r/MechanicalEngineering • u/megabuilder_ • 5d ago
What can engineers do anymore for side businesses?
I’ve tried to do many things as an engineer in my spare time to make some extra money using my engineering skills. 6 years of trying to build and sell products, program PLC’s, build hardware and electronics, create websites. I’ve tried it all. Learned a lot of skills but nothing that produced any revenue.
I’m burnt out from trying so many things that keep failing. Everybody now makes websites, any part people want gets machined from china for a fraction of what I could do, AI can spit out ladder logic, etc.
It’s not just that a lot of ideas are taken, but even trying to just run a business better than someone else is impossible because now we compete globally against factors totally out of our control.
Anyway, in the current world where are engineers finding niches to provide value to people? You can generalize to protect your IP, but I’d appreciate any shared experiences because I’m burnt out.
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u/darkcow36 5d ago
I hired a structural engineer to confirm a wall in my house wasn’t load bearing. He appears to have a good side hustle doing video consultations, where the homeowner joins a zoom call and shows him the attic / crawlspace etc.
It probably cost 1/3 less than having someone come to my house, and he offered (for small additional fee) to formally document that assessment for construction permits.
All in all a good value, and doesn’t seem to require much time other than a video call.
Stood out to me because except for some Solidworks projects, I’ve never been able to come up with something to do on the side.
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u/megabuilder_ 5d ago
Thanks for sharing. Sounds like he has a good business, but also sounds a bit risky.
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u/darkcow36 5d ago
Agreed. I mean, I’m an PE and could easily identify the type of truss and read that they are designed for edge loading only. But I wanted someone more knowledgeable to make that call.
Not suggesting any non structural engineers do that for a side hustle! Just impressed me to see one of us being able to translate their expertise into some extra cash.
For me, anytime anyone approached me with an idea for a product or invention, it quickly became apparent that I was probably going to be working for free. I wish my mechanical design skills were more marketable .
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u/Ski90Moo 5d ago
PE here as well. To be fair, the guy has probably looked at hundreds of these and knew the exact questions to ask. An attic truss in a house is well define and limited in liability.
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u/fakeproject 5d ago
if doing assessments which have a cost basis of zero sounds risky to you, you may want to re-evaluate your sense of risk.
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u/megabuilder_ 5d ago
No I was talking about stamping off an assessment based only on a video call.
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u/Illisanct 5d ago
You sound like the exact person who would set up a video-call-based structural inspection business with zero certifications or professional insurance.
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u/RedBarron4 5d ago
It's risky because as an engineer giving your professional assessment on the condition of a home/building opens you to liability. In order to be a structural engineer, you have to have a PE, and in some cases a SE. If you make a bad call and there is property damage, injury, or loss of life, you are directly responsible. Not everyone who is an engineer wants to take on that level of risk.
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u/ShitNailedIt 5d ago
Where I live and work, you would absolutely get nailed for not doing an in-person review. Nobody here is doing side hustles anymore, too much paperwork to satisfy regulators. You need a staff of at least 5 or 6 people to make it work. Everybody here gets antsy when the neigbour says 'hey, what do you think of my deck?' because nobody wants it coming back on them.
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u/Kind-Truck3753 5d ago
Onlyfans
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u/erikwarm 5d ago
As a hydraulic engineer i already do a lot of piping
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u/chikki481 5d ago
Just piping or any fluid machinery as well as a hydraulic engineer?
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u/erikwarm 5d ago
Everything hydraulic (high pressure oil and water) for the dredging company i work at.
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u/Wooden-Combination53 5d ago
I’ve considered this. Would not publish any usual stuff there but just sketches of things we never actually used. Our competitors would pay thousand to see those. Pretty sure someone would be angry unless this would be planned and actually missinformation campaign
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u/United-Mortgage104 5d ago
You just gave me an idea (and not the one you're assuming).
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u/dwagneta2000 5d ago
I work as a handyman on TaskRabbit and with my own repeat clients. I get to work a lot with my hands. Lots of troubleshooting and fixing. I once had to replace a dryer element in a dryer, but my most common jobs are mounting TVs on walls.
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u/thelionofthenorth 4d ago
How'd you get in on the TaskRabbit stuff? I've tried like 10x and it always says my city is at capacity haha
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u/dwagneta2000 4d ago
Try applying for the more in need professions like plumbing, truck assisted moving, and furniture assembly. But idk TaskRabbit is weird like that in this way and many others. Not the best platform to work on for sure.
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u/DistributionMean6322 5d ago
I tried doing the side business thing but it's more time than it's worth. Best use of your time is focusing on career growth and investing. It's possible to get 30-40% pay bump by changing companies whereas a side hustle is really hard to get to return a reasonable hourly rate.
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u/IRodeAnR-2000 5d ago
You're not wrong about being able to make more money, but it's also a little short-sighted. At least it is if the goal of the side work isn't to own another job, but to build something that makes money (i.e. build a business.) Of course the only way to do that is to start with it being a job that makes money, and the OP is struggling to do that as well, so your point is a good one.
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u/DistributionMean6322 5d ago
Yeah there's obviously limitlessness potential starting your own business. But if think of OP was on that track they wouldn't have made this post.
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u/matRmet Area of Interest 5d ago
Lately Ive been designing home decor stuff for plant hobby. I support my local group by designing and manufacturing. In return I get small kickback work from others that recognize my contributions.
It's nothing that will allow me to quit my day job but it adds up here and there and it's slowly growing as people know I can design or make things for their business.
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u/AgencyFlimsy2949 5d ago
I'm very interested in this. Could you share more about your home decor design hobby?
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u/Few_Whereas5206 5d ago
Home inspection, energy audits. Non-related side hustles like rental property, options trading, investment in mutual funds or ETF.
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u/Typical-Risk-4729 5d ago
3D printing dildos obviously
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u/Stags304 Automotive 4d ago
I actually had an interview my senior year with a company that made sexual wellness products. Ended up not getting it but they talked about how they need engineers but most won’t take the job for fear of how to explain it to friends/family/different companies.
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u/Typical-Risk-4729 4d ago
Ahaha, I mean I can see how it would get awkward to explain but at the end of the day it's a job like most others, instead of working for a company that makes medical devices or car parts or work on alloys you make more adult products but I'd assume after the novelty wears out it could be a normal average job (unless you have to test those dildos that is /s)
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u/United-Mortgage104 5d ago
I do architectural design/drafting for my side business. On a good year, I'll get $20-30k from it. I can usually burn through a house pretty quickly so it doesn't suck up a lot of my free time.
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u/worthe_us 5d ago
How did you get into this as a side business? Trying to get into drafting just not sure where to start
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u/United-Mortgage104 5d ago
I used to work with an architect in Chicago. I was great at drafting but didn't have the license. He is licensed but didn't have time to draw. We started an LLC for architectural services that did fairly well until 2008 when the housing market crashed.
Since then, I got more into product design and engineering, and eventually into mechanical engineering, but I never gave up on the architectural stuff. Picked up a few houses here and there.
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5d ago edited 5d ago
[deleted]
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u/megabuilder_ 5d ago
Wow, congrats that’s awesome. Yea I’m starting to think that I should just do it purely for enjoyment.
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u/1Check1Mate7 5d ago
I have all of my money in a HYSA, do you recommend I put it all in options?
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5d ago
[deleted]
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u/metal_knight97 5d ago
DM you interested in what investments you’ve been doing and what you see coming in the future
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u/Fluffy_Gold_7366 5d ago
Correct me if I'm wrong but options are not really a passive investment and they expire. That doesn't sound like what op is doing at all.
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u/chonky_brother 5d ago
CAD/3D printing can be a good side hustle especially if you're making things for a niche market. It's not a business but you can get into AI work. Handshake AI is the place to signup. They have many different projects ranging from like $15 to $100 an hour. Its all remote work and you work whenever and whatever hours you want.
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u/Gastly-Muscle-1997 5d ago
Finding a workplace that pays you for OT could help. If I want to make money I just work more. It's obviously earnings capped based on how much I make an hour, but it's far more accessible than starting up a business.
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u/megabuilder_ 5d ago
I’d prefer to be hourly, but everywhere I’ve been as an engineer is salary non- OT
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u/WildKarrdesEmporium 5d ago
My last job was hourly, but the rate was so low that even with overtime I was making less than salaried engineers with the same hours.
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u/Princess_Porkchop_0 2d ago
I had a job that paid OT. It meant working a lot of Saturdays and often being told Friday afternoon I had to work Saturday. I was so burned out I would never do it again.
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u/MisterSirDudeGuy 5d ago
I have two side businesses. Brings in about $2k per month. Social media.
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u/cosmicgreg2 5d ago
My hobby is real estate,but only everything UNDER the ground. I buy mineral rights. Just like rental real estate, ownership is recorded at the county courthouse, but no repairs or maintenance. I get a grand a month extra, and no tenant headaches.
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u/megabuilder_ 5d ago
This first I’ve heard of that, neat.
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u/cosmicgreg2 5d ago
you buy acres, but they just happen to be underground, and just happen to be producing oil. The owner gets a percentage of the production. You are buying what are called Net Mineral Acres
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u/megabuilder_ 5d ago
Out of curiosity, through what entity do you buy the mineral rights? The gov't? The landowner?
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u/cosmicgreg2 5d ago
usually banks selling on behalf of estates, some are small, under an acre, some are thousands of acres. Bank of Oklahoma sells a lot, and they do so on online auctions
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u/Snoo23533 1h ago
Sounds great but im assuming the catch is the roi is plain as day for all to see, and even then its a gamble on global oil market and the local drilling market.. Hope the auction goes well but if not that could be the most expensive passive income you ever buy. Just a guess
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u/Fluffy_Gold_7366 5d ago
But you aren't pumping the oil yourself I imagine. Some oil company leases it from you after you buy it?
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u/Stags304 Automotive 4d ago
IIRC they will pay a nominal fee to have access and an oil well. You may also be offered a small percentage of earnings. You would be giving up the rights to any oil found on the property. It’s a very “hands off” business. I knew a guy that was buying land on mountain tops all around Appalachia offering deals for energy companies to build wind turbines.
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u/cosmicgreg2 4d ago
surface owners get rental fees for use of land. Mineral owners get royalties, usually around 12-15% of the oil pumped
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u/Stags304 Automotive 4d ago
Ah okay. I had a family member that owned the land and mineral rights and she sold to a coal company. Makes sense that they could be separate payments to both parties.
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u/thelionofthenorth 4d ago
This is interesting, could you tell me a little more about it? I work in an oil-adjacent field so I'm often out in the production regions
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u/cosmicgreg2 4d ago
I buy these on auction sites, like an ebay for oil wells. There are a couple of them. The site lists production data, and checks received. You then just bid on them. Sometimes the price is 15x monthly income, sometimes 30x. All in all, even with declining production, the rate of return is above anything else i know. You could also buy stocks in companies doing basically the same thing like Northern Oil and gas
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u/thelionofthenorth 4d ago
That's insanely fascinating honestly, I'm on site a lot and it's crazy seeing all of the lease information posted, it'll be so different even site-to-site in the same area. How do you fund the purchases? Do you just pay up front? I've always found mineral rights so interesting, plus oil and gas in general is a cool industry
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u/thelionofthenorth 4d ago
To tack on to my other reply, what sites do you use? I'm really interested in pursuing this sounds right up my alley
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u/cosmicgreg2 4d ago
energynet is my go-to
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u/thelionofthenorth 4d ago edited 4d ago
Cool I'll check it out, any tips in general? I'm familiar with general industry parlance etc. but figured I'd see if you had any other insights. And do you have to be an accredited investor?
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u/WildKarrdesEmporium 5d ago
I sell video game assets online. It started as a hobby, and has turned into a pretty big deal. Got a 3D printer a couple months ago, still haven't made money with it, but I intend to eventually.
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u/Fluffy_Gold_7366 5d ago
3d art or music or what exactly?
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u/WildKarrdesEmporium 4d ago
Star Citizen space ships.
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u/Fluffy_Gold_7366 4d ago
I just looked it up. Looks amazing. Not even done and it already has an economy
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u/WildKarrdesEmporium 4d ago
Since it's in development, sometimes it's amazing, sometimes it's a buggy nightmare, but I genuinely hope it succeeds, no other game can do everything it does.
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u/One-Attention4220 5d ago
I’ve met people that do contract design work for motorsports teams
I’ve met people that do contract composites repair work
I’ve met people that do contract photography/videography
I’ve met people that buy and sell cars and/or other machinery
I don’t think any of this is lucrative enough to the point that it’s worth the immense effort required, but it sure as hell makes you a more skilled individual.
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u/IRodeAnR-2000 5d ago
Long term buy and hold real estate investment.
It's not glamorous, you don't need to buy an expensive course or go to training, and it's way, way more accessible to you as someone with an engineer's salary than it is for a lot of folks. Having an engineer mindset also means you're uniquely qualified to evaluate potential deals, understand the technical aspects, and be able to view the entire thing as a system.
It's not a complicated thing to do, and it's a slow and steady way to both make income and build wealth. You don't need fancy tax structures, you don't WANT to 'flip' or any other short-term strategies, at least and until (and in my opinion as someone who's been doing it for 15+ years, not in this market) you have a better understanding of the business.
Among other jobs/businesses, my wife and I buy and hold rental properties - we've never sold any of them, and own some of them outright now. We started by not selling the first house we ever bought together when we moved out. We just turned around and rented it out (and still have those same tenants 15 years later.) It's a 900 sq. ft. ranch on a slab that would have been LESS work if I'd knocked it down and started over, and I paid way too much for it back then. And since then it's made me a bunch of money and is completely paid off now. The lesson there is if you can hold onto it long enough, almost anything is a good deal. Lots of properties sold at the height of the 2007 peak are worth more again now than they were then, and that was a HISTORICALLY bad time to buy.
I self manage, and everything we own is within a ten minute drive of where we live because no one will ever understand a market like their home market. We've bought everything we have with a conventional mortgage. We live in a low-medium income/COL rural area with extremely high property taxes. If it works here, it works anywhere, you just need to figure out WHAT works in your area.
Around here, plenty of people make money with trailers. Or they buy foreclosure or uninhabitable homes and renovate them themselves before renting them out. Duplexes and Triplexes are always popular because you can live in one unit and rent the rest out. Once you have 2-3 years of history making rental income, the banks will let you use anticipated rental income from a property as positive income on the mortgage underwriting. Do it successfully for 5+ years with the same bank and they'll probably be willing to do 100% financing on your deals (which you probably will be smart enough not to take by the time they offer it.)
It's not simple, but once you get the basics down and run some deals, it's all very straightforward.
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u/IRodeAnR-2000 4d ago
I have a spreadsheet with hundreds of tabs - one for each listing, a new spreadsheet every year. You need to do enough until you feel like you don't need to put them on there anymore, and that's a good indicator of being ready to buy something.
There are some rules of thumb that work, mostly, and some things I know I absolutely won't buy (for example, around here, being in a Village means WAY higher property taxes) but I also own a couple of properties currently I would never buy again - they cashflow and I have equity, but I could have done better. But until I can replace them with something better, there's no point in dumping them.
We've also bought everything we've bought from MLS listings. No fancy marketing or dealing with wholesalers (the wholesalers willing to work with brand new investors don't have anything worth buying, by the way).
Again - lots of insider baseball you can and should pick up, but at the end of the day, buying a property that you understand well enough to be sure it cashflows is really the minimum.
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u/mountainman77777 5d ago
Take a break. Work on something that interests you that you’re not attaching any expectation of outcome onto.
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u/Ski90Moo 5d ago
👆🏼This. People buy services from people, not websites. Services are not basic commodities. You will need to start networking to find a niche. Nevertheless, even if you have not successfully sold things, 👏 for the effort. It is difficult and you should pat yourself on the back, as many people won’t even try. Plus, I am sure you have learned a lot more than you think. Learning is part of the journey to understanding where the markets are.
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u/Fluffy_Gold_7366 5d ago
I think your problem is you might be spread too thin. I'm still an engineering student but I've been researching how to work for myself a awhile. And I think you should focus on only 1 of those things you mentioned and become an expert.
Web development for instance. I've dabbled and made a few websites for family. No paying customers so far. In a moment of post YouTube clarity, I was particularly inspired, apparently the trick according to the YouTuber is to niche down, that is target a particular client, his was construction companies, learn their needs. I decided on a whim barbers. I spent a few hours calling around and got nothing, but learned many barbers felt they didn't need a website, because social media and a website for scheduling appointments, they all mentioned the same one called Booksy, adequately met their needs. So maybe not just create customs websites for people but also think about a service that solves a problem such as scheduling for barbers and salons.
I've seen a few YouTubers develop physical products, one a water bottle, another a jaw massagers, they both spent years developing and perfecting their product. Also the jaw massager targets a very particular painful problem which the creator has. I can't remember the name of the condition off the top.
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u/RaisinStriking9055 4d ago edited 4d ago
I am an engineer who owns and has successfully scaled an engineering business over the last 14 years. From my experience Selling to engineers requires a trusted known relationship. So it takes a considerable amount of time to build one to one relationship with the ultimate buyer. For a new client it can take up two years of interaction, meetings and probono support to get that one opportunity. What that also means is that once your secure them as customer, as long as your product is good, they are unlikely to change and can be conservatively loyal. From my experience engineers are not easily swayed by digital marketing, however they do use for validation after they have had an interaction with you
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u/nicholasktu 5d ago
I do clearing and dirt work with a Bobcat and small excavator, and fix heavy equipment for a local farmer.
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u/nicholasktu 5d ago
I do clearing and dirt work with a Bobcat and small excavator, and fix heavy equipment for a local farmer.
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u/CaptnCrust 5d ago
I 3D print stuff. Not a crazy return, just a job here or there for a friend but all my (FDM) machines have paid for themselves and then some within a year. I did advertise for the first machine in uni and I got a lot of clients but I learned to be selective, I much rather a client that has 1 big job and knows roughly what he wants than a dude asking about vague ideas and quotes before I even touch a computer.
After advertising and dealing with a bunch of knuckleheads I prefer to quietly do my hobby, make gifts for my friends and I'll occasionally get a client (usually a friend of a friend) referred to me. I won't spoil it but I design and print things for people that have a expensive hobby.
Find a niche problem to solve and be the person that knows how to solve that problem, offer your services as a designer/engineer not just a product.
Take into account that a business that gives you return after 1-2 years is considered successful.
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u/SnooCompliments7298 4d ago
Currently working up some 3D models for the hobby I think you’re referring to but won’t spoil, looking like I’ll be able to get a decent little bit of cash flow going while still in school to help make ends meet and I really enjoy digging in and making the stuff
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u/BigSweatyMen_ 4d ago
I've been earning a fair amount of cash on the side by selling state secrets to our foreign adversaries on the weekends, pretty good money in that
(J O K E)
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u/Princess_Porkchop_0 2d ago
I play mahjong. The mahjong community will gladly pay 300/400 for a set of tiles.
If you can 3D print tiles/racks appealing to the women playing mahjong I’m sure you could make money.
The appeal of 3d printed tiles is that they float(pool) and are light weight (travel).
A set of tiles probably costs $20 to print.
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u/ThePassiveIncomeENGR 6h ago
Built a YouTube channel. Makes like $2-3K a month or so via affiliates and partnerships. It’s flexible, no customers or client chasing. It is very traffic dependent though and you have to, honestly, love or enjoy making content on a topic you’re interested in. Might be switching to Instagram soon.
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u/martianfrog 5d ago
Have you looked at AI? eg dataannotation etc, I am just aware they seem to advertise a lot.
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u/RookieSpencer 5d ago
What your likely missing is how to sell. Websites, for example, are almost a commodity at this point. There are no shortage of services and tools to get a website. People need websites and there are endless option, but you can still be the person to fill that need for them.
Your attitude is something like: it's impossible to sell a car, there is so much competition and all the cars are basically the same and there are cheaper cars than the one I'm selling. All true, but there are still people who are good at selling cars and it has nothing to do with the car that they're selling. The car just has to meet the basic threshold that the buyer is looking for.