After a few months of not selling any paintings at all, Kyle Stockford decided to get himself a side hustle.
So, there he was, in 2021, Stockford the abstract artist…painting collages in a rainbow of color. Sales-less, he needed a way to make ends meet — so he called his brother, who was out mowing lawns and assembling Ikea furniture on gig site Taskrabbit.
Stockford also starting signing up for gigs like this — earning “$16 to $18 an hour,” he said. But his gravy was moving people: Now, the 29-year-old bills as much as $98 an hour on Taskrabbit to fill up his Chevy Express van with others’ possessions and deliver them across metropolitan Boston.
College move-in season is prime time: In August 2023, Stockford raked in $9,740 from his side hustle, according to the documents provided to CNBC Make It. Most other months it was snagging in the range of $3,000 – $5,000 so a grand total of just over $36,600 in additional funds last year.
I’m going to be on Taskrabbit for a while, says Stockford. Here is how he turned is hustle into one that actually moves.
Everyone is here all like, ‘I am driving this 10 million pound van around but I’m not making any money with it.’
Stockford purchased his van in 2018 when he was a senior at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. He was looking for a car that could better accommodate transporting paintings from Massachusetts to his artistic clientele.
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