📖 Not 1, Not 2,... (Idea #6)

⚾The Elevator Pitch

You should have not one but three separate side hustles: An income driver, a network grower, and a passion project.

🤝Introduction

It has been reported that close to 40% of working Americans have a side hustle. For many, a side hustle may be required to get by and pay the bills. For others, a side hustle can be a great way to increase your income and afford more goods and experiences, or to build up income and investments.

 💡The Idea

To grow wealth and bootstrap your career, we believe you should have three different side hustles:

1. An income driven service (i.e. Website builder, Uber Driver, Bartender)

2. A Network Growth Project (i.e. Content Creator, Newsletter, etc.)

3. A Long-Term Passion Project (i.e. SAAS Company, Real Estate Investing, DTC Product)

Each of these types of side hustles can be great, but each has limitations: service oriented businesses are tough to grow, and network growth and passion projects are tough to monetize at the start.

However, tackling all three types of side hustles at the same time can be helpful because you can leverage each to benefit the other two. See the diagram I made below:

👷The Work

Unfortunately, this is a big “it depends” section. It would seem best to divide up your commitment per week to each side hustle based on the answer to the following questions:

1. What is my main end goal? (i.e. build income, fund my passion project, or develop a network/following)

2. How much additional income do I need to meet my end goal?

3. How much time am I willing to commit each week to all of my side hustles combined?

Take the below scenario from one of our editors as an example:

•  I have a full-time job, so I am willing to commit about 20 hours a week to my side hustles.

• At this time, building income is my main goal to help support myself and also fund my network growth and passion projects.

• My income driver is tutoring – I will commit ~60% of my time to this (12 hrs/week)

  • This will allow me to work towards the financial goals I have

•  My Network grower is this newsletter – I will commit ~20% of my time to this (4 hrs/week)

  • This will be slow growth, but will make me a better writer, help build my network, and hopefully will eventually earn income.

• My Passion Project is a software project I am working on – I will commit ~20% of my time to this (4 hrs/week)

  • For a passion project, the time commitment feels low here and I would say it is. I may at times need to be willing to put in a bit more time on this project each week if I am serious about launching it within a year or so.

Over the course of 5-10 years, with patience, discipline, and hard work, this person could find themselves with three side hustles that are all monetized and building income. Committing time each week to all three ideas allows them to build income while the other two side hustles catch up. As the other two side hustles grow, the person can pull time away from their income driving side hustle to focus more on the other two.

💸The Finances

While exact finances would be silly to speculate given the potential options, the graph below gives a good idea of what this methodology aims to accomplish. Essentially, over time, your income driver should be surpassed by the income generated from your network and or the passion project:

👍The Good Stuff

• Team Effort - The side hustles can all help each other grow (see our first figure above).

•  Less Risky - Three projects versus one.

•  Income from Day 1 – Having an income builder allows you to take more time to build up the other two side hustles.

👎The Risks

• Less Upside - Not going all-in on one idea can limit growth across all three.

• Time commitment – Having three side hustles is hard to juggle.

• Quality Impacts – Aside from the time commitment, having three side hustles at once can make it hard to ensure quality across all three.

📚For the Road

• When Is a Side Hustle Actually Worth It?

• 30 Side Hustle Ideas

• Why you should start a passion project