This post may contain affiliate links. Please see Disclosure and Privacy Policy at bottom of page.
With all the side gigs out there, should that be the way you make money? So many of them barely carve out an income. You are fighting others to get the opportunity to work. It can be great for a little extra money here and there. Does it make sense for your full-time means of financial support? Is your side hustle worth the effort?
There are better ways to make a living and while hustling is the foundation to make it, you need to be hustling for the right person or the right company.
Side Hustle Examples
I have tried a few myself and I must say that I was less than impressed. Amazon Flex worked the best and resulted in $18-25 an hour. Actually, it worked out to even more (up to $36/hr) when they were offering more to take blocks and I could get it done faster than they estimated. Want to try Amazon Flex? Here are some tips & tricks.
Shipt was the worst with most shopping trips being $8-12/hour. You might as well get a regular part-time job for some steady money. Plus while you think that you just grab the item, scan it and add it to the cart that didn’t happen. Usually what the person wanted was not in stock and I had to either text or call. This all increased the amount of time it took.
Then there was the time that the map to the person’s house was wrong and it took me three miles in the wrong direction. The person said they corrected the system, but not on my trip.
The worst was the time I got to the door and the person said they didn’t order it. I knew I had the right house. I called and no one answered. I called support and I was told to take everything back to the store. Even more, time wasted. I was paid, but it wasn’t worth it for the time
Could it be that taking these kinds of jobs are actually making it harder for you to make the money you need to get ahead? Don’t get me wrong. I am all for doing what you need to, to get ahead. By all means please be able to eat and put a roof over your head. But it might not be as good as you think it is.
What if you decided to hustle for yourself
If you decided to stop trying to hustle for others and come up with your own hustle you would have something all your own. You wouldn’t need to worry about competing with others to get the work. Or worry that you did something that they kick you off their platform for.
These companies make money off of your efforts and when you are getting peanuts in return I just don’t see the point. They claim that you are going to make a great income from the job, but in reality, they fall flat.
You have the skills that you need to do it for yourself. There are a million options out there that you can turn into a business. Even if it’s already a business, you can tweak something and come up with a brand new concept.
But it’s easier when it’s already done for you
It is always easier when someone else does the work. The problem is that they can then claim the most out of it. That is why most businesses don’t pay shit.
It’s time that you do this for yourself. For your future. Letting others dictate how much you can earn is never going to get you where you need or want to go.
The other thing that’s easier when something’s already done is that you can see if it works or doesn’t work. You can take an existing idea and make it better.
Think about it, so many new businesses are not new ideas. Every new restaurant is not a new idea. It is just a tweak of something else. If they are just like everyone else they fail. Look at what is out there and do it your way and make it better than the rest.
Don’t just jump in
If you really are ready to hustle for yourself you need to think about what it is that you want to do. Think about the things you like to do, or jobs that you have had, or even things that you wanted to do, but haven’t yet.
These are the starting points for your own hustle. You never want to just pick something because you heard you can make a lot. If you don’t like doing it you won’t stick with it.
Keep doing what you’re doing until you get off the ground. You will put in more work in the beginning and that’s the hard part. You will feel like giving up and will want to stop what you’re doing now to focus on the new project. That will backfire on you. You need to be able to pay your bills. By all means please be able to eat and put a roof over your head.
Discover your new side hustle
Flush out ideas of things that you like to do. Look at other companies doing similar things and then write ideas on how to make them better. Every company could be doing something better, you need to discover what that is.
Now get a list of things that you absolutely hate to do. It’s important to know what you are not willing to do. This will help you throw out ideas that are technically a great idea, but for someone else. This is the hardest part.
If you have a great idea that you’re sure would make a boatload of money and you would hate doing it there is no point considering it. I mean it. You could consider telling someone else about it, but don’t you dare try to start this.
With your list of ideas in hand you now need to consider what you could actually do. If you want to own a resort that may be out as a choice due to money. Throw out all of the ideas that just couldn’t be done now for whatever reason.
Now get your list down to 2-4 ideas that are possible to be done now. I suggest that you talk with someone else about these and get their opinion on which one they see you doing. A fresh set of eyes on this will give a new perspective that you may not have thought about.
Decide on the final choice and get to work. I know easier said than done, but remember that everything is done in steps. You don’t just jump in.
Take the steps
So here is what you’re going to do. Decide that you are going to hustle for yourself. Make a list of things you like to do. Look at other companies and see what they are doing wrong and how you can improve on it.
Then make a list of everything you hate to do. Throw out any ideas that don’t match what you would love to do. Now get 2-4 options. Have someone else think about these with you and then pick one.
Remember not to dwell on this. The longer you make the process the harder it will be to choose. Even with the best choice, things will change. Nothing ever stays the same forever.
Now take a long hard look at your current side hustle. If it seems like it’s worth it and it’s making what you need then keep at it. If you find that it’s not really as good as it should be then you need to consider starting your own side hustle. You got this.
Need some side business ideas? Here are 20 ideas that aren’t saturated.