I am an avid side hustler. I have more than one side hustle. I work full-time, I babysit, and I staff write, ghost write, and offer blog commenting services. My income, as a result, is about 50% higher than what I make from my full-time job.
It’s a lot of work, but I enjoy most of it. There are plenty of reasons why I don’t simplify my working life and work only my full-time job:
Side hustling allows me to do what I love and get paid for it, but not rely on it.
I love blogging, social networking and writing. My online endeavors allow me to do this, and also get paid for it. That’s the dream, right? Everyone wants to get paid to do something that they love to do.
I would never be able to do this full-time, because relying on something that you love to do, to be your full-time income is dangerous. When you rely on something to sustain you, you stop loving it. It becomes work, and not a hobby.
Side hustling is great for this, because I can do what I like to do, but if I for some reason stop getting paid for it, I still have my full-time job to rely on.
Reasons to Side Hustle
Income diversification
The thought of losing my job is terrifying and something that I obviously never want to experience. But it does happen for millions of people, and I would be stupid to turn a blind eye to that fact.
If I lost my job I wouldn’t be totally screwed. In fact, I think I’d be able to cut back on the spending and saving and sustain myself just off of my side hustles for a little while.
Skill diversification
I have a certain skill set that I need for my career path, and that’s something that I am building as I go along. However, careers ebb and flow and some even become obsolete. What if, in 5 years, I decide that I hate what I’m doing? If I wasn’t trying to diversify my skills, I would potentially be stuck doing something I wasn’t happy doing.
If I need to switch career paths or even focuses in the same career path, at least I have a diverse skill set due to my side hustles that I wouldn’t have been able to build up as quickly if I were only working in my full-time job.
Extra money
Obviously this is a big reason why lots of people choose to take on extra work. Who doesn’t want extra money? My side hustles single handedly pay for my year’s travels, my “fun” budget, and even some savings. This allows me to save liberally while also enjoy life.
Earning more instead of cutting back is something that I personally prefer, because life isn’t all about money and I like to enjoy myself.
That being said…
One Big Reason Not to Have a Side Hustle
If you are able to sustain yourself off of your main job, and wouldn’t be happy working more than you already do, maybe it’s not for you.
My side hustles don’t cut into my life enough to justify stopping, and like I said, I really enjoy them. But if ever I felt like I couldn’t enjoy my life because I was too focused on making extra money, I’d drop them in an instant.
Working 40 hours a week is already enough for some people. Life shouldn’t be about amassing money needlessly, and at the expense of something important to you, so before you take on another job or a side gig, evaluate why you want to make more money, and what you’ll have to sacrifice in order to do so.
Otherwise, you’ll end up miserable (with lots of money). Like Scrooge McDuck.
I used to have three different gigs on top of a full time job, because the job had strict working hours, I could take time commitment after that. Also, I hated the job and wanted out. But if you want a work promotion, it may be worth studying instead of hustling, and applying for an upper promotion with a pay rise.
I think income diversification is really important these days. Seriously you just never know. At this point I’ve done so many different jobs in many different places in the world it’s a good idea for me to have different streams of income in case something doesn’t work out where I am at the moment. Plus, I’d love to work from home someday when and if I start a family.
Great post! I love have all of the side hustles that I have. It allows us to save faster, pay off debt faster and do things that we want.
I side hustle too with home repairs for people. It usually works out well. And we need the money. The extra income is great and I do like fixing stuff. But I think if we didnt’ need the money, I probably wouldnt’ do it. I’m a fix-it dude in my 9-5 already, so I could use a break when I come home. Maybe one day!
Side hustling like writing and giving tuition gives me good money but time management is really the key here. As a believer of work life balance and as much as I wanna earn some side income, I’m still learning how to enjoy work and life at the same time.
Good post! =)
This is a great post, especially the main draw back. I have several side hustles that increases my income about 15% above my full time job. While I’d like to expand my side hustles a little bit, I know that I wouldn’t want to put too many more hours into working, because it would cut into my time with my family too much.
Like you, I want my side hustle to provide some extra money, but I don’t want it to dominate my life. Right now I’m expanding my side hustle search, hoping to gain opportunities to increase my income. Extra income is always nice.
My primary objective is to develop my career, which I’m doing by doing well at work, and studying aside for master’s. I’m about to finish my MBA this week. Then, I’m turning around and applying for another Master’s (third) at another university (that’s the plan).
Great post. I’ve recently considered getting a side job. I love photography and I have a friend who is interested in hiring me to shoot at some events once a month or so. Not a ton of extra money but it would be great experience for me as well. The only problem is that I’m not sure I want to commit to the extra hours right now. Will have to think a bit more about it.
Sometimes I find myself wanting to take a short break from my side hustles but I know if I stopped permanently I’d have way too much free time on my hands!
I really like the idea of diversifying your skillets in case of a job loss. Im not really earning any money at this point, but at least ima learning about the blogging world, and how money is made online. Before I started blogging, I never would have realized how many marketable skills it teaches you.
I’m in the same boat – I love the side hustle to diversify my skill set and keep my mind sharp. Hopefully the money will follow soon so I can diversify the income streams as well.
I could never give up my full-time job mainly because I love it and it’s not all about the money. I studied hard for what I’m doing and I’m passionate about it. I think bringing in extra money is nice but it could vanish in an instant just like anything else. When it becomes that it takes over one’s life and money becomes more the central purpose it becomes more like a job about making more, getting more, instead of a passion or a hobby. It certainly makes it difficult to walk away from I suppose.
I don’t side hustle. I’m on commission at my day job so it makes more sense to put more effort into that than getting something else on the side. For me, I can make more money doing that.
Having a side hustle is never a burden when you know you love doing it, but not necessarily rely on it. I would not mind having side hustle as long as it does not affect my regular full time job where my main expenditures depend.
I’m working on trying to start a couple of side hustles so I don’t have to rely on my main job as much. I used to be extremely lazy, but am now more determined than ever to do something.
Yes, but Scrooge McDuck did have fun jumping in his money. 🙂
I always wanted that swimming pool!
I agree, side hustles are fun and enjoyable…who doesn’t enjoy getting paid for doing what they love.
I have always wanted to be self employed, but this post makes me reconsider. I agree with your statement that if you have to rely on what you love to do to get by financially it becomes work and you won’t love it anymore.
I do like pursuing new side hustles though.
I think the most important part of side hustling is that it just has to be enjoyable. It can’t be another “job,” it more or less has to be some kind of hobby or activity that you do not mind doing.