The Hustle Economy – Photo credit: http://andreayokley-jessup.blogspot.com

Happy Thursday! I’ve always had a side gig, whether it was while studying for the grueling CPA exam, babysitting on the side, or writing on the side for my alma mater’s newspaper. Some of my friends would jokingly call me “Jamaican” (no stereotype intended here), because I was always running from class to side gig, and later from job to even more side gigs. “How many jobs you’ve got, girl”?  As many as I can handle, a girl gotta hustle, ok…

Well, as it turns out, this allegedly African-American term and concept to describe “a tiny, independent venture you do during your free time when you’re not at your full-time job“, has become quite the norm nowadays.

According to the Harvard Business Review, 34% of the American workforce is freelancing. And out of the 53 million freelancers surveyed by the Freelancers Union and the Elance-oDesk, 14.3 million are side hustlers, more politically correctly known as moonlighters or people with full-time gigs doing the side hustle on a part-time basis.  That’s 27% of all freelancers who have a full-time job and in many cases, full-fledged careers, and still hustle on the side. Now that’s not a fad, a trend, or some Jamaican-biased joke…

As a matter of fact, the freelance or hustle economy as I like to call it (let’s be real), is booming so much the IRS is urged to seriously start considering the resulting new types of incomes. And not only is all this hustling radically changing the way we work, it is also becoming the great equalizer at work, amidst all the heated talks about pay equality and gender parity. Yet while we hear mostly about turning your side gig into the job of your dreams, or leaving your boring, grueling 9-to-5 for the glamour of independent work, not much is being said about how your side hustle may be saving your career. Hustling on the side was never easy, but without it, I wouldn’t appreciate and strive more at my day job. Contradictory? Maybe, but so is reality…

1. A side hustle will free some mental space otherwise filled with job worries. Most people will freelance or moonlight in areas they really enjoy working in. I love writing, that’s what I do. Whenever I’m running my pen on paper or frantically keying away, it’s one more opportunity I have not to worry about work….And the less I worry, the better I can perform…

2. A side hustle forces you to think on your feet. Yes, we all have the same 24 hours as Beyonce does. Yet in my 24 hours, no assistant shows up and my laundry doesn’t fold itself. Chances are, your full time job takes the bulk of your time, and so do your kids, chores, and dirty laundry (I know, I’m traumatized with laundry). So in order to fit in any side anything (other than side fries or desserts), you need to act and think fast. And it’s the same fast techniques you learn in the process that make you perform better at work…

3. A side hustle makes you dream, and dreaming is the stuff of successful folks. You know you’ve acted out being on Oprah’s couch, talking about your latest book (and movie adaptation, and new shoe line) countless times in front of the bathroom mirror. Stop frontin’…That’s what your side hustle does, it makes you dream, imagine possibilities, create scenarios. And that’s the stuff that makes you successful, at work and in life. That’s how you can envision a new product enhancement or an original presentation at work…

4. A side hustle will get you some skill. Blogging on the side? You’re now equipped to create a newsletter for your department. Doing some visual art on nights and week-ends? Why not transfer all that know-how to create outstanding presentations at work? A side hustle will get you some skills, among other cool stuff…

5. A side hustle will keep you motivated.Motivation is the engine of success. Knowing you have goals, even if they are not related to your day job, will keep you pumped up and on the go. And that is the stuff of outstanding people like you…

Are you hustling yet?

The Corporate Sis.