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In a world where robots are taking over, some jobs are on the verge of extinction. Some projections say that 40% of all jobs will be automated by 2024. It’s not a question of if you’ll need a side hustle to supplement your income, but when.
Automation is happening at an exponential rate, so it’s important to be proactive about ensuring your income doesn’t get swallowed up by the machines. Nobody knows exactly when or where the first robot will take over a human job, but there’s no doubt that it will happen eventually. By creating a side hustle that complements your primary job, you can take steps to insure yourself against this eventuality. It’ll also make sure you feel like you’re in control of your own destiny because you’re doing something on your terms that isn’t dictated by a machine.
When people start a side hustle, they tend to work harder and more efficiently than when they had a job. They’re also free from the pressures of meetings, deadlines, and sometimes even salaries! So starting a side hustle is a win-win for you.
Here are some of the ways in which you can plan ahead for your side hustle, alongside the kind of tools that you will need to guide you:
Firstly, identifying your skills and then utilising your skills – The skills you have, whether they are academic, musical, culinary, or any other type of skill, could be a starting point for your side hustle. You already have a slight advantage and won’t be starting from the bottom.
Redefining your interest, a side hustle gives you the opportunity to pursue your interests and passions without putting all of your eggs into one basket.
Identifying your immediate resources. Look around you and see what resources you have available to you. For example, if you have a laptop and Wi-Fi at home, you could look at doing an online side hustle. If you have baking equipment, you could look into baking cakes. Creating and managing your time. If you have a full-time job, you don’t want your side hustle to interfere with your primary income. Think about how much time you can truly dedicate to your side hustle.
And lastly calculating your Start-up costs – Certain start-ups cost more to start than others. Consider how much you’ll need to spend on starting your side hustle.
Increasing your income, even if it is by a small fraction, can really be beneficial to your finances over time. By choosing a side hustle that works for you, you are able not just to increase your income but learn new skills, meet new people, and perhaps even discover an entirely new career path for you to follow. Just ensure that whatever side hustle you go after is completely above board.
The other thing that you need to keep in mind when pursuing a side hustle is burnout. If you are working multiple jobs, you can easily become exhausted and your health can suffer. Ensure that you are managing your time well, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, still making time for relaxing, and not biting off more than you can chew!
However even those side hustles that are actual passion projects raise their own issues. Another way of looking at it is commodifying your hobbies—looking at how you can turn the fun thing you do in your leisure time into a way of making money.
The moral of the story is be creative, be humble, have fun, and remember you are the master of your own fate. If you think like a business owner, there are innumerable ways for you to start your own business, or simply make money off of other peoples while also helping them earn more. I call this the three-sided win, they win with more sales, client wins with more services and you win with a cut of the deal.
