Jan 3, 2026
Not all side hustles are created equal. But sometimes, a lightbulb moment can turn into a booming business.
That has been the case for Tayo Lanlehin, who noticed a gap in the party rental market when she was planning her son’s first birthday party, according to a report from CNBC. (1)
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No business near her home in Oakland, California, had chairs that matched the theme of the party, and none of them had chairs specifically for small kids.
After considering this gap in the market for several weeks, Lanlehin spent about $2,000 on an order of 48 children’s sized chairs, and began her party rental business with her husband Dolu Lanlehin. As of November, the business brought in $295,000 in revenue for 2025.
The business achieved success quickly after an event planner used their services and posted about it on social media. Affluent parents in nearby areas caught wind quickly. Lanlehin also reached out to the wife of an NBA player she followed on Instagram when she realized the couple’s daughter’s birthday was approaching. This led to jobs on four events for the family.
If you’re looking to become an entrepreneur, here’s what you can learn from the Lanlehin family’s smart financial moves, and how to evaluate your own business idea to find out whether it’s equally likely to be a success.
How much can you make from a side hustle?
Because the couple live in an area where there is a large concentration of high-income individuals, their business has successfully filled a gap in the market.
Lanlehin told CNBC that while the business was profitable from the start, they do not take a salary from their side hustle, and instead reinvest money back into the business.
Tayo works as a strategic partnership principal at a health-care company, and Dolu works for an education tech company. The couple said that they spend about eight hours a week working on their rental business, and they outsource delivery, equipment maintenance and the running of activity stations at the events to six contract employees.
Lanlehin told CNBC that running the business has given her confidence. “I’m building something that could last and the potential of generational wealth,” she said.
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The couple’s story of side-hustle success is inspiring — but it is unfortunately not the norm for many Americans who catch the entrepreneurial bug.
A side hustle can help boost your wages, and can be especially appealing amid inflation, climbing housing costs and a tough job market. And the appeal is widespread: Estimates range between 30 to 50% for the number of Americans with some kind of side hustle. (2), (3)
According to a survey by lender Self.inc, 26.1% of Americans earn between $1 and $50 a month from their side hustles, and 32.1% earn between $51 to $250 a month. (2)
However, only 1% of respondents said that they earned more than $4,000 a month from their side hustle, and the majority of respondents (51.4%), said that their side hustles made up between zero and 20% of their monthly earnings.
A separate survey by marketing platform Omnisend, which polled people from the U.S., the U.K., Canada and Australia, found that 60.3% of respondents said they earned $500 or less a month from their side hustles. (3)
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The costs of starting a business
With such low returns, aspiring entrepreneurs would do well to consider the costs associated with starting and running a business.
For gig work such as delivery driving, costs associated with owning and maintaining a vehicle, including added wear and tear, will factor into how much you really earn.
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For those running e-commerce businesses, in addition to paying for product, you may also incur costs such as fees for the platform you use or for your website, fees if you’re required to obtain any business licenses, and fees for contractors, if you want to outsource things like marketing or accounting. (4)
Side-hustle success
There is a lot to learn from side-hustlers like Tayo and Dolu Lanlehin if you’re thinking of starting your own business.
They were both able to leverage skills that they already had to run the business — Dolu’s background in consulting led him to conduct market research in the early days of the business, for example. They also relied on their own resources, like investing a small amount of their savings in their product, and using their own basement to store their product.
Perhaps the biggest lesson one could take from this success story is the impact that market awareness can have. Tayo Lanlehin’s keen insight that there was a gap in the market, as well as tapping high-profile event planners and celebrities, likely made all the difference in their company’s success.
Conducting your own research on whether there is a market for what you are offering can go a long way to ensure that your side hustle is sustainable.
While the Lanlehins are able to rely on their incomes from their full-time jobs, and not take any wages from the business, this might not be feasible for everyone. According to Forbes, it is important to be realistic about your revenue objectives, and your projected monthly income from a side hustle. (5)
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Budding side hustlers should also investigate whether they will be required to apply for licenses for their business, and whether they will require insurance.
For those starting a side hustle, keep these things in mind:
Consider your time: The possibility of burnout is real for those taking on a side job, so it’s important to consider how much time you can dedicate to your side hustle, and whether it is likely to impact your primary job.
Don’t forget taxes: Consider consulting a tax professional to make sure that you aren’t making costly errors when it comes to your accounting, and to understand whether your extra income will bump you up into a new tax bracket.
Evaluate your finances: Make sure that your initial investment and operating costs are affordable, and consider your risk tolerance before taking on debt to start a side hustle. If you have a large amount of existing debt, a side hustle with low start-up costs might make the most sense.
Look for inspiration: You can also reach out to other entrepreneurs for advice, or search out books or podcasts by those who’ve started similar businesses. Gathering as much good advice as you can before you begin can help you learn from other’s costly mistakes.
Article sources
We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our editorial ethics and guidelines.
CNBC (1); Self.inc (2); Omnisend (3); Blue Gift Digital (4); Forbes (5).
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Rebecca Payne has more than a decade of experience editing and producing both local and national daily newspapers. She's worked on the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, Metro, Canada's National Observer, the Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press.
