The Best AI Side Hustles To Start In 2026 (No Skills) — Transcript

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1. 0:00Most people waste their entire life on
2. 0:03side hustles that sound smart but yet
3. 0:06magically make no money. They see AI
4. 0:08plaster on something and suddenly think,
5. 0:10"Well, here it is. This is the
6. 0:12opportunity I've been waiting my whole
7. 0:14life for." And honestly, I get it. AI
8. 0:16has genuinely changed what's [music]
9. 0:18possible. It has made it easier than
10. 0:20ever to build a profitable side hustle,
11. 0:22but it's also created a lot of noise.
12. 0:24You see, most people have no idea how to
13. 0:26tell the good side hustles from the bad.
14. 0:29They are obsessed with what sounds
15. 0:30futuristic, not what actually makes
16. 0:33money. The problem is that they think
17. 0:35the money is in [music] the AI itself.
18. 0:37It's not. AI is just a tool. The money
19. 0:40is in using AI to create something that
20. 0:43people are already paying for and using
21. 0:46it [music] to do it faster, cheaper, and
22. 0:48at scale. Just like the internet, you
23. 0:50don't make money with the internet. The
24. 0:53internet is just the infrastructure. So,
25. 0:56in today's video, I am ranking 17 side
26. 0:59hustles from S tier to absolute dog. So,
27. 1:02that way you know which ones quite
28. 1:05frankly are just a waste of your time.
29. 1:07All right, so side hustle number one, AI
30. 1:09trading bots. This is where people get
31. 1:12sold the dream that a bot will magically
32. 1:14do all of the hard work and generate
33. 1:16money for them. It's the classic this
34. 1:18bot will print money It is
35. 1:20complete nonsense. So, look, yeah, sure,
36. 1:22it might sound good on paper to people
37. 1:24who don't understand the risk. But look,
38. 1:26quite frankly, it's just gambling with a
39. 1:29little bit of branding on top. It's like
40. 1:31putting lipstick on a pig. If you do not
41. 1:33understand the market, the rules, the
42. 1:36downside, well, then you're not building
43. 1:38a side hustle. You're just burning
44. 1:40money. So, if you want to throw your
45. 1:42money down the drain, congratulations.
46. 1:44Do this one. The risk is very high with
47. 1:46this one. This whole thing is just a
48. 1:48trap for beginners. So quite frankly,
49. 1:50I'm putting this in F [music] tier. And
50. 1:52that brings us on to side hustle number
51. 1:54two, AI UGC. With this one, you're going
52. 1:56to create content for brands using AI.
53. 1:59Businesses pay for this because it's
54. 2:01tied directly to performance. If the
55. 2:03content helps them sell more, well then
56. 2:04they'll keep paying you to create this
57. 2:06type of content for them. The problem is
58. 2:08if it doesn't feel authentic or if the
59. 2:10content doesn't perform, well then you
60. 2:12have a problem on your hands. And with
61. 2:13that problem, you're going to struggle
62. 2:15to make money with this. Now, look,
63. 2:16there is demand, but this whole thing
64. 2:18lives or dies on the content and how
65. 2:20authentic it feels, as well as how it
66. 2:21performs. So, because of that, I'm going
67. 2:23to have to put it in C tier. Now, moving
68. 2:25on, let's talk about AI clipping. This
69. 2:27one I'm seeing everywhere. With this,
70. 2:29you're going to turn long- form content
71. 2:30into shorts, reals, and clips. And
72. 2:33you're going to do that using AI. Now,
73. 2:35I'll be honest, there's actually real
74. 2:37demand here. It's easy to explain, and
75. 2:39it's easy to sell to creators and
76. 2:41businesses who already know that they
77. 2:43need more distribution. The only issue
78. 2:45is everyone and their mom seems to be
79. 2:47doing it, which means the market is
80. 2:48getting crowded fast. And once again, if
81. 2:50your clips don't perform, you become
82. 2:52replaceable very, very quickly. Now,
83. 2:54look, because there's clear demand, but
84. 2:56very little differentiation. I'm going
85. 2:58to go ahead and put this in B tier. So,
86. 2:59let's talk about AI drop shipping.
87. 3:01You're going to use AI to help you
88. 3:02source, research, and sell products. I
89. 3:05mean, literally just drop shipping, but
90. 3:06with AI layered on top to really speed
91. 3:08up some of the process. The upside is
92. 3:10the exact same as regular drop shipping.
93. 3:12You have low inventory risk. And it's
94. 3:14relatively straightforward to test
95. 3:16products without too much upfront
96. 3:18commitment. But a lot of times you're
97. 3:19going to have to spend money on ads,
98. 3:20which is what gives me anxiety for
99. 3:22beginners. And that's really why the
100. 3:23core problems never change because drop
101. 3:25shipping really is a race to the bottom.
102. 3:26And AI still doesn't fix the problems
103. 3:29with this model, which is really bad
104. 3:30margins and a lot of cost to actually
105. 3:32test products. So look, because this is
106. 3:34an actual legitimate business model,
107. 3:36it's not a gimmick, but the cost of
108. 3:38testing products is just too much. And
109. 3:39I've just seen way too many beginners
110. 3:41get burned with this. I'm going to go
111. 3:42ahead and put this in C tier. And that
112. 3:44brings us on to side hustle number five,
113. 3:46which is AI voice agents. You're
114. 3:48actually going to go ahead and build AI
115. 3:50phone agents that can actually handle
116. 3:51calls and bookings for businesses. And
117. 3:53you can imagine why this is valuable,
118. 3:55right? Because it saves businesses time,
119. 3:57and quite frankly, time is money. If the
120. 3:59agent can answer calls, book in
121. 4:01appointments, as well as sometimes even
122. 4:03go as far as to handle basic objections,
123. 4:05well then of course that's something the
124. 4:06businesses will pay for. The setup
125. 4:08though is not easy and businesses get
126. 4:11really impatient if it becomes clunky,
127. 4:13robotic or breaks their customer
128. 4:16experience. Now, if I go ahead and
129. 4:18summarize this entire side hustle
130. 4:19because the value is real, but the
131. 4:21execution is more complex than most
132. 4:23people actually assume going into it,
133. 4:25I'm going to go ahead and put this in B
134. 4:27tier. All right, moving on. Number six,
135. 4:29AI lead generation. Quite simply, this
136. 4:31is where you're going to use AI to help
137. 4:32businesses find and qualify leads. Let's
138. 4:35talk about the big benefit here. This is
139. 4:37directly tied to revenue and that's why
140. 4:39businesses will always need this. So the
141. 4:41demand is there. Okay? If you can put
142. 4:43qualified prospects in front of a
143. 4:45business, you can make money. It's plain
144. 4:47and simple. With this one, you're not
145. 4:49really selling a nice to have. You are
146. 4:51selling something that businesses need.
147. 4:53Okay? Something that drives revenue. So
148. 4:55the value is there. The only downside is
149. 4:57that if your data or targeting is bad,
150. 4:59well then unfortunately that means your
151. 5:01leads are going to be bad and the whole
152. 5:03thing falls apart. So you are 100%
153. 5:05dependent on that. So if I had to score
154. 5:07it because it connects straight to
155. 5:09revenue and it solves a real business
156. 5:12problem, I'm actually going to go ahead
157. 5:13and put it in a tier. All right, let's
158. 5:15talk about AI chat bots. With this one,
159. 5:17you are going to go ahead and build
160. 5:18support or sales bots for businesses.
161. 5:21Once again, the appeal is very obvious
162. 5:22with this one. It saves businesses time.
163. 5:25It handles repetitive questions and it
164. 5:27can actually take a lot of pressure off
165. 5:28of the team from a business point of
166. 5:30perspective. But unfortunately, a lot of
167. 5:32these chat bots are just very gimmicky
168. 5:34and it's pretending to be a business. So
169. 5:36to summarize, because there is utility,
170. 5:38but unfortunately a lot of it is
171. 5:39overhyped and really easy to commoditize
172. 5:42in today's day and age and it doesn't
173. 5:43have that same excitement factor as the
174. 5:45voice agents. I'm actually going to go
175. 5:46ahead and put this in C tier. Moving on,
176. 5:49let's talk about an interesting one and
177. 5:50that's actually AI ghostwriting. With
178. 5:52this, you're going to use AI to help
179. 5:54founders, creators, and experts to write
180. 5:56newsletters, posts, emails, scripts, you
181. 5:58know, whatever it may be. And this can
182. 6:00actually be highly valuable if you can
183. 6:02match the founders's voice and strategy.
184. 6:04Now, when you do this properly, it can
185. 6:06actually turn into strong recurring
186. 6:07revenue because good operators don't
187. 6:09want one-off content. They usually want
188. 6:11to commit to this for a long period of
189. 6:12time. But you also need to be consistent
190. 6:15with it to benefit from the recurring
191. 6:17potential of this side hustle. Look, to
192. 6:19be honest, if you're just churning out
193. 6:21content with no thinking behind it,
194. 6:23clients can smell that from a mile away.
195. 6:25And the second they feel that, you
196. 6:27become replaceable. I'm actually quite
197. 6:29conflicted on this one because it can go
198. 6:31really well when you dial in the voice
199. 6:33in the strategy or it can go really bad
200. 6:35when it just turns into AI slop. So,
201. 6:37because of that, I'm actually going to
202. 6:38go ahead and put it in Btier. All right,
203. 6:40moving on to number nine, and that is AI
204. 6:42websites. So, with this, it's pretty
205. 6:44easy to understand. It just involves
206. 6:45building websites faster for businesses
207. 6:48that need an online presence. Now, the
208. 6:50mistake that most people make is they
209. 6:51sell pretty pages instead of outcomes.
210. 6:54Okay? And the second you just sell a
211. 6:56nicel looking website instead of what
212. 6:57that website can do for the business,
213. 6:59well then you immediately become
214. 7:00commoditized. I'm actually going to go
215. 7:01ahead and put this in B tier. All right.
216. 7:03And that brings us on to number 10. AI
217. 7:05digital products. So with this very
218. 7:07simple, you're going to use AI to create
219. 7:09ebooks, templates, guides, or courses
220. 7:12that help people solve real problems.
221. 7:14This is high leverage. It's scalable and
222. 7:17it can be done completely faceless. It's
223. 7:19also very beginner friendly, which is
224. 7:20something I value highly. Now, when we
225. 7:22talk about the flaws, the model only
226. 7:24works if the problem that you're solving
227. 7:26has enough demand. So, if the pain is
228. 7:28small, the product revenue might also be
229. 7:30small. But then again, I guess that's
230. 7:31not really a model problem. That's just
231. 7:33a general business problem. But what I
232. 7:35love about this model is just like when
233. 7:36you have a winner, how crazy and
234. 7:38scalable the business becomes. And I
235. 7:40also want to make it clear, I'm co-owner
236. 7:41at a company called which is a
237. 7:43digital product platform. And I've also
238. 7:45been involved in the space for a decade.
239. 7:46So, I do want to say I have some bias
240. 7:48towards this. But all in all, I've seen
241. 7:50people make crazy money as a side hustle
242. 7:52all the way into the millions and
243. 7:53millions of dollars, which is why for
244. 7:55me, because of the scalability of this
245. 7:57business model, I'm going to go ahead
246. 7:58and put it in S tier. All right, moving
247. 8:00on. Side hustle 11, AI apps. Now, with
248. 8:03this side hustle, you're actually going
249. 8:04to use AI to create software apps
250. 8:06faster. And the way you're going to do
251. 8:08that is by reducing coding and product
252. 8:10building time. We live in a cool world
253. 8:12where this is actually possible. And
254. 8:13there's actually good upside here if the
255. 8:15app actually solves a real problem and
256. 8:18people keep paying to use it. The issue
257. 8:19is that most beginners confuse building
258. 8:21an app with building a business. And
259. 8:23that is a very expensive mistake. An app
260. 8:25is just a product. The business is
261. 8:27distribution, retention, and
262. 8:29monetization. Now, because the upside is
263. 8:31big, but the execution and then managing
264. 8:33churn and just the general business
265. 8:35model is very tricky as someone who's in
266. 8:37it myself. I'm going to go ahead and put
267. 8:38this one in B tier. All right, moving
268. 8:40on. This is actually a blast from the
269. 8:41past for me. This is AI meme pages. So
270. 8:43what you're going to do here is you're
271. 8:44going to grow meme pages using AI
272. 8:46generated or AI assisted content and
273. 8:49then actually monetizing later through
274. 8:51brand deals or paid shoutouts or even
275. 8:54affiliate stuff like that. And the
276. 8:55reason I say this a blast from the past
277. 8:57is this was actually probably my first
278. 9:00if not one of my first side hustles when
279. 9:02I was 14 years old. I actually had my
280. 9:03own Instagram accounts where I was doing
281. 9:05this. Now they weren't meme pages. They
282. 9:06were branded pages and they were all
283. 9:08like sort of motivational luxury
284. 9:09lifestyle pages. And back then I also
285. 9:11didn't have AI to help me and that opens
286. 9:13up a lot of opportunities. Okay, now
287. 9:15with AI it is cheap to start and if the
288. 9:17content is genuinely good it can grow.
289. 9:19Attention is fickle and the content
290. 9:21being good is a big if. Okay, most pages
291. 9:24never actually amount to any money. So
292. 9:26because it's easy to start but also
293. 9:28really difficult to turn into a serious
294. 9:30business. I'm going to go ahead and put
295. 9:31this in Dtier. All right, moving on. AI
296. 9:33faceless YouTube channels. With this,
297. 9:35you're going to use AI to script, voice,
298. 9:37and produce videos without ever showing
299. 9:40your face. It's scalable. You don't need
300. 9:42to show your face or build a personal
301. 9:43brand, which of course makes it very
302. 9:45appealing for people who want leverage
303. 9:48without having to be the product. The
304. 9:49problem with this is that it's very slow
305. 9:52to monetize and most people quit before
306. 9:54they make any money here. The grind
307. 9:56looks simple from the outside, but the
308. 9:58patience requirements, most people
309. 10:00unfortunately just can't handle it. So,
310. 10:01if I had to summarize it, because the
311. 10:03model has some leverage, but the
312. 10:04timeline is just too long and most
313. 10:06people don't stay in it long enough to
314. 10:08see results. Unfortunately, I'm going to
315. 10:09have to go ahead and put this in Ctier.
316. 10:11All right, moving on. AI video editing.
317. 10:13Very simple. You're going to use AI
318. 10:14tools to cut, edit, and repurpose videos
319. 10:17for creators and brands. The demand
320. 10:19exists. It's fast to deliver and it is
321. 10:21relatively easy to productize if you're
322. 10:23efficient and you can get moving
323. 10:24quickly. Issue is the barrier to entry
324. 10:27is very, very low. So, the market gets
325. 10:28flooded with people offering the same
326. 10:30copypaste BS. And because of that,
327. 10:32clients are always going to compare you
328. 10:34based on price instead of value. And the
329. 10:36issue with this is that it quickly
330. 10:37becomes a race to the bottom. So,
331. 10:39because it's easy to sell, but it's also
332. 10:42easy to copy, I'm going to go ahead and
333. 10:44have to put this in C tier. All right,
334. 10:45number 15. AI print on demand. Very
335. 10:48simple. You are going to use AI to
336. 10:50generate designs, and then you're going
337. 10:51to sell them on shirts, on mugs, on
338. 10:54posters, stuff like that. Once again,
339. 10:56it's very low upfront cost and it is
340. 10:58simple to test. So, it looks attractive
341. 10:59to beginners who want to get started
342. 11:01fast. The problem is with this one,
343. 11:03[music] you have no moat. The
344. 11:05competition is brutal and most stores
345. 11:07die in the first few weeks or months.
346. 11:09So, to summarize, it's easy to launch,
347. 11:11but it's hard to build it into anything
348. 11:13durable. I'd say really this one is more
349. 11:15of a gimmick than anything. I would put
350. 11:17it in F tier. Don't waste your time.
351. 11:18Now, let's move on to something that is
352. 11:20not a gimmick, but also has some of its
353. 11:22own downsides, I guess, like every
354. 11:23model, and that is AI automation agency.
355. 11:26Simple concept. This is where you're
356. 11:27going to build systems that replace
357. 11:29boring, repetitive work for businesses.
358. 11:32Once again, the demand is there, okay?
359. 11:34And there's a real high ticket potential
360. 11:36if you are solving problems that
361. 11:38actually save time, make things more
362. 11:40efficient, and reduce the need for
363. 11:42businesses to hire more people. Where
364. 11:44the downsides come in is that delivery
365. 11:46can get messy and you will need some
366. 11:48operational skill because once you start
367. 11:50playing with internal systems, things
368. 11:52can get tricky. So to summarize, the
369. 11:54need is real and the upside is there,
370. 11:57but the execution can get tricky at
371. 11:59times. Nonetheless, I'm going to go
372. 12:00ahead and put this in a tier. All right,
373. 12:02and that brings us on to number 17, and
374. 12:04this is AI prompts. Very simple. You're
375. 12:06going to sell prompt bundles for
376. 12:08different use cases. It's easy to create
377. 12:11and it's easy to package. So, on the
378. 12:12surface, it looks like a solid side
379. 12:14hustle, but look, there's no moat. The
380. 12:17perceived value is low, and most of it
381. 12:20is just AI slop if we're being entirely
382. 12:22honest. Anyone can make prompts, which
383. 12:23means no one really cares about this too
384. 12:25much. So, look, because it's easy to
385. 12:27produce, but also very hard to make
386. 12:29valuable. I'm going to go ahead and put
387. 12:30this in Dtier. All right, so there we
388. 12:32have it. 17 side hustles ranked, so that
389. 12:34way you don't need to. The bottom line
390. 12:36is this. AI is not the business. Get
391. 12:38that through your head. It is simply
392. 12:40leverage. So, whenever you see a new AI
393. 12:43opportunity, stop asking, "Oh, is this
394. 12:45cool?" and instead ask, "Can this solve
395. 12:47a real problem people already have and
396. 12:50make me money as a byproduct?" If the
397. 12:52answer is yes, pay [music] attention to
398. 12:54it. But of course, do your own research.
399. 12:56If the answer is no, well, then don't
400. 12:57waste your time. As a general rule of
401. 12:59thumb, anything that's make money with
402. 13:01AI by selling AI or let the bot trade
403. 13:04for you is usually dog The best
404. 13:06side hustles are the ones where AI helps
405. 13:08you save time, create assets, or deliver
406. 13:10a real outcome to the buyer. It's
407. 13:12generally business models that existed
408. 13:14before AI, but now what AI allows you to
409. 13:17do is [music] do it faster, cheaper,
410. 13:19quicker, or it allows people that
411. 13:21historically were not able to get into
412. 13:22the business model because the barrier
413. 13:24to entry was too high and now they're
414. 13:26allowed to do so. And when you think
415. 13:28about it like that, that is how you stop
416. 13:29chasing shiny objects and start building
417. 13:32a real profitable side hustle. And with
418. 13:34all that being said, as always, I'm
419. 13:35watching from afar and I'm rooting for
420. 13:37you.