Is a
side hustle right for me?
Finding Your Side Hustle By Dave Combs
So what’s all this fuss about side hustles? Perhaps you’ve heard people talking about making extra cash on the side driving for Uber. Or maybe you’ve heard of people finding a kind of personal satisfaction from hustling on the side that they just don’t get from their day job, like the person who sells their own handmade goods on Etsy. Maybe you’ve heard of people running a blog or doing a podcast on the side. It could be something as simple as purchasing items cheaply at garage sales and selling them on Craigslist or eBay for a profit. With all this talk of side hustles, maybe you’ve been thinking about starting your own side hustle. Okay, so let’s start with what we mean by side hustle. For the purpose of this article a side hustle is something you do apart from your day job that may or may not bring in some extra money, but does have the potential to do so if you were to sell a product or service related to whatever it is you do. Though the word “hustle” can sometimes have a negative connotation, it’s NOT a get-rich-quick scheme, or a means of swindling people out of their hard earned money. When we talk about a side hustle, we mean a legal way to earn some extra money and to empower yourself by doing something you truly enjoy that adds value to the world around you.
I’ve been a side hustler for as long as I can remember, even before I had a term for it. I’ve always loved to draw, and in elementary school I started noticing that other kids were impressed by my art. Eventually they began asking me to draw their favorite characters for them. One kid said, “I’ll give you a quarter if you draw Chewbacca for me.” That was the, “Aha!” moment in which I made an important realization. I realized that I had a skill, drawing pictures, for which people were willing to pay. Before that, I only drew for fun simply because I enjoyed it. Looking back many years later, I’ll say I’ve gotten paid quite a few quarters since then for my art skills, and I’ve enjoyed doing it every time. The question you may be asking yourself is, “Is a side hustle for me?” Here’s a quick test you can take to decide. If you answer, “yes” to one or more of the following questions, a side hustle may be just the thing for you: 1. Could you use a little extra income? 2. Is there something you love to do for which people would pay you? 3. Is there some kind of fulfillment missing from what you do at your day job? 4. Do you want to improve your skills in a certain area? 41
