Anyspace: Make Some Extra Money Renting out Your Extra Space

Technology Driven Side Hustles- Anyspace

The gig economy and app sharing services have made it much easier to earn extra money than ever before. You can now run a side hustle to earn extra money using just the phone in your pocket.

You can make some extra money by renting out your spare room through Airbnb. You can make some extra money by becoming a driver for Uber, or the kiwi equivalent Zoomy You can freelance all sorts of thing like web design, writing, sales and marketing, and data analytics on platforms like Upwork .

But there are also some new Kiwi startups that you might want to consider.

This is the first of two articles looking into apps and services that you could use to make some extra money on the side. So if you’re keen to read the second article make sure to subscribe.

Introducing Anyspace

Let me introduce Anyspace – They are a new Kiwi start-up taking the concept of the sharing economy one step further. Anyspace is NZ’s marketplace for ‘space’. 

It’s kind of like Airbnb but for storage, or other space that you are not using. For example: they currently have people renting out their garages and back
yards. They also have community groups that are listing their meeting
and event spaces for hire when they are not being used. 

Anyspace launched in May 2019. Check out their Press release below.

Kiwis launch Anyspace in the new shared economy

The sharing economy has revolutionised how people connect with one another to share goods and services. A new Kiwi start-up is taking that concept one step further – to space. Anyspace.co.nz is New Zealand’s new online marketplace for storage and usable space. 

Auckland & Wellington-based co-founders Dave Shannon and Alex Aitken describe Anyspace.co.nz as an easy to use and trusted platform that connects Hosts and Renters of spare space. However, some of our early users have described it simply as “like Airbnb for storage and other usable space”. Hosts are locals in your community that rent their extra space to people needing more space than they currently have. 

“We currently have people renting out their garages and back yards. As well as community groups are listing their meeting and event spaces for hire when they are not being used. It’s about the community helping the community,” – Dave.

Anyspace is proud to be helping Kiwi Hosts to earn extra money, and on the other side, happy to be helping Kiwi Renters save money and time. While the platform was initially all about storage, it has since expanded to encompass other spaces Kiwis use. Anyspace users can now share spaces such as garages, extra rooms, workshops, car parks to home offices.

Co-founder Alex Aitken says that changes to the modern workplace and the rise of the gig economy have created demand for such a platform.

“Anyspace recently helped a solo mother to rent out her unused garage in Browns Bay for storage, now she gets a little more income each week which really helps,” – Alex.

“Location independent workers don’t need headquarters – they need collaboration spaces. With Anyspace, our Hosts can advertise these spaces for rent. Small companies and independent contractors will no longer need to pay fixed office costs, and otherwise unused home office space can start generating extra money for our Hosts.” 

Twelve weeks on from launching the platform, Anyspace.co.nz already has past its 6 month goal, now having more than 150 listings on its website with an additional 200 car park spaces yet to be added.  

“Now that we have tested the model, we are aiming for 1,000 rent-able spaces by the end of the year,” says Dave.

“Anyspace is helping people earn a bit of extra income whether that is to help pay mortgages, save up for a house deposit or just to gain extra pocket money all while helping people save on their costs.”

The Backstory

Anyspace started with Dave, who’s your everyday hard-working Kiwi bloke. Dave was about to become a new dad. Already under the pump working over 80-hour weeks and trying to get his newborn’s room ready, he and his wife found out they were having twins! 

Exciting news, but it was stressful too. All of a sudden he had a lot of stuff and nowhere to put it.

“Everything in the spare bedroom had to go into storage, ” says Dave. 

After looking at storage options around Auckland, Dave felt defeated. Hiring a few square metres of space was going to cost $90 – $150 per week. Another problem was that anything remotely suitable was not conveniently located. Driven to desperation, Dave ended up asking his neighbour, if he could pay him $45 a week to store his stuff in his large garage. The deal was struck. Dave was stoked, and his neighbour had a few extra dollars in his pocket too. The concept of Anyspace soon took form. 

Quickfire Facts

Anyspaces’ whole idea is based around everyday kiwis making a passive income through different forms of the sharing economy – Kiwis helping kiwis earn

From renting your garage space for vehicle-storage/ product storage /or as a workshop to renting office space for co-working spaces, and even renting carparks. Need, or have land to rent out for a tiny home? You can list that too. You will also be able to list Batches and holiday homes soon.

• Available New Zealand wide, the platform is free to use for 2019- there might be a small listing fee in 2020.
• Currently, renters and hosts would need to check with their insurance companies, they would be responsible for this.
• Anyspace is looking at options for offering two levels of insurance separate to this with a value of up to $10,000 & $25,000.

The site is currently free to list with zero fees. At some stage, possibly 2020 they will introduce a fee of between $0.99-$1.99 per week to advertise. This is much less than other similar services available like Airbnb and bookabatch who can charge up to 20%.

Alex and Dave both have incomes from their other businesses, so they don’t need to charge people to cover their time. That’s why they can run the site for free for as long as possible. 

Some examples of what’s being listed right now;

• A double garage in Onehunga ideal for tradies or storage for $39 per week
• A Meeting room in a design agency in the North shore with Wifi, projector and close to the all-important coffeeshop- $30 per hour or$130 for the day.
• A boat or caravan parking space next to a townhouse in Takapuna for $40 per week

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