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Why Every Millennial Needs a Side Hustle

  July 27

This post may contain affiliate links.

The following is by staff writer, Kayla.

office-625893_1280With today’s economy and job market, new college grads are having trouble finding full-time jobs at all, let alone a career within their chosen field. Many are unemployed or under-employed and not earning nearly enough to live off of and pay all of their monthly bills, including their student loans. This is where a side hustle can come in handy.

Having a side hustle outside of your regular day job can mean the difference between getting your bills paid on time or racking up more debt on your credit card just to pay your monthly living expenses. But sometimes having a side hustle can also mean more than just financial benefits for millennials. Here are a few reasons why every millennial needs a side hustle.

Opens Up New Opportunities in Your Field of Study

If you take the traditional path of going to a 4 year university straight out of high school, chances are your skills are pretty specialized toward one subject or field of study. But what happens when there are no jobs in that field? You usually end up having to take a job in a different area to pay the bills. Luckily, starting a part-time side hustle can sometimes help you gain at least some work that pertains to the education you pursued in college.

Allows You to Learn New Skills

If you are like me and you don’t enjoy your full-time day job, a side hustle can allow you to learn new skills and work on things that you enjoy. For instance, at my day job I sit at a desk and crunch numbers all day long. This is NOT my life’s calling and I don’t enjoy it. However my side hustle as a freelance writer has allowed me to put my creative skills to use and I love it!

You Get Paid for Your Opinion

In many job fields you start out at the bottom of the totem pole when you graduate from college. At the bottom of the totem pole, not many higher-ups in your organization are interested in your opinion. By taking on a side hustle, like taking paid surveys at American Consumer Opinion, you are actually paid for giving your true opinion on things.

20-Somethings Tend to Have More Time

If you are a millennial in your 20’s, now is the time to start a side hustle. Most of us don’t have families or other time consuming obligations yet and we have the free time and drive to start a side hustle in addition to our jobs. Plus with time on our side, now is the best time to earn extra money for savings and investments. Surely you’ve heard of compound interest? Make sure compound interest is working in your favor by paying off debt and building savings with your side hustle money in your 20’s.

Starting a side hustle getting paid to write for blogs is one the best things I’ve ever done for myself. My side hustle has allowed me to earn way more money every month than I thought was possible. Plus I’ve learned new skills, made new friends, and had a lot of fun along the way too.

Do you have a side hustle?

32 responses to “Why Every Millennial Needs a Side Hustle

  1. Absolutely agree, plus if you are trying to achieve financial goal side hustle help a lot!!!

    1. It definitely does, which is good because if you don’t get out of your comfort zone, it will shrink over time.

  2. Yes, yes, yes!! All of these are great points. I think you’re doing yourself a disservice by not having a side hustle for several of the reasons you mentioned. Great post!

    1. You’re right, sometimes it’s about how you use your time (and flexibility) instead of how much time you have.

  3. I’m hoping for my side hustle to become a full-time hustle in the next few years =] I love the freedom of working for myself and being able to bring in money through the work I choose to do. It really does teach you new things and brings you outside of your comfort zone.

    1. I hope you have success with that Kristi! It’s an amazing feeling to get paid for things you want to be doing, instead of just things you HAVE to do. 🙂 You are a hard worker, so I’m sure you’ll get there.

  4. I love the tip about trying to hustle while young and in your twenties. Looking back, I had a lot more energy to try a side project. These days, it’s all I can do to handle my main job and write for the blog every now and again.

    There’s a tipping point with any hustle, or anything, I suppose. The rub is putting in the effort up front and getting to that tipping point quickly enough.

    1. “There’s a tipping point with any hustle, or anything, I suppose. The rub is putting in the effort up front and getting to that tipping point quickly enough.” – THIS!

  5. The sudden mention of (and link to) a consumer survey panel is off-putting. This piece reads less like an article and more like a weird form of native advertising. There’s nothing wrong with opinion panels (I participate in them myself), but the way American Consumer Opinion is integrated into this article feels forced at best, deceptive at worst.

    1. Hi Emily! I really appreciate your feedback on this post. I wasn’t trying to be deceptive at all. Paid surveys are a common way of making money online and when I did the research for this post I found that company had a great rating with the better business bureau.

  6. At the moment, my unemployed status means that my side hustle is my only hustle. Too bad those survey sites pay pennies at most, otherwise I’d love to just sit at home and answer survey all day 🙂

    1. Good thing you have a side hustle – I would hate to be unemployed and not have a side hustle. Yikes!

  7. I’ve had many side hustles throughout the years and all the points you make are true! I especially enjoy making friends in my similar fields of interest. 🙂

    1. Great point – I have made soo many friends from my side hustles.

  8. I don’t necessarily think side hustles are right for every situation. I think they are hard to start if you have small kids in the house, though it’s doable. But man, those kiddos will need attention!

    However, I do love the idea that we should all be open to those ideas. And even people who are older and more established in their careers can sometimes benefit from hustling. I really do think if you hustle in a way that doesn’t compete with your full-time job, but develops skills they can use – you can even earn raises and promotions off that side job, on top of the actual side job earnings.

    1. Yes – I think a lot of people can benefit from side hustling.

  9. Great idea for young people to start a side hustle. When I finished college and no longer had to spend my nights and weekends on homework, I felt like I had so much free time. It would have been much more productive to fill that time with a side hustle than more TV!

    1. I know – I cringe when I think about how much time I spent watching TV and just sitting there in the evenings my first year after college, until I discovered PF blogs and freelance writing.

  10. I’m just exiting my 20’s and I’ve definitely found out how much you can learn by leveraging side hustles. I took up teaching one accounting class each quarter at a community college and it’s been fantastic. I’ve improved my public speaking and really increased my ability to teach others about accounting and finance.

  11. Yup, it’s a great idea. I can attest to the fact that it can accelerate your path to meeting financial goals. Why not maximize the use of your time while you’re young and don’t have the obligations that come later like family, kids etc.

  12. I wish I stuck with my side hustle in my 20s, I started a clothing line and it went incredibly well for a year, then I just stopped. I wonder where I’d be and the knowledge I’d have if I stuck with it.

    1. That’s too bad Stephen. I would hate having the “what ifs”.

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