The amount of people with a side hustle alongside their day job is growing year on year, at present more than 57 million Americans, which is around 33 percent of the workforce, are operating some sort of side hustle or freelance work in their spare time. Having a side hustle has a great number of benefits to an individual, however there are a number of considerations that need to be made before starting one up.
While beginning a side hustle might take a little planning and financial investment, there are a number of reasons that can make it really worthwhile. Firstly, having another source of income is reassuring in case of redundancy or loss of earnings in your main employment.
The extra money you bring in from these activities can also be a great help if you have debts to pay off. Often people find that much of the wages is spent on monthly bills, but with these extra earnings you may be able to tackle bigger debts such as loans sooner.
Even if you don’t have repayments to make, extra income can go towards saving for retirement or growing your wealth.
A side hustle has more just financial benefits, you can learn new skills that might help if you are looking to make a career change in the long term. It can even serve as a creative outlet for something you have a passion for but aren’t able to do full-time.
Doing something as a side project does not bring with it the same levels of responsibility and commitment as it would if you relied on it to be your main employment and source of income. For example, you might enjoy painting and doing commissions but the stress of being a full time artist and making a living from it would take away the fun and enjoyment.
Before you take the plunge and commence your side hustle, there are a few things to consider:
Firstly, you need to define some clear goals and decide how much time and energy you can realistically dedicate to your project. You might find that a lot of your time is spent trying to find work and building up a client base.
For freelancers, popular ways of sourcing work includes social media, online marketplaces such as Fiverr or Upwork and through word-of-mouth and your current network of contacts.
It is also important to stay on top of organising your admin, it is essential to keep hold of records of sales and expenses and ensure that you pay the correct amount of tax. There are many online tools and resources that can help you to do this for a low cost.
When deciding on what kind of side hustle you would like to start you should consider what your interests are and what skills you already have that you could utilize. Perhaps you have friends or family members that would like to get onboard and share the workload with you.
However, if going into partnership with someone, it is very important to set clear expectations and boundaries and the beginning in order to avoid conflict later down the line. Having written agreements can help to make sure everyone understands what is expected of them.
The great thing about a side hustle is that you are usually your own boss, therefore you can decide what work you would like to pick up and if you don’t want to do a piece of work you have the power to decline it.
With careful planning and consideration, starting up your own side hustle can be a really empowering and enjoyable experience.
About Carson Derrow
