What is a side hustle?
The Side Hustle is also referred to as the side gig or side job.
A side hustle is any type of work engagement in addition to your full-time job. A side hustle is generally freelance or assignment based work in nature, providing a supplemental income.
A side hustle is completed outside of your day job hours, usually taking place during the evenings, weekends, or holidays. It provides additional income while offering the flexibility to complete work outside of the traditional 9-to-5 hours.
Is a side hustle the same as a part-time job or a casual job?
A side hustle is not the same as a part-time job. While a part-time, casual or temping job entails your employer determining hours worked and what you’ll be paid, a side hustle gives you the freedom to decide how much you want to work and earn, as well as when you work.
Why do we side hustle?
Extra Income
The primary driver for most people working a side hustle is financial need. This is a topic which needs addressing. The era of one parent working and supporting their whole family financially is confined to history. Childcare business is thriving out of the necessity for both parents to be working (rather than choice). It is becoming increasingly common for workers to maintain their primary job combined with multiple side hustles. This is an issue that is not going away and needs discussion at a higher level.
Personal & skills development
Every new day is an opportunity to develop and better yourself. Side hustles provide an opportunity to develop yourself as a better person in life as well as business. Embrace your entrepreneurial spirit and you may be surprised as to a new perspective on life you inherit.
Test the water to validate a business venture
A side hustle is a fantastic way to transition to freelancing, contracting or self-employment. It provides an opportunity to validate a new venture without the risk of leaving the security of a full-time job. Most side hustles are very easy to set up and just involve your time & skills. So juggling this commitment is the largest constraint to success. The most important aspect to remember is don’t let the side hustle impact your ability to do your job to your best abilities.
Power up your passion
Side hustles are often things you are passionate about, as opposed to a typical day job worked in order to make ends meet. When you find something you love doing, this no longer becomes a work chore, rather a driver to success. Tapping into the ability to being paid for something you love doing is what we should all aspire for.
Flexibility
Side hustles are diverse in nature, if you find you are not enjoying your side hustle, start a new one! The choice is yours. This can help you identify what you are good at and not so good at. What you enjoy and what you hate. Most side hustles simply require your time and skills, so the opportunities are endless.
How can the side hustle benefit businesses?
When the economy is booming and the job market is in favour of the worker, businesses struggle to get access to the top talent employees, as these workers get to call the shots as to where they work and for how much. Digital freelance platforms such as gigexchange have now opened up a pool of talent previous unavailable to businesses. The workers are side hustlers. Those that are happy in their day job, but keen for some extra work and income. They can use their side hustles to scope future employers and showcase their on-demand skills and talent. The digital reputation rewards those skilled workers, whilst allowing businesses to gain an insight into their historical work history and ethic. This provides a win for both the business and the worker.
With the uncertainty surrounding a post Covid19 world which has the potential to be a GFC 2.0 businesses are cautious of conventional hiring methods. The gig economy was born from the GTC, but most prevalent in the US & UK/Europe. Covid19 is already impacting Asia, Australia & NZ economies more so this time round. This uncertainty reduces jobs growth, but work still needs to be done. Hiring on-demand gig workers, freelancers & contractors allows work completion at lower risk for the business during these tough times. Gigexchange caters for both the jobs and gigs markets, providing choice and flexibility for both sides of the work marketplace.
Your Wellbeing vs Chasing Money
It’s very important to become self-aware of your wellbeing when hustling. It’s all too easy to chase the money, but not take proper care of your mind and body. Work hard, play hard, hustle hard is great for some, or certain points in time. But ensure you prioritise down-time, rest and reflection whilst balancing Full-time Work and Side Hustles.
There are many benefits to working side hustles, but there are certain pitfalls to be aware of or overwhelmed by. Time is your super power when working a hustle. The more time you put in (generally) the more you get out. But this can also be your kryptonite. If you overwork yourself, your general productivity will reduce. This can impact both your day job and side hustles performance and reputation. Being aware and implementing self-control to limit extra work assignments is critical to hustling.
The hustle hours are evenings, weekends & holidays. Like everything in life, a healthy balance is required to be optimal. Maintain a balance of work, rest & play. Understand your why and purpose for hustling and keeping checking back in on yourself to measure your performance and goals. Focus and clarity on where you want to be will facilitate success.
Where can businesses find top talent side hustle freelancers, contractors & gig workers?
There a many gig economy platforms that can help you find and hire freelancers to complete your work requirements. But only gigexchange.com cares and understands about the world of side hustlers as we founded, designed and developed gigexchange.com as a side hustle over 18 months, whilst everyone else was sleeping. Don’t let anyone ever tell you it can’t be done!!!
The power of reputation
Your online reputation or personal brand, is now a powerful tool to facilitate you gaining more work and customers. The digital reputation rewards those skilled workers with a strong work ethic, whilst allowing businesses to gain an insight into their historical work history. This provides a win for both the business and the worker. Your reputation is everything. Look after it, and it will look after you.
Disclosing your side hustle
Side hustles entail performing work outside of your full-time job, which many businesses may view as a conflict of interest, or an infringement of employment agreements. Before pursuing a side hustle, individuals should check company policies to ensure working on a side hustle would not be a violation.
If you decide to disclose to your manager, they most likely will want to know if there is any commercial conflict, why you need the extra money and whether it will be a distraction or impact your ability to do your day job. Remember your day job is always your priority. The hustle is an additional bonus.
Remote working side hustles
Whether you are a full time employee working your day job in Auckland, New Zealand or a student in Wellington NZ, if your gig is flexible and can be worked remotely, your side hustle client can be based anywhere in the world from UK, USA, Europe or Asia. The internet and digital gig economy freelance platforms facilitate remote working, so geographical boundaries are no longer relevant. Just be sure to investigate local jurisdiction employment laws.
How can gigexchange help me side hustle?
Simply register and complete your basic profile information.
You can then promote your skills for free, so customer can get in touch with you directly.
Or you can register as a gig worker and apply for suitable gigs. The gig worker registration process only takes a couple of minutes and is fully automated to validate your identity in conjunction with Stripe.
Once you are identity verified (different requirements per country) you can begin applying for gigs. Some side hustles may also be listed under our jobs section as a contract.
The main difference between a gig and a job (or contract) is if the assignment is outcome based, then it’s listed under gigs and the money is withheld until satisfactory completion.
A contract is a time based role where the outcome is generic and arranged by both parties off platform. We just facilitate the meet/greet via a simple advertisement.
Happy hustling!
What are popular side hustles?
Historically side hustles were low skilled jobs such as ride sharing taxi driving, whereby the variety in different work opportunities were limited.
The advent of digital gig economy freelancing platforms has given rise to increased work opportunities to those willing and able.
In an ideal world, the side hustle should be a nice to have, not a need. Where the choice is with the worker to utilise their time and skills to complete a gig of their liking. The reality is somewhat different. Which is why gigexchange offers the lowest gig economy commission fees globally because we understand and care, so we want as much money to end up in your back pocket as possible.
The opportunities for side hustles are vast. Below covers a range of opportunities. We encourage you to register on gigexchange and promote your services and complete gigs that suit your skills and needs.
- Selling clothing
- Making and selling art & crafts
- Freelance copywriting
- Freelance interpretation, translation and transcription
- Freelance web design
- Freelance web development
- Freelance graphic design
- Bookkeeping
- Marriage celebrant
- Justice of the Peace
- CV & Resume writing
- Logo design
- App development
- Career coach
- Life coach
- Consultancy
- Engineering
- IT Technical support
- Internet & Cyber Security Consultancy
- Data cabling
- Teaching online courses
- Tutoring or coaching
- Babysitting, nanny au pair services
- Photography services
- After school Tutor
- Digital Marketing
- Videography
- DJ
- Event planner
- Wedding planner
- Caterer
- Chef
- Amazon reseller
- Make & sell jewellery
- Fitness Trainer
- Podcaster
- YouTuber
- Lemonade stand
- Cake decorator
- Interior designer
- Fashion designer
- Write a book
- Blogger
- Local tourist guide
- Illustrations & Cartoons
- Artist
- Musician (that other gig)
- House cleaning
- Handyman and home services
- Food delivery
- Delivery service
- Taxi driving
- Providing lawn work or maintenance services
- General labour or warehouse work
- Dog walking or pet sitting
- Providing delivery services
- Mystery shopping
- Brand ambassador or product demonstrator
- Survey answering