What Is a Side Hustle (+Exploring More Career Options)

Some people have a burning desire to run their own business, but some prefer the stability of a nine-to-five job.

Then there are those who love to be entrepreneurs but are more risk-averse or dependent on a steady income. They are mostly fixated on the implications of initiating a side hustle, the expenditures to bear, not to mention the two-timing. 

But no matter how taxing it gets, corporate professionals are doing more side gigs and breaking the monotony. They are channeling years of corporate training into attracting more clients via freelancing platforms and getting the pay they deserve. We can infer that side hustles aren't about taking a break but diversifying skills and building one's own brand.

Let's get into our main hustle about the side hustle. 

However, it does require enormous dedication, time, and hard work. A corporate job consumes the best of people. Working long hours and persistently sitting in front of a computer screen drains their energy and makes them mentally cloudy.

Being in a side hustle can eventually restore the rosiness on your cheeks. Whether you are starting your own company, running a mental health podcast, or signing up with a dance academy, this part of your day can relieve you of the continuous hysteria and self-sabotaging instincts evident in every service employee's life. 

Benefits of running a side hustle

Running a side hustle has many benefits, including earning extra income, fulfilling a dream without risk, pursuing your passion, learning new skills, and gaining independence.

• Earning extra income: The ability to earn another income stream outside your salary is very attractive and sometimes necessary. Aside from helping to cover monthly expenses, that extra income can also help fund life’s little luxuries, such as family vacations abroad. Not to mention, it’s financially smarter not to put all your eggs in one basket!
• Fulfilling a dream without risk: If you dream of becoming an entrepreneur but harbor a fear of going solo, a side hustle lets you do your own gig while maintaining financial security. It gives you a way how to make money from home, plus there’s no risk of taking on extra office expenses.
• Pursuing your passion: Even if you’re in your dream office job, it’s unlikely that you feel as passionately working for someone else as you would if it were your own business. A side hustle reignites your passion and fondness for your work and fuels your creative spirits so that you can devote a more positive approach to your startup gig.
• Learning new skills: Although it’s best to start a side hustle in an industry that you have deep knowledge about or are skilled in, there are two ways to learn new skills by starting a side hustle: learn brand new skills about something that interests you, and improve and expand on skills you already have.
• Gaining independence: When you run your side hustle, you experience the independence of entrepreneurship. This will help you master valuable self-accountability if and when you turn it into a full-time business.

5 tips for avoiding side hustle burnout

Since a side hustler is juggling a day job with a side gig (while trying not to drop any balls) burnout is a real possibility. Following these tips can help you avoid side hustle burnout.

1. Learn to say no

This is an important skill to practice in any aspect of your life but takes on a new level of significance when you’re running a side hustle, and it applies to both your day job and your side business. Be firm in the workplace about working overtime unless it’s absolutely necessary (like in the case of an urgent project, for example). Regarding your side hustle, don’t be shy to say no to projects or customers that won’t be worth your while.

2. Optimize your hours

When you’re burning the candle at both ends, it pays to optimize your hours. This means you need to make the most of the limited hours available to work on your business side by working smartly.

Look for ways to automate tasks so that you don’t waste time, work systematically, and follow a motto we use in our business: Think impact. This means prioritizing tasks that have the greatest impact on the growth of your side hustle and putting less impactful tasks, as much as you’d like to have them, on the back burner. 

3. Find time in creative ways

When there are only 24 hours in one day to work what’s essentially two or more jobs, try to extend your time as much as possible.

Here are some suggestions:

• If you’re a morning person, get up an hour earlier to focus on your business. The quiet of the early morning hours may be the perfect time to get a lot done.
• If you go to the gym, listen to podcasts related to your new business while you work out.
• If you commute to the office via public transit, spend that time working on your side gig.

4. Refresh your body and mind 

It’s best not to jump straight into side hustle work when you get home from your office job. Give your mind and body a break to separate between your two commitments. Go for a run, meet a friend, watch a TV show, or do whatever it takes to clear your mind for the night’s work ahead. 

Listen to new podcasts. Don't be hard on yourself. Most of the time, we presume that we aren't capable of sterling success because of a dearth of talent and skills. That rarely is true. It is only your self-doubt and self-destructive tendencies that are speaking out loud. Ignore the "voice" of lethargy and do your thing anyway. 

5. Take on a business partner

If relevant to your specific side gig, take on a partner, preferably someone you get along with on a personal level. This will help make your side hustle work more fun and will also help you retain that spark of passion that made you start it. Turn night work into working coffee dates and consider scheduling breakaway weekends to focus on the business.

Side hustle ideas to explore

Many side hustle businesses are part of the gig economy, or the provision of task-based or project work in your area of expertise. 

The following are recommended gig economy jobs or business ideas: 

• Personal Branding: If you have years of experience in a specialized field, why not transition that knowledge and expertise into building your own brand? Established company leaders and employees take time from monotonous work and build their social media presence with high-engagement posts, pictures, and media. 
• Specialized consultant in graphic design, SEO or content marketing: Moonlighting as a freelance consultant can also add income. Functioning as an independent consultant and outsourcing your services for brand projects can build credibility in the community and lead you to build your personal portfolio online.
• Event organizer: Being an event organizer would be an excellent opportunity to network with sponsors, market leaders, dignitaries, and prominent names within your industrial domain. Volunteering for event preparations like catering, accommodation, and client dinners would promote your PR skills and eventually get you started on an event planning business. 
• Delivery business: If you have a knack for cooking, utilize your free time in a catering gig. This is one side hustle where not a lot of upfront investment is required. You can achieve maximum output with modest input and then invest in a delivery or transportation service to strengthen your footprint as a quick-service restaurant (QSR).
• Property manager: Sales professionals adept at negotiation and converting deals can consider real estate as an achievable side gig. They can liaise with real estate companies to help inspect properties, build relations with homebuyers, and showcase available listings for open house ceremonies. 

Other types of side hustle business ideas that are more product or service-based include being a fitness trainer, home decorator or selling your homemade goods online. 

5 steps for setting up your own side hustle

These ideas will remain as contemplations until and unless you don't commit to making a change in your life and step away from your laptop when required. Committing to a side hustle requires an undeterred willingness to challenge the status quo and build something better and greater in your lifetime. 

Check off these five steps to ensure you cover your bases when developing your own side hustle.

• Introspect yourself: Take a deep dive into your own strengths and weaknesses with a SWOT analysis project. Compare your skills, expertise, zone of genius and core competencies. These parameters would be ideal to instigate an inner mind map for you and make you aware of your biggest skill differentiator. 
• Build a market pipeline: Vet the market to spot brand founders and fellow peers in your network who can support you in your initiative and network for you within their own circle to better your network reach.
• Set a business concept: Research what business problem you want to solve. Invest your time reading research papers, data-driven publications, survey data, and other streams of real-time and authentic content to empower yourself for the current market challenge that stands out. 
• Brand activation: Come up with a name and logo. Build a patent for your product and register your business as a private entity. Figure out exactly what products or services you'll offer and how you can differentiate to attract customers away from the competition. 
• Marketing channels:  Build on a performance marketing or bootstrapping marketing strategy. List out your content inventory requirements and create first-party assets that would educate your market about your vision, mission and values. Spread the word for your brand via website and social media. Also, register for a domain hosting provider and a web content management system to develop and list your website. 
• Operational issues:  Fix your operational processes, operating margins, cash flow statements, supply chain network, and more.

• Get one paying customer: Sometimes, you just need to jump right in the deep end and get your hands dirty. Even if everything isn’t perfectly set up, going through the experience with a paying customer will help you figure things out.
• Set goals and milestones: Set achievable goals and milestones so you can monitor and measure results and achieve growth.

When to quit your job and become a full-time entrepreneur

You’ve set up your side hustle, have customers under your belt and have all your processes in place, so now might be the right time to turn it into a full-time business. You may also feel surer of yourself and confident to quit your job and leap into full-time entrepreneurship.

This is a personal choice, but these could indicate that it’s time to stop tiptoeing around the edge of entrepreneurship and jump right in. 

How to grow your side hustle into a full-time business

When you take this crucial step, ensure your business is ready for growth because you will need to scale up consistently to succeed.

1. Ensure your business is set up to be scalable

You should have all the logistics and processes set up in advance so that you can get off the ground running as soon as you quit your job.

Know where will you work. Will you continue working from home if that’s what you were doing or will you need some sort of an office, whether it’s your own or a co-working space? Set up marketing plans to grow your leads and customers. Have processes in place to manage this expected influx of new customers.

Ensure you can handle growth operationally, from managing and fulfilling orders and sales to managing your invoicing, accounting, and payments. Digital tools and software are ideal for this, and there are many free options available online, including free CRM software for businesses. 

And lastly, have employees lined up, whether it’s full-time, part-time, or temporary staff.

2. Finance your growth

It’s unlikely that you could have saved enough money from side hustle profits to channel into its growth, so unless you have sufficient personal funds, you’ll likely need to turn to external funding, including friends or family, a business loan, crowdfunding, investor/venture capitalists, or a business credit card. Discover financing options for small businesses, including the pros and cons of each, to help you choose your best solution. 

3. Quit your job without burning bridges

Make sure you quit your job with grace and goodwill by fulfilling the terms of your employment contract. Aside from maintaining your reputation and being a good corporate citizen, it’s important never to burn bridges.

You never know; your former employer could end up being a customer or supplier of yours or even refer business to you in the future. It’s recommended that you write a resignation letter or email to formalize it and ensure that you have everything in writing.  

Bottom line? Take the leap 

If you aspire for a better work-life balance, you are not selfish. Building a side hustle could be extremely relieving and empower you to invest in financial stability and mental peace for the future. Believing in yourself and building a network community to share your good work is the paramount objective, which is to make you feel more lively and help you do your bit. 

Learn how to get started with affiliate marketing strategies to give premise to your new brand and learn about the intricacies of your target market.

This article was originally published in 2019 and has been updated with new information.