Hustle or Hassle? Every day, I hear about “Hustle Culture” and how you should side hustle your way to financial freedom!
This is all well and good, but when does a side hustle become more of a hassle than its worth?
It’s true, every dollar counts when you’re trying to dig yourself out of debt or build a better life for yourself and your family. But some side hustles actually end up costing more than they’re worth.
If you’re trying to decide if you should take on a side hustle, make sure to take the “real math” into consideration so you don’t sell yourself short.
Will Your Hustle Earn Money?
Mr. Bean has a friend at work who was looking to “get his hustle on” and make some extra money. He’s a younger guy in his 20s and was considering doing something like Bite Squad or Uber Eats.
Many people claim it’s a great way to earn a few extra bucks. And it can be.
But Mr. Bean pointed out something that would probably make his quick food delivery gig more of an expense than a side income: the guy drives a large V8 Truck that gets horrible gas mileage.
Just a few inner-city trips would cost him more in gas than the pay could ever compensate for. He’d literally be paying to deliver other people’s food.
If you’re looking for a side hustle of your own, take the gas, car maintenance, and/or other possible expenses into consideration when calculating the actual pay.
Make sure you’re actually going to earn money.
Is the Hustle Worth Your Time?
When I was pregnant with baby #2, I desperately wanted to be a stay-at-home mom. My RA was only getting worse and I hated leaving my baby every morning.
I needed to find some way to earn at least a little bit of money on the side so that we could afford for me to stay home full time once baby #2 was born.
While playing around online one day at work (my job was soooooo boring, but it paid the bills) I discovered Mystery Shopping. It sounded awesome!
All I had to do was go shopping at certain stores, write a report, and BAM! A few extra dollars to throw in the bank account to build a baby fund.
At first, it was great. I worked down the street from a large mall and was easily able to do a shop or 2 on my lunch break. Then I would write the report during slow hours at work or in the evening.
I could get about $200-300 a month.
Life Changes and So Do Side Hustles
I kept it up for the rest of the pregnancy and thought it was a great little side hustle. When I had baby #2, I was officially a stay-at-home mom. The baby joined big bro and I doing a few shops every week. But it was a lot harder with 2 babies in tow than it was by myself on lunch break.
After a while, Mr. Bean started to notice how burnt out I was. Not only taking care of 2 babies, but packing them up, going to shops, and spending hours at home writing reports for the shops afterward.
We calculated how many hours I was putting in versus how much I was actually bringing in. I was barely making $5/hr for most jobs when we took the extra driving and report writing into consideration.
Plus, I was using up gas, stressing myself out, and just not enjoying it much anymore.
It was no longer worth it. At least, not how I had been doing it. I had to change my approach.
Now, 8 years later, Mr. Bean is making more money at work. And I have started doing a few different side hustles, including my Real Estate gig. This allows me to stay home and homeschool our 2 kids.
I still do Mystery Shopping on occasion but I am super picky about the jobs I do. They usually must include food and a simple report that takes less than 10 minutes to complete. Otherwise, it just isn’t worth it to me anymore.
When considering a side hustle, make sure it is actually worth your time. Otherwise, you might just be stressing yourself out for a few extra dollars, when you could be doing something much more productive to make or save the same amount of money.
Don’t Just Follow the Latest Hustle Trend
If you ever watch YouTube, you’ve probably seen some kind of ad or video about someone who is making thousands of dollars a month DROPSHIPPING! Or some other version of it.
“All you have to do is create your own website, connect it to a supplier, and watch the money roll in!”
Yeah.
This is true in theory, and many people have apparently gotten rich doing it, if you believe all those YouTubers. We even looked into it.
From what I’ve experienced, it’s not as easy as they make it up to be.
How It Actually Works…
This “super simple” money maker actually requires a lot of research to find products that will actually sell.
Then, once you have researched and found the “perfect product”, you have to somehow distinguish your site/product from the millions of other sellers on the internet.
Do you know how many people are selling the same stupid $3 lint remover for $19.99? Good luck getting your’s found without shelling out money for ads.
And if you decide to come up with a more unique product, that’s not readily available from a direct ship company, you will have to not only get your product/website found, but you will probably have to:
- Fork out the upfront cost of buying it in bulk
- Store it
- Ship it
- Follow up with complaints or returns
Not All Online Businesses Are The Same
Now, if you actually have a new and truly unique product that you have developed and are getting manufactured and want to build a real business around, GO FOR IT! That’s truly being an entrepreneur.
But if you’re just looking to make some fast easy money using the “awesome new sales trick” everyone is talking about online, please actually research what goes into it. Otherwise, it can just become a huge waste of time and money.
I’m Not Downing Side Hustles
Don’t bring out the pitchforks and start hunting me down just yet. I understand that many people have made great side incomes or even full-time incomes doing all of the things I have just mentioned above. And it is awesome!
But all I’m saying is please make sure you take into account all of the time, money, and effort that goes into certain side-gigs when choosing the one that’s right for you.
Why Start a Side Hustle?
A lot of people take on a side-hustle simply to earn some extra money. Maybe they’re looking to pay down debt, save for a new home purchase, or just pad their retirement account.
But more and more, people are taking on side hustles because they want to get away from their 9-5 job ASAP.
The Times are Changing
Over the last few years, with the help of the internet, it has become easier than ever to build a good income without having to go to a 9-5 job.
- Work from home jobs with flexible hours allow parents to stay at home with their kids. Quarentine has pushed so many more companies to make these types of jobs perminant.
- Independent Contractor positions allow people to build their own business. They can choose their own clientele, set their own hours, and prices.
- “Gig culture” has become less of a stigma and more accepted as an actual way to earn a living (Your crazy un-employed uncle who worked lots of side jobs used to just “be a bum.” But now it is more acceptable to work a few part time contract jobs with different clients and earn a good living.)
- And Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and low fee online brokerage companies, like Vanguard, allow everyone, employed full-time or not, to save for a rich retirmenet. You no longer have to stick it out with the same company for 30 years and hope they funded your pension well.
Plan Your Side Hustle
Whether you’re looking to take on a short term Side Hustle to pay down debt or looking to begin building your own company while still working your 9-5, take a few moments to lay out a plan:
- What is your goal for this side hustle?
- What, if any, are the costs?
- Money
- Time
- Stress
- Is this just a short term job for extra money or do you have ambitions to turn it into something more?
Once you know what you’re getting yourself into, go for it!
Wrap-Up
If you’re looking to start your own Side Hustle, find something you enjoy and figure out how to make it both profitable and fun.
You may be paying off debt with “hair on fire” speed delivering pizzas on the weekend and getting the best tips possible. Or you could be taking a few months/years to hopefully, build a successful blog/community. 😉
Figure out what’s really important to you and don’t sell yourself short. Side Hustles can be a wonderful addition to your life, bringing extra money, new passions, and much more.
But make sure to take a second to evaluate what they really mean to you to prevent yourself from letting your hustle become a hassle.
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