Case Study: How I Built a Student Side Hustle Tool in 48 Hours

I love building small, useful tools.

Last week, I was testing my own product, Reddit Toolbox, to see what students were talking about. I set up a filter for "how to make money" in r/college and r/students.

The volume of desperation was staggering.

Thousands of students are looking for legitimate ways to make money, but they are drowning in scams (crypto bots, pyramid schemes, etc.).

They were asking specifically for:

• "Ways to earn money doing homework"
• "Legit online tutoring jobs"
• "Non-phone work from home"

I realized there wasn't a simple, clean tool to filter these opportunities based on a student's actual skills.

Enter Sidebuz

So, I decided to build it. I call it Sidebuz.com.

It's a "Student Income Finder". It's a simple quiz that asks:

1. What are your skills? (Writing, Math, Coding?)
2. How much time do you have?
3. Do you want to show your face?

And it spits out a curated list of legitimate platforms (like Chegg, CourseHero, Upwork) that match their profile. No scams. No "get rich quick" schemes.

The "Stack"

I built this using the same philosophy I advocate for here: Speed and Utility.

• Tech: Astro (for speed) + Vercel (for hosting).
• Validation: Reddit Data (via Reddit Toolbox).
• Cost: $0.

Why I'm Sharing This

I'm sharing this for two reasons:

1. To help students: If you know a student who is broke, send them the link to Sidebuz. It creates a free plan for them.
2. To prove a point: You don't need a "billion dollar idea". You just need to listen to what people are asking for.

I found this idea in 20 minutes using Reddit Toolbox. I built it in 48 hours. Now it's generating traffic.

If you want to find your own niche idea, stop guessing and start listening.

Get Reddit Toolbox and find your next project today.