Lot you may not be familiar with Ryan Trahanโs Penny Series where he travelled across America starting with just a penny ๐ช but iโm gonna tell you his story today!
Ryanโs Penny Series follows his journey across America starting with just one penny, trading and hustling his way to deliver it to MrBeast โ all while raising over $1.5 million for charity. Itโs a masterclass in creativity, grit, and human kindness.
One main thing he really showcased is all the โnon-traditionalโ money making tactics throughout the videos to continuously turn 1c into $$ Dollars to โsurviveโ and go from one state to another.

โต Street Hustles
โ He sold water. Yes, Water (or soda)
A lot of times, he purchased 24pk water bottles for ~$5 and sold them $1 or $2 bottle on the streets. On hot days, he was able to turn that onto $45-$50 easy.
โ Mowed Lawns
He went door to door and asked if he could mow peopleโs lawns. Of course not everyone said yes, but, when in needโฆ.. :)
โ Washed Cars
Walked up to people in parks / parking lots and simply asked! All with a couple dollars spent on buying cleaning supplies.
โ Cleaned Windows
Went door to door at businesses and asked if anyone was looking. And waddya know? Some said yes - Instant cash!
โ Drew Caricatures
Thatโs literally it. Drew caricatures of people for $1 โฆ. But if they didnโt like it, it was FREE. His drawings were terrible LOL but people loved โem cz it was fun!
โ Told jokes for Money!
Walked up and down the Vegas strip saying โBet I can make you laugh for $1โ - I meanโฆ genius & fun!
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โถ Doordash / Uber Eats
With a small ~$50 investment in a bike, he was able to make $100s of dollars doing food deliveries daily + TIPS!
โท Dog Walking
He used the Wag! app to land several dog walking gigs in supported neighborhoods. Bonus: YOU GET TO MEET CUTE PETS!
โธ Selling valuables on Online Marketplaces
He bought and sold bikes, shoes etc. multiples times on online marketplaces. As someone who's personally done this, you'll be surprised what kind of gems you can find at Thrift Shops!
โน Digital Surveys
Itโs an app called โSurveysโ. Iโve even started doing them myself! You can make a pretty nice chunk just by sharing your opinion!
Fair warning: some of them are pretty lengthy...
With a charming smile and his incredible personality, he also made a generous amount in tips throughout the journey!
๐ฆ SIDE NOTE:
Can we just give @RyanTrahan a huge shout out?
He not only crossed America starting with just a penny in 30 days, but also raised almost 1.5 Million Dollars for Feeding America that paid for hundreds of thousands of meals.
The Penny Series is so wholesomeโฆ It reminds you that kindness still exists in this world.
This series also highlights an enormous amount of generosity from the people he met on and off-screen, the ones who donated to the fundraiser (extremely generous amounts).
SHOUT OUT to people like RYAN TRAHAN and MR. BEAST who teach us generosity and kindness every day (and of course - the donors).
Back to the topic at hand, you think you can make a living on any of these tactics?
Hit the reply and let me know!
Thank You for reading.
Hereโs Aunyโฆ Signing off till another edition ofโฆ Explained Without Fluff โก
P.S. If you made it this farโฆ you officially care about leveling up. Much respect ๐งกย
BTW, definitely sign up for BeeHiiv
Itโs an amazing tool if you want to monetize yourself via newsletters:



