Madaya Kennedy lives in Queensland and, while not technically working as a fly-in-fly-out worker (she drives in and drives out), the 25-year-old is a qualified drill operator in the male-dominated industry.

Despite earning over $100,000, Ms Kennedy has started two side hustles, explaining she is driven by the fact that she wants to avoid being trapped by the industry’s “golden handcuffs”.

“What tends to happen is because people are on more [money], they have a more expensive lifestyle, and they also get so comfortable,” she told news.com.au.

“I just want to use this as a tool because I want to be an entrepreneur.” The term ‘golden handcuffs’ is used to describe working in industries such as the mines, where people can earn huge amounts of money, making it harder to leave and work anywhere else, where they will likely earn less.

Despite working a gruelling schedule of seven days on, seven days off, Ms Kennedy has also got two side hustles, both based around her life working in the mines.

The first one is a vending machine business.

She noticed a lack of high-quality snacks while working on-site and invested just over $8,000 to set up her own machine.

“We used to have one, but it never worked, and I was like, ‘What is stopping me from putting one there?’” She explained.

“I 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,” she recalled of approaching her boss.

Once the drill operator received approval, she set up her vending machine in a common area at the regional mine site where she works.

The vending machine cost just over $7000, but by the time she paid to have it shipped to regional Queensland – it was an $8200 investment.

At the time, she just thought it would be an easy and fun side-hustle, but it has taken off in a big way.

“I just wanted the machine to pay for other expenses, but it has done more than that,” she said.

“I have made $500 in a day, and when I’m 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’m back.” The vending machine has made over $49,000 in revenue with a 50 per cent profit margin in the last financial year.

“It makes anywhere between $100 to....