Have you ever felt stuck in a rut? Tired of the same old routine day after day? Fed up with not being able to make enough money to pay your bills? Don’t you wish you’d do some side hustle to fulfill at least half of those needs?
Stressful and unfulfilling as it may seem, there are ways out of that. It starts with thinking about what you enjoy.
If you wanted to be an entrepreneur, you would have to work harder and longer hours just to make money. However, others chose entrepreneurship through other avenues besides working at jobs they hate.
The Rise of Side Hustles
Without a doubt, the most known and talked about subject over the last 5 years has been the “side hustle” culture. However, like anything else that is new and cool. So much of the information out there can be misleading or take away from a potentially revolutionary idea.
The idea of this culture of spending your free time working on something to make extra money. It was first coined by Travis Kalanick, CEO and Co-founder of Uber. Kalanick’s idea was a revolutionary one. He was offering a possibility for those who are paid less to actually earn more money and be their own boss. It takes away the idea that there is a certain amount of income an individual needs to be happy working at a job you don’t like.
The idea of the side hustle can be seen in other industries as well. Whether it is programmers writing apps or chefs working in fine dining, these people are getting paid to work on projects. They enjoy that may help them learn something new or teach them a skill not backed by their day jobs. Moreover, these are often people who pursue what they love and aren’t required to come to work every day.
While Kalanick’s idea of pursuing what you love getting people excited about the ambiguous term “side hustle”. I believe there is a lot more potential for those who say they want to start their own business than simply making money from doing what you love.
Verdict on “Side Hustles”
I believe the side hustle culture is where it needs to be. It goes against the idea that you have to choose between being happy at a job or pursuing what you want to do with your life but also shakes up the idea of working for someone else. These are people who are doing what they love, but related jobs full-time. They are working for themselves rather than someone else.
This does create many problems, however, and can lead to two extremes: either a person continues being unsatisfied at their current job and starts a side hustle hoping it will inspire them to go back into their day job or they become too comfortable with making money on the side and let their passion go. I believe the latter is what will happen most often.
How to hustle the right way?
For someone to be truly satisfied with their working lifestyle and their day job, there must first be an end goal. If you aren’t sure, then it is too soon to make that choice. It will become apparent if you keep doing something over a long period of time. Keep in mind that no matter how much money you make working on your side hustle. It isn’t going to pay you enough to live on until the point where there are no more costs of living and being able to continue holding a steady job.
For the side hustle culture really take off, I think people don’t need a huge amount of money coming in right away. I think it is important to simply have enough money coming in from side hustle to cover the cost of a mortgage or rent. The real idea is that people should start thinking about their time as worth something. And put it towards projects they love.
My advice for those who are thinking about starting a side hustle would be this. If you are lucky enough to work at a job that you enjoy, don’t give it up for something else just because of the pay. Instead, work on your side hustle during your free time and pursue what you love on the side.
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