Why You Should Only Ever Have One Side Hustle
Taking the time to assess more than just financial health
2020 was the year of the side hustle. It seemed like everyone was researching side hustles to do and how to make money from them. Thirty-four percent of people in the U.S. alone have a side hustle, and another 24% are planning to start a side hustle in 2021.
The pandemic showed us just how quickly things could go sideways and that relying on a single income stream can be a risky choice. I am one of those who saw the dumpster fire of 2020 and started closely examining my decisions regarding focusing solely on my day job.
One of the big questions in the side hustle game, besides “what should I do for a side hustle?” is “how many side hustles should I have?” Should I focus on just one or work on several to diversify?
While diversifying your options is important, you should also weigh the impacts that multiple side hustles will have on your day-to-day life, as it might be greater than you anticipate. It is better to dedicate your time to one side hustle instead of spreading yourself thin across many.
The more hustles, the less time
We only have 24 hours per day to work with. Hopefully, eight of those hours will go toward sleep (my insomniac brain likes to disagree). Another eight hours, minimum, get allocated to our full-time job. Add time for commutes, errands, food, exercise, time with family and friends, and some relaxation, and there isn’t a ton of time to dedicate to side hustles.
We can only “make” so much time for our side hustle before other aspects of our lives begin to suffer. And we can only spread that side hustle time so far before all of them start to suffer. The more side hustles we try to run, the less time we have to spend on each one.
I spent a little while trying to juggle two; writing and a digital template Etsy shop. I figured once I got them set up, they could become passive and basically run themselves. Nope. I quickly learned there was always something to be done.
My Etsy shop would always need new templates. I had to make sure I regularly engaged in social media to promote my shop and research ways to make my templates better.
And writing is just as demanding. Anytime I spent time working on one, I felt guilty that I wasn’t working on the other, that I was “neglecting” the other side hustle.
Then it grew to where whenever I wasn’t working my day job or one of my side hustles, I would also feel bad since I felt like I was slacking off, even when doing necessary things like exercising. Eventually, I realized I would have to put one aside to be able to have the time to focus on the other or risk burnout.
Risks of overworking
As mentioned, the more side hustles you run, the less time you can spend on each. There is also the fact that the more side hustles you run, the less energy you have to spend on each. Caffeine can only go so far in providing additional energy to complete everything you want to get done, and burnout is a significant risk.
Burnout can become a real concern when you’re burning the candle at all ends trying to juggle several side hustles. Jaimie Crooks, CEO of Definitely Definitely and licensed coach, says:
“Burnout doesn’t just happen overnight. The problem for side hustlers is that many of them try to ignore these symptoms. Instead of taking a step back and recognizing that something is wrong, they push themselves to work that much harder to land the next client or finish a big project. All that pressure and stress has a cumulative effect that can do much deeper damage than simply causing you to feel disinterested in your work.”
Take the burnout of trying to drive progress on one side hustle and compound that for every side hustle you have. The effect only worsens. Burnout isn’t pretty either; it can have a host of adverse effects on your mental and physical health. It can affect everything from the potential for insomnia and depression to gastrointestinal difficulties, respiratory problems, and heart disease.
Focusing on only one side hustle allows for you to be more deliberate with your energy. It makes it easier to get the rest and relaxation that you need to maintain your energy and passion for your work.
It is also often easier to take breaks or even vacations from a single side hustle than trying to put three or four on hold for a family trip to Disney. Balance is vital for playing the long game and not fizzling out too soon.
Jack of all trades, master of none
Unless you are doing the exact same thing in all your side hustles, working multiple side hustles can hinder your ability to improve your skills in any one area.
The more hustles you have, the thinner you are spreading yourself, not just in time or energy, but also in skill acquisition and growth. Slower skill acquisition or improvement of current skills can then slow your ability to grow each one of your hustles.
When I was trying to juggle two different side hustles, developing or improving skills in two different areas was challenging, especially after a long day at work.
For my Etsy shop, I was trying to learn about social media promotion, using Canva well, and building useful printable templates.
Then I was trying to learn ways to improve my writing, storytelling, and ability to create a good title and engaging introduction.
But my brain only has so many resources each day. I can only learn so much before the cognitive fatigue begins to set in, and I am no longer learning effectively or retaining what I am learning. And there is research that supports that idea — mental fatigue can impact your ability to remember or retain information.
So despite putting in time watching videos, reading articles, and trying things out, nothing was really sticking with me. Which, in that case, what was the point of putting in the time?
How to increase income streams without multiple side hustles
So, if you keep to only one side hustle, how else can you diversify to bring in some extra cash without risking burnout or having to divert time away from your hustle? There are a few options. They won’t bring in the same income as a full-time job or side hustle, but they are a set it and forget it way of bringing in a little extra each month.
High-Yield Savings Accounts
If you want guaranteed money each month, the easiest way to get that is by storing money in a high-yield savings account. While the pandemic saw interest rates on these accounts plummet, as the economy recovers, these rates should start to recover as well.
If you don’t need the money for a bit, you can also look into a certificate of deposit (CD), which will also provide interest on your money. The difference is with a CD, you agree to deposit the money for a fixed period of time, and if you withdraw it before, you will face penalties.
You won’t become a millionaire off your savings account or CD interest, but you will at least be getting something compared to leaving cash languishing in a no-interest checking account.
Retirement Investing
Investing is not a guaranteed method of generating money. Still, it is also increasingly becoming one of the only ways many Millennials and younger stand a chance to retire. If your full-time employer offers a 401k with any employer matching, make sure you are taking advantage of it so you aren’t leaving free money on the table.
Look into other tax-free or tax-deferred retirement accounts like Roth IRAs and try to deposit the maximum amount you can each year. These revenue streams will set up future you instead of just focusing on current you.
Capital Gains and Dividend Investing
If you have the money to spare, you can also look into taxable brokerage accounts and invest in stocks, index funds, or ETFs to grow your money. It is still investing, meaning there is no guarantee that your money will grow, but you can definitely increase your odds with a bit of research.
You can also focus on those stocks that provide dividends- then you can grow your money through both the growth of the stock (or fund/ETF) as well as the receipt of periodic dividends. It’s a two for one!
It may take some time to learn how to do so and get things flowing. Still, once you have an account set up, you can schedule automatic transfers to your brokerage account, and depending on where you set up your account, you could also set up automatic investing.
The long-term impacts of the pandemic are still unknown, but the increase of people working side hustles in addition to a 9–5 job will likely continue moving forward.
As a culture, we won’t forget how quickly seemingly stable things can get yanked away and will want to hedge our bets. However, we also need to ensure we are taking care of our mental and physical health instead of just our financial health. Focusing on one side hustle and doing it well will allow us to balance all three — physical, mental, and financial.
