Starting a sidehustle

Are you thinking about starting a sidehustle? Have you heard the term and wondered what it is? Does it conjure images of scams and criminal activity?

I’ve just started a new sidehustle – an extension to an existing one (more on that later maybe) but at the same time something completely different and very much out of my comfort zone.

But first, let’s clarify what I’m talking about:-

definition of a sidehustle — not your main job

It might surprise you to learn that some of the biggest companies around today started out as sidehustles. OK – that’s absolutely not my intention and might well get you to roll your eyes back and say “that’s not me” – but there are millions of people all over the word that have successful sidehustles that generate a couple of extra bucks each month and hundreds of thousands more that have turned their sidehustles into a such lucrative income stream that they have quit their full time jobs.

Many people conflate the concepts of “the gig economy” and sidehustles – I separate out the two as in my mind, the gig economy refers to “freelance working” – which is just a different employment model. This report by Mastercard has some interesting stats on that if you want to know about the size of the gig economy globally.

It’s not a material difference as many freelancers have a sidehustle “side gig” – don’t get hung up about it.

why would you want to start a sidehustle? — Why would you?

The reasons for starting a sidehustle differ from person to person – but right now, there are a couple of common reasons why more people are considering spinning up their own sidehustle.

My personal reason for starting this particular journey is because I am / was self employed – a “solopreneur” if you will. When the COVID crisis hit, 100% of my income stream evaporated overnight and the future looks bleak for my professional practise. No, I haven’t given up on it at all and I’m working flat out on a new business model that will work in the emerging NewNormal – but that will take time and an attitude shift in my target customer base – so in the meanwhile, I’m dedicating a few hours a day to experiment with this one.

When I say that ANYONE can start a sidehustle regardless of age or ability, I really mean it! I was born in 1965 – if you do the math you will figure out I’m not a youngster. Everything that I’m doing with this is self taught (Google and YouTube are your friends people!!).

Although this particular sidehustle of mine is 100% online and can be done remotely, not all sidehustles are. For example I have a fit and healthy retired neighbour in her sixties that has a lucrative sidehustle walking dogs for people in the area. My future son-in-law makes and distributes custom cocktails as an extension to his job as a bartender (which was obviously hit hard by COVID) and I know of a young girl in the area that started a daily exercise bootcamp for kids in the local park that is taking off fantastically.

There are SO MANY opportunities out there if you put your mind to it.

plzlook is a sidehustle — This ain’t my first rodeo

I’ve owned the plzLOOK domain since 2003 and the site and URL has gone through quite a few iterations. I recently decided to try my hand at making merchandise so of course one of the first designs I made was …….

This time however, I’ve decided to share my journey as a public service to you all. I will NOT be charging for any of this information – I’m giving it away freely as there is plenty of opportunity for all of us.

Of course I’ll be making mistakes as I go – I’ve already made quite a few and am busy correcting them and trying different things.

I’m not suggesting you COPY exactly what I’m doing (as in launching a merchandising sidehustle) – it doesn’t matter what kind of sidehustle you are thinking about, the STEPS you need to follow, the DECISIONS you will need to make, the TIPS, TRICKS and TRAPS along the way will be similar enough for you to LEARN from my mistakes and APPLY them to your own situation.

I’m going to try to find the time to post a couple of times a week (ha – will see how long that lasts) if I can – follow me on Instagram via the social links below if you’d prefer the TL;DR summary version and don’t mind a couple of merch posts in between – don’t worry, I’m not going to be spamming your insta feed but hey, I’m trying to sell some merch here so it would be cool if you took a look at it occasionally and even better if you bought some – thereby earning my eternal gratitude of course 🙂

I’ll be drawing on previous experience and also sharing what I learn as I go – if you follow my journey, perhaps you can find a way to turn your PASSION into PROFIT.