28, $4k in savings, feeling stuck – need some life advice
4 freeourdays 16 8/5/2025, 2:31:05 PM
Been working for 4 years, making about $45k. After expenses, I save maybe $500/month. Looking at my pathetic savings account, feels like I'm going nowhere fast.
Been thinking about quitting to start something, but honestly terrified of the risk. Also considering side hustles but no clue where to start.
Saw this story yesterday on TinyIdea about someone who went from side hustle to full-time entrepreneur, which got me thinking. But I'm pretty risk-averse by nature.
Questions for you all:
Any safe ways to increase income while keeping my day job? When is the "right time" to take the entrepreneurial leap? Any low-risk business ideas worth considering?
Feeling pretty lost right now. Any advice would be appreciated
Which, based on your submission history, is your site, which you have been self-promoting here for a couple weeks now.
I don't know why this type of self-promotion bugs me so much. You do a show HN, it doesn't get traction, so you keep posting more and more stuff from your site. Then post a question, and drop the name in there, which reads to me as: "Maybe this will get me some traffic."
All you need to do is put in a small disclaimer: "I saw on the site I run, TinyIdea...", and now it is honest disclosure, not guerilla marketing.
Well, and be honest in general. You clearly have been running that site for almost a year according to your other posts and comments, and making somewhat of a living with it, again according to you: "Now pulling in around $1.4k consistently, which covers rent and groceries at least." I have a hard time balancing that info with the question and story from this post.
OK, maybe that is exactly what bugs me about it - it feels like dishonest marketing.
You don't say what you do or where you are, but you're earning $20 an hour. In virtually any industry you should be able to work your way into something much closer to $75k-100k within 24 months if you exhibit any significant agree of professionalism, attitude, and work ethic.
I would stop messing around with these side hustle ideas and just work like a motherfucker.
Okay boomer. In which fields or industries have you accomplished this? I agree those attributes will generally be rewarded but not at that rate, not in most fields.
I just helped a friend's wife (late 20s) apply and interview for a general administration position in a tier 3 city. She didn't study anything important and sort of just floundered for a few years after college doing various temp jobs. She ended up getting the job makes about $90k now. They thought I did some sort of a magic trick or something.
That seems great until you realize that fast food and grocery stores are paying new hires $22-27/hr (so 45-54k). Again, if you have any degree of professionalism and work ethic you can move into some low ranking managerial position that is closer to $30-45/hr.
In short, $75k-100 is not a lot of money anymore and is pretty easy to get. It requires ignoring this learned helplessness and working hard.
Anybody with a good work ethic and the ability to interact with other people reliably is hirable. It's rarer than you think!
Sales is another field where being in the top 20% is shockingly easy and just depends on willingness to work and learn.
Are you really telling me that in 2025 someone with skills and grit can’t make more than that? Hell I was making a little over $50K as regular old enterprise dev in Atlanta working for a company that mailed out utility bills in 2000.
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You would be much better off doing interview prep, networking, expanding your job search, moving if necessary.