The importance of side hustles

Side hustles, are becoming more and more popular, especially within the past few years. The internet has made finding a flexible part-time job easier than ever. Here in Winnipeg, the food delivery service is becoming super popular. Uber Eats, Door Dash, Skip the Dishes, and others are making it easy for people to work when they want. All they have to do is deliver restaurant food.

For some people, taking on a side hustle is a choice — a project or an extra source of income. But for some people it’s becoming a necessity. It’s not easy to make ends meet. Especially if you’re new to Canada, have a growing family, or trying to start a business (to name a few).

The importance of side hustles

Earlier this year I made a career change to Financial Advising. About 1/10 people who go into financial advising make it into a sustainable career. It is very competitive, and very tough to get established. It’s a risky move, but I want to succeed. So my mentality from the beginning was that I needed some side hustles. With multiple streams of income, there’s more safety for me. I’m more confident that I’ll be able to go from: making ends meet, to succeeding.

Having side hustles has allowed me to create income while building my book for business. Right now, they generate enough to pay my bills and keep me afloat. Money being generated through my growing advising business allows me to put the money back into the business, pay off debt, or save for the future. It took time to build the side hustles. But now they are part of my regular routine. Let’s look at what I do.

My side hustles

Something I’ve been doing for a while now is writing on Medium. It’s a great way to get a feel for blogging, make some money, but more importantly to make connections with like minded people. When you sign up to write on Medium you can sign up for an account that allows you to make money (you pay $5/month I believe). Based on your readership, you make some money! I’ve never made a lot of money on Medium, but it’s allowed me to make connections to other opportunities. One of those, being Wealthtender. Now contributing to both Medium and Wealthtender allows me to earn some money, while increasing my knowledge and competency.

I work part-time at a retail store that aligns with my interests. This makes working there a lot of fun, and I get to meet new people with similar interests. It also provides me with a steady, consistent pay cheque every couple of weeks. It’s a little bit of money that I can rely on and put towards my bills. Oddly enough, it also helps me prioritize my time. When I know what days I have to work someplace else, it allows me to focus on the free days. When my schedule is too wide open, it’s easy to get distracted or push things off. So I actually find that by having more to do, it gives me some needed structure.

This is a long term side hustle, but I still count investing as one. I find that a lot of people are working hard for money, but not allowing their money to work hard for them. By investing your extra money, you are helping your future self out. Whether you’re saving to pay taxes, a big purchase, or retirement. The sooner you start, the better off you’ll be. Even if you invest conservatively, or just throw it into a high interest savings account. Establishing good money habits is always a good thing, and by saving more you’re going to see your hard work pay off.

How to get started

What I’d recommend is trying to think of a way to turn a hobby into a source of income. Maybe for you that means finding a part-time job, doing freelance work, or trying to create a business. If you’re doing something you really enjoy, it doesn’t really feel like a job. Before I used to dread Monday, and only looked forward to the weekend, or days off. But that’s not the case anymore, everyday brings new opportunities.

No matter what you love to do, there’s usually an audience. If writing, blogging, vlogging, podcasting, or anything else appeals to you, give it a try! It’ll take some time to reach that audience. If you go into it with the mindset of doing it for yourself, and try to provide value for the people you reach, I think you’ll have success. Do it for the right reasons, and stick with it.

If you’re not ready to take on a side hustle right now, check out this article here. It’s all about taking an internal look at your expenses to see where you can cut costs and save money.

I always like to say this, and I’ll say it again.. Some of the best opportunities I have were complete surprises, and some of the most certain prospects lead to nowhere. I’ll always recommend to be open for opportunity, you never know what will happen. And in my experience, some of the best are the ones you never expected. Having side hustles is all about putting yourself in the best situation to succeed. So make the best use of your time, and start hustling.

About the Author

Derek Condon, CFP®

Derek Condon is a Certified Financial Planner and Mortgage Advisor specializing in financial planning, investments, wealth-preserving insurance, mortgages, and others. I help my clients with a variety of goals. From someone who is just starting their investing journey to a retiree managing their wealth. From a first-time home buyer to someone refinancing to get their very best mortgage. And, of course, everywhere in between.