It’s a crude question, but it’s the one that counts.
Some people are making money hand over fist. Take the estate agent renting out holiday homes for R10,000 a day on the Atlantic Seaboard. Estate agents are coining it—it’s become so lucrative that grandmothers are boasting about how many granddaughters and grandsons have gone into the trade. Some agents already have pensions and other income, and they’re using the property game to fund lavish lifestyles. It’s a very specific kind of hustle.
Contractors are another story. Roofers, for example, don’t get out of bed for less than R20,000 a job. What’s actually in that R20k? Nobody really knows. But what we do know is that it’s enough for some of them to develop habits… expensive habits. One guy I heard of got so deep into things he ended up a full-blown addict. That’s one way of living the high life. Not one I recommend.
(There are better things to spend your money on than becoming a cautionary tale. Though judging by how much wine some agents consume, caution is relative.)
Let’s not moralise too much though.
There are, broadly speaking, two kinds of people in the world:
Those who are in the money. And those who are out of it.
What makes the difference?
It’s not always what you think. Sure, on the healthy side, it’s about vision, timing, and ambition. On the less wholesome side, it’s about appetite—greed, if you want to be blunt. Some people are so rapacious they invent entire schemes, industries even, to justify what they charge.
Look at the so-called “medical aid” sector. You’re not getting aid—you’re buying into a highly profitable private risk pool with fancy branding. Or think of website hosting. You’re paying a fee—month after month—for a service that runs on autopilot. It’s pure passive income… for them.
That’s the thing: it’s always better being on the other side. The side where you charge what you want, you set the terms, and the market comes to you.
But you’ve got to figure out what works.
And here’s the part nobody tells you:
The smart ones aren’t looking for business ideas online.
They’re not asking AI to cough up some side hustle.
They’re meeting quietly, having private conversations with smart advisors, investors, friends.
They make plans. They plot.
And then, out of nowhere, they launch.
Suddenly, they’re in the money. Just like that.
You can do it too—but the ideas aren’t floating around in plain sight.
You’ve got to know where to look, who to speak to, and when to act.
Whatever you do, find a way to make money that suits you.
Do it smartly. Do it easily.
Then enjoy the fruits of your cleverness—and the sweat you put in to make it real.
