I was sitting in the hair salon a few weeks ago when the young lady next to me began talking about her side hustle. You could hear the excitement in her voice as she recounted what lead her to get that paper. Her side hustle was decorating for parties, she was good at it and was making good money, but then she talked about how much work it took.
So of course, anyone who knows me, knows I like to ask questions.
I asked her: “So how much are you making per hour?”
She didn’t know, all she knew was that she was currently banking. I then shared with her, why I don’t like the term side hustle, and I’ll share it with you too.
To HUSTLE as defined by the Merriman-Webster online dictionary means to sell or promote energetically and aggressively hustling a new product; to make strenuous efforts to obtain especially money or business.
Entrepreneurship is at an all-new high. People are on a one-track mind toward living the good life and stop working for ‘the man’. Don’t get me wrong there is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to work for yourself. Entrepreneurship is how economies flourish to produce millionaires.
Much of the advice that I have seen floating around the internet is that, like millionaires, you should have at least seven streams of income. The reason for this is because as we saw in the last recession, employers aren’t loyal. Your job could be here today and gone tomorrow, so what’s a person to do, start a side hustle, right? The scarcity of quality paying jobs and the cost of living has significantly contributed to the growth of the side hustle.
A few well-known side hustles are Uber, house cleaning, doing hair at home, babysitting, cooking food, making decorations, couponing, and taking surveys online. All these things are making you money, but are they holding you back from building a viable side business that can give you financial freedom long term?
What most people don’t tell you is that seven sources of income most millionaires have are passive, which means they are making money while they sleep. They aren’t spending hours working tirelessly; they’ve created sources of income that work for them.
Here is how:
- Earned income- you have a job that pays you more than 1 million a year.
- Profit income- money you make from the proceeds of selling a business
- Interest income- money you get from lending your money to someone else.
- Dividend income- money that you earn from returns of the shares of a company you own.
- Rental income- money that you receive from renting out an asset
- Capital gains- money that you get as a result of an increased value of an asset you own.
- Royalty income- money you earn for letting people use your products, ideas or processes, such as franchises.
Back to my initial question, is your side hustle holding you back from building a successful side business that can grow over time? Most people start a side hustle because they need extra money to pay their bills, buy something special or even perhaps take a vacation. But what if? What if you started a side business, with the future in mind, not just your current situation.
I can’t say how many people I know that do hair out of their home, but they do it for the extra money they’re good at it, they like to do it, but they won’t go to school and get a cosmetology license. They won’t set up their business legally so that they can entirely quit working for someone else.
Building a side business requires an entirely different mindset from a side hustle. You grow progressively, set goals, market yourself or product, and you invest back into your business. The desire to build a business is still a priority after the bills are all caught up, and the vacation is over. A side business requires consistency whereas your side hustle may be only when cash is low.
Not sure if you have a side hustle or a side business that can contribute to your quality of life. I have a free resource for you. Side Hustle or Side business, which one do you have? Get it online at escapeyourmess.com/hustle.
Telanna is a businesswoman and personal excellence coach. Through her free resources and personal coaching, she helps moms manage their time effectively so can live out their purpose, by permitting themselves to do what they love. Find her on your favorite social media platform @escapeyourmess.
