👋 From zero to side hustle like a broke college student during exam week. This is The Ramen Hustle, your weekly newsletter serving up hot, scrappy business ideas, helping you go from zero to side hustle. The only rule? Don’t just read it. Steal it.
In today’s episode:
🗣️ Putting your words to work
⏰ Save 15 hours this week
💰 $850/3hrs side hustle
📦 The brutal truth of Amazon FBA
🤝 Flip like a pro
📈 70,000 investors share their secret
THE FRESH IDEA
Ghost Writing
Every founder is told to “build in public” and “be active on LinkedIn,” but most are buried in meetings and fires. Their feed is a graveyard of launch posts and hiring announcements. No consistent story, no pipeline, no trust. Meanwhile, quieter competitors who show up every week slowly become “the default” in the category.
Scrappy Solution: You become the ghost in the machine: the person who turns their decisions, war stories, and hot takes into sharp LinkedIn posts and founder emails. Once a week, you hop on a 45-minute call, pull out what actually happened (wins, fails, customer moments), and turn it into:
3–4 LinkedIn posts that sound like them
1 founder email or newsletter that deepens the relationship with their audience
You’re not “just a writer.” You’re their voice operator and narrative strategist, making sure everything points back to hiring, sales, or investor confidence.
Example in the Wild: KahunaContent.com
Kahuna Content is a real example of this lane: a studio focused on email and ghostwriting for founders and personal brands. They help CEOs turn expertise into sequenced emails, newsletters, and content that actually moves revenue—not just vanity impressions. You can model your offer structure, positioning, and “done-for-you brain” vibe on this style of service.
Charge a clean retainer:
Starter: $2,000–$2,500/month → 3 posts/week + 1 email/week
Pro: $4,000–$5,000/month → near-daily posts, weekly email, strategy, and simple analytics
Three Pro clients and you’re at six figures with low overhead and predictable income.
Ramen-Level First Step: Pick one niche you understand (SaaS, agencies, climate, fintech). Make a list of 20–30 founders who post inconsistently. Study their voice, draft three sample posts and one email subject line, then send a short Loom: “Here’s how I’d run your LinkedIn + email for the next 30 days.”
You’re selling them time, clarity, and a visible reputation—without them ever opening a Google Doc.
Rate this hustle:
FREE GUIDE
Stop Losing Hours to Low-Value Work
Most leaders lose 15 hours a week to the wrong tasks.
The Delegation Guide and Worksheet helps you take them back. BELAY makes it possible with remote staffing solutions: U.S.-based, flexible, and personally matched to fit your business.
HOLIDAY HUSTLE
Cement Seal is one of those “why isn’t everyone doing this?” side hustles. You’re not building a SaaS app. You’re sealing driveways and small parking lots for homeowners and local businesses… and pulling in checks like $850 for about 3 hours of work.
Think of it as sunscreen for concrete and asphalt. Over time, sun, rain, oil, and freeze–thaw cycles destroy driveways and lots, causing cracks, potholes, and ugly gray patches. A seal coat adds a protective layer, deepens the color, boosts curb appeal, and delays expensive resurfacing.
Companies like The Seal Coating Guys in Massachusetts built a whole business on this simple promise: protect your pavement, keep it looking sharp, and avoid big repair bills. sealcoating413.com
To get clients, you don’t need billboards. You need cheap Meta ads. Run hyper-local Facebook and Instagram campaigns targeting homeowners in specific zip codes with older neighborhoods and visible driveways.
HUSTLE AUTOPSY
Amazon FBA DEAD in 2025? Here’s The Brutal Truth
Amazon FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) is simple on the surface: you ship your products to Amazon’s warehouses, and they handle storage, packing, shipping, and a big chunk of customer service. In exchange, you get access to the world’s busiest online mall.
And that mall is massive. Amazon pulls in hundreds of billions in annual revenue and controls a huge share of U.S. e-commerce. Hundreds of millions of shoppers have their credit cards already saved, and most product searches now start on Amazon instead of Google. For a new seller, that sounds like a cheat code.
But here’s the brutal truth in 2025:
Amazon is evolving from “platform that helps sellers” into “platform that monetizes sellers.” Fees have climbed across the board: storage, inbound placement, inventory “penalties,” and ads. Search results are increasingly pay-to-play, which means you’re not just paying to use FBA—you’re often paying again in Amazon PPC just to be seen.
At the same time, Amazon competes with you via its own brands and gives bad actors plenty of room to copy, sabotage, or undercut your listings. You get reach and trust, but you give up control and margin.
So is Amazon FBA still profitable?
Yes—for focused operators who treat it like a real business, not a side gamble. If you understand product research, branding, PPC, and inventory math, there’s still money to be made. But as a “quick and easy” side hustle? That era is over.
The smarter play: use Amazon as one channel, while you build a brand, an email list, and a store you actually own.
See Travis share exactly what happened when launching a private label business on Amazon this year with complete transparency and real numbers.
FLIPPING 101
FB Marketplace Best Practices
Flipping on Facebook Marketplace works best when you treat it like a real little shop, not random clutter sales. Start by choosing the right inventory: everyday items with broad demand and clear value like couches, dressers, washers/dryers, tools, kids’ gear, and branded pieces (IKEA, Dyson, Yeti). Avoid smelly, damaged, or ultra-niche stuff that only a collector would understand.
Your edge comes from spotting underpriced items fast. Check “Newly listed,” “Free,” and “Under $20,” and look for motivated sellers: moving, cleaning out, “need gone today,” or terrible photos and descriptions. Before you pick anything up, quickly scan comps so you know your likely selling price and aim for at least 2–3x your cost after gas and time.
Clean everything, shoot it in natural light, and upload multiple angles plus a clear photo of the brand or label. Write simple, confident listings: clear title, dimensions, condition, pickup area, and what’s included. Respond quickly, offer specific pickup times, and stay polite but firm on price—maybe discount a bit for same-day pickup.
Track your buy price, sell price, and profit. Over time, lean into the categories that move fastest and build a repeat buyer list so each flip gets easier.
INVESTING
Last Time the Market Was This Expensive, Investors Waited 14 Years to Break Even
In 1999, the S&P 500 peaked. Then it took 14 years to gradually recover by 2013.
Today? Goldman Sachs sounds crazy forecasting 3% returns for 2024 to 2034.
But we’re currently seeing the highest price for the S&P 500 compared to earnings since the dot-com boom.
So, maybe that’s why they’re not alone; Vanguard projects about 5%.
In fact, now just about everything seems priced near all time highs. Equities, gold, crypto, etc.
But billionaires have long diversified a slice of their portfolios with one asset class that is poised to rebound.
It’s post war and contemporary art.
Sounds crazy, but over 70,000 investors have followed suit since 2019—with Masterworks.
You can invest in shares of artworks featuring Banksy, Basquiat, Picasso, and more.
24 exits later, results speak for themselves: net annualized returns like 14.6%, 17.6%, and 17.8%.*
My subscribers can skip the waitlist.
*Investing involves risk. Past performance is not indicative of future returns. Important Reg A disclosures: masterworks.com/cd.
QUICK SIPS
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