You, me, the neighbors, the mailperson, and every fourth person you meet has something to say about side hustles. It’s like this product no one can buy but everyone knows about and wants. Some figure out how, and some consider it more work. Every successful entrepreneur has a story of hustling their way to the top or how that one little side hustle in their basement started it all.
Whether you’ve considered it or not, there are things you should know about the side hustle that may one day come in handy!
01What’s a Side Hustle?
A side hustle is like a passion project or a gig you do on the side to earn extra cash. It’s that graphic design business you run after work or the online store you manage on weekends. It’s about pursuing your interests and making money while you’re at it.
Most people consider a second job a side hustle, but it’s not a side hustle, it’s a second job. The mistake people make here is prioritizing immediate monetary compensation from the idea of a side hustle. While making money is the goal, it’s often approached incorrectly. Think of the mistake like winning the Boston Marathon because you used a motorcycle. Yes, you won, but you did it in the wrong spirit and therefore experienced and learned nothing.
A side hustle should be about you, your skills, and how far you can take them.
02Why Side Hustles Matter?
If you’ve been following along, then you know that side hustles are not just about the money. Side hustles give you the freedom to discover who you truly are and what inspires you to create something of your own. A good side hustle is the shortest pathway to financial independence because you control the scale at which it grows. If you truly enjoy it, then you can go all in and take your financial well-being to the next level. More importantly, it acts as insurance against sudden layoffs, unexpected expenses, or future job losses.
This hedge against uncertainty will take your mental well-being to the next level and give you the assurance that you are prepared for unpredictable times.
03How Side Hustles Can Impact You
The day you decide to commit to a side hustle, you also commit to learning at least a few dozen different skills beyond what you already know. Commonly, you will find yourself exploring the world of marketing, pay-per-click ads, SEO, graphic design, web development, copywriting, outsourcing, finance, automation, AI tools, funding… the list goes on. The line is drawn by you. You learn as much as you want to learn, and you outsource or make do with what you can.
One of the most talked-about benefits of a side hustle is the independence to just pack up and go, because the prospect of frequent vacations and excursions becomes a viable option with increasing income. And with most side hustles now becoming digital-first, the idea of moving to a vacation destination and working from there is also becoming a much-enjoyed benefit.
The more you put your heart into it, the better you will come out, no matter the outcome! This alone should make it worth your effort and time.
And no matter how a side hustle goes, whether it succeeds, fails, stays small, or grows into Google, you will have learned something and grown far more than when you started. The more you put your heart into it, the better you will come out, no matter the outcome. This alone should make it worth your effort and time.
045 Tips to Build Your Side Hustle
- Start with Passion: There are two ways to go about this when starting. You either start with professional passion or creative passion. Professional passion is leveraging your professional skills, like graphic design, to start your own design agency. Creative passion is using your graphic design skills to create and sell 3D-printed flower pots. Both have their pros and cons, but at the end of the day, it comes down to what makes you want to get up every day and put in time without friction.
- Manage Your Time Wisely: Create daily blocks of time to work on tasks that can move the needle just a little bit. Set a start and an end time. A side hustle is meant to start off slow and then snowball. Conserving your energy and time will produce results that don’t cause problems later down the line. Good time management leads to good project management.
- Set Clear Goals: Set specific goals for your side hustle. Start small, for example, gain one follower a day for five days, or create one blog post every two weeks. Then move the goalpost forward once a consistent pattern appears. The next set of goals could be to generate one sale a day or reach $500 in revenue per month. Don’t aim for the endgame right away, like having a million followers or generating $20 million in revenue a year. That will only overwhelm you and lead to paralysis. Break the goals down and move forward. As you get comfortable, the distance between your goals will naturally grow.
- Network Like a Pro: Networking is a surefire way to generate buzz and free awareness for your side hustle. Partnering with the right people can give your hustle the reach it needs to find more conversions. Networking is also a great way to quickly learn tips, tricks, and tools of the trade that save you time and money. Struggling with abandoned carts? Jeremy, who sells hand-painted water bottles with turtles on them, might introduce you to retargeting. Having trouble getting raw materials shipped on time? Alicia, who imports Star Wars Turkish rugs, might introduce you to the world of 3PL. Build and leverage your network.
- Be Consistent: The trick to growing a side hustle isn’t in how well-prepared you are, but in how consistent you are. Putting in the work every single day is what pushes the hustle from experimentation to reality. Aim to spend one hour a day working on your side hustle. Set a different goal each day, for example: write a newsletter on Monday, update logos on Tuesday, work on the website Wednesday, call suppliers Thursday, and schedule social media posts for the week on Friday. Consistency will naturally push you to plan better, and task variation will keep procrastination at bay.
Don’t let the memes and internet culture ruin side hustles for you. They get a bad rep because the culture around them has become more showboaty than actual boaty. Wannabe hustlers have made it about sacrifices, pain, and buying Lamborghinis, when in reality it offers a lot more than that. The type of independence that comes with working for yourself brings a different kind of peace, one worth working for and experiencing.
In my strong opinion, everyone should spend some time trying to build a side hustle. The growth, learning, adventure, and reflections are worth the effort, win or lose, and who knows, you might go on to build the next big thing.
You will never know if you don’t try.
