Door Dash
Probably not the best side hustle for a turtle, but I decided to give it a try. It seems like everyone’s doing it now days.
I signed up, went through their complicated verification process, and then just let it sit for a week or two. Doing something for the first time is always a little nerve-wrecking. I read a couple tutorials, but that didn’t help. Instead, I relied on my great tenaciousness to take the plunge… Actually, a sales girl called me and told me about her experience, and that encouraged me to go for it. I was definitely over-thinking it. All you really need to do Door Dash is your phone and your car.
My first Door Dash went okay, but it wasn’t perfect. I got kind of lost, actually. Tip for newbies. Don’t do your first Door Dash at the mall. It was my phone’s fault really. It told me the restaurant was outside of the mall which was wrong. Thankfully, there was a literal map of the mall close by. I made like $15 bucks doing those first two Door Dashes, and it took about 45 minutes. Now, I’m averaging $18-$20/hour gross, and I’ve made about $160 bucks ($60 in the first week, $100 in the second).
That was my first experience with Door Dash, and there will undoubtedly be many more.
In total in May, I made $351 dollars, but I downloaded an app to keep track of car expenses (mile tracking), and that came up to $183.65. That means I netted $167.35. Not too good, but it is a nice pastime.
Code Tutoring
This surprised me. Never thought I’d do code tutoring again. When I first attempted code tutoring, only two people signed up. That person reached out and wanted to do some more code tutoring. This time around, I’m doing an hourly rate ($25/hour) and focusing on a single project: building a practical web app that they can use to take notes and blog.
Coding: Web App Development
Time Block Tasks
I turned my little time/task tracking web app into something called a PWA (progressive web app). I like PWA websites because you can add them to your home screen, almost as if it was its own app. If you click the icon for the PWA, it’ll open in a new window instead of opening in the browser. Kinda cool.
Portfolio Website
I bit the bullet, as they say, and created a portfolio website from scratch using Laravel and VueJS instead of relying on WordPress. It was easier than I thoght it would be. I can create simple posts, and, eventually, I’ll add the ability to categorize posts into books. Most likely, it’ll turn into my new note-taking website with the ability to make notes public. It’s very similar to the web app that I’m creating during code tutoring sessions.
Rental Property
Maintenance
I moved the dirt out of the garden trough and pushed over the trough. Digging out the ugly weed tree went well (formally called tree of Heaven but more like tree of Hell). All of the roots were on my side of the fence, and the main roots were easy to find. Cutting through the trunk with my pruning saw was the toughest part. Digging in the dirt was the fun part. The garden troughs are now just a pile of wood and dirt, and, thankfully, the weed tree is also no more. Just three big roots remain.
Room Rentals
Another renter left, but there is still one renter left. I was planning to rent out all of the rooms at once during the summer, but I don’t want to kick out the current renter. So far, I’ve just rented to students, and it has worked okay.