3 Great Reasons Working Moms Should Start a Side Hustle
Extra income is only a small part of the equation.
When it comes to building a career and being a mom at the same time, the job we have in front of us can feel insurmountable. Between daycare and school drop offs, late nights with little or no sleep and managing sick days, showing up at your desk in one piece is often a miracle.
The expectations on our time and energy, especially when working in a professional environment are also non stop and a lot of the time we feel like we’re half-assing everything.
It just seems to come with the territory.
Maybe you’re like me and have a couple of fancy degrees that you worked hard to finish and you were career oriented from day one. You always knew you’d continue building your career once you had kids, but what you didn’t expect is how hard it would be to keep all the balls in the air.
Three years ago I made the decision out of necessity to pay for my son’s ridiculous day care fees to start a side hustle. I began working as a freelance writer and consultant, leveraging the parts of my day job that I liked the most and turning it into a $30,000 a year enterprise.
It felt like just one more thing at the time, but that decision has proven to be one of the best I could have made for me both personally and professionally.
Regardless of your intention there are many reasons why professional working moms should think about starting a side hustle.
Let’s take a closer look at three of them.
Earn Extra Income
Earning extra income is the obvious first reason why a side hustle is a great idea — you can bring in extra cash to pay your bills, take a vacation, send your kids to camp, or start to save for retirement.
If you take your professional skills and position yourself as a freelancer or consultant, you have a lot of control over how much money you earn as you set your fees and decide how many clients to take on.
The flexibility and freedom this offers you and your family is one of the best parts of a side hustle.
Who doesn’t want a little extra cash?
This approach also starts to diversify your income streams, making you less dependent on one single employer or job to pay your bills. Though it might not seem like a big deal, it gives you something to fall back on if you lose your job.
As I’ve learned over the last year, this is vitally important and helped me to kick start my own full time entrepreneurial journey.
Develop Your Skills
Being able to work on projects that are going to challenge you, push you to learn new skills, or sharpen the ones that you already have is another great reason to start a side hustle.
It could be that in your day job you’re limited to specific functions within your role and don’t have the ability to do work that you’re excited and passionate about.
Maybe you’re itching to be a writer or to work with clients in a completely different industry and gain new experience.
A side hustle as a freelancer or consultant offers you these types of opportunities. You’re the one in charge and you get to determine the type of work you take on.
So if you’ve always wanted to work with an organization that supports children with disabilities or you’re interested in wildlife conservation, this is your chance.
Take your knowledge, skills and experience, package them up and approach your dream clients. Tell them how your background can help them meet their goals or solve their most pressing problems.
Along the way you’ll start to build your skills in business development, relationship management and in writing a winning proposal.
Find New Opportunities
While you might have a plan in place that sees you on a clear career trajectory within your industry, a side hustle can present you with amazing opportunities you would have never considered.
And those opportunities might just change your life.
Through my side hustle I’ve been able to work on a long term project with one client over three years and carve out my space as an expert in my field.
I’ve also worked with other clients to write grant proposals, immersed myself in content creation and social media marketing, and honed my skills in research and brand management.
None of these opportunities would have presented themselves if I’d sat at my day job and simply put in my time.
The undeniable best part of my side hustle is that it let me transition to full time self employment without it being a herculean effort.
I work from my home office, ditched my commute, set my own hours, and am able to be present for my son. Having this ability has freed up time that might have once been spent sitting in traffic for more important things — like being able to volunteer for school field trips without getting serious side eye from my manager.
There’s no one looking over my shoulder to keep tabs on my whereabouts, or making note of when I get into the office. My degree of Mommy Guilt has shrunk significantly and I can live life on my terms.
Working moms have a lot on their plates and though a side hustle may seem like it’s just one more thing, it can open the door to amazing opportunities. Earning extra income is typically the first reason you might consider a side hustle, but the opportunity to build your skills and expand your career options shouldn’t be overlooked. With the right plan in place you can start your hustle and still be present for things that are more important — like your kids, your family and your life.
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