Do the ‘side hustle’
How to bring in a second income
The idea of a job for life was consigned to the dustbin of social history years ago. Its replacement, job “hopping”, is firmly ingrained, and switching employers every few years is now the norm for many workers.
But even this new style of working is becoming outdated, it seems. The next stage in the evolution of how we work – according to evangelists on the West Coast of America, often the birthplace of innovations that spread rapidly across the world – is the job on the side or “side hustle”. In other words, you don’t abandon the day job in favour of a pitch on a market stall selling your hand-knitted sock puppets: you do both.
A landmark review of employment patterns conducted by Matthew Taylor, a former adviser to Tony Blair, found that, in the aftermath of the financial crisis, a growing number of people were receiving income from a variety of sources – in fact, well over a million people are now thought to earn extra cash in the rapidly growing “gig” economy, according to official figures.
‘It’s a hobby that earns me money – but not enough to live on’
One part-time entrepreneur, Angie Chappell, 35, has turned her passion for illustration into a successful business that she runs side by side with her main job as an animation production manager at the NSPCC, the children’s charity.
“I’ve got an arts background but fell into working at advertising agencies,” she said. “It was a creative industry but not a creative job. In the back of my mind, I always wanted to do something with my illustrations. Once my husband and I managed to buy a property and get a mortgage, I decided to quit my job and launch an illustrations business.”
Her designs, which feature icons from popular culture on cards, bags and wrapping paper, have taken off and can now be bought at Paperchase, the stationer, and gift website Notonthehighstreet.com.
But after several months focusing on her business, Angie Beal Designs, Mrs Chappell began to miss going into an office and working with other people, so she applied for the job at the NSPCC. “That job pays for my fixed costs – my mortgage, bills and food. I make about £10,000 a year from the illustrations business, which I save or reinvest. Having the regular income from my day job means there’s no pressure on the illustrations,” she said.
“It’s a hobby that’s also earning me money. I couldn’t live on the income that the designs produce alone, but it’s a nice bit of extra cash, and it satisfies my creative side.”
Mrs Chappell said she had been nervous at first about doing two separate jobs but the key was ensuring that her own business didn’t have any crossover with her work for the charity.
‘Having the regular income from my day job means there’s no pressure’
‘A steady job can be impossible to give up’
In many cases, workers start to explore additional work not because they hate their job but because they like the variety of making money from something unrelated to it, according to Chris Guillebeau, author of a book on the subject called Side Hustle.
Mr Guillebeau, who runs a popular blog and podcast on how to live less conventionally, has spent years collecting anecdotes from people around the world who have applied a passion, or spotted a gap in the market, to earn some extra money. To be included in his latest book, they needed to earn at least $500 (£375) a month from their “side hustle”. He argued that employers benefited too because workers were more fulfilled and, therefore, more productive in their day job. He stressed that “side hustlers” were not traditional entrepreneurs, the type who go on television shows such as Alan Sugar’s The Apprentice or Dragons’ Den.
“For some people, the thought of quitting their day job and striking out on their own is exhilarating,” he wrote. “For many others, however, it can be terrifying. After all, whether or not you have a family to support or a mortgage to pay, a job that produces a steady income is difficult, if not impossible, to give up.”
An additional job doesn’t just mean a welcome bit of extra cash on the side, he added. The extinction of the “job for life” works both ways. Just as employees are unlikely to dedicate themselves to one employer, businesses are also less committed to their workers: modern firms
expect staff to move on and are less paternalistic as a result.
According to Mr Guillebeau, people who find new sources of income can be split into two types: those who develop hobbies and passions; and those who spot a gap in the market.
Max Robinson is a good example of the former. He runs a construction company in Scotland but also has a keen interest in fish. He built his own website dedicated to reviewing fish tanks and, on a whim, signed up to Amazon’s revenue-sharing programme, which pays a small amount to writers of reviews that include links to models sold via the online retailer.
Soon afterwards, Mr Robinson received his first payment from the scheme, around £150. He added more reviews and expanded the content, and now earns an average of £500 a month.