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Side Hustle Comparison
Effort vs. Passive Income Potential
Primary Sources
A prolific side hustler shares his top passive income hits and flops
William Butterton has experimented with a handful of side hustles, from selling playing cards to placing ATMs. Chona Kasinger for BI 2026-04-18T09:15:01.240Z William Butterton started experimenting with side hustles after having his first kid. He was looking for relatively passive hustles that would leave him enough time to spend with family. ATM placement has proven to be the most passive, while selling sports cards can be lucrative but very hands-on. William Butterton likes to tinker. "I had invention journals when I was a little kid," he told Business Insider. "I always wanted to be an inventor."Through his 20s and early 30s, those ideas mostly stayed on paper. He was comfortable in his day job and didn't feel much urgency to build something on the side — until he had his first daughter."That's when I started really thinking about how I could bring some extra money in, but without sacrificing that safety net that I had built at my job," he said. "As your family grows, the benefits and incentives that you have at a full-time job, especially a government one, become really important."Butterton works as an electrical engineer for the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Keyport, Washington. His schedule gives him some room to experiment with side projects: He works 36 hours one week and 44 the next. His most passive income stream: ATM placementWhen Butterton discovered ATM placement on Instagram and TikTok, the side hustle seemed relatively low stakes. "The more I looked into it, the more I was like, 'OK, there's really no risk in trying this, outside that original financial obligation of $2,500 to buy the ATM.'"Butterton is wary of the term "passive income," but of all the businesses he's tried, he said that an "ATM is the closest thing that I have personally found," he said. "You're only there for 10 minutes to load it up, and then you're on your way."He and his business partner started Viking Vendors in 2022. As of March 2026, they had five ATMs and three vending machines. They split about $1,500 in monthly profit, according to terminal activity summaries viewed by BI.He said beginners are better off starting with ATMs than vending machines, which require more time and heavy lifting.Right now, he and his partner each spend about an hour a week servicing their eight machines, but the more machines you own, the less passive the business becomes. He knows another operator with more than 100 ATMs who spends his days loading machines and struggles to take ...
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