There’s a little entrepreneur in all of us: 20 Cola side hustles

More than half of U.S. millennials today have a side hustle – a.k.a. side gigs (outside their full-time jobs) that bringing in extra money. The same study also found that 30% of people ages 38-53 and 24% of people ages 54-72 are side-hustling, too.

From selling used clothes on Poshmark to restoring old furniture to waiting tables on nights + weekends, side hustlers are bringing in an average of $686 a month (equal to $8,200 year in extra income).

The most popular side hustles among millennials (who say they devote ~12 hours per week to their side gigs) are selling items online, making clothing + accessories, offering cleaning services and doing sales/marketing tasks. Among baby boomers (who devote ~15 hours/week), the most popular side jobs are online sales + cleaning, too, but also volunteer work + consulting.

We know the grind never stops for Soda Citizens, so we asked y’all: What side hustles are you doing outside of the 9-5? And with 125+ responses, here are some that really stood out to us.

20 of your coolest side hustles in Columbia:

By day: Training and Development Manager at Nephron Pharmaceuticals

By night: invitation design, wedding calligraphy, custom art pieces, etc. for B3 paper co.

By day: Engineering Technician

By night: makes sustainable hand-poured candles for Seminole Candle Company

By day: Upper School Spanish Teacher at Hammond School

By night: Contract work for National Geographic

By day: Founder and Director of Development and Marketing for Camp Cole

By night: Cheerleading Coach at Hammond School

By day: Lawyer

By night: makes custom dog collars for Sup-Dog Co.

By day: Office Manager of a Real Estate office

By night: singer in Columbia’s women’s acapella group Heart of Columbia

By day: full-time barber at Carolina Barber Shop

By night: sell a knife sharpener at shows and festivals and sell a muscle rub to pharmacies, individual + general stores

By day: owner of Ivy House

By night: plan + put on the annual Vintage Market Days (Nov. 2-4) at the S.C. State Fairgrounds

By day: full-time mom and wife

By night: Marketing Coordinator for Columbia SC Moms Blog, part-time blogger, Barré instructor for MUV Fitness + more

By day: Senior Business Testing Analyst for an insurance company

By night: Travel Agent for Vacay in Paradise 365

By day: Teacher
By night: bartender at Fireflies games – as well as mural painter + dog sitter

By day: Legal Assistant and Office Manager of LaLima Law Firm, LLC.

By night: makes natural bath and body products for Salty Crab Soap

By day: Director of Operations for a local foundation

By night: cookie decorator at All Things Kim

By day: Human Services Coordinator at SC Department of Health

By night: pet sitting for Sam’s Sit and Stay LLC

By day: Optavia Health Coach

By night: healthy pantry/refrigerator makeovers + healthy grocery shopping (714-290-6096)

By day: Owner of Soda City Stand Up

By night: bartender + Promotions Manager for New Brookland Tavern

By day: Nurse

By night: Realtor

By day: Certified Work Incentives Coordinator at Able SC

By night: Uber/Lyft driver

By day: Graphic Artist

By night: sells pop art at Soda City market as sodacityart.com

By day: Professor at Webster University

By night: Independent wine consultant with Wine Shop at Home

And my absolute favorite response from all of this was: “what a great question! Looks like 1. We have a TON of creative and hardworking people in this town (no surprise) and 2. We all need a pay raise at our day jobs. 😉”

What’s your side gig? Drop it in a comment below.

–Sam