{"id":515699,"date":"2026-03-03T09:38:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T09:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/515699\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T09:38:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T09:38:13","slug":"madaya-kennedy-aussie-fifo-worker-makes-eye-boggling-amount-from-vending-machine-side-hustle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/515699\/","title":{"rendered":"Madaya Kennedy: Aussie FIFO worker makes eye-boggling amount from vending machine side hustle"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">An Aussie FIFO worker has revealed the eye-boggling sum she makes from her side hustle after gambling nearly $10,000 of her savings to get it started.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Queenslander Madaya Kennedy is a drill operator who makes more than $100,000 each year &#8211; without factoring in the earnings from her two side hustles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Two years ago, she forked out $8200 on a vending machine in the hopes she might earn $500 a week in sales.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-3mk41m-StyledText eze0guv9\">Sign up to The Nightly&#8217;s newsletters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1r9pdr5-StyledSubText eze0guv8\">Get the first look at the digital newspaper, curated daily stories and breaking headlines delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n<p>By continuing you agree to our <a href=\"https:\/\/thenightly.com.au\/subscription-terms\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Terms<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/sevenwestmedia.com.au\/privacy-policies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">But according to a recent reel she posted on Instagram, this goal was much too small &#8211; the best month she has had so far saw her earn more than $5500 total.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">She told n<a class=\"css-hwy1qg-StyledTextLink ezegcyi0\" data-link-type=\"article-inline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.news.com.au\/finance\/work\/at-work\/what-is-stopping-me-young-fifo-worker-reveals-clever-side-hustles\/news-story\/8d2c720e4c4537fdb883776f3f61617e\">ews.com.au<\/a> that she didn\u2019t want to get trapped in the mining industry\u2019s \u201cgolden handcuffs\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cWhat tends to happen is because people are on more (money), they have a more expensive lifestyle, and they also get so comfortable,\u201d Ms Kennedy said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cI just want to use this as a tool because I want to be an entrepreneur.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">The vending machine idea first came to her years ago when she realised there was a lack of desirable snacks available on-site.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Previously, there had been a vending machine, but it had never worked, so she took the matter up with her boss.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cI made a proposal, and I asked him what his favourite snack was, and then I made sure I stocked that in the machine, and we shook hands on it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Ms Kennedy works a seven-day on seven-day off roster, and instead of lying to site she drives there, so is able to fill her car up with stock.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cI have made $500 in a day, and when I\u2019m there for a week, I have my car full of stock, and I can restock it and rinse and repeat. When it is my week off, I just fill it before I leave and fill it up when I\u2019m back,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">In the last financial year, her vending machine has made over $49,000 with a 50 per cent profit margin, making some of her fellow FIFO workers are envious.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cIt was so funny when I set it up; some guys were like, \u2018I had already thought of that idea.\u2019 Okay, well, why didn\u2019t you do it?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Aussie FIFO worker has revealed the eye-boggling sum she makes from her side hustle after gambling nearly&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[63,43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-515699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-australia","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=515699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}