- Ritesh Verma earns almost $15,000 a month from side hustles along with his job at Capital One.
- Verma’s side hustles include AI agents, YouTube, mentoring and software services.
- He uses automation to work on multiple projects at the same time and earn more money.
This essay as stated is based on a conversation with Ritesh Verma23, a software engineer in Jersey City. It has been edited for length and clarity.
After graduating college in 2023, I got a job as a software engineer at Capital One with a base salary of $136,000, but it’s not my biggest source of income.
I’ve been building side hustles for years, and now they make me almost $15,000 a month.
When I got hired at Capital One, I was worried that a full-time job would disrupt my struggles, but I’ve created a system that makes it manageable. Here’s how I stay on top of my work and why I won’t be making my side hustle full-time—yet.
AI agents are my main side hustle
In late 2019, a friend of mine asked me to code a shopping bot to help him buy and resell sneakers. I had no idea what bots were, or AI agents, but I agreed and spent over six months teaching myself how to make software programs that perform tasks.
In 2022, I decided to post a YouTube tutorial on how to make a simple bot and it got 200,000 views. A man saw my video and asked me to make him a buying agent for high end golf clubs. I accepted the offer and earned $600 every time I picked up a golf club. Suddenly I was making $1,800 a month.
Word spread and I started getting more clients in the golf club crowdfunding space and other niche communities. I’ve built shopping bots for everything from hats to wine bottles to baby clothes.
I didn’t want to be known as just a bot guy, so I started building services and tools. I built a scheduling bot that helps shift workers, such as servers, in the Nevada area avoid competing shifts.
I started using Reddit to find clients
Early last year, I watched a video on YouTube where the creator described how he used Reddit to grow his startup. I decided to try it.
I made a post on reddit saying “I’m sorry to get these changes and need help. Any other links?” I then DMed about 20 commenters who sympathized and showed them my tool. I got eight of my clients from Reddit and now make about $9,000 a month from it.
I’ve also trained AI assistants to post on Reddit for me, advertising my services and sending potential clients my phone number.
Reddit takes down my posts for being promotional, but within 30 minutes of them going up, I’ll usually have several people in my DMs. I’ve been banned from Reddit and had to make a lot of accounts, but it’s all part of the process and I think it’s worth it.
I also have less profitable side hustles
- YouTube: I use my YouTube channel to gain clients and as a side hustle. I get ad revenue from videos and in one month I made $1400 from three sponsors.
- Mentoring program: I also started a six-week mentoring program where I teach others how to code bots. For $3,000 in any given month, typically two to three students receive bi-weekly meetings to discuss assigned projects and learn concepts.
- SaaS products: In 2024, I launched two SaaS products, which are basically just more conventional software engineering services. One is Instagram outreach software, which earns me $900 a month. My other SaaS product, which allows people to embed Instagram reels on their website, has yet to turn a profit.
How I manage my side hustle and 9-to-5
My secret to success is to work on several projects at once. I can stay on top of so much because it’s so automated.
I might spend 20 hours building a new AI agent or project, but after that, my weekly commitment might only be two hours. I may also spend a few extra hours taking on clients or solving problems, but the hard work is done.
My Capital One job is a 9-to-5 hybrid with two days in the office each week. After work, I eat and do a four-hour deep work session where I focus on my side hustles. I also work a few hours every weekend day.
It’s a lot of work, but I find it fun. I also make sure I have time for myself. Some friends and I travel every three months. In 2024, I spent a total of one month overseas in countries like Brazil, Japan, and Italy, doing absolutely no work. These trips are a good sanity check and give me something to look forward to.
I will not quit my full-time job until I meet a specific metric
A mentee asked me why I don’t quit my full-time job, and I told him that I don’t feel like I’m taking up space.
I’ve probably tried 15 projects recently, and most fail. I give each project a month or two of serious dedication before I decide if it’s worth pursuing. Sometimes, the project is just too hard, and growing it is a pain.
Other times, I just lose the spark of the idea. In those cases, I’ll put it on a core problem or ask a mentee if they want to take responsibility for equity in the product.
Plus, I’m following a rule that I won’t quit my full-time job until I’m making three times my base salary at Capital One from my side businesses. As soon as I achieve this, I will remove it. That’s the goal.
If you make six figures from a side hustle and want to share your story, please email Manseen Logan at mlogan@businessinsider.com.