Scott, 32, wants to make the most out of life, which would include not having to work 40 hours a week for the rest of his days. He's a financial analyst who wants to eventually enjoy a paid-off forever home as a family and reach what he considers early retirement.
"I recently got diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease, and I'm just looking at it from a realistic perspective," Scott, whose last name has been verified with Business Insider but left out due to privacy reasons, said. "It makes more sense for me just to try and live out my life as much as possible."
His definition of early retirement doesn't mean not working at all, but cutting down his work hours. Scott is interested in reducing his hours by the time he's 50 — but his dream age for this would be 45. He said he hopes to fully retire before his 60s.
For now, he's paying off some financial obligations with the help of passive income and side hustles. While he said he was previously paying off the house with this money, he said he's prioritizing his truck payments right now since his auto loan has a higher interest rate. He said he's aiming to pay off his truck balance of around $60,000, which BI verified, within a year and a half.
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"Once the truck is paid off, I'm going to turn my complete attention to the mortgage, try and get the house paid off as soon as humanly possible," Scott said. "Once that happens, hopefully some of my side hustles, either like an Amazon Influencer Program or YouTube will grow and I'll be able to really attack the early retirement plan, meaning whether it's investing or just saving money in general."
Several people have talked to BI about side-hustle recommendations and why they think specific ones are good to try. One person recently talked to BI about how side hustles and passive income helped her save up money to put toward an eventual down payment. It may also be helpful for those looking to retire, Scott said. He said side hustles or even some type of side business "is an absolute must" if you're hoping to retire early — however you define early retirement.
But you might not necessarily make a ton of money quickly from these kinds of gigs.
"Side hustles typically tend to take a lot more effort to see a pretty penny, and you tend to realize how expensive things are," Scott said.
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Below are some of Scott's preferred side hustles and passive-income streams and some of his earnings, which BI has verified with shared documentation.
YouTube
YouTube has been one of Scott's favorite methods to earn extra money.
"YouTube has been the game changer," Scott said. "I had no idea that it could pay this well, especially for someone like me who wasn't really anticipating it being a side hustle, and it's quickly turned into my one that I'm focusing on the most."
He said his original plan for YouTube was to use it to be accountable for tracking his progress toward paying off his home and to post updates on what he's earned and how.
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Scott posts on his YouTube account with over 17,000 subscribers about side hustles he's tried. Other videos include a ranking of side hustles and talking about taxes for this kind of work.
He suggests that others interested in YouTube try it because he didn't know what to expect for himself after he said he started with what he considered a low-quality webcam and microphone.
"Worst-case scenario, you put yourself out there, you gave it your best shot," Scott said. "If you're patient and you keep going at it, people will pick up on authenticity."
DataAnnotation
Scott recommends DataAnnotation, a site where "you will help train AI chatbots to contribute to the development of sophisticated AI programs," according to the site's FAQ page, if you're looking for a side hustle where you don't need to have a social-media presence. He has made about $1,000 from this gig.
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The FAQ section of the site says pay for this work can start at $20 an hour or $40 an hour depending on the type of work.
"Pay starts at $20/hour for writing and general AI training projects and $40/hour for coding projects," the site reads. "Bonuses are offered for high-quality and high-volume work."
The site said that some of the skills DataAnnotation is looking for are computer-programming experience for those looking to do coding projects and good English grammar and spelling skills.
"As long as you are fluent in English and you're a decent creative thinker, then you should be able to apply and get in assuming you passed the starter assessment," Scott said.
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Scott has found that the work is consistent, which he said is important if you're looking to earn from side hustles, though he has found that this gig has become "oversaturated."
Prolific and Connect
Prolific and Connect are two other gigs Scott has tried, both of which can involve doing surveys. He noted that survey work can be flexible.
"If you have really busy schedules, if you're not looking to make a ton of money from side hustles, then these survey sites are definitely perfect for you, you just have to be really picky and choosy," Scott said.
The minimum pay on Prolific, where researchers can put out studies, is £6, or about $7.50, an hour, but Prolific recommends that researchers pay at least £9, or about $11.38, an hour, the site reads. Meanwhile, CloudResearch, which launched Connect, stated on its site that a lot of the work from Connect pays an average of $10 an hour.
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"These are good income boosters, not necessarily going to make you rich, but you can get a few bucks here and there," Scott said.
UserTesting
While UserTesting, which the site said involves sharing "your perspectives via tests you match with, and help best-in-class brands improve their products and services," is a new side hustle for Scott, he said it's quickly become one of his favorites.
UserTesting's FAQ page says those who use UserTesting to get people's feedback will get "audio and video recordings of real people from your target market speaking their thoughts as they complete tasks you specify."
Scott said the pay has been good and that the tests can be short. He's earned $10 for a test in the past.
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This side hustle would be good for people who are comfortable being on camera or talking, Scott said.
"It never gets stale and you talk about different stuff every time you get a test," he said. "So if you're into mixing it up a little bit, as long as you're comfortable being recorded, then it's definitely fun to do and I highly recommend it."
Amazon Influencer Program
Scott started trying the Amazon Influencer Program, which Amazon describes as being able to monetize content as a creator, around mid-2023. He made nearly $3,800 last year.
"The Amazon Influencer Program came about because of my YouTube channel because you need some kind of social-media presence in order to even get into that program," he said.
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Scott has made several videos about products, but he said that he didn't put in a lot of effort.
"There are several ways creators can earn, including linking to qualifying products, promoting Amazon services like Prime video and Amazon Music, curating shoppable photo and video content and livestreaming and recommending products through Amazon Live," an Amazon spokesperson previously said.
What side hustles people end up doing could depend on their goals. Scott suggested surveys or work from DataAnnotation if you're interested in a few extra dollars.
"But if you want the ultimate goal of scaling, then you need to do something like YouTube where you can make it your own image and your own company almost, stuff like the Amazon Influencer Program that has passive-income streams," Scott said. "It just depends what your end goal is."
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How much have you made from side hustles? What are you doing to meet your financial goals? Reach out to this reporter to share at mhoff@businessinsider.com.
