I Tested 12 Self-Employed Businesses from My Dorm - Here's What Actually Worked
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I Tested 12 Self-Employed Businesses from My Dorm - Here’s What Actually Worked
Last year I was sitting in my dorm room thinking “I need to start a business.”
Not because I had some brilliant idea. Not because I wanted to be the next Mark Zuckerberg. But because I was broke and my part-time job wasn’t cutting it.
The problem? Every article about “starting a business” assumed I had money to invest. “Just get a $5000 loan!” “Invest in inventory!” “Hire a team!”
Yeah, no. I had $200 in my bank account. That was it.
So I started testing businesses that cost literally nothing to start. Self-employed stuff where I was the only employee. No inventory, no office, no team.
Over 8 months I tried 12 different businesses. Some made me money. Most didn’t. Here’s what I learned.
The Ones That Completely Failed
Let me start with the failures because nobody talks about these.
I tried being a social media manager. Sounds easy, right? Just post on Instagram for businesses. I got one client - a local yoga studio. They paid me $200/month.
The problem? They wanted posts every single day. They wanted stories. They wanted engagement. They wanted analytics reports. For $200/month I was working like 15 hours a week. That’s $3.33 per hour.
I quit after 2 months.
I also tried dropshipping because everyone on YouTube makes it look so easy. Spent my entire $200 on Facebook ads. Made 3 sales. Lost money. The “gurus” don’t tell you that Facebook ads are expensive and most products don’t convert.
Tried starting a podcast. Made 5 episodes. Got 23 total downloads (mostly from my mom). Gave up.
Tried affiliate marketing. Made a blog, wrote 8 articles, made $0. Takes way longer than people admit.
The First Thing That Actually Worked
I was complaining to my roommate about how broke I was. He was working on a paper and his Notion workspace was a complete mess.
I spent 20 minutes organizing it for him. Class schedule here, assignment tracker there, research notes in this section.
He said “Dude, you should charge for this. I would’ve paid you $20 for that.”
That got me thinking. I was already using Notion every day. I was already helping friends set it up. Why not make it a business?
So I built a Notion template for students. Took me a Saturday afternoon. Listed it on Gumroad for $15.
Made my first sale 4 days later. Then another. Then three in one day.
By the end of the first month I’d made $240. Not life-changing, but it proved something: you can make money from skills you already have.
I made 8 more templates over the next 3 months. Different styles, different use cases. Now I make about $600/month from templates I built months ago. Completely passive.
The Website Fixing Business
The second business that worked happened by accident.
I was at a coffee shop studying. Checked their website while waiting for my order. Their menu page was completely broken on mobile. You couldn’t even see it.
I walked up to the counter and said “Hey, your menu doesn’t work on phones. I can fix it for $150.”
The owner looked skeptical. Then he pulled out his phone, saw the broken site, and said “Yeah okay, when can you do it?”
That afternoon. Took me 3 hours. He paid cash.
Here’s what I realized: small businesses have websites but they don’t maintain them. Things break. Links stop working. Images don’t load. And they have no idea how to fix it.
They’re not gonna hire a $5000 web agency. But $150 for a college student to fix it in an afternoon? Easy decision.
I did that 6 more times over the next 2 months. Coffee shops, yoga studios, tutoring centers, a bookstore. Made about $900 total.
The best part? I’m not even a web developer. I just know how to use Chrome DevTools and Google stuff. That’s enough.
The Freelance Writing Thing
Third business that worked was freelance writing. But not the way you think.
I didn’t write generic blog posts for content mills. I wrote about what I was studying.
I’m a computer science major. So I pitched tech blogs. “Hey, I’m a CS student. I can write about debugging, data structures, whatever you need. Student perspective.”
Got my first client in a week. They paid $250 for a 1500-word article about learning Python. Took me 4 hours to write.
Did that 3 more times that month. Made $1000.
The key was positioning myself as a student who actually knows the subject. Not a professional writer trying to fake expertise.
What I’m Doing Now
Right now I’m running three businesses simultaneously:
Primary income (20 hrs/week): Freelance writing for tech blogs. Making about $1200/month.
Passive income: Notion templates. Making about $600/month. I barely touch these anymore.
Side income (5 hrs/week): Website fixes. Making about $300/month.
Total: $2100/month. That’s more than my old part-time job paid, and I work fewer hours.
The Businesses I Tried That Were “Meh”
Some businesses worked but weren’t worth continuing.
Virtual assistant work paid okay ($15-20/hour) but was boring. Just managing emails and scheduling meetings. Felt like a regular job.
Tutoring on Chegg paid well ($25/hour) but was exhausting. After a full day of classes I didn’t want to teach more.
TikTok editing for a podcaster paid $30 per video. Did about 10 a month. But it got repetitive fast. Same thing over and over.
Discord modding for a crypto project paid $800/month which was amazing. But the community was so toxic I quit after 2 months. Not worth the mental energy.
What I Wish I Knew Before Starting
You don’t need a business plan. You don’t need an LLC. You don’t need business cards or a fancy website.
You just need to solve a problem for someone and get paid for it.
I wasted 3 weeks “planning” my first business. Writing out strategies, making spreadsheets, designing logos. None of that mattered.
What mattered was making something and showing it to people.
Also, you don’t need to be an expert. You just need to be slightly better than the person who needs help.
I’m not a Notion expert. But I know more than most students.
I’m not a web developer. But I can fix a broken menu link.
I’m not a professional writer. But I can explain CS concepts clearly.
That’s enough.
The Real Numbers
Month 1: $240 (just Notion templates)
Month 2: $540 (templates + first website fix)
Month 3: $890 (added writing)
Month 4: $1,400 (more writing clients)
Month 5: $1,800 (templates became passive)
Month 6-8: $2,000-2,200 (current average)
I’m not rich. But I’m not stressed about rent anymore. I can buy textbooks without checking my bank account. I can go out with friends without calculating if I can afford it.
How to Actually Start
Pick one business from what I mentioned. Just one. Don’t try to do everything at once like I did.
Something you’re already decent at. For me it was Notion and writing. For you it might be something else.
Build something small this weekend. A template, a service, whatever. List it somewhere. Tell 10 people about it.
See what happens.
Look, I spent weeks trying to figure out which business idea would work. Eventually I just built a tool to help students find online side hustles that really make money by matching their skills to actual opportunities. It’s not perfect but it beats endless research.
Common Questions
Do you need an LLC? No. I still don’t have one. You can operate as a sole proprietor using your personal name.
What about taxes? Yeah you gotta pay them. Set aside 25-30% of what you make. I use FreeTaxUSA.
How much time does this take? I work about 25-30 hours a week total across all three businesses. In the beginning it was more like 35-40.
What if you fail? You probably will at first. I failed at 8 out of 12 businesses I tried. That’s normal. You only need one or two to work.
Things I’d Do Differently
I would’ve started with just ONE business instead of trying three at once. I wasted so much energy jumping around.
I would’ve charged more from the beginning. My first website fix was $150. Now I charge $250 for the same work.
I would’ve focused on passive income earlier. The Notion templates make money while I sleep. That’s way better than trading hours for dollars.
I would’ve started 6 months earlier. I wasted so much time being stressed about money instead of just trying something.
Should You Try This?
I don’t know. Maybe?
If you’re broke and stressed about money, yeah probably. Worst case you waste a weekend. Best case you figure out how to pay rent.
If you’re doing fine financially, maybe just focus on your classes. This takes real time and energy.
For me it was 100% worth it. Not just for the money, but because I learned actual skills. I can now build digital products, fix websites, and sell services. That’s gonna matter more than my GPA when I graduate.
Final Thoughts
The first month sucked. I made barely any money and questioned if I was wasting my time.
But month 2 was better. Month 3 was better than that. Now it’s actually working.
I’m not gonna tell you this is easy. It’s not. You’ll fail at some things. I failed at most things. But you only need one or two to work.
If you’re reading this because you’re stressed about money, I get it. I was there a year ago.
Just pick one thing. Spend this weekend trying it. Actually try, don’t just think about it.
You might surprise yourself.
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