Side Hustles are the Lost Dreams that May Come True

Is it good to chain your dreams with a number?

Photo by Peter Fogden on Unsplash

“Why You Should Only Ever Have One Side Hustle”

Try explaining that to a group of billionaire entrepreneurs, and they will have a wild laugh at it. Large and organized businesses are always trying their hands on multiple side-hustles at a time, not just to improve their bottom line but also to stay relevant.

I’ll not glorify Elon Musk here because, first, he has been glorified enough and, second, his ventures are yet to become consistently profitable. So, let’s talk about Amazon and the kind of hustles it is into- E-commerce, entertainment, gaming, books, AI, robotics, web, payments, logistics, its moneymaker- the cloud, and I am still missing a few. The thing with the side hustles is that one can never tell which ones will make it big and which ones won’t. How would one know without trying? If the MNCs can’t, despite having those premium consulting firms at their disposal, can you, as an individual?

Let’s look at the downside of having just one side hustle, especially in these times when thousands of new influencers and trends are getting registered in the minds of the audience every day. Even if you are basking in all the limelight today with a side hustle that eventually becomes your main hustle, you would not want to end up like Yahoo! that wished to do only the ‘mail’ hustle well. Now, the centuries-old and fossil-based oil majors also want to look cool with their numerous investments into new energy solutions.

But, how about you as an individual? Your side hustles are the gateway to fulfilling your hobbies and passions first, money and recognition later. If lucky, you may end up earning money from more than one hustle at a time but may still pursue the other hustles to make the closure of your workday or workweek an event worth waiting. One of my side hustles, in fact, finally made me love waking up early in the morning (after 30 years of my existence) even though I haven’t monetized it (yet!). With time, you also come to realize which hustle is not for you and should better be eliminated or replaced, thus leaving you with no regrets in the grave later.

However, easier said than done. The world’s most remarkable ideas will still be a flop if not for good execution. Pulling off multiple side hustles is a work of both art and management. Like an artist, one has to immerse into one hustle at a time to extract more and quality work within a limited time. Like a manager, one has to draw a line by detaching from one hustle and moving on to the other even if the previous one didn’t end on a satisfying note. Of course, the time and resources are stoically prioritized to the most rewarding ones instead of the more enjoyable ones.

There are multiple stages of the hustles- seeding, grooming, monetizing, scaling, and turning into a business. Even if one or more of your side hustles successfully turn into a business, it is time to seed a new one and attempt monetizing what you have been grooming so far. In an ideal case scenario, I would recommend having at least one hustle in each of these stages, thus needing not just one but five to work around at any point in time.

Finally, I will sum it all up with a quote by the man at the helm of the firm I mentioned earlier:

“If you’re not stubborn, you’ll give up on experiments too soon. And if you’re not flexible, you’ll pound your head against the wall and you won’t see a different solution to a problem you’re trying to solve.” — Jeff Bezos