A Sydney tradie who’d never worn jewellery has cracked an unlikely path into the property market, using a weekend side hustle welding bracelets to help buy his first investment property.
Ronan Galab, 26, works in his family’s construction business during the week, operating trucks and heavy machinery, before swapping worksites for gold and silver chains after hours and on weekends.
What began as an impulsive $2000 purchase at a beauty expo has since turned into a lucrative small business, with Ronan now making as much as $3000 in a strong week through his brand Albi Amore Permanent Jewellery.
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That extra income, combined with his construction wage and low living costs while living at home, helped him buy a small investment property in Mudgee after only a few years of saving.
“I definitely never imagined I’d end up doing this. It was completely by chance,” he told the Daily Mail.
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Ronan Galab works in construction by day and welds jewellery by night — and the extra cash has already helped him buy an investment property.
The career pivot is an unusual one for someone who studied agriculture, followed his father into construction and, until recently, had never even worn a piece of jewellery.
But the side hustle almost never got off the ground.
At his first market, Ronan sold just one sterling silver bracelet for $40 despite already spending thousands on equipment.
He had forked out $2000 for the welder and another $2,000 for a portable battery generator so he could power the setup at markets without electricity, but had spent almost nothing on making the stall look appealing.
“I had no weights, just the welder, a table and this box of chains,” he said.
The bare-bones setup also included a cheap Kmart gazebo, and even his mother was beginning to question whether the venture was a mistake.
His unique business venture makes him around $3000 in a good week.
But instead of giving up, he decided to back himself one last time.
He booked into a Christmas market in Penrith that charged $70 for a stall and arrived with what he says was his last $100 left to spend on the business.
If that market failed, he was done.
Before the event began, Ronan posted a simple TikTok asking who was local and wanted a permanent bracelet.
Within hours, the video had racked up 50,000 views.
From 6pm until midnight, customers queued outside his tent and he made more than $3000 in sales.
Albi Amore has grown well beyond the makeshift stall Ronan started with and now regularly appears at established Sydney markets. Source: TikTok/@albiamorejewellers
Since then, Albi Amore has grown well beyond the makeshift stall he first set up.
The business now regularly appears at established Sydney markets including Glebe and Kirribilli, as well as larger events interstate. Ronan also trains a team of women to work across different markets, while weekday demand from social media keeps his home studio busy.
Gen Z’s new path to a home deposit
Ronan is one of a growing number of young Australians turning side hustles into a way to get ahead in an increasingly punishing housing market.
With home ownership and investing feeling further out of reach, many are using unconventional income streams to build savings, fund deposits or chip away at mortgage repayments.
Among them is Ethan, an Australian documenting his couch-flipping side hustle online as he works towards buying his first home.
In a recent update, he said he was aiming to put together $50,000 and had already made $6355 in 10 days.
Gen Z Ethan is flipping couches to help him save for a home deposit. Source: TikTok/@ethaantries
His model is simple: collect unwanted couches that might otherwise end up at the tip, keep costs low and resell them for a profit.
Melbourne’s Bailey Garbett has taken a similar idea even further, walking away from a near-$90,000 accounting job to flip second-hand lounges full-time.
The 24-year-old said the business began as a way to make extra cash outside footy season before he realised it could rival his salary.
“Based on my projections, I’d only need to flip around 15 couches a month at the most conservative numbers to make what I was making,” he said.
He said his average profit sits at about $400 a couch, though some have delivered much bigger returns.
A 24-year-old Bailey Garbett has walked away from a near-$90,000 accounting career to flip old couches full-time, turning other people’s unwanted lounges into a surprisingly profitable business. Source: TikTok/Baileys_Bargains
His best result so far came from a large L-shaped lounge a family urgently needed gone.
“I picked it up, gave it a quick vacuum and steam clean, took some better photos and it sold in four days – that one made me around $850,” he said.
Sydney woman Sinead King has also built a profitable side hustle collecting scrap metal from hard rubbish piles, using the extra cash to help support her household.
“What started out as a fun hobby helped to fund buying our house and now contributes towards extra mortgage repayments,” she said online.
In one video, she said a six-hour collection run netted more than $900.
Sydney woman Sinead King is turning scrap metal into serious cash. Source: @sineadscraps
In another, she made $457 in less than three hours collecting steel, a dishwasher, trampoline poles, pots and pans.
She collects everything from fencing and roofing sheets to car batteries, bed frames, whitegoods and old taps – anything with scrap metal value that might otherwise be dumped.
For a growing number of Australians, side hustles like these are no longer just about extra spending money.
They are becoming a serious strategy for surviving, and getting ahead, in the property market.