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This Clever Side Hustle Netted Him An Extra $50,000 A Month

Adam Dietz
4 min readApr 13, 2022

Photo by Jeffrey Keenan on Unsplash

In early 2021, John Richards, found himself in desperate need of cash. With his adjunct course load at the community college waning, Richards knew that if he was going to make it through the year then he was going to need to find a second reliable source of income. And so he did the only thing he knew how to do, he returned to his roots.

Selling candy bars door-to-door.

Door-to-door candy sales was something Richards had originally done as a middle school student with some success. Back then, he’d buy the candy in bulk at the local Sam’s Club, load it into the front basket of his Schwinn bike, and cruise around his local neighborhoods hoping to make a buck here and there. And he had done fairly well for a 7th grader, but that was then and this is now.

Richards knew that door-to-door candy sales could once again serve as a solid source of income if done correctly. But with the opportunity, too, came a few challenges. For one, his age. “When you’re a kid, people are charmed by the enterprising-nature of a young man hitting the pavement and trying to make a buck, but as an adult the process of interrupting someone’s evening to sell them a candy bar is entirely less endearing,” Richards says. In short, the odds were stacked against the 39-year-old. But where others might have seen an obstacle…

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Adam Dietz
Adam Dietz

Written by Adam Dietz

Comedy writer with work in McSweeney’s, Slackjaw, Points in Case, etc. Editor of the Yapjaw newsletter.

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