Dec 23rd - Snow driveway removal

🚀 From zero to side hustle. Forget the 9-to-5. Grab a shovel and a laptop. This is The Ramen Hustle, your anti-corporate guide to making real money without permission.

IN TODAY’S EPISODE

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FRESH IDEA

The $3k Snow Day Playbook

If you live in an area that gets snow during the winter, you’re in luck! But your truck is sitting in the driveway, making you zero dollars. Meanwhile, snow is falling and homeowners are panicking. That gap between their problem and your solution is worth $3,000 per storm.

Here's the math: Residential driveways go for $65 to $85 each. A tight route of 40 homes takes 10 to 12 hours. That's $300 to $350 per hour if you keep the route dense and avoid driving 30 minutes between jobs.

One guy in Minnesota did exactly this with nothing but his pickup truck and a plow, clearing $3,000 in a single day. You don't need a plow to start. A $20 shovel works. A $50 used snowblower from Facebook Marketplace works better. Charge $70 a driveway, do 10 of them, and you've paid for a $700 Toro snowblower on day one.

The real money is in commercial accounts. Nursing homes, retail parking lots, HOA townhome communities. They pay monthly whether it snows or not. Blend guaranteed retainer income with residential jobs, and you've got stability plus upside. According to NOAA climate data, the average snow season delivers 15 one-inch events. That's 15 paydays. Door knocking is the fastest path to your first customers. Walk your neighborhood, knock 20 doors, and offer to handle their driveway all winter. Most people hate shoveling. You're solving a real problem. Google Ads work too once you've got some cash flow to reinvest.

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BY THE NUMBERS

Between 30,000 and 40,000 apps launch on the App Store every single month. Less than 300 of them will ever make real money. A GoPractice study analyzed every app launched since 2016 and found that only 0.95% ever crossed $100K in lifetime revenue.

The golden era ended in 2018. That year, roughly 0.6% to 0.7% of new apps hit the $100K mark in their first 12 months. Then Apple dropped iOS 14.5, changed how IDFA tracking worked, and crushed the ability to target users with paid ads. By 2022, the success rate had dropped to 0.4% and flatlined.

Games still have better odds at 2.78% hitting $100K versus just 0.57% for non game apps. Health, Fitness, and Photo apps saw the biggest boost when Apple allowed subscriptions across all categories in 2016. But the window is closing. Smart developers now use web funnels to bypass the 30% App Store commission entirely and own their customer data.

If you're building an app in 2025, know the odds before you start.

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AI FIND

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——— Almost there ■■■■□□□———

AFFILIATE PLAYBOOK

Most affiliate programs pay pennies. These pay $75 to $300 per referral. The difference between grinding for $5 commissions and building real passive income is simply which programs you choose.

LevelFields AI pays $75 for Level 1 annual subscriptions and $300 for Level 2. Finance niche, high intent buyers, no cookie limit. Cloudways offers up to $125 per referral plus lifetime recurring commissions with a 90 day cookie window. TradingView gives you 30% of every subscription forever, as long as the user stays subscribed.

For creative tools, Adobe pays 85% of the first month on monthly subscriptions. Squarespace goes up to $200 per Commerce plan referral with unlimited earning potential. If your audience builds websites, that's serious money.

Stack three or four recurring programs. Match them to your content niche. One solid referral per week at $200 each is $10,400 per year from a single program.

QUICK FLIP

Advent Calendar Cash Sprint

Custom advent calendars sell for $50 to $200 each. Make 30 and you've got $1,500 to $6,000 before Christmas morning. The margins are ridiculous because you're selling the experience, not just the stuff inside.

Source your boxes from Amazon or Alibaba for $5 to $10 each. Fill them with bulk candy, small toys, mini beauty products, or pet treats depending on your niche. Total cost per calendar runs $15 to $20. Sell the basic version for $50, premium for $100, and luxury custom orders for $200.

Personalization is the unlock. Add the kid's name. Theme it around their favorite character. Cater to dietary restrictions. Parents will pay double for something that feels magical and personal.

Sell on Facebook Marketplace and local mom groups. Post in October, deliver by December 1st. The built in deadline creates urgency. No one's comparison shopping advent calendars on December 15th. They're panic buying. Be the solution.

HUSTLE WEBINAR

Find out how to manage and monetize your content library on January 14th as industry pioneers from Forrester Research and media executives formerly of ESPN, Disney, and Comcast reveal how to get on the cutting edge of content operations with the help of AI.

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