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Are Side Hustles Worth It?

Craig Ruckus

I’m tired of seeing stories of people working 2 hours a day and making $105,000 a month in passive income or someone making $160,000 in passive income working 5 hours a week. First, these success stories are the exception. The reality of most side hustles is a lot of work and little revenue. Second, these stories typically ignore or underplay how much work these entrepreneurs put into their businesses when they were starting out.

Are Side Hustles Really Worth It?

I think certain side hustles are worth undertaking if you don’t do it for the money. I mean if the money ends up coming… then great! But don’t start one thinking that you’ll be making an extra $1,000 a month by your second month and after a year you’ll be rolling in it working five hours a week.

You should pick a side hustle that interests you and that you can learn something from. That way you’ll have a better chance of persevering through the slow times and you’ll be adding to your overall skill set which will help your future business endeavors.

Which Side Hustles are Worth Doing?

A good side hustle has the following:

  1. Flexibility. This is your side gig by definition so you need to be able to work on it when you have free time and put it down when you have other priorities.

  2. Your attention. You need to be interested in the side hustle. Imagine doing something for a year without making a dollar from it. Would you still do it?

  3. Potential. A side hustle should make you money. If you can’t make money doing it then it’s a hobby. But with the internet, almost any hobby can actually be a business now!

  4. No hourly rate. Now a lot of people start side gigs that pay them for driving other people or fulfilling a service and that’s fine. But I think a good side gig needs to break the time for money mold. After all this is your side gig. If you want to trade time for money there’s a whole world of jobs that will do that for you with a retirement account, vacation and benefits.

Examples of Good Side Hustles

  • Newsletters - A newsletter can be a great business. In the age of TikTok and Insta people still read emails and it’s a great way to connect with a community and potential customers. Here’s an idea for a newsletter focused on tips for new home owners. Substack is a great place to start one, but they currently don’t allow affiliate links in emails.

  • Niche apps or software - If you have the ability to code (or the patience to work with an AI to help you code) then you can create a niche app or website. Rootd is a great example of an app that is super specific, it targets people with panic attacks, and it was created by a solopreneur who outsourced the code and makes over a million a year. And here’s an idea for a transcription business powered by AI.

  • Premium products - Product businesses are hard, trust me I’ve tried. But that means that there’s less competition. If you have an idea for a premium product you can start it off as a side hustle and they can grow big.

  • Niche Websites - Websites can be fantastic businesses, but they do take a long time to get noticed and grow. I would recommend taking a niche and then being niche down and be even more specific. Don’t do what I did and start a site on making, saving and investing money!

Whatever you pick as your side hustle just remember it takes persistence. When you’re tired at the end of the day after working, cleaning, cooking dinner and putting the kids to bed it’s hard to start a second job. So pick something that you’re interested in and you can hopefully keep at it long enough to build up the business.