Side hustle journey
A personal look at side hustles, AI, and what actually works.
Anyone who has ever tried to find a way to make money without leaving home has likely come across numerous “gurus” who promise easy success. You know the type — “Just post a video on YouTube, use AI to create everything, and you’ll be fine.” They always show some example channels, saying things like: “Look, I did it, and you can too.” And, of course, there’s always a link to a platform they’re promoting.
It would honestly be great if things worked that way. Simple, fast, effortless.
But no. Reality is different.
Yes, technically you can try to follow that path — I did. I experimented with genres, niches, and video styles. And here’s what I eventually understood: platforms that monetize your content — YouTube, social networks, even Google — aren’t stupid. They want original material, not AI-generated noise. They’re getting better at spotting the difference, and when they do, they stop promoting you. In some cases, they stop showing your videos entirely.
I’m not saying AI is useless. It’s a great tool, and it can help a lot.
But it won’t replace your ideas, your personality, your effort. If you want results, you still need to work — and work a lot. No shortcuts here.
The real picture becomes clear only when you dive deeper and start noticing the details no one talks about. People who push the “automate your content with AI” idea usually do it because they earn a commission for bringing in new users. AI platforms charge money, and everyone in that chain wants their piece.
There are no fully automated systems.
There are tools that help, sure. But the main work still falls on you — and ironically, that part is what actually gives you a chance to succeed.
There is no one-click way to make big money. If such a button existed, no one would waste time selling “success courses” or inserting affiliate links into every video.
I’m not saying everything online is nonsense.
There is value. When you experiment, you learn. You start understanding how things work, what’s real and what’s just hype. And that experience helps, even if your first attempts fail.
Speaking for myself: I didn’t manage to earn much by making AI-generated videos for TikTok or YouTube. I put too much trust in AI, and that was my mistake. My idea was simple — keep working at my main job, and let AI content bring passive income. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that. It’s not easy. Very few people actually succeed.
What I can say for sure is this:
be ready for sleepless nights, countless retries, frustration, long hours of work, and moments where you want to quit. And if you still manage to continue — if you can fall, get up, and fall again — then eventually something will work.
Next time, I’ll share what I personally consider the most reliable approach. It doesn’t bring instant success, but it can create a real and stable additional income.