📈 Here’s your weekly dose of hustle fuel.
Welcome back to The Side Hustle News — where every issue gives you real side hustle ideas you can actually start. No fluff. No fake gurus. Just honest, actionable content designed to help you earn smarter.
Snow is about to turn your street into an ATM, templates can work while you sleep, and vacant calendars are begging for co-hosts who reply fast.
This week we’re stacking three recurring-revenue plays: pre-sell shoveling routes before the first flake, launch a Canva template shop that sells on autopilot, and manage Airbnbs without owning a single key.
Each one starts small, compounds quickly, and survives a bad hair day. Grab a coffee, pick your lane, and let’s build income that keeps showing up—even when the weather does.
This weeks Hustles:
🥉 Quick - Snow-Shoveling Subscriptions
🥈 Builder - Canva Templates Shop
🥇High Rewards - Airbnb Co-Hosting
🥉 Quick Wins Hustle: Snow-Shoveling Subscriptions
What it is:
Lock in a cluster of neighbors (same block = minimal drive time) for flat-rate, per-storm or per-season shoveling. You text before/after each storm, clear drives/walks, and bill automatically.
Pre-sell your street before first snowfall—route shoveling that pays every storm.
Why it works:
Winter is recurring by design. Clustered routes (aka route density) slash windshield time and boost profit per hour. Even modest optimization can lift daily capacity 20–30%. Landscape Professionals
🧠 Side Hustle Mindset:
You’re not selling shoveling—you’re selling peace of mind at 6am. Make signup brain-dead simple and communication proactive.
How to start:
Map a micro-zone (1–3 streets).
Door-hanger + QR: “Storm-by-storm or Season Pass. First 10 homes get ‘priority path.’”
Pre-sell: Offer 10-pack (any 10 storms) or full-season. Auto-billing via Stripe/Jobber.
Operation kit: Two-stage shovel, ice melt, headlamp, ergonomic snow pusher; document before/after.
Route & rules: Cutoff snowfall amount, start window, walkway/drive definitions.
Neighborhood Services: upsell ice-melt plans, spring power-wash.
Earning Potential:
16 homes × $45 per visit × 10 storms ≈ $7,200 gross (solo, walkways+drive).
Average per-visit rates often range $50–$200+ depending on scope/lot size; dense routes + upsells (ice melt) increase margins. Jobber
✅ Pros:
Cash-flow upfront (season passes)
Zero special licensing in most areas (check local regs)
Weather = built-in demand
⚠️ Cons:
Weather risk (light winter) unless you price per-storm/10-pack
Early mornings / heavy labor
Liability if you skip insurance—get it
🥉 Side Hustle Scorecard™
💸 Startup Cost: Low
⏱️ Time to Start: 1 week
🔧 Difficulty: Easy
💰 Earnings: $$
📈 Scalability: Low
🥈 Builder Hustle: Canva Templates Shop
What it is:
Apply to the Canva Creators – Template program and publish niche template packs (resumes, IG carousels, real-estate flyers, lead magnets, course worksheets). You earn royalties when users use your designs inside Canva’s marketplace. Canva+1
Design social kits, resume packs, and lead-magnet templates to sell on Canva Creators—backed by 220–240M+ monthly users. Financial TimesBacklinko
Why it works:
Massive built-in demand + frictionless delivery. New content seasons (back-to-school, holidays, hiring cycles) keep old packs selling with light refreshes. Backlinko
🧠 Side Hustle Mindset:
Treat it like a catalog business. Ship cohesive sets, not one-offs. Optimize titles/keywords and refresh winners quarterly.
How to do it:
Pick a niche you understand (e.g., realtors, beauty salons, coaches).
Research inside Canva: Identify gaps—styles, colorways, formats.
Create 3 flagship packs (20–40 pages each) with consistent styles + font pairing guide.
Apply to Templates program with your best work; follow brand, licensing & element rules. Canva
Metadata = money: SEO’d titles, alt text, and on-page instructions (“Click • Styles • Swap brand colors”).
Optional: Cross-list variations on Etsy/Gumroad to diversify revenue.Services: add a “Done-For-You” design day at premium rates.
Earning Potential:
A catalog of 50–100 quality templates that get steady usage can stack meaningful monthly royalties. Top sellers layer on seasonal refreshes and adjacent packs (e.g., “IG Carousel → Story → Reels Cover” families). (Royalties vary; Canva does not publish uniform public rates—focus on volume + catalog depth.) Canva
✅ Pros:
Digital, compounding catalog
Work once, sell for years
Giant built-in audience
⚠️ Cons:
Must pass review & follow guidelines
Trend churn (design styles date quickly)
Discovery requires keyword savvy
🥈 Side Hustle Scorecard™
💸 Startup Cost: Low
⏱️ Time to Start: 1– 3 Weeks
🔧 Difficulty: Medium
💰 Earnings: $$$
📈 Scalability: High
🥇 High Rewards Hustle: Airbnb Co-Hosting
What it is:
You operate as a co-host: messaging guests, coordinating cleaners, adjusting prices, and keeping the calendar humming—without owning the property. Airbnb supports adding co-hosts to listings. Airbnb
Manage listings for busy owners—earn 10–20% fees and scale with cleaners/VAs.
Why it’s powerful:
Owners value responsiveness and 5-star operations but don’t want the day-to-day. Co-host fees are commonly 10–20% for management, higher for full service. Airbnb service fees are separate from your agreement. Airbnb Management SoftwareHostawayAirbnb
🧠 Side Hustle Mindset:
System > heroics. Build SOPs for every touchpoint, then hand execution to cleaners and a VA while you handle owner relations and revenue management.
How to do it:
Pick a micro-market (walkable to you).
Build your ops stack: messaging templates, dynamic pricing tool, cleaner roster, inspection checklist.
Create a credibility kit: sample listing optimizations, staged photos, pricing calendar, response-time guarantees.
Outbound: DM under-optimized local listings with a short audit (“Weekend rates 18% under comps; 12 low-star reviews cite slow replies—here’s my 30-day fix.”).
Contract & payout: Percentage + KPI bonuses (e.g., $50 per 5-star review streak).
Add-ons: paid listing refreshes, pro photography, mid-stay cleans.
Earning Potential:
Listing gross: $3,000/month → 15% co-host fee = $450/month.
7 listings at similar gross = ≈$3,150/month, largely systemized after onboarding.
Note: Cities vary—know local STR rules before you pitch.
✅ Pros:
No property ownership risk
Recurring revenue per listing
Highly systemizable
⚠️ Cons:
24/7 guest expectations unless you staff it
Seasonality/regulatory risk
Owners churn if results dip
Bonus Tip:
Expert-level trick, niche angle, or monetization twist
🥇Side Hustle Scorecard™
💸 Startup Cost: Low
⏱️ Time to Start: 2-4 weeks
🔧 Difficulty: Hard initially
💰 Earnings: $$$$
📈 Scalability: Very High
🧭 Coming Next Week
Flip Your Free Time into Cash — Rent your driveway, build a micro-newsletter that actually grows, and turn weekend sports videography into a steady retainer.
📣 Until next week
Got a hustle idea? A tool you swear by? Just hit reply — I read every email.
Hustle smart. Skip the fluff. See you next week,
Ron Henderson
Founder, The Side Hustle News
[email protected]
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Disclaimer:
The Side Hustle News is for educational and informational purposes only. Results from side hustles may vary and are not guaranteed. Always do your own research and consult with a qualified professional before making financial, legal, tax, business, employment, technology, privacy or health-related decisions.
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