A side hustle is a service or product that you offer or sell on the side of your current full-time job or business, to earn extra income.
There are many inspiring things about the Proverbs 31 woman. She has encouraged me to embrace the virtue of early rising, taught me the value of earning my own income as a woman, and helped me understand the importance of having help at home.
She has also taught me the value of having a side hustle, which is something that has changed my life in more ways than I can count.
Here are just a few reasons why you should get a good side hustle in 2018:
- Boost your income. The most obvious advantage of having a side hustle is the extra income that helps make ends meet. Money goes out in several ways: food, transportation, rent, phone bills, clothes, healthcare, and on and on, so it’s not hard to see how money coming in only one way can be a problem.
- The extra income can help you pay off your debt. If you’ve ever tried paying off debt while on the same income that necessitated the borrowing in the first place, you know how hard that can be. Beyond making ends meet, a side hustle can make it possible for you to, actually, meet your debt elimination goals.
- You can actually begin to plan for financial freedom. You know you don’t want to work forever, but is your pension really going to be enough to sustain your lifestyle? More and more people are taking control of their finances by investing and growing wealth. If you haven’t started thinking about the time, when you’ll no longer be strong enough to hustle as you can now, please start thinking about it. Get a side hustle, and start putting money aside, and investing for your retirement.
- You can explore your passions. As many who have built businesses around things they love can tell you, your side hustle can also be the one thing that allows you to explore the things you’re most passionate about, if you work a job that doesn’t give you that fulfilment.
- You learn new things. Starting a side hustle will always teach you stuff you didn’t know before, but if your side hustle is in a different field from your main gig, this is especially true. The opportunities for education, skill acquisition, and self-development are just as valuable as the extra income. Who you’re becoming matters, you know?
- You can experience the joy of work that doesn’t feel like work. If you get one of those sides hustles you actually love, you’ll know that getting paid to do something you actually enjoy can be a kind of heaven on earth.
- You can fast-track your career. Beyond padding your income and helping you eliminate debt, your side hustle can actually create career-changing opportunities that ordinarily wouldn’t have come your way at your full-time job. It can even lead you to new, more fulfilling jobs!
It helps a lot if you love, or have a passion for, the side hustle that you choose. If you haven’t found the right one yet, please don’t stop looking. You will find it, and it will change your life in ways you never imagined!
As your side hustle grows, quitting your main gig might become more and more tempting; don’t rush that decision.
My main business used to be my side hustle while I was working a job. Now that it’s my main gig, and I’ve found another side hustle that I’m madly in love with, I realise that I never, ever, want to rely on only one source of income again.
If you’ve been considering a side hustle or wondering where to get ideas, the #sidehustle hashtag is a good place to start. Go for it.
