How to Start a Side Hustle
Hi Guys, Hope you had a great week! This week’s newsletter covers something that has been all over the headlines for the past couple of years ‘Side Hustles’.
In the new capitalist economy, one job is no longer enough, the average person can no longer do their 9-5 expecting to easily buy a home, go on the odd holiday alongside owning a car and buying new clothes.
The Wall Street Journal recently posted an article saying that people should skip breakfast to save money- I found this bizarre but eerily true.
Imagine someone working in the city of London, buying the £4 coffee and £5 sandwich from Pret every morning- that easily sets them back by £200 a month.
A great solution will be for them to skip the breakfast altogether and try out intermittent fasting to save £200 a month. Or, to find another way to make money ….
‘Side Hustle’ – A way to bring in supplementary income alongside one’s main profession.
I personally don’t think it is fair to expect everyone to juggle 2-3 income generating ventures to have a good life, but here are some ways – tested and tried to start a ‘side hustle’
1) Look at your skills
Life deals all of us different cards- some people have some ‘flashy’ skills such as singing, painting, writing, sports etc, but many people fail to remember that other things such as academic writing, resume writing, alongside other skills are marketable as well.
Imagine someone working a 9-5 role as an accountant- extremely stretched.
They want to earn some extra money but there is a pay ceiling in their current role. As an accountant, they are very good at budgeting, so they create a budget template to sell on an online marketplace- that is a viable side hustle. A lawyer will usually make a great copywriter. An Engineer could be an online maths tutor.
You must look at your skills and decide how you want to repackage them
2) Calculate How much money you need to make;what are the stakes?
Sometimes, you need to determine how much you want to get out of what you put in.
Before beginning any ‘side hustle’ you need to do the maths.
Ask yourself questions like- ‘how much money do I want to make’, ‘what price should I charge’ amongst others.
Editing resumes for £5 per resume is too low a fee for someone with a full-time role on £30k per annum who aims to make £500 extra per month (100 cv edits) - it just isn’t worth their time. However, it might be a good fee for a student.
3) Be realistic with your capacity
For side hustles to be successful, the person involved must show up as the best version of themself. You need to realistically account for rest, sleep, hiccups, and eventualities before dedicating time to a side hustle.
I always think- what is it worth making money that you are too exhausted to spend?
My favourite book of the week: Simple passions-Annie Ernaux
On the theme of love, this book explores the mind of the protagonist- a lady who is in love with a man who she is having an affair with. Originally written in French but translated to English. I particularly love the verbiage of this short novel and I think it has everything to do with the French to English translation.
I hope you enjoyed this post. Please feel free to like, share comment and subscribe. See you next week !