I'm setting up a business that is completely unrelated to my academic field (distilling a boutique flavored vodka!).
I know plenty of forumites also have other business lines, and I thought it might help to have a thread to discuss it, especially for side hustles that are not directly translatable from your academic line (consulting in your field, tutoring, editing, etc).
It's weird because one of my issues that just emerged, is how/how much to promote it (obviously I want the business to do well, but a friend's first response was: oh, so you won't be needing to work in academia anymore? Truth is, I've just sunk a bunch of my savings into this and definitely still need an income stream....I don't expect this business to get me a decent salary for several years if ever).
Obviously I'm just thinking out loud here, but especially since covid seems to have brought out the side-hustlers, I'd love to hear how it's worked for others.
I do extended housesitting gigs for pay.
My constellation of income-producing activities has varied over the years, but has included:
1) Professional musical performance (still ongoing but less frequent; at one point that and teaching comprised my total income)
2) Music and dance instruction (still doing the music teaching and since they're tied to my work on the liturgical arts, they're somewhat adjunctive but usually private, not in a university setting)
3) Retail sales and management
4) EA in STEM fields (university engineering, ecology, economy and related departments and institutes; pharmas; software R/D)
5) EA in N/P organizations, either as director's assistant, editorial assistant, or both.
6) Medieval music transcription for others' publications (setup in Adobe, etc.) - somewhat related but I don't do this in my own work
7) Temporary assistant in a number of settings, wherever they send you, you go.
8) Unit coordinator (ward clerk) in hospital or in-hospital clinic settings
9) Elementary/secondary substitute in public school system
10) Tape transcription in a 'sweat shop' (high pressure, low pay) run separately by one of the temp agencies I worked for
11) Property history analysis (sort-of extension of my colonial studies, but more specific: worked in book 2 of a back-to-the-17th c. deeds series)
12) Music, dance, and art criticism for a local alternative weekly (also sort-of related, but not completely)
13) Petsitting/housesitting and home organization for those doing a re-org
Never bored!
M.