How To Choose A Side Hustle

So, you have decided that it is time to make a change. Whether you want to be your own boss someday or just make some extra money each month, the first thing you will need to figure out is how to choose a side hustle! In my opinion, there is only one thing to consider when choosing your new hustle: what am I passionate about.

Asking Yourself the Right Questions

Starting a new hustle is a fresh start! It’s like if you could go back to when you were 18 years old and choose your career again. This is your chance to do something you really enjoy. So, the question you need to be asking yourself (and the question I used to ask myself every day) is “If I won the lottery tomorrow and didn’t need to ever work again, how would I spend my time?” When figuring out how to choose a side hustle, step 1 requires you putting your common sense aside for a just a moment.

What I found fascinating is that this, for me, was actually a very difficult question to answer. What I found was that I wasn’t truly letting myself think in those terms. Every time I thought about something I enjoy doing, I would immediately say, “Ya, but…I can’t make money doing that.” WRONG! It’s wrong! You can make money doing anything. Sometimes you just have to get creative. You can start by looking at a list like this 100 Side Hustles article, but ultimately it will come down to your very unique interests and creativity to take an idea and make it your own.

If we told our parents that we were going to grow up to make money playing video games every day, they would laugh…and probably be slightly worried. Yet today, thousands of people across the world make full-time incomes on streaming platforms doing just that.

Once you start asking yourself questions about your passions, give yourself the time and space to answer it. Don’t try to force an answer or get stuck in the thought process of finding the logical answer. Try meditation, journaling, thinking about what hobbies you already have, what you would put on your bucket list, etc. Trust me, when you begin to have an obsessive thought, your brain will start looking for the answer. It’s the same phenomenon that happens when you want to buy a certain car and you start seeing them everywhere. Your brain chooses to see what you are interested in and focused on. Give your brain the task and keep yourself open to the world around you.

I remember when I first really started becoming obsessed with starting a new hustle and thinking about questions like these, there were some truly unexplainable synchronicities that appeared in my life that I interpreted to mean I was on the right path. That is why I think the next step is that once you have gotten an answer to your question, you need to start taking action. You have the spark, now it’s time to turn it into a flame.

It’s Time to Take Action

Taking action is how you turn a spark into a flame. Even very small actions every day will help you see progress over the long term, but also does two important things: it keeps your mind focused on the project at hand and it continues to lead you toward the next step. Starting a business is like rolling a tiny snowball down a hill. By the time it reaches the bottom it’s a snow mountain! It can take some time to start seeing meaningful results. However, pushing that snowball just a tiny bit each day, over time, will really add up.

Stay Flexible and Open to Other Paths

Remember to stay flexible. The first step you take towards choosing your hustle does not mean you HAVE to stick with that exact idea. It is more likely that it will just get you interested in a certain topic and will lead you to other things that are more aligned with your interests. Action fuels inspiration.

Grow Organically

My last piece of advice when thinking about how to choose a side hustle would be to just dip your toes in at first. Start out with a lot of learning and get by with the least amount of investment as possible. If you start something and find out quickly that it is not for you, it won’t be so devastating if you haven’t made a serious financial investment. As you continue to stick with something, you will have a better understanding of your actual needs and your hustle can grow with you at a healthy rate. You do not need to build your empire overnight.

So, let me summarize my tips for choosing a hustle:

1. Figure out your passions by asking yourself the right questions and giving yourself time to fully internalize and answer those questions. You cannot get somewhere if you don’t have an idea of what your destination is.
2. Once you get inspiration, act on it quickly. Creating a business plan is a good way to make a roadmap for your new hustle. Start doing small things each day to keep that spark alive.
3. Stay flexible. Just because you felt inspired to do one thing, you may find yourself heading down an entirely different path. That’s just how things work sometimes and it’s ok!
4. Don’t jump headfirst into the deep end. In the beginning stages of your hustle, see how little you can get by with until you know it’s something you want to take further. Then you can allow your business to grow organically with you!