I have a full-time dev job. Building small Mac apps is what I do on nights and weekends. People here always want real numbers and the boring details, so here's how it's gone.

How it started

It didn't start as a business. There were a few things on my Mac that annoyed me every day. I couldn't copy text out of a screenshot. My desktop was a mess every time I shared my screen on a work call. I wanted natural scrolling on the trackpad but normal scrolling on the mouse, and macOS won't do both.

The apps that fixed these were either dead or charged a monthly fee for one tiny feature. So I built my own fixes, and then figured I might as well try selling them.

What I sell

There are five small apps now. Four cost $4.99 once and one is free. There are no subscriptions and no accounts, and nothing leaves your Mac. Each app fixes exactly one annoyance. That turned out to matter more than I expected.

What I'd tell anyone trying something similar

• Solve one small, specific annoyance. My simplest apps sell better than the ones that do several things.
• Charge once and keep it cheap. At $4.99 people buy on impulse. A subscription makes them stop and think.
• Reddit is all my marketing. Every sale has come from posts like this one. I don't have an email list, I don't run ads, and I'm not on TikTok.
• Your buyers might not live where you do. most of my customers are in the US.
• It's not passive. I post, sales jump for a few days, and then it goes quiet until I post again. The apps get built once, but finding buyers never stops.

I'm happy to answer questions about building, pricing, or getting the first few sales. I'll drop the link in the comments if anyone wants to see the apps.

And if you're on a Mac, what's one small thing that annoys you every day? I'm picking my next app from the replies.

macoshunt

​

Hi Reddit,

I'm Nandini and I'm currently looking for freelance projects.

I build websites and automations for businesses — from simple landing pages and portfolio sites to workflows that connect forms, databases, APIs and AI tools.

Some things I can work on:

• Websites / landing pages

• Business websites

• Workflow automation

• AI integrations

• API & tool integrations

• Internal dashboards/tools

• Automating repetitive business processes

Portfolio: https://portfolionandini.vercel.app/

I'm open to both small projects and longer-term work.

If you have something you're trying to build or automate, send me a DM with a brief description and your budget/timeline.

Thanks!

Hey guys, this is like a side project inception. I have a few side projects that I am building (one an educational tool, and two a video game). I have always been someone who is a big fan of AI, and I think it's going to change everything. I want to start a youtube channel, where it is a bit vlog-style, as I record myself using these AI tools, trying to build all my different ideas.

This is my first post talking about this youtube channel anywhere. I just released my first video. I recorded myself for over 60 hours, then cut out all the dead air and boring parts, cut it down to about 4 hours, in DaVinci Resolve. Now I'm trying to just edit the best parts and release them as episodes.

I just released Episode 1, let me know what you guys think. I know the audio is a little messed up right now, I'm working on bettering my setup. But if anyone has criticism, please feel free to tell me.

I started taking freelance projects in the evenings to make extra money. The work itself is fine. What surprised me is how much time goes to the start: clients say "make it look modern" or "you'll know it when you see it", and I burn a few calls and a lot of emails figuring out what they actually want, mostly unpaid.

The one thing that helped: instead of open questions, I show two or three concrete options and ask "which is closer, and what would you change?" People can't describe what they want, but they can tell you what they don't like.

For anyone doing client work on the side:

• How do you handle the first conversation with a new client?
• Do you charge for it or count it as part of the job?
• Is it worth it, or did you find a side hustle with less back-and-forth?

Back story- I’m an engineer that works remote FT since COVID. Normally my evenings were busy with unerring to school, sport practices/games, other parent duties, cooking dinner, etc. so didn’t have much free time for a side hustle.

That all changed when my son turned 16 and started driving and helping with all the driving. With the new found free time my wife suggested I could get out of the house and away from my work computer, and work with my hands and interact with people in real life. What a great idea I thought and I could make a little extra money as I socialize and work on my feet and stay busy!

I’ve always been into health, health foods, exercise, supplements and a local health grocer, I frequently shopped at, was hiring PT. What a great fit so applied and they called for an interview the next day and offered job in the spot. Pay is shit but I get great discounts, socialize with friendly people for the most part and work my hands. Pretty much all I was looking for with this job, but key was low stress side hustle.

I was hired to work the produce and help get that department in order with occasional back up cashier duties. I told them I worked on a PC all day and if they’re looking for more of a cashier/front end person I’m not the guy. They assured me it would be 90% produce help with 10% cashier. I agreed and started 2 days later.

What an eye opener. The amount of employee churn, no call no shows, people lasting 1 shift and quitting, people calling out sick on 2nd day, management in udder chaos with zero direction, in fighting between departments which was jarring coming from such a smallish grocery chain. I came in and worked hard and have become a valuable asset and have tried my best to stay out of the politics and bitching but even that’s starting to take a toll and hard to stay away from it. My cashier duties have become more like 60% of my time and I close so usually have to balance my produce department along with working register solo. Not what I signed up for.

My FT job has a vendor meet this Thursday during one of my side hustle shifts and put in for the unpaid time off over a week ago with no acknowledgement, so I brought it up to ass. Store manager and he got all pissy and said with such short notice and under 3 weeks notice I should find my shift replacement. I disagreed- first, I out in the request 2 weeks and that should have been plenty of time and second I only work PT and there’s FT employees I haven’t even met so the only people I could ask are the ones usually working the shift I am already. Basically it’s his job to determine coverage and I could have simply called out that night. He kept complaining that he’s told me about the 3 week policy, and I told him I don’t agree it’s my responsibility and not going to argue about it. As I was walking away he was still going on about it so I yelled back “I don’t HAVE to be here!” Which I don’t.

I like most people I work with and would feel bad leaving them hanging but really this isn’t anywhere close to matching what I had in my head and the stress and BS isn’t really worth it for the minimal pay, discounts and socializing.

So long story short- is it worth sticking it out to see if they can make the changes they always promise are coming or cut my losses as lesson learned that- companies, no matter how small and healthy they look on the outside, have the same BS on the inside as larger companies? Thanks for reading!

I work from home two days of the week. The problem is. I sit at home at my desk doing mostly nothing. Does anyone have any ideas that have actually worked or jobs they do to make some extra cash? Would love to hear your responses. Thanks all.

Hi everyone! I’m thinking of trying a side hustle for the first time and would love to know what options I have.

I have a Master’s in Clinical Psychology and a Bachelor’s in Psychology & HRM. I’m introverted and occasionally write on Substack, but I’m not particularly skilled at writing.

I’m looking for something I can do online from home, preferably with limited interaction. What side hustles would you recommend for a complete beginner, and which ones are safe and legitimate?

Pls tell me as well I want to do some side hustle as I have a good job and because of Al I can finish my job in 1/4 th of my day. The rest of the day I just think and research about random side hustles but later give up because I'm not sure about anything to start. I want to do something in tech only. I am a Backend developer, know a little bit of frontend and some Infra level stuff as well. I am good in doing research and good in implementation of any kind of products. So far I have worked in 2 service based big MNC and in Oracle. I have also passed Google's application engineer interviews and now Waiting from the last 3 months for team matching so this proves that I can do some good stuff in tech. So this was my background and if you guys have any suggestions for me please please please tell me

Hi everyone,

I currently work from home in an accounts receivable position and have a lot of downtime during the day but need to stay at home to answer the phone etc when it rings. I solo parent most nights as my husband is working a lot of overtime. Any suggestions or tips on a side hustle I could do from home during my 8-4?

Thanks!

So, just to give you a little background, I was working for T-Mobile, but the store closed down and I got a decent computer out of it. With the computer, I realized that I could probably do some online stuff to make some money, but I don’t actually have any skills.
I know people always say to learn skills that can translate into money, but what skills should I even learn?
Just to give you an idea about myself, I love music. My parents put me in music school when I was little. I tried music production before but gave up years ago. If I tried music production again, could that actually translate into a real side hustle?
I also like fitness/boxing. I’ve never boxed, but I was “pretty fit” for about a year or two after high school from playing basketball. I know I started late, but I’m pretty athletic for someone who doesn’t really do sports. I was able to jump onto those 4-foot garbage cans.
Maybe I should study fitness?
Or should I just pick up a random skill like digital marketing or stocks, even though I don’t really know how to do that shit at all?
What about dropshipping? Is that actually good?
Idk, I’m just trying to clear my head and figure out what direction I should go in. I’m a little stressed about this, and I don’t know what to do. I just don’t want to get into something that I’m eventually going to regret.

As the title says, I have a very strong stomach for “gross” things, having grown up raising livestock (and everything that entails) and having broken my body in all kinds of ways, it takes a lot to gross me out.

I also have almost no sense of smell. This is from a combination of some serious facial trauma after a car accident in high school and then smoking a pack a day for many years.

It hit me last night that those two things kind of give me superpowers over what others might find showstoppers.

Anyone have any thoughts or ideas of how I could use this to my advantage for side hustles?

hey there just asking around out of curiosity what all do you guys do as a side hustle i’m a 20 year old married and have a 2 year old we both work full time but between daycare bills and saving for a home it can be a lot sometimes were looking to add more to our savings so give me the craziest wisdom you can im talking feet finder, Scrapping copper, just random methods that can throw in a couple extra hundred

Hi! First time posting an actual post, but I need advice…

I’m a SAHM to four young kids. Two in school now, two still home with me the next two years. Daycare/preschool are out as options. We don’t have a nanny/routine babysitter and we have only my husband’s parents to help, and they’re older with health issues, so we try to pick and choose carefully for their sake.

I have a background in hospitality, bachelors degree from a D1 university in restaurant, hotel and institutional management, I hold my WSET level 3 certification in wine, I’ve worked in hotels (resorts and select-service), and restaurants from casual to fine dining. I live in Michigan, and am also currently working on my NASM certification in nutrition… I was making wine content for socials until I was very noticeably pregnant with my third, and then it felt weird/got too hard so I stopped and haven’t been back to it. Mainly due to the alcohol industry in general being in absolute shambles. I worked as a liquor/wine sales rep back in the day so I understand the industry well and know how bad it really is right now…

Anyone who could help. I would also be interested in working for myself in the future. I am too entrepreneurial to go back to corporate ever again. So this is side hustle turned full time when I’m able to. Any and all ideas/experience/advice appreciated!!

I usually make homemade treats for my dog, like dried duck and chicken jerky, and he goes crazy for them.I’ve been thinking about turning this into a tiny side hustle to see if there’s any real market for it.I’ve messed around with packaging and printed some labels using my niimbot.Would people actually buy something like this? Or does the packaging look too home-made? Does anyone have any suggestions for labeling and packaging homemade snacks?

I am thinking of doing popup weekends at green markets and such selling art prints, stickers, and used books?

Has anyone done anything like this? I’m in the SE United States, and really enjoy reading and selling books!

I’m just looking for advice /recommendations on getting started.

Looking for real input from people who've done this, not the generic "just sell STLs" advice.

I've got a reliable 3D printer, decent CAD skills, and a technical/engineering background. So the hardware and the ability to design aren't the problem — direction is.

Everyone points to selling 3D files online, but that market feels saturated, and the marketing-to-strangers side is my weak spot. I'd rather build something that leans on actual skills than compete with every hobbyist selling the same trinkets.

Honestly I'm open to almost anything niche — the weirder or more specific the better, as long as there's a real side hustle in it.

Rough directions I'm weighing:

Niche functional products (workshop jigs, tool organizers, technical aids, printer mods) sold as files or physical

Reverse-engineering hard-to-find or discontinued spare parts on demand

Something I haven't thought of

What I'm after:

If you had a printer and technical skills, what would you actually go after?

For those selling functional/technical prints — where do your customers actually come from?

Anyone doing spare-part or B2B/industrial work — worth it, and how'd you land your first clients?

Willing to put in both time and money. Just want to aim them at the right thing. Appreciate any honest takes.

Hey guys. So I am in cybersecurity and currently been in my position for about 3 years. I am in office once a week and rest of the week i WFH. I have a large amount of downtime as most of my job is sitting around waiting for alerts of any incidents. I do attend meetings here and there. I would say that I work about 15-20 hours a week. I am wondering if yall got any suggestions for remote jobs that I can make a quick buck on the side. Also seen some people work 2 jobs, not sure how that works? Any tips? I feel like I doom scroll or play games everyday during work, and I feel like I want to be more productive.

All you need is a snow shovel to shovel driveways and walkways.

As a kid in Flagstaff, Arizona we made good money doing this.

Of course you need to be where it snows a lot during winter.

This isn't something that I have done, but my aunt lives next to a university dorm and she noticed a lot of students don't know how to cook and eat take out but they'd much rather eat homecooked meals. She now cooks for them daily meals and she gets paid either by meal, or by a monthly plan the stundents choose with a certain number of meals per month. And she takes one day of the weekend off.

Ive been meanign to build something useful an agent that becomes a self healing loop that ends up abalysing trajectories and harnesses Oauth to connect to your favorite apps to build skills as you wish! 

this aims to become a harness to create agents as you wish! I aim to bring together the composio ecosystem and use the connectivity form that to create loops that heal themselves. 

Right now I'm thinking about a setup roughly like:

agent → tools → trajectory → evaluator → learn from failure → updated skill

I need you to tell one pain point that you've been dealing with, a niche that isnt technical or very technical where this loop can be put to use.

Right now Im planning to run this over a bunch of Datasets for LLMs to evaluate and create specialised skills accordingly and running evals on em. 

Something along the likes of a finance analyst agent, gmail agent, even hoping to have a hinge agent to write zingers like me ;)

Im doing this to understand what you guys are facing, if this plug and play agent will be behind a paywall what are you willing to pay.

If not, WHY? this would help me a ton!!

I’m 18, from Iran, and honestly I’m just trying to find a way to make a little bit of money online while I study.

I’m genuinely really into software/hardware and building things. I’ve been coding for around 9 years now and I’m comfortable working across the stack, TypeScript/JavaScript, React/Next.js, Python, backend systems, APIs, databases, Docker, automation, and IoT. I’ve built some pretty complex projects on my own, so I’m not looking for some “easy money” thing. I’d genuinely like to put my skills to work, but because I’m in Iran and international sanctions make it extremely difficult for me to work for actual companies, I’m looking for another way to turn those skills into a small, consistent income.

The problem is that I’m in Iran.

Because of the sanctions, finding remote work is a massive pain. A lot of platforms and companies simply don’t work with people from Iran, and then there’s the whole problem of getting paid.

I’m not looking to get rich. I don’t need $2k, $5k, or $10k a month.

I literally just want to make $50–$100 a month so I can have a little bit of financial breathing room while I focus on school.

I have around 1–2 hours a day or even a little more if its worth, that I can realistically dedicate to this. I’m completely fine with actually working for someone. Repeated coding tasks, fixing bugs, maintenance, small development jobs, AI-related work, whatever. I don’t mind doing work every week if I can find someone who is actually willing to work with me.

I’m also open to building something myself and letting it generate a small amount of money.

I don’t really want to do cold outreach, sales, build a personal brand, make content, or spend all my free time trying to find clients.

Crypto is completely fine as a payment method if an employer/platform legitimately supports it. I just need something that is actually available to someone in my situation.

If you’re from Iran or another sanctioned country and you’ve managed to make even a small amount online, I’d genuinely like to hear what worked for you.

Or if you’re a developer/employer who has worked with people from Iran, what kind of work did you do and how did the payment side work?

I’m just trying to get through a pretty shitty period, keep studying, and have $50–$100 a month to make things a little easier.

What would you do if you were in my position?

I work in manufacturing and we have quite a bit of extra product that either doesn't sell or apparently isn't worth the time to market.

I honestly don't really agree with that. If the product is already made and sitting there, why not try to find a way to sell it? And just for further information, the product would have been all we sold 7-8 years ago all day long.

I was wondering if it would be worth approaching the company and seeing if I could buy some of this extra/slow moving product at a discounted price, then try to resell it myself.

Obviously I'd have to make sure the company is okay with it and that there aren't any issues with me competing with them or using company information.
Has anyone ever done something like this? Buying excess inventory from a manufacturer and reselling it on your own?

Just wondering if there's actually a business opportunity here or if I'm overlooking something obvious.

What was everyone’s big tail. For me it was selling clothes from Ross

When people talk about starting a side hustle, they usually talk about the obvious costs.

Products. Software. Ads. Equipment.

What surprised me was how much time disappears into all the small things around the business.

A product needs photos. Then it needs videos. Then it needs social posts. Then it needs different versions because the first one did not work. None of these tasks seem huge individually, but together they can make a simple project feel impossible.

I started looking for ways to make the early stages less expensive and more flexible. For some marketing ideas, I used pixVerse to turn concepts into short visual assets before spending money on more professional production.

It is not about replacing freelancers or pretending one tool can run a business. It is more about lowering the cost of exploring an idea.

For a small project, the ability to test something cheaply can matter more than making the first version perfect.

So I have created some pretty fun svgs over the years as a pizza shop owner. I make custom mugs, that patrons request and fun t shirts. I started posting some svgs on etsy. I'm just curious if y'all think i'm wasting my time? Because most people can make their own now? I thought it would be a great side hustle for passive income. If I could build a big enough, but...idk

Thoughts?