Side Hustles That Are (and Aren’t) Worth It

📈 Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a free personalized plan. Whether you’re a weekend DJ or assembling boxed furniture, extra money is extra money. In this episode, find out how to pick a good side hustle that makes the most of your time and talents. Next Steps: 💸 Take the quiz to find out what side hustles are best for you! 💰 Take the Money Finder challenge and uncover extra cash today! 🎥 Watch our video Habits Wasting Your Time (and Money) in 2024. 🍸 Follow Smart Money Happy Hour on TikTok: @smartmoneyhappyhour 📱 Submit a Guilty As Charged question for Rachel and George! Send a DM to @rachelcruze or @georgekamel on Instagram! Be sure to type “GUILTY?” at the top of your message so we don’t miss it. 💵 Start your free budget today. Download the EveryDollar app! Connect With Our Sponsors: 🔒 Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe. 🌿 Get up to 40% off with code SMARTMONEY at Cozy Earth. Today’s Happy Hour Special: 🥃 Kentucky Colonel Recipe: Difford’s Guide 2 ounces Bourbon whiskey 1/2 ounce Bénédictine D. O. M. liqueur Instructions: Select and pre-chill an old-fashioned glass. Prepare garnish of lemon zest twist. Stir all ingredients with ice. Strain into ice-filled glass. Express lemon zest twist over the cocktail and use as a garnish. Explore More From Ramsey Network: 💡 The Rachel Cruze Show 💰 George Kamel 🎙️ The Ramsey Show 💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights 🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show 🪑 Front Row Seat with Ken Coleman 📈 EntreLeadership Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:05George Kamel?

  And what are we talking about today, Rachel? Strategic side hustles. Not just any side hustles, strategically. I was like, I can grocery shop. It's not that hard.

• 0:14Rachel Cruze?

  I remember this. This is so embarrassing. God, I'm going to be judged by this, but this happened.

• 0:25Rachel Cruze?

  Hey, guys, I'm Rachel Cruz.

• 0:27George Kamel?

  I'm George Kamel.

• 0:29Rachel Cruze?

  And this is Smart Money Happy Hour.

• 0:37Rachel Cruze?

  This is the show where two friends who happen to be money experts talk about what you're talking about. So everything from pop culture, current events, and money. What do we got, George?

• 0:44George Kamel?

  This is called the Kentucky Colonel. Don't let the O-L-O-N-E-L fool you. It's pronounced Colonel.

• 0:51Rachel Cruze?

  Colonel.

• 0:52George Kamel?

  Because Merica.

• 0:53Rachel Cruze?

  Merica.

• 0:54George Kamel?

  I don't know why that word is spelled that way. It's very frustrating, but it's a delicious drink. Stick around till the end. We'll give you our rating and reveal the cost per glass.

• 1:01Rachel Cruze?

  That's right. Okay, so I think we should start off this by one of these questions that people ask a lot. And I'm going to ask you, George, what were you thinking? You told us about something recently, and I literally was floored. And I thought, George, maybe you're doing it for content. Maybe you're doing it for experience. But George, can I just give the punchline?

• 1:19George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 1:20Rachel Cruze?

  Was an Instacart shopper. Yes.

• 1:22George Kamel?

  Recently.

• 1:23Rachel Cruze?

  Was, like a month ago.

• 1:25George Kamel?

  Yeah, I signed up.

• 1:27Rachel Cruze?

  Because you're on Baby Step 7, so

• 1:29George Kamel?

  So, yeah, they're confused. Because generally, you'd be doing the side hustle to hit a short-term financial goal. We're trying to get out of debt, so I'm taking all the jobs I can. This was not the case with me. I did it for fun, like a sociopath. But here's what happened.

• 1:43Rachel Cruze?

  So part of it was motivation, though, because of the job you do. And we talk about side hustles a lot, right? So actually, you're a very selfless person.

• 1:50George Kamel?

  Thank you for saying that. You're the first.

• 1:53Rachel Cruze?

  And then also, tell us about the shopping experience.

• 1:55George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 1:55Rachel Cruze?

  How hard is an Instacart shopper?

• 1:57George Kamel?

  We might need all day to talk about it. Y'all, it is not for the faint of heart. It sounds, I was like, I can grocery shop. It's not that hard. Little did I know, I'd be at the Sprouts Bulk Bin at 9:30 at night, picking out licorice with a plastic tong, and they're all stuck together.

• 2:12Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, no!

• 2:12George Kamel?

  I had the most, every experience was horrific.

• 2:17George Kamel?

  Everyone had its own unique little challenge.

• 2:19Rachel Cruze?

  Oh no.

• 2:20George Kamel?

  I thought, oh, a prescription from Publix. This should be easy. I don't, I can just get the prescription, deliver the prescription. Nope, they have to be home to sign off legally. Otherwise, you go to jail.

• 2:31Rachel Cruze?

  Oh no.

• 2:32George Kamel?

  So I'm knocking on the door. Seven dogs are barking at me through the glass. I'm frightened for my life. I'm calling her, calling her. She's like, I'm at a concert. I'm like, well, lady, I can't give you the prescription unless you're home. She says, what do you mean? I need the prescription. I was like, oh, my gosh, is this lady gonna die on my watch? So then I'm like, I'm in a conundrum. So I go back to Publix.

• 2:51Rachel Cruze?

  It's a medical emergency.

• 2:52George Kamel?

  And I have to make it back to Publix Pharmacy to return it in time so that she can even pick it up in the morning.

• 2:57Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, no. Why did she do that, though? That's her fault.

• 3:00George Kamel?

  Thank you.

• 3:01Rachel Cruze?

  Americans.

• 3:02George Kamel?

  So there was just every, at every turn. And then it was like, I'm going to the nicest neighborhoods I've ever been into. I'm surprised they even let me in. Gated communities. I need to find a code. There's no, they didn't give me a code.

• 3:12Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, no.

• 3:13George Kamel?

  $3 tip, Rachel. $3 tip.

• 3:16Rachel Cruze?

  No.

• 3:17George Kamel?

  I'm lugging gallons of water.

• 3:18Rachel Cruze?

  Shame on you. I'm not about shame, but shame on you all in a gated community.

• 3:22George Kamel?

  And can I tell you?

• 3:23Rachel Cruze?

  That tipped $3 to little George.

• 3:24George Kamel?

  You know the community well, Rachel. It wasn't your neighborhood.

• 3:28Rachel Cruze?

  No, but it was the blank.

• 3:32George Kamel?

  A ritzy community. $3 tip for little old George lugging all those gallons of water.

• 3:37Rachel Cruze?

  That is terrible. Can I say? It makes me feel better. Cause I, we really don't Instacart anymore. I will do Costco. Cause sometimes I'm like, I don't have time on Saturdays to go and do my full run. So that is one time I will. But I do a percentage. And I do like a, like a 15, 20 percent. I mean, I, a lot of our bill goes through that tip.

• 3:53George Kamel?

  $3.

• 3:54Rachel Cruze?

  But you know what? I always get a, thank you for the great tip. And I remember being like, okay, okay. Until I heard your story that people only tip $3.

• 4:01George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 4:01Rachel Cruze?

  Now, did you?

• 4:02George Kamel?

  That happened multiple times.

• 4:03Rachel Cruze?

  Did you just pick them up like a thing of bananas?

• 4:05George Kamel?

  No, I'm, I'm telling you, there was gallons upon gallons of waters and, I mean, I had to make multiple trips to the trunk just to carry this stuff.

• 4:12Rachel Cruze?

  So bad.

• 4:13George Kamel?

  One of the, my last Instacart run, $0 tip.

• 4:17Rachel Cruze?

  No, they didn't even tip you.

• 4:18George Kamel?

  $0, and this was like, I'm texting back and forth.

• 4:20Rachel Cruze?

  Will they pay you, though, like an hourly thing? Or is it strictly just tips?

• 4:23George Kamel?

  So you get, you get paid for the trip, which is minimal. And then you also get tipped on top of that. And there can be bonuses that based on the time of day and peak hours and all that. So I'll tell you what I made over doing this. I counted the hours. I did five total hours. I made $149. Not in one day, over the course of a week or two.

• 4:41Rachel Cruze?

  But five hours.

• 4:42George Kamel?

  Five total hours.

• 4:42Rachel Cruze?

  You made this sound like a 48 hour. Deal.

• 4:46George Kamel?

  No, I was doing this for about a week or two.

• 4:48Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, five hours and how much, sorry?

• 4:50George Kamel?

  A hundred and forty-nine dollars.

• 4:52Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 4:52George Kamel?

  And they guaranteed, like, hey, you'll do seven trips, you're guaranteed to make a hundred bucks on those seven trips.

• 4:58Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 4:58George Kamel?

  And so I didn't even hit the minimum and they ended up giving me the full amount.

• 5:02Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 5:02George Kamel?

  Plus tips. And I did get a secret tip from the lady about the prescription because she felt really bad.

• 5:07Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, that's sweet.

• 5:08George Kamel?

  She insisted.

• 5:09Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, that's fair.

• 5:10George Kamel?

  So, yeah.

• 5:10Rachel Cruze?

  Uh, kid, do you recommend it?

• 5:13George Kamel?

  Here's the good part, didn't have to deal with like people in my vehicle, right? So if that's you.

• 5:18Rachel Cruze?

  Like Uber or something, yeah.

• 5:20George Kamel?

  Uber, there's like strangers getting in and out of your car, I get the, especially for ladies, that would make me uncomfortable. I don't want my wife out there, you know, picking up strangers. So, in that regard, it's better. Because it's kind of on your own time, you know, you're in a Kroger at nine-thirty at night, just going, hey, man, they're out of Diet Starry, is Diet Sprite, you know, like, you're dealing with all the, what's out of stock in the store, you're hoping they get back to you in time. So it was kind of annoying and stressful.

• 5:45Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 5:45George Kamel?

  Well, I realized, like, I'm a good shopper, like, I would never ask someone to go, I was in the bulk bin scooping rice, weighing it to get exactly one pound of wild rice for them.

• 5:54Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, shoot, yes.

• 5:55George Kamel?

  Exactly one pound of red licorice. And I thought, what psychopath, are they doing this to torture me? Do they know it's me specifically on the other end?

• 6:02Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, man.

• 6:03George Kamel?

  So it ended up being about thirty bucks an hour.

• 6:05Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 6:06George Kamel?

  To that, I say, that's a good side hustle. Thirty bucks an hour, that's...

• 6:10Rachel Cruze?

  But it's work.

• 6:11George Kamel?

  But it is work.

• 6:12Rachel Cruze?

  Which is a job.

• 6:13George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 6:13Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 6:14George Kamel?

  And that's before, you know, that's not counting the wear and tear in the vehicle, the gas, whatever.

• 6:18Rachel Cruze?

  That's right.

• 6:19George Kamel?

  I drive an electric car, the gas was not a problem for me.

• 6:21Rachel Cruze?

  Yep, yep.

• 6:22George Kamel?

  But it was work. And every time I left the house, my wife was like, why are you doing this again? I'm like, for fun slash content, listen.

• 6:30George Kamel?

  It really was just an experiment.

• 6:32Rachel Cruze?

  No, I think, and I appreciate that, good for you, George.

• 6:34George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 6:35Rachel Cruze?

  You know?

• 6:35George Kamel?

  I'm willing to do the work.

• 6:36Rachel Cruze?

  So, yeah, I mean, the truth is, some jobs require more of you, some you're gonna make more money than others, but it's understanding, like, your time is money.

• 6:43George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 6:43Rachel Cruze?

  So where's your time better spent? I think it's a whole strategic play of all of this.

• 6:47George Kamel?

  And I found that the more you're willing to get out there and bust your butt, the more you're gonna make. You can take surveys at home and make four cents, you know, for every survey, or you can go do Instacart and, you know, have a little grief, but make thirty bucks an hour.

• 7:01Rachel Cruze?

  That's so good. I know, and I hate to say it, George, you have more life experience than me in this arena. I mean, I can go back to like... High school, college days. I mean, I started at Ramsey right after college. So I feel like I've been in the like nine to five world for most of my.

• 7:13George Kamel?

  Yeah, you grew up fast.

• 7:14Rachel Cruze?

  For most of my life. No, but I think back even in high, in high school and stuff, I worked at Libby Lou. You know, the little boutique within.

• 7:21George Kamel?

  We didn't have this in Massachusetts, but in the South, this was a delicacy.

• 7:25Rachel Cruze?

  It was, yeah.

• 7:25George Kamel?

  What's the closest store you can think of that's mainstream?

• 7:28Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, that's a good.

• 7:28George Kamel?

  It was like a limited to vibe?

• 7:32Rachel Cruze?

  It wasn't a clothing store. It was like a, it was like a Claire's that would do your hair and makeup, if you will.

• 7:37George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 7:37Rachel Cruze?

  Uh huh. But I'm not great at hair and makeup. And there I was.

• 7:41George Kamel?

  What are you doing here in makeup?

• 7:42Rachel Cruze?

  For little girls. They didn't care.

• 7:44George Kamel?

  Oh, it's for little girls?

• 7:45Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Totally, totally, totally.

• 7:46George Kamel?

  Got it.

• 7:47Rachel Cruze?

  But you know, you go work for the mall and then as like teenage Rachel, then you'd go babysit or start your own business or do whatever. And you do realize the cash flow, right? So I'm like, even as a teenager, you can start to understand, okay, where will I make more money? What's going to take more of my time, more of my effort? And, and I, yeah, and it shows. And I think with side hustling, we talk about it, getting out of debt. Um, when you have these big financial goals, this is what you want to do. But again, you don't want to waste your time. And if you have the skill set to be able to do some things that bring in some serious cash, that's what we want.

• 8:17George Kamel?

  Yep. And I've done some weird ones. Like when I was getting out of debt, I did the Nielsen people meter. You know what that is?

• 8:23Rachel Cruze?

  No.

• 8:23George Kamel?

  So they, they send you a little beeper.

• 8:25Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, I do know this.

• 8:27George Kamel?

  And you have to carry the beeper and have it on.

• 8:29Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 8:29George Kamel?

  And it's listening to all the media you're engaging in, radio, TV, movies, whatever. And that's how Nielsen gets its ratings. When they say, hey, we had high Nielsen ratings because 30 million people watched this. That's how they're, they're basing it off of households like mine.

• 8:42Rachel Cruze?

  Just like you.

• 8:42George Kamel?

  So I'd carry it and they would give me like, I don't know, 30 bucks a month.

• 8:45Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 8:46George Kamel?

  You know, stuff like that. I was also doing music at the time. So I would make money from streaming. Uh, I would sell my music to be used in films, like wedding films. You know, if your church is making a video, you can pay to license my song.

• 8:58Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 8:58George Kamel?

  So I'd make some money there.

• 8:59Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 8:59George Kamel?

  I got a few big hits. Ford used my, two of my songs for their YouTube channel.

• 9:04Rachel Cruze?

  No. No way.

• 9:06George Kamel?

  They were legit. I got an email and I was like, hey, uh, it's, it might be not good enough for you, but you, are you okay with 2,500 bucks per song? For them. And I was like, yeah, we can make that work. Oh, I'm willing.

• 9:16Rachel Cruze?

  Should have been like 3,500.

• 9:18George Kamel?

  So I got like, you know, a few grand.

• 9:20Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. Did you make any after your skateboard videos on YouTube?

• 9:23George Kamel?

  Nobody, that's unlisted. That's for my eyes only, you know? No one needs to see 15 year old George shirtless.

• 9:29Rachel Cruze?

  13 year old kid that you showed recently. I'll never forget that story you told recently.

• 9:32George Kamel?

  That's true. I showed a random teenager skateboarding in the street. And I said, hey, man, I used to skate. Wanna watch my video? Forced him to watch all four and a half minutes of this. I realized afterwards, like this kid was probably just like stranger danger.

• 9:46Rachel Cruze?

  So good. Oh, my gosh.

• 9:47George Kamel?

  But yes, I used to make websites using Squarespace and I would charge, you know, authors and entrepreneurs and.

• 9:54Rachel Cruze?

  George, you've been holding back all your fun stories. I had no clue.

• 9:57George Kamel?

  I did marketing consulting for my friend's agency. I'd help launch podcasts and do branding work, all kinds of things to get out of debt.

• 10:03Rachel Cruze?

  What was your favorite?

• 10:04George Kamel?

  I think the marketing consulting, cause I was doing marketing at the time at Ramsey. So it was actually sharpening my skills here and helping me get better. So that's what I would tell anyone. If you have skills, you're going to enjoy it the most if you're able to use those skills to make good money. And sometimes it could turn into full-time side gig where you start your own business eventually.

• 10:23Rachel Cruze?

  Totally. Now, those feel like realistic side hustles. There are some floating around the internets, if you will, social media especially. You know, they're a little, they're a little too good to be true. Have you seen the laundromat one?

• 10:34George Kamel?

  Oh, yeah.

• 10:35Rachel Cruze?

  Like, oh, like buy a laundromat?

• 10:37George Kamel?

  They make it sound so easy, like just spend $10 and buy a laundromat and you'll make a bajillion dollars a month.

• 10:42Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, I know.

• 10:43George Kamel?

  And my friend recently bought a laundromat.

• 10:45Rachel Cruze?

  No, really?

• 10:46George Kamel?

  Him and his wife went in on it, maybe with someone else. And it's a lot of work. Well, I mean, he's, he's out there, you know, especially in the front end. They're having, you gotta fix the machines. It's not a like just super passive.

• 10:56Rachel Cruze?

  It's not a turnkey kind of thing.

• 10:57George Kamel?

  Yes. So hopefully, long-term, it's worth it for them, but it's, it's work.

• 11:01Rachel Cruze?

  It's a lot. Well, I'd say the same with investment properties. People that get into this, like, oh yeah, this will be great. We'll just make some money on the side. The rent and all of it.

• 11:08George Kamel?

  They'll pay the mortgage, Rachel. The tenants will pay.

• 11:11Rachel Cruze?

  You know, I was just talking to one of our writers about this and she just, she sold hers. Uh, cause she, yes, it was the same kind of thing. She like moved houses. She's like, well, I'll just rent it out. She was like, I rented out to some like sweet girls. And she's like, and I would get a text, I mean, every other day about something like we saw a cockroach. Can you call an exterminator? Um, the dishwasher broke this, that she was like, it, the amount of effort it took just like to keep up with it. And then, yeah, they pay, yeah, they pay the mortgage and then a little bit more. But then everything that was extra basically went back into the house. She's like, I made no extra money really.

• 11:44George Kamel?

  If you actually broke down the expenses, you'd be like, oh my gosh, we're kind of like breaking even. We're not really making a ton of money.

• 11:49Rachel Cruze?

  I mean, honestly, because with real estate, you make your money at the buy, keep it, and then it gets equity. And then you sell it in 20 years. But this whole idea of like month to month, like there's just, it ends up not being a ton, right? Versus on doing something else where you are making a ton of money. So it's a, it's a little too good to be true in that way.

• 12:07George Kamel?

  And it, it takes a lot of money. And if you're doing it largely with debt, you're putting yourself in this, in a serious bind. There's tons of risk by going, I'm gonna put nothing down on this.

• 12:15Rachel Cruze?

  They make it look so good.

• 12:17George Kamel?

  Well, yeah, of course. If you're selling it a course on how to invest in real estate, I'm gonna make it sound like

• 12:22Rachel Cruze?

  They all do, I know.

• 12:24George Kamel?

  Be like me. We retired at 23.

• 12:26Rachel Cruze?

  Three. We don't go into a job and we have millions.

• 12:29George Kamel?

  We're 15 million dollars in debt.

• 12:30Rachel Cruze?

  I know. And then I'm gonna get a little, I'm usually not sensitive about this stuff at all. But it does, like, this one does orc me. I'm like, you can comment about whatever, about my family. But when it's those people and they're like, Dave Ramsey with, Dave Ramsey's wrong. We're, and then they go into like, we're 17 million dollars in debt with six VRBOs and five rental properties. And we live in the beach in Hawaii and travel to Paris and all this stuff. But they use Dave as like probably clickbait, his name.

• 12:56George Kamel?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 12:56Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. And I'm just like, no, y'all, like, it's, it's not good. Not good. Not good long term.

• 13:01George Kamel?

  Not good.

• 13:02Rachel Cruze?

  Not as smart. Lots of risk. And we take calls on the Ramsey Show literally every day. With the last, um, show we hosted together.

• 13:09George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 13:09Rachel Cruze?

  Just like a few days ago. It was, wasn't it? Every call was like, lost my job. Um, a health scare. We had to move to go take care of my, like, life happens.

• 13:18George Kamel?

  Yeah. While, while things were going well, they took on a bunch of debt going, we can afford the payments.

• 13:22Rachel Cruze?

  It's fine. We can do this. We can do this.

• 13:23George Kamel?

  And then life happened and they're calling us going, what do we do? We can't afford the payments anymore.

• 13:27Rachel Cruze?

  Not good, George. Not good.

• 13:28George Kamel?

  Never go into debt for any side hustle. How's that for advice?

• 13:31Rachel Cruze?

  And you know, like, if you go back to like simpler times, honestly, you think about like going straight to the customer. And helping them with a service that's easy. Dog sitting, house sitting, babysitting.

• 13:43George Kamel?

  Yes, they're tried and true. And people are willing to pay good money in your own neighborhood.

• 13:47Rachel Cruze?

  And can I say this? I, I pay a good amount for babysitting.

• 13:51George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 13:52Rachel Cruze?

  Cause I do love a great babysitter. So I'm like, I will pay them well, or what I think as well. You know, and, and you watch your, you know, you watch a kid for four hours and you make more than Instacart. I mean, right? If you find a great family.

• 14:04George Kamel?

  Oh, a hundred percent.

• 14:05Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know. I'm telling you, it's the way to do it. Or house sitting. People will pay for you to just sleep at their house while they're gone.

• 14:11George Kamel?

  Watch things, feed the plants for me.

• 14:13Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, water those plants.

• 14:15George Kamel?

  Yeah. And dog sitting is a great one. I mean, you know, we pay a, a dog sitter when we're out of town. We do some doggy daycare at, at her house and she makes great money as a side hustle. And it's just fun money for her.

• 14:24Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, and there's some apps and stuff that you can find to like find families in your area. But honestly, I think that stuff is like, that's where you make some good money.

• 14:31George Kamel?

  So sometimes it's just, don't overthink it. The side hustle that's right in front of you might be the best one.

• 14:36Rachel Cruze?

  That's exactly right. Okay, so George, if you had to start over today, choose a totally different career. If you had like a completely different life than as a Ramsey personality, what would you be doing?

• 14:46George Kamel?

  Oh my gosh, okay, I'm trying to think of, I need lucrative job, low impact, high reward. I'm not the most athletic, so I don't want to do physical labor. So that takes out a lot of side jobs.

• 14:57Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 14:58George Kamel?

  I'm gonna use my brain. I'm gonna go consulting. I feel like consultants make a lot of money and you're like, what do you do though?

• 15:05Rachel Cruze?

  What do you do? I'm a business consultant. Uh huh.

• 15:07George Kamel?

  That's what I would do. And my Instagram bio would say entrepreneur slash consultant slash DJ probably.

• 15:15George Kamel?

  But I'd get gigs. I, at this juncture, but here's the thing, no one's gonna consult with a 23 year old, George.

• 15:21Rachel Cruze?

  No, but you now, with all your life experience?

• 15:22George Kamel?

  But now with all of my life experience, people would pay dozens of dollars.

• 15:26Rachel Cruze?

  Dozens of dollars to do that.

• 15:28George Kamel?

  But that, how about you?

• 15:29Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, uh.

• 15:30George Kamel?

  I'm trying to think of what you're good at. I'm struggling, I'm struggling, I'm kidding.

• 15:34Rachel Cruze?

  Here's, for, okay, so in my dream job, which would take me years to work up the ladder. So this wouldn't answer the question, but I'm gonna give you.

• 15:42George Kamel?

  You can still do it, Mary Kay's still around.

• 15:45George Kamel?

  I believe in you.

• 15:46Rachel Cruze?

  Oh my gosh.

• 15:46George Kamel?

  You're gonna get the Cadillac.

• 15:47Rachel Cruze?

  Is I would be some kind of political correspondent.

• 15:49George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 15:50Rachel Cruze?

  For a network. Like, it's always been like my side dream. Like, I would like follow campaigns around. I would be in the middle of everything. Uh, but that takes a while to get like a good slot.

• 15:59George Kamel?

  To build up.

• 16:00Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. But what I would do now is I wonder if I could start a, like a social media political account.

• 16:07George Kamel?

  Oh, like political news?

• 16:09Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. I don't know.

• 16:10George Kamel?

  But through an entertaining filter?

• 16:12Rachel Cruze?

  Get some political sponsors around, I know. Not political parties sponsoring, but...

• 16:16George Kamel?

  Would it be like a nonpartisan situation?

• 16:18Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, totally. Yeah, that's my thing. Cause I'm like, both sides. And I really do believe, I mean genuinely, I'm like, bring it both. Cause it's like, I'm gonna throw off both. So then, so then your pool is wider.

• 16:28George Kamel?

  Make everyone agree, yeah.

• 16:28Rachel Cruze?

  Right? You don't wanna be selective. Big pool people? Viewership? I don't know. What do you think?

• 16:34George Kamel?

  I think influencer would be an easier choice for you. I think you'd be great at that. You know, but can't you, like a mom influencer, you know? Of like, hey, like here's the...

• 16:41Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, you know, but all this combined, I followed around when I was at the inauguration for 24 hours and did a lot of stories, a lot of stories. I was very tired.

• 16:49George Kamel?

  I saw them all.

• 16:50Rachel Cruze?

  I was very tired.

• 16:51George Kamel?

  It's exhausting.

• 16:52Rachel Cruze?

  It's very tired.

• 16:53George Kamel?

  Yeah, can I just say, being an influencer is not easy. People imagine like, oh, you just get to do an Instagram post a day. Listen, you get that camera set up at 6 a.m. to get ready with me, that's work.

• 17:03Rachel Cruze?

  And I would say this. I would say this. I don't wanna, cause I follow, I know some influencers and they're wonderful people. Like, this is not a knock on that industry by any means. But you have to be a very disciplined person not to lose your soul. Because like literally y'all, I mean, like I'm getting my makeup done and I told, I've never done this before, but I was like, Winston, take my camera. You gotta take pictures of, like, we gotta, we gotta get this whole thing, like...

• 17:25George Kamel?

  Oh, no.

• 17:26Rachel Cruze?

  Cause you gotta involve your fam, like, do you know what I mean? Like, if you're...

• 17:29George Kamel?

  Takes a village.

• 17:30Rachel Cruze?

  And your, your money is, your, like, the money you're making is dependent upon that? Of your own personal life?

• 17:39Rachel Cruze?

  I'm having like a panic attack right now thinking about it.

• 17:41George Kamel?

  Well, then TikTok's like, hey, we may not exist anymore. And you're like, well, there goes half my income.

• 17:45Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, and then that's right. Y'all, George.

• 17:49George Kamel?

  I'm not for it.

• 17:50Rachel Cruze?

  Just keep, please watch Smart Money Happy Hour. Let us keep doing our jobs.

• 17:55George Kamel?

  I will say, I did Uber and Lyft for a while while I was getting out of debt, too. I did both of those.

• 17:59Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 17:59George Kamel?

  And it wasn't the worst. I just found that I didn't want to go out late at night, even though that's when the money's to be made, because I didn't want to deal with inebriated people.

• 18:06Rachel Cruze?

  I agree, yeah.

• 18:07George Kamel?

  You know, and I gotta tell, hey, can you not bring that Miller Lite into my car? Please.

• 18:12Rachel Cruze?

  That Bush Light, that can?

• 18:14George Kamel?

  On Broadway in Nashville at 11 o'clock. That's when I kind of was like, I think I'm done with this.

• 18:18Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 18:19George Kamel?

  You know?

• 18:19Rachel Cruze?

  It's a brave soul to go down there.

• 18:20George Kamel?

  Thank you. But that's when people do rides.

• 18:23Rachel Cruze?

  Not you, not you, the people that do it.

• 18:24George Kamel?

  I'm so brave. Honestly, Broadway is my worst nightmare, so the fact that I went there for fun, to make money.

• 18:32Rachel Cruze?

  Terrible.

• 18:33George Kamel?

  Attracts.

• 18:33Rachel Cruze?

  Terrible. Yeah, well, you know, what else I feel like is so important, though, is because when you are online, you're doing Uber, Instacart, like so much money is made online, like we're talking about. And also, all of our information is online. And so protecting that is so key. That's why I love and use, you love and use Delete Me.

• 18:53George Kamel?

  Yes.

• 18:54Rachel Cruze?

  Because it's a service that goes in and removes all of your information. So, I mean, your job history, your email addresses, phone numbers, names. I mean, it's just crazy what is out there on the internet. And Delete Me goes in and removes all your information from data broker websites that sell that data to other companies and make money off of you. So Delete Me goes and removes all of it.

• 19:13George Kamel?

  Yeah, I was just harkening back to when I was a victim of fraud way back in the day, before Delete Me existed, probably. And I just think if I had Delete Me, I wonder if it would have happened.

• 19:21Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 19:22George Kamel?

  If they had deleted my address off the web and all, you know, they had everything. They had all of my information. So Delete Me really helped me sleep better at night. And it's a great thing for you, for the family. They have really affordable plans, and it is worth every penny.

• 19:35Rachel Cruze?

  Yep, so good.

• 19:36George Kamel?

  Go check them out. Go to joindelete.me/smartmoney. They're giving our listeners 20% off any of their plans. That's a deal.

• 19:43Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, and their plans start as low as like $9 a month.

• 19:45George Kamel?

  I guess we'll put the link in the description as well. Let's do that for the people. Make it easy on them. Who wants to remember a link?

• 19:50Rachel Cruze?

  Convenience, that's what we're looking for. So yeah, we tell people a lot to get their income up, especially you know, when they are getting out of debt, getting an emergency fund, these like short-term money goals, which is really key. And you know, at Ramsey, we have some other resources that kind of help get that ball rolling to find some extra margin. Uh, one of those is the Every Dollar Budgeting app. Like when you're budgeting and you know where your money is actually going, you find more margin faster doing it versus just living kind of like on a whim. Uh, and then also the 24 hour money challenge. So this is a great one too. So we'll put all these links down below for you to do. Um, because that one, it really expands to, to look at your whole money picture to say, okay, where are you overspending, underspending, like looking

• 20:35Rachel Cruze?

  at everything to find margin.

• 20:36George Kamel?

  In 24 hours.

• 20:37Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 20:37George Kamel?

  A short amount of time, just quick wins.

• 20:40Rachel Cruze?

  Some quick wins.

• 20:40George Kamel?

  So go check that out for sure.

• 20:42Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. But if you are looking to increase your income with the side hustle, there's some factors that you need to think about.

• 20:48George Kamel?

  Yes. So some people have a lot of skills in their resume. Others have very niche, more limited skills that you may not be able to use. And so knowing this, we created a side hustle quiz to help people determine what kind of part-time work, side hustles might make sense for them, their money goals, how much time they have. And so we've, we kind of put it into different buckets. There's the high skill, high time. I got a lot of skills and a lot of time to do it. There's high skill, low time. And then there's limited skill, high time, and finally, limited skill, low time.

• 21:16Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 21:16George Kamel?

  And so there's something for everyone out there. And we did this quiz for ourselves because we walk the walk, Rachel. Can we share our results?

• 21:23Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 21:24George Kamel?

  I think it's very telling, very telling when we see the results.

• 21:26Rachel Cruze?

  This is really good, actually. Yep. So.

• 21:29George Kamel?

  So you kind of get like a, a character.

• 21:32Rachel Cruze?

  And it's a, and it's a, it's a quiz that will take probably what, three to four minutes?

• 21:36George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 21:36Rachel Cruze?

  So yeah, so it's, it helps you, but you gotta, you gotta take that quiz. Um, so mine, I ended up in the professional segment. Where did you end up?

• 21:44George Kamel?

  Must be nice. I got the limited edition because I have a lot of talent to offer, but I'm also very busy. Very busy.

• 21:52Rachel Cruze?

  Okay. So for me, my in-person side hustles, consulting, George.

• 21:57George Kamel?

  You're living my dream?

• 21:58Rachel Cruze?

  Uh, nannying for me. Such a good mom.

• 22:01George Kamel?

  Can you imagine?

• 22:01Rachel Cruze?

  My gosh. Uh, event planning.

• 22:05Rachel Cruze?

  I wish it said slash travel agent, I would.

• 22:07George Kamel?

  I could actually see you though, planning like luxury weddings.

• 22:10Rachel Cruze?

  I could do, yeah, the, the event planning, I don't know, luxury travel.

• 22:15George Kamel?

  Alright.

• 22:15Rachel Cruze?

  All day.

• 22:16George Kamel?

  That fits in that category.

• 22:17Rachel Cruze?

  All day. Um, and then working part-time, like exploring just a new career path. So my at-home side hustles, teaching English, and they even give you a link, um, to a company you can sign up to help you get started, which is great.

• 22:30George Kamel?

  Love it.

• 22:30Rachel Cruze?

  Freelancing, um, and then starting your own online business. So this would be fun. Trying to do something like, um, like an Etsy or a course or something, I don't know.

• 22:41George Kamel?

  I'm into it. Okay, I got the limited edition.

• 22:43Rachel Cruze?

  A course, I can't do a course, you'd make fun of me for a course.

• 22:45George Kamel?

  I wouldn't make fun of you. If it was a course for something useful.

• 22:47Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, that's fair.

• 22:48George Kamel?

  You know, just not a course on how to make money doing courses, then I would make fun of you.

• 22:52Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 22:53George Kamel?

  You know what I mean? But if it was like how to rearrange your closet and, you know, live the life you love and dress accordingly on a budget, I'd be like, yeah, that's great. You could walk people through.

• 23:02Rachel Cruze?

  Thanks George, you're good at marketing.

• 23:05George Kamel?

  That was just, I'm just spitballing. That one's free. So I did get the limited edition, cause I am very busy, but very talented. In-person side hustles. This, these are so funny, cause it could not be further from the truth for me.

• 23:19Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 23:20George Kamel?

  First one, indoor/outdoor home maintenance and repair.

• 23:24George Kamel?

  Hey, to be fair though, I am good at like, like, I could get, you know what I could do? Smart home. I could get you a smart home.

• 23:32Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, that is true. You could.

• 23:33George Kamel?

  Pick the right products. I will not install the doorbell, but I can help you choose the right doorbell and get your app running, going. You know, getting it connected to the wifi, all that stuff.

• 23:41Rachel Cruze?

  My toilet's making weird noises. George is like, I don't know.

• 23:44George Kamel?

  Find an app for that.

• 23:45Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know.

• 23:46George Kamel?

  That's a fun one. Another one, also, I would be great at, babysitting.

• 23:51Rachel Cruze?

  I got nanny, you got babysitting.

• 23:52George Kamel?

  Listen, kids think I'm cool. So I, I just like, hey.

• 23:55Rachel Cruze?

  You know what? You drew pictures with Amelia like three years ago. She still remembers that.

• 23:59George Kamel?

  She remembers. I did draw pictures with her during a live event.

• 24:02Rachel Cruze?

  At a random event?

• 24:03George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 24:03Rachel Cruze?

  George got on the floor with her and they were like drawing pictures together and she still talks about it.

• 24:06George Kamel?

  We had a competition, who could draw.

• 24:07Rachel Cruze?

  She's like, there's George.

• 24:08George Kamel?

  It was who could draw a better horse.

• 24:09Rachel Cruze?

  Ah.

• 24:11George Kamel?

  She won. I let her win, but she did win.

• 24:16George Kamel?

  Let's not do that one. Photography, I am good. That's something that was a love of mine.

• 24:19Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 24:20George Kamel?

  Is photography, film, and so I have some nice cameras. I could do that on the side for sure. And then at-home side hustles, freelancing, which I've done a lot of, tutoring. So I could use online tutoring sites to do that, and transcribing. I am a good typer. Like, do you ever use Mavis Beacon Teachers Typing? Remember that software? I think my dad got it for me. He's in the crowd today. Shouting out to the crowd, "Hey!"

• 24:41Rachel Cruze?

  Hey!

• 24:42George Kamel?

  Yeah, I always loved to, you could try to work on your words per minute, and it would also track accuracy.

• 24:46Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. What was it called?

• 24:48George Kamel?

  Mavis Beacon Teachers Typing. If you know, you know.

• 24:51Rachel Cruze?

  Was it yellow? Was the box? Do you remember when our computer softwares or games would come in a box, y'all? And you would open the box and take the disc out and put it in? Do you remember that? Is that what you're talking about?

• 25:03George Kamel?

  Um, this was, uh, this was-

• 25:04Rachel Cruze?

  Show me, show it to me, because this could be a-

• 25:06George Kamel?

  Okay, they'll put it on the screen as well, editors, but this was my-

• 25:09Rachel Cruze?

  Oh!

• 25:09George Kamel?

  She looks AI now, looking back. I don't think she was real.

• 25:12Rachel Cruze?

  She does look AI.

• 25:13George Kamel?

  Yeah, I don't think that's a real person, but... Maybe she isn't, she's just perfect and beautiful. I don't know. But yeah, Mavis Beacon is the one who taught me how to type.

• 25:21Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 25:22George Kamel?

  So go take it for yourself. Can I just say that? Go take the quiz and let us know in the comments-

• 25:26Rachel Cruze?

  For sure, yes.

• 25:26George Kamel?

  What you got as your results.

• 25:28Rachel Cruze?

  And you know what? While you're taking the quiz, you should be comfortable while you're taking that quiz in your Cozy Earth PJs.

• 25:35George Kamel?

  I wish being cozy was a side hustle. I had crush-

• 25:37Rachel Cruze?

  I would crush it, make so much money, especially with Cozy Earth.

• 25:40George Kamel?

  We could be models for Cozy Earth.

• 25:42Rachel Cruze?

  We should, legitimately.

• 25:44George Kamel?

  We're available.

• 25:45Rachel Cruze?

  I have so much Cozy Earth stuff now at our house. I mean, I really do.

• 25:48George Kamel?

  That you could be a mom.

• 25:49Rachel Cruze?

  And I've been giving it as gifts now, because it's literally like, it's some of my favorite stuff. Because it feels like such good quality. I know if I'm giving it to someone, I'm like, "You're gonna love it." Uh, but the pajamas, joggers, I'm, I'll always shout out the socks. Once I bought the socks.

• 26:02George Kamel?

  I need to try out the socks.

• 26:03Rachel Cruze?

  One foot says cozy, one foot says Earth on the top.

• 26:06George Kamel?

  I love it.

• 26:07Rachel Cruze?

  So good, it's so great.

• 26:08George Kamel?

  So classy. So go check out their products. They're giving our listeners and viewers up to 40% off when you use the promo code SMARTMONEY at checkout. And they really do make just wonderful products.

• 26:19Rachel Cruze?

  They do, from blankets, sheets.

• 26:20George Kamel?

  I need to get my own PJ set. I got my wife one, and now I'm a little jealous, because her new thing is to live in PJ sets. Every night, a new PJ set.

• 26:28Rachel Cruze?

  Ah.

• 26:28George Kamel?

  I'm out here in my Kirkland sweatpants and an old t-shirt.

• 26:31Rachel Cruze?

  What are you doing?

• 26:32George Kamel?

  I gotta live a little.

• 26:33Rachel Cruze?

  Well, it's funny because my Cozy Earth PJs are my navy ones. And I, and it feels like sacred. I'm like, there's over there. And if like, if I feel gross at night, I'm not gonna show her. I don't wear them. Like, they're, they're only like, they're my good ones. You know what I mean? It's that feeling of like-

• 26:46George Kamel?

  Savor it.

• 26:46Rachel Cruze?

  They are. I know. They're special.

• 26:48George Kamel?

  CozyEarth.com, promo code SMARTMONEY. We'll link in the description as well.

• 26:52Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, so one of your favorite pastimes, not mine, is to go to Reddit.

• 26:56George Kamel?

  That feels like a veiled threat.

• 26:57Rachel Cruze?

  I've been to Reddit maybe twice in my whole life.

• 27:00George Kamel?

  Well, you're an American hero. I want you to know that. You're better than all of us.

• 27:04Rachel Cruze?

  Really, really doing well in life. Uh, and, but you can go there to find whatever you need to find. So we typed in like crazy side hustles on Reddit. And there's some, there's some funny ones, y'all.

• 27:16George Kamel?

  Okay, we're gonna rate these, one, one to 10.

• 27:18Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 27:18George Kamel?

  Odd jobs from Craigslist. Here's the quote, "I've done everything from local fruit delivery to working a dinosaur exposition." That's a 10 for me.

• 27:26Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, for sure. Charles, this is what my son will do. He will do a dinosaur exposition. That's amazing. Well done.

• 27:33George Kamel?

  What is the exposition part?

• 27:34Rachel Cruze?

  I bet you're touring like a place where dinosaur fossils were found in Denver, which-

• 27:40George Kamel?

  Not that you've ever done that. Not that it was a terrible experience.

• 27:44Rachel Cruze?

  We went on a dinosaur tour in Denver, y'all. Supposedly it was where the first, um, oh shoot, stegosaurus was found on Earth. And it's my son's favorite dinosaur. So we bought-

• 27:55George Kamel?

  You're telling me geographically, in the entire world?

• 27:58Rachel Cruze?

  Google it. That's what they claim, in Denver. Yes.

• 28:01George Kamel?

  The first stego found in Denver.

• 28:02Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, yes. And then they, and then it's a little bait and switch, you know? Because they're like, come see a stegosaurus. So we're like, you know what? We'll pay for it. Because it was a good setup. It's right by the red rocks in Denver. I'm like, okay, and I, if you work for this company, it's great. It's fine. I don't wanna bash them.

• 28:23George Kamel?

  It's not your Yelp review.

• 28:24Rachel Cruze?

  But you go. And then they're like, look at the side of this rock. Do you see all the footprints? Y'all?

• 28:31George Kamel?

  There is no footprints.

• 28:32Rachel Cruze?

  It's just a rock. And you're like, yeah.

• 28:35George Kamel?

  And that's where Jesus carried the dinosaur.

• 28:37Rachel Cruze?

  And they have.

• 28:38George Kamel?

  That's, you don't see it. He was carrying the dinosaur.

• 28:41Rachel Cruze?

  And then you go through an hour tour and you stop at all these things that are kinda eh. And then finally, they're like, do you wanna see bones from a stegosaurus? And once they're like, thank God, yes. Yes, we do. And you expect like a-

• 28:54George Kamel?

  A full stego.

• 28:57Rachel Cruze?

  Nope.

• 28:57George Kamel?

  It's not, just a bone.

• 28:58Rachel Cruze?

  It's another rock with a thing sticking out.

• 29:01George Kamel?

  Confossilized.

• 29:01Rachel Cruze?

  And they're just like, there's the leg, you know, the, mm, you know.

• 29:06George Kamel?

  That's so sad.

• 29:07Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, how about this, creating online resources. I developed a WordPress plugin to solve an issue I faced. Uploaded it and made it public for others, added a donation link, was making fifty to a hundred dollars a month, realized a lot of people were using it, spent more time on it, added more features and detailed support, and eventually launched the pro version. And it recently, oh my gosh, crossed a three hundred thousand dollars in lifetime revenue.

• 29:32George Kamel?

  That's amazing.

• 29:33Rachel Cruze?

  Good night.

• 29:34George Kamel?

  Way to go. And as someone who's used WordPress, it is the worst. And you need seventeen plugins to make your website work. And if someone tweaks one plugin, your entire website crashes.

• 29:44Rachel Cruze?

  Not good.

• 29:44George Kamel?

  So God bless the, you know, he was like, hey, I'm gonna, I'm gonna solve this problem. Or she. Where my women developers out there, where you at? Make some noise.

• 29:54George Kamel?

  All right, here's another one, reselling vintage t-shirts. Buying and reselling novelty t-shirts, within a week I was making nine hundred percent profit. So I guess you can go to like, you know, a Goodwill or something and find an old Led Zeppelin shirt and then resell it on eBay for five times what you paid for it.

• 30:10Rachel Cruze?

  Yep, I would not be good at that. I would be good at this next one, though, selling homemade salsa at my farmer's market. It's been very lucrative and I feel so connected to my community, this person says. I make homemade salsa. Did you know this about me?

• 30:21George Kamel?

  You made homemade?

• 30:22Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, I do. That was a Sharon Ramsey thing. She does not buy jarred salsa.

• 30:25George Kamel?

  So you're getting like the tomatillos, you're roasting them, you're putting them in the blender.

• 30:29Rachel Cruze?

  No, for the green salsa, salsa verde, you do that. No, but for the other ones, it's just like, it's tomatoes, onion, jalapeno, garlic, a little bit of tomato sauce, if you kind of want to make it a little bit thicker, some cumin, salt and pepper.

• 30:41George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 30:42Rachel Cruze?

  And it's great, but it's very fast, in the blender, put it in a mason jar.

• 30:46George Kamel?

  So you're never buying Tostitos salsa?

• 30:48Rachel Cruze?

  I do sometimes now, don't tell Sharon. But, but it's a, but salsa's an easy thing to make, and if people love it, selling it, it's great.

• 30:55George Kamel?

  I'd just rather go to a Mexican restaurant, you know, support a local business, Rachel.

• 30:58Rachel Cruze?

  Oh my gosh.

• 31:00George Kamel?

  There you go. Here's another one. Making lava rock aquarium ornaments. Not on my bingo card, but all of those words together. It just kept getting more insane. Like making lava, okay, making lava, lava rock, lava rock aquarium, followed by ornaments. It got cra- brings in 400 to 700 bucks a month.

• 31:19Rachel Cruze?

  Good night.

• 31:20George Kamel?

  Which tells you, there's a lot of people out there.

• 31:22Rachel Cruze?

  Looking for rock aquarium ornaments.

• 31:26George Kamel?

  I don't even know what that would look like.

• 31:27Rachel Cruze?

  Is that, no, that's not Christmas ornaments on the tree.

• 31:30George Kamel?

  That's what I'm wondering. Is it like things you put in the tank to make it cuter for the fish?

• 31:35Rachel Cruze?

  Oh.

• 31:36George Kamel?

  It's all about aesthetics.

• 31:37Rachel Cruze?

  That's it.

• 31:38George Kamel?

  In the aquarium world.

• 31:39Rachel Cruze?

  Uh, woodworking, you know, you can build, gosh, you know, workbenches, tables, all of it, and you could make $50,000 in three years. This person did.

• 31:47George Kamel?

  That's not bad for a side hustle. And to be fair, one of the most ancient side hustles. I mean, Jesus was out there, you know? Here's another one for you I think you'd be great at. With your music knowledge, DJing. This person said, brings in 400 bucks a month. That's not bad. You could, you know, we have some friends here who DJ, and you can make great money, weddings, parties, and as long as you have a good playlist.

• 32:09Rachel Cruze?

  I would be the app, y'all, I would be the worst DJ.

• 32:12George Kamel?

  Just find, literally. Search on Spotify for wedding playlist and hit play.

• 32:18Rachel Cruze?

  Oh my gosh.

• 32:19George Kamel?

  You could do that.

• 32:20Rachel Cruze?

  I'm, yeah, we were talking about the Grammys earlier today with the team. I'm like, I don't know any, I know no one. Literally, my Spotify is the goodness of God and Taylor Swift. That's like all, it's all it's on. I love the goodness of God. I love that song by Bethel. So good.

• 32:34George Kamel?

  You gotta get into that theology. There's a lot that went on there and yet not enough. You know what I mean? It's only two, so it's either like worship music or Taylor Swift. There's no in-between.

• 32:45Rachel Cruze?

  I mean, sometimes in Christ alone, if I'm feeling like old school, but like, it's the goodness of God. And then, yeah.

• 32:52George Kamel?

  So your Spotify rap was real sad. It was like, you need a life.

• 32:56Rachel Cruze?

  All I do is listen to Audible in my car. I don't listen to music.

• 32:59George Kamel?

  Okay, you're a better person than us. We get it.

• 33:01Rachel Cruze?

  No, I was just like.

• 33:02George Kamel?

  I'm constantly learning.

• 33:03Rachel Cruze?

  No, my books are about murder and kidnapping and yeah, it's not good. Like, my books aren't great.

• 33:08George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 33:08Rachel Cruze?

  Definitely more in the Taylor Swift genre than the goodness of God.

• 33:11George Kamel?

  Yeah, what is your favorite genre of music, would you say?

• 33:16George Kamel?

  Pop?

• 33:18Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 33:20George Kamel?

  You said it like I validated you after years of struggle.

• 33:23Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, it is pop. You know what?

• 33:26George Kamel?

  That's fine.

• 33:26Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I mean, um, I mean, I, gosh, it's such a hard question. I don't, I don't know. Yes, I think, I think it would be like, like, give me a 2003 playlist and that is my happy spot.

• 33:39George Kamel?

  Okay, so now that's what I call music 2003.

• 33:43Rachel Cruze?

  I would be so happy with that. Yeah.

• 33:44George Kamel?

  That's what I'm getting you for Christmas.

• 33:46Rachel Cruze?

  Like, give me like, yeah, give me like a Sister Hazel, like a, yeah, that genre.

• 33:52George Kamel?

  Because 20 years ago was the last time you listened to anything relevant. Got it. Okay. That helps me.

• 33:57Rachel Cruze?

  I know.

• 33:58George Kamel?

  Give us one more, Rachel, why don't you?

• 33:59Rachel Cruze?

  All right, how about, um, contract furniture assembly? And this is a good one. So this person made a thousand dollars a week to show up with a fancy drill. And yeah, basically just put together some Wayfair stuff for customers and made a thousand dollars a week. Now, I would pay for this legitimately.

• 34:16George Kamel?

  Yeah, and I love their end quote. I had no idea people were so scared of putting their own furniture together. That's real talk.

• 34:21Rachel Cruze?

  Make some money that way.

• 34:23George Kamel?

  If I'm sitting on it, in it, my kids are in it, I need that thing built well. And I built a playset for, for my daughter. It took two of us, I think, two hours. It's exhausting.

• 34:32Rachel Cruze?

  Have you done a kitchen, one of those kitchens for Mia yet?

• 34:34George Kamel?

  No, I'm too scared.

• 34:35Rachel Cruze?

  You're about, oh.

• 34:36George Kamel?

  I will hire a handyman.

• 34:37Rachel Cruze?

  Don't do it at Christmas Eve.

• 34:38George Kamel?

  Will Winston help me?

• 34:39Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. Winston's great at putting stuff together.

• 34:42George Kamel?

  But he doesn't enjoy it. He's just good at it.

• 34:44Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 34:45George Kamel?

  Especially if it's for someone else.

• 34:46Rachel Cruze?

  He would help you, George. He likes you.

• 34:50George Kamel?

  I love how real that got. Like, he would help. This is charity for him. He would do it.

• 34:54Rachel Cruze?

  He would, he would help you, George.

• 34:55George Kamel?

  He would take ministry time for it, but he would do it. Okay.

• 34:59Rachel Cruze?

  He would do it.

• 34:59George Kamel?

  That was fun. We didn't rate those, but I'm giving those all 10s. I think they're all interesting.

• 35:03Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, yeah, from lava rock aquariums to homemade salsa. These are all great ones.

• 35:09George Kamel?

  They all involve things that you're interested in and/or good at.

• 35:12Rachel Cruze?

  That's what I was gonna say. Find something that you enjoy, right? And then you can make some great money.

• 35:17George Kamel?

  I thought I enjoyed grocery shopping until I was knee deep in the bulk bin counting wild rice.

• 35:24George Kamel?

  Just single, just going, "0.98, I gotta get to a pound or else, I don't know, they're gonna report me to the police."

• 35:31Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know what to do. Oh, George, God bless the side hustles.

• 35:35George Kamel?

  Just remember, here's, here's the end quote, "When you're working toward a money goal, remember, everything is just for a season." It's not your whole life.

• 35:40Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, that's right.

• 35:41George Kamel?

  So when it's miserable, remember the why. Remember why you're doing this. "I'm gonna get out of debt once and for all. I never want a side hustle again." That's a perfectly reasonable goal.

• 35:49Rachel Cruze?

  Yep, I love it. All right, so before we get into Guilty as Charged, uh, this was a great drink.

• 35:56George Kamel?

  Killer drink.

• 35:57Rachel Cruze?

  I liked it.

• 35:58George Kamel?

  We've had some, some duds lately, so I'm happy to say, this one's a 10 out of 10 for me. It's called the Kentucky Colonel. What's your rating?

• 36:04Rachel Cruze?

  I'm going 10 out of 10.

• 36:06George Kamel?

  It cannot be improved.

• 36:07Rachel Cruze?

  Is this a drink you could go to like a normal bar and order? I always wonder with some of these, cause if they're like-

• 36:11George Kamel?

  Here's what's gonna shock you. Two ingredients in this drink.

• 36:14Rachel Cruze?

  No, stop it.

• 36:16George Kamel?

  One of them, bourbon.

• 36:17Rachel Cruze?

  Well, yeah, I would guess that.

• 36:20George Kamel?

  That means there's only one other ingredient, Rachel, if you're doing the math at home, which is Benedictine DOM liqueur.

• 36:26Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 36:27George Kamel?

  So just kind of an herbal liqueur in there, but it really comes together and there is an expressed lemon peel. If you wanna really go for it, express a little lemon peel over it and drop it in there. Comes out to $3.12. I assume we use some nice, high-quality bourbon in here. You do you. Recipes in the show notes. This is, I'm gonna say it right now, my favorite two-ingredient drink of all time.

• 36:48Rachel Cruze?

  I mean, two ingredients, that's, you can't, you can't beat that. It's very impressive, very impressive. Do you think he stirs it or shakes it?

• 36:55George Kamel?

  This is a, oh gosh, what does he do? I think it's a stirred drink. Will can prove me wrong.

• 37:01Rachel Cruze?

  Stir it.

• 37:02George Kamel?

  It's a stirred drink.

• 37:03Rachel Cruze?

  Stir it together.

• 37:04George Kamel?

  Yeah, it's not like a margarita. We're not shaking this up. Don't ruin it.

• 37:07Rachel Cruze?

  So good, so good. All right, well now it's time for-

• 37:09George Kamel?

  Guilty as Charged.

• 37:12Rachel Cruze?

  And this is where our producer Kelly gives us a new Guilty as Charged question every week, and if we're guilty, we take a sip.

• 37:17Speaker 02

  All right, have you ever started a new job and knew immediately that it wasn't for you?

• 37:22George Kamel?

  Mmm, it can't be Ramsey. It's awkward. Don't mention that one. You're still here.

• 37:28Rachel Cruze?

  I've done some weird stuff at Ramsey, though, like, like, um, publishing, curriculum, sales on the phone. I've done a lot.

• 37:36George Kamel?

  Yeah, me, I've done a lot, too. I'm trying to think of the worst of the worst.

• 37:40Rachel Cruze?

  No, I'm gonna be honest.

• 37:42George Kamel?

  You've enjoyed them all. You had a great time.

• 37:44Rachel Cruze?

  No, no, no, I'm going, I'm gonna go back. Um, I think when I realized, like, okay, this would be, um-

• 37:53Rachel Cruze?

  Like I was, when I was working at Libby Lou, I remember this, this is so embarrassing. God, I'm gonna be judged by this, but this happens. I was working there, I worked there for probably a year, but during Christmas break, I took off a lot, cuz I was like, I'm a high schooler, and I got like this thing going, I have this thing at high school going, and I got a trip with my family, I got, I mean, all of this stuff, and the boss came up to me, and they were like, "You can't take this much time off."

• 38:24Rachel Cruze?

  And, "What, what do I do?" You know, I was like, "I, I don't know what to do, cuz I can't."

• 38:30George Kamel?

  Quit?

• 38:30Rachel Cruze?

  Nope, not go on the, on the family trip, I can't. In my head at the time, was like, "But my high school parties," and you know, that was the moment where I realized, you know,

• 38:39George Kamel?

  It's not for you.

• 38:40Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I don't know, I, I think I can make my own schedule babysitting, and do some other things.

• 38:46Rachel Cruze?

  So, yeah, that was a, that was a tough one.

• 38:48George Kamel?

  Wow. I've, I'm trying to think of the worst, I was auditing a bookstore, and I like counting inventory, was what I was doing, it was like a part-time side hustle, that was pretty miserable. I did IT work for my, uh, school over the summer, I would go and like, update all the computers, every single one.

• 39:05Rachel Cruze?

  In high school?

• 39:06George Kamel?

  This was a high school job, did that for a while, also miserable. But started a new job, I would say Urban Outfitters, I worked at a-

• 39:13Rachel Cruze?

  George, you have done so much in your life, I literally was like a babysitter-

• 39:17George Kamel?

  Doctor's office-

• 39:17Rachel Cruze?

  For maybe six months of my life, like, I'm like, "How have you done all of this stuff?"

• 39:22George Kamel?

  I was a doctor's office receptionist.

• 39:24Rachel Cruze?

  No, you-

• 39:25George Kamel?

  That was a fun one, cuz I was getting paid 12 bucks an hour.

• 39:28Rachel Cruze?

  How long have you been at these jobs?

• 39:29George Kamel?

  I'm 48 years old, Rachel. No, um-

• 39:34Rachel Cruze?

  Genuinely, I feel like I had the most boring childhood. I had your integrity snacks, I started a business.

• 39:38George Kamel?

  This is from like 15 to 23, I lived a lot of life, you know, and I moved states and all that, but my worst one, I'm gonna say, was Urban Outfitters. I got fired from the Apple Store. My parents remember this well, cuz I cried like a baby when I got fired, cuz I legit thought like, "This is my career." Like, "I gave my life to this," you know what I mean?

• 39:58Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 39:58George Kamel?

  I was a creative. I was training people how to use the... So I got fired from that, went to Urban Outfitters.

• 40:03Rachel Cruze?

  Why'd you get fired?

• 40:04George Kamel?

  Uh, really nerdy... No, it wasn't even... I wish it was juicier. I hacked a little Dell MacBook, you know, like you could get a little Dell computers, little minis. And the geniuses who fixed the computers were like, "Hey, get one, we'll hack it into a Mac for you." So you could have this little tiny Dell-

• 40:20Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, yeah.

• 40:20George Kamel?

  -that was like a MacBook.

• 40:21Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 40:22George Kamel?

  So anyways, apparently that was... They were trying to... They got new management, they were trying to do, fire a bunch of people. So a bunch of people got fired in like two weeks for random things. If you were late, you got fired. So anyways, mine was I... The software update that he did wasn't my copy of the license of the software update. And so they said that was a breach of something.

• 40:41Rachel Cruze?

  Wow.

• 40:41George Kamel?

  They fired both of us.

• 40:42Rachel Cruze?

  Wow.

• 40:43George Kamel?

  Crushed my dreams. I was making sixteen an hour. I was like, "This is amazing." I went to Urban Outfitters, was making eight dollars an hour, folding inside-out clothes, because people like Rachel would go in the fitting room, try ninety things, leave them all in a pile for little old George to clean up.

• 40:57Rachel Cruze?

  Stop.

• 40:58George Kamel?

  And here's where... I was there for three months total. Here was the final straw. Found a used feminine product on top of the mirror-

• 41:04Rachel Cruze?

  No.

• 41:04George Kamel?

  -because we had to check for tags-

• 41:05Rachel Cruze?

  No.

• 41:05George Kamel?

  -because people would steal stuff.

• 41:06Rachel Cruze?

  No.

• 41:07George Kamel?

  That was my...

• 41:08Rachel Cruze?

  No, stop it.

• 41:09George Kamel?

  That's when I moved south. I literally moved across the country after that. I moved to Mobile, Alabama, to start a new life after finding a used feminine product on top of the mirror-

• 41:20Rachel Cruze?

  Gross.

• 41:21George Kamel?

  -where people would put tags from when they ripped off the tags to steal clothes.

• 41:24Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, no, to steal.

• 41:25George Kamel?

  So we always had to check the top of the mirror, because that's where they would put the tags.

• 41:28Rachel Cruze?

  People stole stuff?

• 41:30George Kamel?

  Yeah. A lot of stuff. Lot of stuff. Surprise they're still in business with how much stuff people are stealing.

• 41:36Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, man.

• 41:38George Kamel?

  That was my, uh, that was my last foray at Urban Outfitters. But hey, forty percent off discount.

• 41:43Rachel Cruze?

  That my Libby Lewin is so sad. I was like, "I can't go to my high school parties."

• 41:47George Kamel?

  Wow, wow, wee, wah. My entire life was altered after that moment. Found out a lot.

• 41:54Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, man. Well, yeah, I can't, I mean, I don't, I don't know.

• 41:59George Kamel?

  Hard to enjoy a job after that, I think we can all agree.

• 42:01Rachel Cruze?

  I mean, that's, yeah, that's terrible, George. Wow, guilty.

• 42:05George Kamel?

  Thank you for the first time you've had empathy from me, by the way. It's really rare to see on this show.

• 42:10Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, man. Well, that was fun. Um, if you guys have any guilty as charged ideas, make sure to DM us on social.

• 42:18George Kamel?

  We love hearing them.

• 42:19Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, because you guys have actually some great ones. And if you don't want to miss a future episode, make sure to subscribe. And speaking of subscribing, George.

• 42:30George Kamel?

  We got something cool in the mail. Thanks to you guys, the faithful listeners and viewers out there. Hold it up, Rachel.

• 42:36Rachel Cruze?

  You got it? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Here we go. Here we go.

• 42:38George Kamel?

  Ba-ba-da-da.

• 42:39Rachel Cruze?

  Hundred thousand subscribers on Smart Money Happy Hour. Oh, it's a big deal. That's a big deal.

• 42:46George Kamel?

  It's a big milestone for any creator, YouTuber out there.

• 42:49Rachel Cruze?

  I mean, for people to get a thousand subscribers is like, that's a lot of work, you know? And a hundred thousand. So, thank you, guys.

• 42:55George Kamel?

  Thank you all for hitting that subscribe button. And, uh, you know, next time we do this, I think, is the million mark. So only 900,000 to go.

• 43:03Rachel Cruze?

  And now.

• 43:04George Kamel?

  It would be cool to do that in our lifetime on this show.

• 43:06Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, we'll see.

• 43:07George Kamel?

  So encourage your friends to go check out the show. And truly, it's one of the most fun things when we're out and about. People go, "I love Smart Money Happy Hour," specifically, out of all the things we do. And I think it's because it's sort of a nice gateway drug into the Ramsey universe. Because it's just, we're having a good time.

• 43:23Rachel Cruze?

  It's easy.

• 43:23George Kamel?

  And we do talk about money, but it's in a very casual way.

• 43:26Rachel Cruze?

  Money and dinosaurs, so we'll see. Well, if you guys enjoyed this episode, make sure to check out the next episode, Habits Wasting Your Time and Money in 2024. We'll link it down below. And we'll see you guys next Thursday on an all-new episode of

• 43:39George Kamel?

  Smart Money Happy Hour.