As most of you know, I have had many side jobs (they are all a part of my business now and I am self-employed). I didn’t think my side jobs would eventually become my full-time job.
But these side jobs did become my full-time job, and I’ve never been happier.
My side hustles completely changed my life and when I think about how everything turned out, I can’t help but think about how lucky I am.
My life is completely different from what I thought it would be like just a few years ago.
In the beginning, I really wanted a side job after I received my undergraduate degrees (I had a break of around 8 months, I believe, before I started my MBA), and I also even thought about getting a side job while I was working full-time and taking MBA classes full-time. W did not think me starting a side job was the best idea though, because he thought that I really needed a break from everything.
He was right. I think taking a part-time offline job would have been too stressful.
So, instead of looking for a more “real” part-time job where I would physically go in every single day, I eventually expanded what I was doing online and looked for positions online. I knew that writing and offering other online services was something that I really enjoyed, so it felt more like a fun hobby.
I found many online jobs and everything just happened from there!
Even though I always had many side jobs, most of my friends do not make any sort of money on the side. It must be a personal finance blogger/reader thing! I’m not sure why this is. There are plenty of positives for having a side job.
1. I had a lot of student loans.
I knew that if I only had my day job, then paying off my student loans would take a very long time. I can’t remember exactly (I try to push all student loan memories out of my mind!), but I believe my monthly payments would have been around $500 per month if I would have paid them just “normally.”
Paying $500 a month for like 10 years?
Hmmm… That was not something that I wanted.
I had and still have friends who pay the minimum payments (some are over $1,000 each month!) and don’t really try any harder to make any extra money to pay them off quicker. I didn’t want that to be me. I knew I could pay them off more quickly than the schedule.
I made a student loan payoff plan and paid off all of my student loans within one year after I graduated with my Finance MBA. Without my side jobs, I really do not think this would have been possible.
Yes, I could have paid extra each month, but not at the same magnitude.
2. We were struggling.
Yes, we always had shelter and we never went without food, but we weren’t doing the greatest. We weren’t saving money and I was racking up student loans even though we were both working full-time.
3. We wanted to travel.
With the amount of money that we were making and the level of expenses that we had, traveling just didn’t really seem possible. With side income, we were able to apply this extra money towards traveling. This was great because we didn’t feel horrible going on a vacation!
It was paid for by extra bonus money.
4. We wanted to save money.
Making side income allowed us to save a good amount of money. We were able to be less reliant on each form of income because we were able to save over 50% of our income each month.
We were able to save a large emergency fund, save for repairs, save for retirement, save for vacation and so on.
5. We didn’t want to feel stuck.
One very large positive of having side income is that if something came up, we had a fairly large buffer in our cash flow each month so it didn’t seem like the end of the world.
This is significantly different to how it was before we made any amount in side income. If something broke, we definitely freaked out.
6. We were fairly frugal but didn’t want to cut any of our expenses.
The only other way was to earn more.
Yes, we probably could have cut our expenses a little more, but not enough to where it would have really mattered. We’ve always been kind of frugal.
So, we knew that we had to make more money in order to actually make a change in our lives.
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Why do you make extra money? Why do you not? Would extra money change your life? How would an extra $500 each month change your life?
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I’ve only recently started to think about making extra money (I’ve always joked about needing a second job, but only now am I actually starting to lay the ground work for it). I have a great paying job in a profession I’m good at, but it doesn’t inspire me. I love to spend money. I’ve moved around the country a lot. I want to retire at 50. There are lots of other reasons, but it’s becomming more and more apparent that in order for me to maintain my current lifestyle and retire early I’m going to need to hustle a bit more. You’re blogs, great. There are lots of fantastic tips and posts here. Thank you.
http://www.brasshoney.blogspot.com
Thank you Shannon! Good luck hustling 🙂
I’ve only recently started to think about making extra money (I’ve always joked about needing a second job, but only now am I actually starting to lay the ground work for it). I have a great paying job in a profession I’m good at, but it doesn’t inspire me. I love to spend money. I’ve moved around the country a lot. I want to retire at 50. There are lots of other reasons, but it’s becomming more and more apparent that in order for me to maintain my current lifestyle and retire early I’m going to need to hustle a bit more. You’re blogs, great. There are lots of fantastic tips and posts here. Thank you.
http://www.brasshoney.blogspot.com
Great post, Michelle! This was perfectly timed, because I’m feeling a little burnt out with my side hustle. At the same time, it’s my fault for spreading myself out too thin. It’s time to re-prioritize. Thanks for the motivation to keep going! My side income is going towards school loans and travel:)
Thank you Anna! And good luck re-prioritizing 🙂
i’d love to find a side hustle too. since I went to law school, my student loans are really high (ugh) so i’d love to make extra money to start paying them down faster. hopefully I can start looking into side hustles more soon!
I hope so too Jackie!
$200 is great! Good job Stefanie 🙂
I am aiming to place an emphasis on earning side income for the new year. My primary motivation for it is to make extra payments on my student loans. I agree with your sentiments on that subject wholeheartedly! After that, it would go toward travel.
Good luck! You can do it 🙂
What would you do for side income?
I’m hoping that my blog and writing will someday provide some extra side income to make payments towards my student loans. I’m not quite there yet though. I’m not too concerned as I have other ways to make a little bit of money on the side by churning credit cards and participating in the occaisional focus group. It is a bit sporadic but every little bit helps.
Good job!
I am really ramping up the side hustles (again)! An extra $500 a month will take years off of my debt repayment. I obviously want to make more than that! I also want to move abroad for a year, get married, have a shortie, pay off debts and my mom’s mortgage/my mortgage. That’s a lot of money. Luckily I’m up to the challenge. Reading your blog, and others I see that it’s possible.
Thank you Michelle. And good luck to you!
I think that some people just have a spirit inside of them where they are always looking for new ways to make extra cash. I know that you have it, Michelle, and I think I have it a bit too (although I still have much to learn). You certainly made knocking out your goals much easier with all of that extra cash.
Thank you Jefferson 🙂
Great post! Right now my side hustles are actually what’s paying my bills! That and savings since I lost my job. I really need to grow this area since it really doesn’t cover all my bills yet, but that’s something I’m working on. An extra $500 a month at this point would be almost life changing – it would pay for insurance and the things I can’t quite cover yet!
Thank you! I hope you can grow your side hustles 🙂 What do you do right now for side income?
I earn extra to pay off my student loans quicker, its working really well. The sooner I pay them off the sooner I can live freely (as in not a strictly tight budget, travel etc).
Good job!
My motivations line up well with your motivations. Now, it’s all for my family.
🙂
Great post! I always encourage clients who feel like they can’t “cut” anymore from their finances to grow their income with the side hustle. My hubby and I use our side hustle income for the “fun” things we want to do that way when we are working harder, it doesn’t feel like work because we are really just working for fun.
Yes, exactly!
Thanks Catherine! Good luck paying off your debt 🙂
I agree!