A side hustle masquerading as a hobby.

You're between gigs and the market is soft. It's easy to beat yourself up over something you have no control over. Assuming you're making inquiries, doing enough networking to prove you're still breathing, and your portfolio is up to snuff, I have a suggestion to occupy your downtime and help make ends meet.

Pick.

My wife is a vintage picker and I often go with her so I guess that makes me one, too. The woven Navajo rug inserts in the bench seat pictured above are my proof.

I digress.

Our hobby makes money. Not mad money, mind you, but a predictable income. Picking is a business that feels a lot like a hobby because Debbie genuinely enjoys doing it, as do I.

And we do occasionally keep cool stuff or repurpose it, another bonus.

Bench seat.

I digress.

eBay is my wife's venue of choice so we focus on objects that can be shipped but she also has an online Poshmart store and sells via FB market.

Debbie has been doing it for years and is disciplined, dedicated, and has developed a keen eye for small objects of value.

The more she does it, the better she gets.

She routinely ships a dozen to three dozen objects daily, Monday through Saturday, and moves merchandise like an overcaffeinated magpie while working a schedule of her choosing.

Pottery. Folk art. Antiques. Mid-mod tchotchkes. Sneakers. Boots. Bird feeders. Costume jewelry. Handbags. Figurines. Literature. Slide carousels filed with vintage slides. Legos.

Woven Navajo blankets. Err, sorry.

Any object of value that will fit in a shipping box is fair game.

One day, she found a displaced hummingbird nest that had fallen out of one of our oak trees after arborists had come out and done trimming.

No winged residents in sight, she researched the nest, took a series of shots on her Android phone, and popped the nest on eBay.

$75 later, we had a thrilled buyer.

I've watched my wife buy single-cream servers from fancy china sets and seen spirited bidding wars erupt over it.

Following my wife's well-attuned picker logic, the most delicate and most used objects are generally the most likely to be broken.

I've watched her list items within an hour of purchasing them and seen them sell within minutes.

I've watched my wife purchase random items that appeared in the first season of Star Trek, for ten dollars, and seen 'em sell for hundreds of dollars to thrilled collectors.

Ironically, the one thing I rarely see is anyone unhappy with their purchase, no matter what the mark-up.

My wife's seller rating is through the roof and she treats every object she sells as an heirloom, judiciously packing items with the diligence of a seasoned bomb dismantler.

I've watched my wife sell objects to museums in other countries that were bought at a yard sale.

And here's the irony.

It requires very little in the way of initial investment. All it takes is time and dedication, which my bride possesses gobs of. It's not uncommon for her to buy three-dollar items and sell them for $50 to grateful buyers.

We also shop estate sales looking for items where there is still enough wiggle to turn a fair profit. The markup math is less, and the investment is greater, but the returns are still favorable.

And perhaps the best part is that picking occupies our time, makes money, and is fun.

It's a hobby with an upside.

Profit.

I see many friends who are between gigs right now wondering how to make ends meet. I don't know any better advice than to give yourself something to focus on besides the job market. Who knows, it could turn into a new passion.

Got a Goodwill near your house?

Maybe you'll find a woven Navajo rug you can repurpose for the bench seat, door panels, and headliner in your '66 Chevy pickup.

Again, I digress.

That's another article altogether.

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Cameron Day is the author of the Advertising Survival Guide trilogy and an advertising writer based in Austin, Texas. He'd tell you where he goes picking with his wife, but that could be bad for business. Book Three of the trilogy will come out this year. His first two books in the Advertising Survival Guide trilogy are available through Amazon, or hand-signed via his website: [email protected]