Rent It Out: The Rental Side Hustle Podcast

On this episode of the Rent It Out Podcast, Cal sits down with Bodhi, a software engineer and founder of Locki, to talk about the evolution of automated rentals and the growing opportunities in the rental side hustle world.  Bodhi shares how he and his uncle built one of the world’s first paddleboard vending machines in Australia, allowing customers to rent paddleboards without needing staff onsit...

On this episode of the Rent It Out Podcast, Cal sits down with Nikki, who shares how she’s growing a tote rental business, not through ads or cold outreach, but through simple, consistent networking. After years as a stay-at-home mom, Nikki found herself stepping into unfamiliar territory: meeting new people, attending events, and building connections from scratch. What started as a small effort t...

This episode is different. Instead of another success story, I’m sharing my own journey into the trailer rental business. And it’s still a work in progress. From buying my first trailers to dealing with damage on day one, chasing “passive income,” and realizing I wasn’t marketing nearly enough… I break down what actually happened. If you’ve ever thought about starting a rental side hustle, this is...

What started as a single idea and about $3,000, turned into a fully booked rental business. In this episode, you’ll hear how Amberlyn Richie built a photo booth side hustle from scratch while working a full-time job and raising a family.  After spotting a gap in her small-town market, she took action, landed her first event, and quickly found herself booked nearly every weekend. We talk through ho...

David Stillson hated cardboard boxes and that frustration turned into a business. When David and his wife Nikki needed to move, he went looking for a cheaper alternative to buying boxes and stumbled onto tote rental. For about $2,000, he bought a pallet of commercial logistics totes and dollies, used them for his own move, and started renting the rest. Their first customer needed totes to transpor...

Most people walk right past a rental side hustle without realizing it. Not because it's complicated but because it looks too simple.  In this solo episode, Cal Hardage breaks down exactly what a rental side hustle is, why the economics work, what makes a good rental item, and who this model is actually built for. He also pulls in stories and clips from the first three guests, Jamie (bounce houses)...

Adam was one month from finishing college when he decided to start a tent rental company. He maxed out credit cards, cashed in birthday bonds, bought three tents, and advertised in the Yellow Pages and the local Penny Saver. That was 22 years ago. Today Adam runs a full party rental operation in upstate New York, tents, tables and chairs, dance floors, lighting, restroom trailers, and more, genera...

Justin had a utility trailer sitting in his backyard. He didn't want to sell it, didn't want it rotting away, so he listed it on Facebook Marketplace for $40 a day — and someone rented it three days later. That same customer still rents from him today. Five years later, Justin runs a fleet of seven trailers out of Jacksonville, Florida, averaging $9,000 a month in gross revenue. It's his full-time...

Jamie Schluckebier was making $300 a week as a youth pastor when he spotted an opportunity at a church fundraiser: someone was getting paid just to set up and pick up bounce houses. He sold a car someone had given him, bought his first inflatable, and started building — treating those two units like they were a hundred. Thirteen years later, he runs a fleet of nearly 100 inflatables in rural South...

What if the stuff you already own could pay you every week? Rent It Out is the podcast for anyone who's ever looked at a trailer, a bounce house, a flower wall, or a washing machine and wondered — could that make me money? Every Thursday, host Cal Hardage sits down with real people who've built rental side hustles one item at a time. No real estate. No landlord headaches. Just creative entrepreneu...