How an Aussie dad turned his side hustle into a massive full-time wage

Daniel Brady's part-time business allows him to spend more time with his three-year-old son. Photo/Supplied.

Queensland father Daniel Brady is expected to rake in a massive AU$228,000 (NZ$242,000) this year — and he works as little as 15 hours a week.

Mr Brady started Heavenly Hammocks and Swings four years ago, selling a variety of hammocks, hammock chairs, freestanding hammocks and nest and sensory swings online.

The company's revenue last financial year was $145,000 and this year, Mr Brady is expecting a 57 per cent growth in revenue to $228,000 — which should climb higher still in 2019.

And the best part? He only works "a couple of hours a day" on average.

When Brady first launched the business, he had a regular job as a researcher, and today he also runs several side websites part-time.

While the hammock business gets more hectic around Christmas when orders come pouring in, for most of the year Brady has more than enough spare time to devote to hobbies and to bond with his three-year-old son.

"I work an average of 15 to 30 hours a week, which is a couple of hours a day on average," he explained.

"At Christmas, it becomes more than a full-time job — it's almost a 24-hour-a-day job — but that changes throughout the year.

"I can work on my other websites part-time and I have a three-year-old, so I do spend quite a lot of time with him, but during Christmas I have to rely on my wife to look after him."

However, Mr Brady said he had made some poor business decisions in the past before his latest venture took off.

"In the past I had some other e-commerce websites I tried to make successful but they didn't work," he said.

"I learnt what made them fail and finally I had this one good idea that worked."

Previously, Mr Brady sold headphones online, but had difficulty working with big brands.

He also had an e-commerce site which sold pearl jewellery, but said he didn't like the pressure and customer demands that came with premium products.

He said Heavenly Hammocks and Swings had taken a while to get off the ground, but that it had grown to become a bigger success than he was expecting.

He said 99 per cent of his customers were Australian as he preferred to avoid overseas delivery costs, and that his clients were split between "regular people", schools and kindergartens, which brought products specifically for children with disabilities.

"The business has worked mainly because I'm more dedicated to this idea," he said.

"With some of the others that failed in the past, the idea didn't suit me and I wasn't as dedicated."

Mr Brady has been able to run the business completely by himself by outsourcing warehousing and order dispatch.

He also uses a combination of five online computer apps and software.

Mr Brady's tearaway success echoes a recent survey conducted by Invoice2go, which found 50 per cent of solopreneurs and microbusiness owners were working 40 hours or less per week — similar to that of the average Australian office worker.

The survey also revealed 88 per cent of solopreneurs were turning over up to $499,999 per year, with the majority of them operating at a profit.

Almost half of microbusiness owners planned to remain solo for at least the next 12 months, and three-quarters used up to three apps to run their business.

- News.com.au