You're a real New Yorker only when you're unemployed and unable to pay your rent, and despite your debt, you manage to hustle some money and put your life back together. I actually went one step further, I was homeless for a week and slept in the Central Park. That time I was lucky to receive $5K out of nowhere from a client that forgot to pay me a year earlier. But you can't be always that lucky!
Hustling is an art. It's about getting the best income with the least amount of work, it's about buying low and selling high, offering unique skills or even save a lot of money/time to someone.
Get a job!
There are several ways to make some quick cash, but the best way is always to get a recurring income. Start searching for the best paying job your experiences and skills can offer you. Consider working in a tech startup, salary and benefits are good for pretty much any role, a website like angel.co, hired.com, underdog.com and linkedin.com will help you find a role. Use your connections to get a referral. Study as much as you can to get ready for the interview, be passionate and eager to learn!
Bike messenger (Postmate)
Food delivery with Postmate and Uber Food is easy, fun and pays decently. How to start? Stop one of those bike messengers you see anywhere in the city, many of them just wait for a delivery in front of By Chloe, and ask them to send you an invite. You'll receive an email with the instructions to register an account. Shortly after a background check, you'll receive a "Postmate bag" and a link to download the app, and you'll be ready to go.
Postmate promises high gain, I was able to get only $50, including tips, in 6 hours. My friend, who worked harder and during bad weather with price multiplier, was able to hit the weekly bonus and score $200/day in the best day.
Sublet your place with AirBnb
Do you live in Manhattan by yourself? Do you have a spare bedroom or a spare couch? You can AirBnb your entire place and make easily 2 times your rent, or rent part of your apartment and pay your full rent. Last year I helped a friend of mine who lives in East Village in Manhattan, he was able to rent his second bedroom for $100/day, his rent cost $2200, that means that he was paying his entire apt with Airbnb with a gain of $800. Another friend with a rent of $2500 was able to rent his place while on vacation, making $200/250 day, pretty much paying his rent and vacation.
Airbnb in New York today is highly regulated and very difficult to do, so be careful and aware that your landlord may kick you out, also you may receive a ticket. One of my friends got evicted because renting her couch. You never know!
Task Rabbit and Handy
While is not always cool to clean someone else apartment, that's an option that pays a little. If you want to do something fun and more lucrative, you can register on Task Rabbit. A friend of mine was called to clean a storage building, filled with woman coolant. His job was to organize the clothing into boxes and then clean the storage. He said that it was like a month long job. He hired a few people, paid them a little less by the hour, and was able to finish the entire job faster with a good gain.
Be creative and try harder
Buying sneakers and resell them for the higher price is a lucrative idea, working in a bar or restaurant can pay you very well in tips, hey this is New York, there's always a way to make some money here. Then again, follow your passion, be disciplined with your money and time, and get the best paying job for your experience, always save money while you have an income and invest them somewhere, Bitcoin, Litecoin or Ethereum are just an idea, relatively risky but with a really high return in the long term.
Share in the comment what's your best way to hustle?
This post is part of the Writer challenge: 30 articles in 30 days.
Federico Ulfo
Creative Software engineer
https://twitter.com/feulf
https://linkedin.com/in/federicoulfo
Very interesting
Havent lived in nyc since i was 18, living in new york is like laying on the ground with someones foot on your neck while you try to reach for something to eat because youre hungry, but its being dragged away by a rat with cockroaches on its back
Jeez, that's a little bit too extreme, is hard, but is actually much nicer than that, especially if you know how to hustle. Your food if anything will be drag away by pizza rat
Good tips, thanks