7 Reasons Everyone Needs a Side Hustle - Smart Money, Simple Life

By now, you’ve all heard of side hustles. They can be a great way to make some extra money on the side while also learning some new skills, but maybe it sounds complicated. Below we explore seven reasons why everyone should have a side hustle!

Table of Contents

Why have a side hustle?

The number one reason everyone needs a side hustle is…

1. It provides you with a safety net.

The days of having a secure, full-time job are gone. The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) sealed the fate of secure employment in 2008.

Despite the media, the financial industry, and politicians telling us otherwise, it’s getting worse out there, not better.

If the corporate ship you’re currently sailing on starts to sink, you can be guaranteed it won’t be the board of directors or upper management, with their million-dollar salaries, that sacrifice themselves for the good of the business.

No, they’ll grab the nearest available worker and toss them overboard hoping a lighter vessel will continue to float. And, they’ll probably keep tossing people’s livelihoods overboard until the ledger is back in the black. Or, until the ship sinks.

It’s a harsh scenario, I know.

I also know how it feels to be tossed overboard (twice) and the fear that experience brings with it.

The days of company loyalty are over.

No longer will they consider the fact you’ve been a valuable asset for five, ten, or twenty years, just your impact on their bottom line.

So, before your boss shows up at your desk with a pink slip, make sure you’ve got a side hustle going that can provide for your basic needs while you look for new employment.

Want to learn more about side hustles?

2. The nature of employment is changing

If you’ve spent any time looking, you’ve most likely noticed the job ads are either short term contract, part-time or casual.

There’s no guarantee of security or continuity.

A successful side hustle can ease the impact a casual or part-time position might have on your bank balance by smoothing out the peaks and troughs in your weekly income.

3. Start a business while still having a regular income

Unleash your entrepreneurial spirit.

If you’ve been considering starting a business as your next career move, starting it as a side hustle while still working enables you to build the business without worrying about paying your bills in the early days.

And, it’s much easier to employ an abundance mindset when you’re not counting pennies.

Necessity might be the mother of invention but money related stress will make everything you do much harder than it needs to be.

If your side hustle is in the same or similar industry as your day job, you can leverage the credibility your experience in that position provides.

Be careful you don’t create a conflict of interest though or your day job will disappear in a puff of smoke. And, that can happen if it just looks like there might be a conflict, but isn’t.

4. Pay off your debt, quickly

Debt ties us to jobs we hate and lifestyles that bring us little joy.

Starting a side hustle that brings in extra cash can rapidly accelerate your debt repayment plan.

Whether credit card debt or your mortgage, when you’re dedicating large chunks of your income toward servicing debt every month, you reduce your ability to choose how best to live your life.

Freedom from debt = freedom from servitude.

5. Increase your sense of fulfillment

Even if you’re content in your job, you might not be ticking the ‘fulfilled’ box.

A side hustle can enable you to actively pursue a passion and gain an additional income in the process.

For example, if you’re an office worker who sits in a cubicle all day, and also a frustrated creative, you can take the product of your creative skills and sell them online or at local markets.

You might still have to sit in a cubicle Monday to Friday but in your spare time you could be doing what you love and making extra money.

You have to agree, that’s a win/win situation!

Need tips for making your side hustle work?

6. Start and build an investment portfolio

The additional money you make through your side hustle can go straight toward your preferred investment plan.

If you’re lucky enough not to need to extra cash from your side hustle, you can funnel it straight into your retirement plan or investment portfolio or high interest savings.

When you have money in the bank you can take advantage of investment opportunities as they arise, like real estate or fluctuations in the stock market.

No need for risky margin loans or no deposit investment property mortgages!

7. The finer things in life

When you have a profitable side hustle, you can put some of that income toward the finer things in life. Vacations. Private schools for your kids. Tickets to the ballet.

Are you willing to spend an hour or two less in front of the television, wasting time and burning brain cells watching some inane reality TV show, in order to have the freedom and finances to enjoy a relaxing vacation every year?

Paid for up front.

No credit required?

Yep. Me, too!

Many more reasons…

In truth, your reason for starting a side hustle might not be on this list, but it’s probably not too far off these seven basic reasons why everyone needs to have their own side hustle.

You might rely on your boss to provide you with a secure job and income today, but tomorrow is anyone’s guess.

Take control of your future financial well-being and start thinking about your side hustle today.

What do you have to lose?

Build a Life you Love

The absolute driving force behind my online endeavours is to establish and maintain a life I love. A life that allows me to spend my days the way I want to spend them.

After a short stint back in the corporate world, I’m more committed than ever to spend my days doing things that bring me joy and add real value to others’ lives.

Blogging – Learn how to start your own blog or business web site. Once you get started, there’s almost no limit to what you can achieve for yourself. But, the first step is establishing your foundation and that has to be a self-hosted site. If you’re just testing the waters, I recommend Bluehost as a cost-effective way to get started.

Online Store / eCommerce – Along with this and some of my other blogs, I have another business that includes an Etsy store and a Shopify store. Whether you’re selling stock you’ve purchased, dropshipping or selling your own handmade products, eCommerce is a great way to start an online business in your spare time. Shopify is a great platform to use as it’s intuitive and has lots of help available if you get stuck, and they have a ton of plugins to make it easy to get all of the features you want.

Managing your Money – The framework for everything in life and business is good money management. Keep coming back to our site for more helpful tips, but if you are doing some shopping and want cash back, check out Rakuten (formerly eBates).

Your turn…

Do you have a side hustle? What was your reason for starting one?

Let us know in the comments.