The best life hack I've ever heard? Monetise what you're bad at | Polly Hudson

The useful part

As a blueprint for success, embracing your lack of talent has obvious appeal. What do you get if you cross a complete lack of artistic talent with making lemonade out of life's lemons? Friends started asking him to do awful pictures of their pets, word spread, and he's now received more than 100,000 requests.

How it works

• He also refuses to charge for his artworks – suggesting charity donations instead – but makes money through merchandise and books.
• His rules are that he only sees the photos immediately before he picks up his pen, he never restarts a drawing, and he doesn't spend longer than 10 minutes on a creation.
• "I do get criticism sometimes that the portraits are getting too good," Heckels said recently.
• You never have to wait too long for a real stinker to appear, though." Continue reading...

Details worth keeping

Phil Heckels has turned his awful pet portraits into a full-time job. "But people have been saying that since about my 12th portrait.