You Should Absolutely Start a Side Hustle in 2021
Why these 5 common critiques of side hustling aren’t true
1. It pays very little
Zulie Rane mentioned this recently in her successful Medium post on why you shouldn’t start a side hustle. It was this comment that made me want to write this rebuttal.
I disagree with her assessment.
I started side hustling in February of this year and have made at least $330 every month since (and up to $900).
Sure, $300 per month is not job-quitting money. But it’s not insignificant either. And — it can grow over time. With a lot of side hustles, exponential growth is at play — you may not make life-changing money the first couple of months (or even years), but, eventually, your side hustle can snowball into an income source that rewards you consistently.
When Side Hustle Nation surveyed their followers, they found that:
“If we combine some of these income brackets, you can say that after someone’s side hustle gets over the initial startup phase, 43.4% of side hustlers earn $1000 or more per month.”
Not insignificant at all.
2. Side hustle burnout
Of course, having one and a half, or two, jobs can lead to burnout. It can be soul-draining. It can double your hours. But it doesn’t have to.
The beauty of side hustles is that — unlike most 9-to-5 job commitments — you can set your own hours and design your own schedule. You can say no to projects, reject clients, postpone, procrastinate, and even resign at any point in time. Side hustling should be about the freedom to choose — not additional stress.
As a result, people tend to far prefer their side hustle over their primary job.
Additionally, “Working Americans spend an average of 12 hours per week completing tasks related to their side hustle.”
12 hours is definitely not the 40 hours side hustling tends to be portrayed as. 12 hours a week is less than 2 hours a day.
3. Less time for other stuff
There is an opportunity cost to side hustling. Spending 12 hours a week on Upwork means you have 12 hours less to spend with family or friends, going out, relaxing, watching Netflix and so on.
But there is also an opportunity cost to not side hustling. At the end of the day, there is value in both; it all depends on what you value. Having a side hustle that brings in additional income has many benefits: reduce debt, increase savings, provide increased financial freedom, top-up retirement savings, etc.
Side Hustle Nation’s followers reported the following as their main sources of side hustle inspiration:
Besides, many people have side hustles precisely because they get to do something they enjoy in their spare time and also make some extra cash at the same time.
4. Low odds of success
Yes, side hustles can fail. But not even trying equals an automatic 100% fail rate.
Also, side hustles aren’t like startups or businesses more generally. While those have a pretty high failure rate (around 90%), side hustles don’t need to become self-maintaining money machines. To me, earning more than $0 means your side hustle is successful.
That’s because the whole point of having a side hustle is to make “money alongside one’s main form of employment or income.”
Therefore, any money alongside your main job is, by definition, a successful side hustle, even $5 or $10.
And anyone, with a little bit of creativity or time on their hands, can make $10 side hustling.
5. Too much competition
Scouring the internet, I come across questions like this all the time:
How do I deal with too much competition in the freelance industry?
I can only talk about my own freelancing niche here (proofreading and editing), but from experience, oversaturation is a bit of an illusion sometimes.
Yes, there might be over 1,000 Fiverr gigs on offer in my niche alone (not to mention Upwork, PeoplePerHour, etc.), but how many of those signed up, tried for a couple of days, got disappointed, and left? How many did a few orders and then got bored? How many log on every day and contact potential buyers? How many continue long enough to become Level 2 or Top Rated Sellers (the elite group, specifically picked by Fiverr)?
Probably not all that many.
Besides, freelancing isn’t just about pure competition. Someone can read your and my article. They can hire you and me for their project.
And when a client hires a freelancer and does a good job, it’s a win-win for everyone. Writing in FreelanceToWin, Danny Margulies summarises this well, saying, “when one of us wins it becomes more likely the other one will end up winning… and that we’ll bring many more of our “competitors” along for the ride, too.”
Competition in the side hustle world, therefore, is not always quite as it seems.
