Ask HN: Who Has Automated Their Side Hustle? How Did You Do It?

[djinn]

Hey HN,

I’ve been hearing a lot about people automating parts of their side hustles to free up time and even make passive income. I recently built a Python script that handles order processing and customer support for a small e-commerce store I help run, and it's turned into a steady income stream for me with minimal ongoing effort. This got me wondering: how many of you have done something similar?

If you've automated parts (or all) of your side hustle, I’d love to hear:

What kind of tasks you automated? (inventory, marketing, customer support, etc.) What tech/tools did you use? (Python, Zapier, Selenium, APIs, etc.) Any lessons learned or tips for keeping it low-maintenance and scalable? I’m especially curious about anyone who’s using automation to manage time-consuming parts of their business while they focus on other projects. Looking forward to your stories and maybe picking up some ideas for my next project!

Thanks!