In 2017, after I graduated from college, I started working as an engineer at an oil company. I was 23 and making $98,500 a year.
At first, I thought I had my dream job. But after seeing senior leaders work 60-hour weeks with routine travel, I realized that it wasn’t the lifestyle I wanted. My father passed away when I was three years old, so having family time was always very valuable to me.
Josh works less than four days a week and spends his much of his free time with his family.
Photo: Danny Mizicko for CNBC Make It
In 2018, I started experimenting with side hustles. I set a goal to make $3,450 a month (after taxes) from my hustles in order to support my lifestyle. As soon as I’d achieved that, I decided, I would quit my full-time job.
Today, I’ve accomplished my goal of being my own boss, and more. I left my engineering job in February 2021 to work on my side hustles full-time.
Last year, I made a little over $189,000 from my seven income streams:
- YouTube (Google AdSense): $82,349
- Fulfilled by Amazon: $13,886
- Patreon (coaching): $33,114
- Fiverr (product research): $29,014
- Affiliate marketing: $29,496
- Rental property: $1,272
- Taxable dividends: $639
Now I work just 22 hours a week. I take off Thursdays, Friday afternoons, and weekends. Whether it’s golfing with my grandpa, cooking family dinners or starting new business projects in my community, I have plenty of time to invest in the people and things that I care about most.
Here’s my best advice for turning your side hustle into your full-time gig, all while working less hours:
1. Don’t be afraid of trial and error.
With my early side hustles, I tried acquiring rental properties, then started placing ads in the backseat of Ubers and renting out my three-wheeled Polaris Slingshot motorcycle on Turo, an online car-sharing platform.
But none of those businesses were successful. It wasn’t until I began selling products on Amazon, using the Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) service, that I started making real passive income.
All I had to do was find a generic product that was in demand and ship it to Amazon. My first product was $1,000 worth of headphones, then I moved to iPhone cases and sports equipment.
I grossed more than $25,000 in 2019 through my Amazon store. I wanted to share with others what I learned from my trial and errors, so I started a new project, which would later turn into my biggest income stream: …….