A few years back I started to hear the term “side hustle” and it really piqued my interest. The idea of exploring low-risk business opportunities that don’t need a ton of time or investment sounded very appealing. After all, who doesn't want to make a little cash on the side? I was all in and started binging on two of my favorite podcasts ”Side Hustle School” by Chris Guillebeau and “The Side Hustle Show” by Nick Loper. The stories of everyday people finding new and creative ways to leverage their skills, talents, and services to create diversified income were truly fascinating, and I wanted in.
One of my strong suits is being blind to my strengths so when it came time to identify what I could start bringing to the market I came up pretty short. All these cool ideas people had and I couldn’t seem to figure out what to do. This is where I got stuck and where most other people do as well, and I wish I learned sooner how silly of an excuse it really is. You see ideas are not really worth that much, it is what you do with ideas that matter. I thought I needed to wait for the perfect Idea when really I just needed to take any idea and then start implementing it. And the beautiful thing about side hustle ideas is that you can try a bunch of them! You do not need to worry about failing or pigeon-holding yourself because these consequences, even if they do happen, are really pretty insignificant. The most important thing is to just get started and then you can tweak or shift or change lanes later on.
Do not get hung up on overthinking your opportunities or thinking you need some novel idea, that is all just a distraction. The way I see it, the goal here is to learn, have fun, develop your skills and interests and make money. You might wonder why I did not put money as the first goal and there is a reason for that, you see the money is not guaranteed but learning, fun, and self-development are. Yes, we want to be profitable but a side hustle is more than just a cash grab, at least in my books. We go after a side hustle for what it will make of us, not just what it will get us. It is a vehicle for discovering our creativity, getting out of our comfort zone, learning new things, and having something constructive to do with our free time.
I heard someone describe a side hustle as “playing at business” and I think this is a great way to think about it. We need more play in our lives! And when we add in a little monetary incentive then it becomes easier to prioritize this type of “play”. The idea here is not to bring in more stress or add something else to the to-do list. I am not saying that a successful side hustle does not take discipline or that it is always easy, but we want to have an attitude of excitement and possibility, not the one of “Uhh I have to do this....”
There certainly are different ways to approach the side hustle, and depending on your circumstances you may want to prioritize profits over enjoyability so that you can create more freedom in your life down the road, or even transition out of your job, and that is totally fine. It’s just one more upside to the side hustle philosophy, with enough dedication this endeavor might really change your life! On the other hand, maybe you just want to have a fun project, something you can dabble at, and as a result, just cover your monthly utilities or have some cash for a really nice date night or a new activity for your kids. That is the stuff you get to decide, and that is also stuff that can change or be tweaked as you go along, but remember whatever your motives or plans, the most important thing is to get started!
Chris Guiliabeau used to end every side hustle school episode with a quote that I came to love and repeat to myself which is “Remember inspiration is great, but inspiration with action is so much better” and that is exactly it. Action is king folks so it's time to get going on your side hustle and then tweak and ask questions later.
But what do I do? As I mentioned earlier I got pretty hung up on this at first too so don’t worry it's not just you (In fact it's almost everybody). Although we don’t want to overthink, there are some helpful exercises and frameworks which can help us identify what direction to focus on and which idea to implement. I will link some helpful articles and resources at the end of this blog which will leave you with lots of ideas to explore or things to try, but for now, I have three simple recommendations for getting started.
Chances are you already have a job, you already get paid to do something. Now, this varies greatly depending on the job but this means you already have skills that are in demand in the market and that someone is willing to pay for. So all you need to do is cut out the middle man (your boss) and take your skills directly to the market yourself. Are you a programmer? Teacher, Designer, Electrician, Therapist? Why not have a little private practice and take on a couple of small jobs or a couple of clients a month where you get to keep ALL the profit?
Or maybe you hate your job and you want to do less of it now more, but you have another skill that you want to invest in or develop, how could you offer this as a service to someone? A service-based side hustle is one the easiest to start because you probably already have what you need to get started and all you need to do is “report for duty” which just means posting your services on a local classifieds page like Kijiji or Facebook marketplace if you can get away with it (services are not technically allowed to be advertised there but sometimes you can make it work).
Throw up an ad and see what happens. Maybe you can teach kids piano one day a week, or a language you know, or how to cook or how to make sourdough bread… There are so many options.
Or maybe you have skills that businesses need. Photography, marketing, web design, window cleaning, tax returns, creating employee training modules, sharpening chain saws…. It could be anything really.
Earlier in the pandemic, I had some fun exploring the Airbnb “Experience” page. This is a real blast and if you have never done this go browse through it as soon as you have finished reading this. You will start to realize just how many ideas and opportunities there are that people are willing to pay for, so why shouldn't they pay you? Dress up as Santa, take people on a virtual tour of your town, show off your African pygmy goats, or even just read a book, it's pretty wild what people will pay for to be entertained for an hour, and the potential profits are nothing to laugh at!
The second opportunity is to sell a product. This is also fairly easy to get started with and can be aligned with your own interests and skills or not. Start selling your extra stiff on Facebook and eBay, and then keep track of what sells well and find more of that at thrift stores, yard sales, and auctions, I had a blast doing this and it really whetted my appetite for the entrepreneurial game (You can read about my experience with buying and selling here)
Or maybe you can make a product, bread, jam, hot sauce, wooden bowls, garden decor, lawn games, canoe racks, and sell them at a farmers market or in local classifieds. Do you like to BBQ? Start making your own dry rub or spice mixtures and hit up the farmer’s markets. I recently heard a story about a family that did just that and built up a small group of raving fans which they grew over the next few years into a legitimate business. Who knows that could be you!
The third path is the audience path. Do you have an audience of some kind or do you have something you want to share with an audience? This is usually a bit of a longer game in terms of the payout but it also tends to see exponential growth later on and has the potential to be very meaningful and profitable. What will you not shut up about?? Start a youtube channel or blog or podcast and let it be your outlet, other people are interested too and they are out there looking for what you have to say, why not have them find you!
I love this last path because regardless of profitability it is extremely rewarding. It will help you to explore your interests and lead you to do more of what you want to do which ultimately will make you better and happier but will also do the same for your audience, and once you have a happy loyal audience they will be more than happy to buy whatever product or resource that you come out with.
So what are you waiting for? Grab a pencil and piece of paper and start brainstorming. Do it with a friend and have fun with it. Get excited about it, go out for coffee and start visualizing your side hustle or set a goal and timeline for your first profits. Why not set a profit goal? $100 in the next 10 days, $500 dollars per month, or maybe I am getting a little ahead of myself. Let’s not get carried away, let's start small. I want to challenge you to make just $1 this week. That's all. Just make a sale. Let’s go from zero to one, from out of business to in business. From no side hustle to real-life side hustler. That is my challenge to you.
Whatever you do, take action, make something happen, put yourself out there. Making extra money is great but discovering your own agency is even greater. You have skills, you have gifts, you have talents, and the world needs them. You might make money or you might not but you need to discover that internal motivation, that interest that draws you forward, that project that excites you. A side hustle is your excuse to do this, it is your permission to explore, to do new things to fail and to learn, but more importantly, it is your framework to play, to talk about something you care about, to legitimize your passion or hobby and to become more of who you are.
To paraphrase some wise person the best time to start on this journey was yesterday but the second-best time is today. So in closing, I will again echo Chris Guillebeau the great modern father of the side hustle, and say that “inspiration is great but inspiration with action is so much better” So get out there and do this for what it will make of you, where it will lead you, for the projects that it might excite in you. And don’t be surprised if selling a used Dr. Suess book for $7 turns into writing and publishing your own kid’s book a few years down the road. These journeys have a funny way of evolving, but they can only do so if we undertake them. Sometimes you can only turn the steering wheel once you are already moving, sometimes you don’t get to see the view until you climb the tree, sometimes you don’t know who you are until you do something new, something different, money isn’t bad and sometimes chasing a little extra on the side can open up a side of you, that you never knew was there.
What do you have to lose?
Yours in the hustle,
Ben
Side Hustle Resources To Get Started
Side Hustle School by Chris Guillebeau
Side Hustle Show by Nick Loper
Have No Idea What Your Skills Are Or How To Get Started? Here are a couple of articles I like about understanding yourself and discovering your skills and interests and what to do with them.
”How To Pick A Career That Actually Fits You”
Enjoy!