You have a 9-to-5 job. You love it. Or maybe you’re just showing up for the paycheck. Have you thought about starting a side hustle? If you’re not familiar with the term, it’s not anything illegal. It’s just a work that you do on the side.
Here are 5 reasons why you should have a side hustle:
1. You can earn extra money
Any money you make on the side is extra money, right? If you keep that in mind it’s not super difficult to earn more money. I’m not saying a side hustle will make your rich. That depends on your work ethic, your ability to make a plan, and your ability to see it through.
Your side hustle could be almost anything. You could resell items on eBay, drive for Uber/Lyft, or teach kids math online. It’s all up to you. I’m just trying to get you thinking about what this could be.
There are tons of ways to make money online, so you don’t feel like you need to open a brick-and-mortar store to do any of this.
2. You can develop new skills or become an expert at what you already do
Running a side hustle means using the skills you already have while learning a bunch of new ones. If you’re big on DIY, you could start an Etsy. But remember it’s not just about making the product. The idea of “build it and they will come” tends not to work out well on the internet.
My wife and I ran a handcrafted jewelry business for about 2 months before calling it quits. My wife took classes to learn jewelry making, we had a great logo and name, but we couldn’t make any sales.
You would think that people would beat down our door to buy a necklace from us, but that wasn’t the case. We didn’t know anything about marketing at the time and the sales showed it.
A side hustle is different than your normal job. At work, tasks are split up by department, groups, and individuals. When you’re running the show, you do everything. You’re the CEO, the marketing team, and the IT department all wrapped into one.
If you want to grow your skills in speaking, writing, a side hustle is for you.
3. You can have tons of fun doing it
You can choose whatever you want as your side hustle. So choose something that you find fun and exciting. You’re free to do whatever you want. If you want to sell DIY kits on Etsy, go for it. If you want to start doing graphic design projects, go for it. It’s all on you.
One thing to watch out for is putting pressure on yourself. Don’t sell DIY kits if it’s not something you enjoy, even if others are making decent money doing it. You have the freedom to make money doing something that you enjoy, so take advantage of it.
If you can’t find anyone making money doing what you want to do, take it as a challenge. Somebody has to be the first, right?
4. You can apply your new skills to get a promotion at work or start a new career
OK. So you’re out here hustling, building products, selling to customers, and more. All these are valuable skills to bring to your current job. It takes a certain amount of confidence to start something new.
The confidence you are about your side hustle, the more confident you’ll be in general. The people around you will notice this confidence. And I wouldn’t be surprised if they offer you biggest assignments.
Note: If you really want to make things happen at work, use your new selling skills to work your way into those bigger assignments.
If your side hustle is totally different than your day job, it could open the doors to a whole new career. Maybe you’re in Marketing, but you’ve been building WordPress Themes in your free time. You could switch it up and become a web developer
5. You can turn your side hustle into a full-time job and be your own boss
Now that you’ve built up some super valuable skills (and a ton of confidence), you may choose to turn your side hustle into your full-time job. Cool! Realize that this isn’t always easy, so know what you’re getting yourself into. My business ventures take time and there’s a lot of work involved. So, don’t look at this as some get-rich-quick scheme or some the secret to becoming a millionaire overnight. It takes time.
Once you start growing your business, it’s up to you to set your own hours and location. If you want to work from the beach, do it. If you want to start your do at noon, go right ahead. It’s your business. You’re the boss. Just don’t spend too much time playing and not enough time working. You should be getting to the money. ?
Note: Make sure your side hustle doesn’t interfere with your job. Some professions, like Accountants, aren’t allowed to do anything related to accounting as a side business. So the more unrelated your side hustle is the better. But again, check your company’s policies and make sure you’re in the clear.