Six side hustles replaced much of her income in half the hours

Her ventures range from renting out a truck to selling homemade coffee syrups. The mix brings flexibility and time with her children, but income varies from month to month, and some jobs depend on unpaid help with childcare.

Renting her paid-off Toyota Tacoma through Turo has averaged $400 a month in earned and projected income over nine months. The app handles much of the process, though coordinating pickups and drop-offs can be inconvenient. Her Phoenix-based company, True Reflections Photo Booth Co., has stronger earning potential: the couple bought a mirror booth for less than $5,000, largely using secondhand or discounted gear, and typically charges $600 per event. They have completed one booking and have two more lined up.

Other work is less predictable. Freelance writing pays $125 to $250 for an 800- to 1,000-word article when a pitch lands, but rejection is common. Housekeeping and meal preparation pay $25 an hour, bringing in about $300 monthly; she also sometimes cleans a friend’s Airbnb for $150, usually in three hours. She says the work makes financial sense because relatives watch her children for free.

Her homemade syrup business sells 8.5-ounce bottles for $12, with a margin of about 70%, and takes a few hours a week to run. A Shopify store selling merchandise through Printify is not yet profitable and is on the back burner. Despite the uneven earnings and demands of juggling several businesses, she says she is earning close to her former paycheck while spending more time at home. Her old job took about 70 hours a month; now she works roughly half that.