustles ranked so that way you don't need to. The bottom line is this. AI is not the business. Get that through your head. It is simply leverage. So whenever you see a new AI opportunity, stop asking, "Oh, is this cool?" and instead ask, "Can this solve a real problem people already have and make me money as a byproduct?" If the answer is yes, pay attention to it. But of course, do your own research. If the answer is no, well, then don't waste your time. As a general rule of thumb, anything that's "make money with AI by selling AI" or "let the bot trade for you" is usually dog. The best side hustles are the ones where AI helps you save time, create assets, or deliver a real outcome to the buyer. It's generally business models that existed before AI, but now what AI allows you to do is do it faster, cheaper, quicker, or it allows people that historically were not able to get into the business model because the barrier to entry was too high and now they're allowed to do so. And when you think about it like that, that is how you stop chasing shiny objects and start building a real profitable side hustle. And with all that being said, as always, I'm watching from afar and I'm rooting for you.