Every side hustle here is scored across five dimensions. The number tells you where it landed. The reasoning tells you why, and every score publishes it in full.
Five dimensions. Five council members. Each one scores independently, against specific benchmarks. Numbers, not vibes.
Only hustles scoring 72+ out of 100 make the board. That's a 3.6 average across all five. Below that, it goes to archive. Not to you.
The PRIME score is a composite of five dimension scores, each rated 1–5 by a dedicated council member. The composite is converted to a 0–100 integer for display.
A 4.2 and a 3.8 look nearly identical on a badge. An 84 and a 76 don't. The 0–100 scale uses the mental model you already have. Individual bars still show /5. Only the composite badge shows /100.
| Display score | /5 equivalent | Label | Board status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 90–100 | 4.5–5.0 | Elite | On board |
| 80–89 | 4.0–4.4 | Strong | On board |
| 72–79 | 3.6–3.9 | Solid | On board |
| 70–71 | 3.5–3.59 | — | Archive only |
| < 70 | < 3.5 | — | Rejected |
A 72 is a 3.6 average across all five. It's the minimum where a hustle is viable on every count, not just strong on one and broken on the rest. Below 72, at least one dimension is pulling the average into territory where people hit walls: no income inside the window, a barrier that blocks most starters, or burnout before month three. Below that, the gap between what we're publishing and what you'd experience is too wide.
Any dimension scoring 1 is an automatic disqualification, no matter what the other four say. One broken dimension isn't a trade-off. It's a failure point that will catch people off guard.
Measuring a freelance writing gig and a SaaS micro-tool against the same 90-day income anchor is a category error. They run on completely different timelines. Every hustle gets classified before scoring starts, and it's judged against the rubric that fits its model.
Each dimension has one council member. Their score and full reasoning are on every detail page. You can read exactly why each dimension landed where it did, which sources were used, and whether any member voted to reject.
These are the benchmarks the council applies — specific numbers, not interpretations. Every score band from 5 down to 1 is spelled out.
When a hustle is evaluated, each council member is directed to specific source types before scoring. Every source used is cited on the hustle's detail page — you can check the data behind any score. Tap a dimension to expand.
Some hustles have a lot of public data behind them. Others are niche enough that reliable earnings benchmarks don't exist yet. Every hustle carries a confidence badge so you know which is which. It's calculated from the sources the council found.
Three or more Tier 1 sources line up on this one. The income ranges, demand signals, and setup costs come from current, cross-verified market data.
The scoring data exists but comes from fewer primary sources, or partly from community-reported data. Directionally solid, but less formally documented.
Public data on this hustle is thin. The score is directional: drawn from analogous categories and general market signals, not primary source data. The reasoning will say so.
Scoring is automated. Publishing is not.
The engine classifies the hustle as Cash Sprint or Asset Build before any dimension is scored, then loads the matching rubric. The wrong rubric produces a meaningless score. Track classification is step one.
Each of the five members researches their dimension against Tier 1 sources, applies the empirical benchmark, writes their reasoning, and casts a vote. The composite PRIME score and display score are calculated.
Any single dimension scoring 1 triggers automatic disqualification regardless of the average. Any dimension scoring ≤2 blocks the hustle from advancing to ready-for-review and caps it at the override band.
Every hustle in the ready-for-review queue is checked by a human editor before it goes live. The council reasoning is read. Income ranges are cross-checked against the cited sources. The Editor's Note is reviewed for accuracy. If anything looks wrong, it goes back.
Every hustle on the board is re-evaluated each quarter. If a score changes by more than 6 points in either direction, the hustle is flagged for manual review and users who saved it are notified.
When earners submit verified income reports, they're reviewed before anything goes live. A hustle with confirmed reports earns a “User Verified” badge. Nothing auto-approves.
This uses the same rubric the council applies. Select a track, rate each dimension honestly against the criteria above, and see where your idea lands. Hover the ? on any dimension for that track's anchor.
Your idea scored 80. That clears the 72 floor. See how it compares to the hustles already on the board.
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