Tips for building that side hustle...

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Resources of the Week

1. An HR professional with an 18 month gap in employment who landed a job within 2 months?! She’s gotta be doing something right so check out this post from Zefan A. 

2. And I’m offering coffee chats next week - totally free as always! You can sign up here.

Are Full Time Jobs the New Side Hustle?

I’m sure you all have seen the headlines around side hustle culture.
“70% of Gen Z has a side hustle!”
“Millennials average an extra $1100 from side hustles!”
“Loyalty is dead!”

Layoffs, alongside the loss of benefits that incentivize long-term tenure (like pensions!) have led to lots of folks questioning whether they should put their energy into their full-time work, or if they should prioritize their own small businesses.

This issue was prompted by:

1. Several major layoffs impacting thousands of people in the last few weeks

2. This article in CNBC about someone who started a mobile flower truck - a side business I never would have thought of!!

Personally, I will never not have a side hustle even though what that looks like has evolved. Here’s a list of the side hustles I’ve tried over the years which may be helpful as a launching point! The Side Hustle Reddit can be helpful as well.

The only thing I don’t go into there is content creation/affiliate marketing since I think it often works best when you have an audience which can take time to build. At some point I’ll make a guide for this though!

How do I get started?

First, consider your goals! Are you looking to just supplement or pay down some debt? Do you want something that can tide you over in difficult times? Or are you interested in building a business?

Next, I’d consider my appetite for risk. Do I want to invest any money in building something, or do I just want to take advantage of existing opportunities? Am I willing to put myself out there with marketing? Do I want to make money right away or am I thinking longer term?

And then I’d consider what you actually have to offer and opportunities around you. Can you just do a bit more of what you do for your 9-5 as a contractor? Can you coach others in your areas of expertise? Do you have any hobbies that you’d be interested in monetizing? Maybe you’ve noticed people requesting help in your community Facebook group and seen a few areas where you could lean in - things like handy-person services, cleaning, childcare, elder care, cooking, grocery runs, pet care, etc.

And finally, consider what you enjoy! Personally, I like social media, I like writing, I like engaging with people online. I did those things for free for many years, so it’s an easy leap to say, hey let me make money off of this thing I’m already doing! I have someone who cleans up dog 💩 every week. She likes being outside, she listens to her music, and the task doesn’t really bother her! It never would have occurred to me as a side hustle but she’s doing quite well handling houses in my neighborhood! If you love sharing your latest purchases, you could be cut out for creating UGC for brands.

Start small!

Don’t feel like you need to have everything figured out. You don’t need a website and an accounting system and a business plan to make your first sale.

You don’t need to have 20 products to open an Etsy store…start with just one, see how things go, and grow from there!

You can start off doing contract work through another company and then strike out on your own once you get some experience.

As you test out what works for you, you can grow from there with marketing your services.

And avoid scams. Make sure you’re not getting roped into an MLM. Never give financial information to some “get rich quick” scheme. When in doubt, do a search on Reddit or ChatGPT, and it will often flag if something is suspicious.

But should we really have to do this?

It’s a weird dynamic when we feel like we can’t rely on a full time job to consistently meet our needs or when we worry that the loss of a job could put us in a position of significant hardship.

I don’t think anyone needs to have a side business. But I might consider things like:

-How stable is your career? If you work for the government or you’re a nurse or teacher, you probably don’t need to worry about losing your job. If you work in tech, it’s a real risk that comes with the territory of a field where salaries are often higher and and the lifestyle can be more comfortable.

-How much of a cushion do you have? If you have a strong emergency fund, no debt, a multiple-income household, etc., the fear of long-term unemployment may not be a big deal for you. If you’re living paycheck to paycheck, building a cushion may feel more critical.

-What are your priorities? Maybe you want to pay off those student loans early or take bougie vacations or buy luxury bags and a side hustle can help. Maybe you love to watch TV or want more time with your kiddos, putting extra time into work makes less sense.

Personally, I know I am beyond lucky to have a full time job that takes care of me and I don’t need an additional form of income. But being in a more volatile field, I like the stability that a second income stream offers, and that it’s something I an ramp up if needed. And for now, it’s helped me meet some bigger investment goals that I wasn’t meeting back in my non-profit days, and splurge on vacations.

🙋Answering Your Questions🙋

Each week, I’ll answer one (or more!) of your questions in this section. You can submit your questions here.

I think that this problem feels bigger than it actually is. There are a small subset of scam jobs on job boards, but more often, it’s that the job boards aren’t super up-to-date.

Two things you can do:

1. Verify that the company is real. Remember that some scam companies will even have a barebones website and “employees” on LinkedIn so click around, make sure it’s not something that popped up in the last few weeks, etc.

2. Check that the job is listed on the company website. Often “ghost jobs” were once real jobs but the company is no longer accepting applications or the role has been filled. But job boards that scrape jobs off company pages may not be updated to reflect this. Checking the company page can confirm that it’s a real and current opening.

Beyond this, I don’t think there’s much you can do to confirm that an opening truly exists so there’s some level of risk with your application process. But hopefully these two steps will help increase the chances that the job you’re applying to is a legitimate opportunity.

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