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Hey girl, hey. I see you out there on social media, talking about your side hustle. On Instagram, more than a million images include #sidehustle. But girl, if you’re saying you have a side hustle, you could be demeaning your endeavor and damaging your mindset without even realizing it.
Lexico (from Oxford Dictionary) defines side hustle as a part-time job or occupation undertaken in addition to one’s regular employment. So far, so good, if it’s not your primary source of income.
Now, a few questions:
- How would you feel about being called a side chick?
- When you go out to eat, what’s the star of the plate: the entree or the side dish?
- Which do you decorate at Halloween, your side door or your front door?
Side = secondary.
And secondary never gets primary attention. Secondary is rarely a priority. Secondary doesn’t get late nights and early mornings. Secondary get leftovers.
If you have a full-time job and you have a secondary pursuit that you earn money from and that is all it will ever be, by all means, call it a side hustle.
But, if your endeavor is a passion and your goal is to turn it into your primary source of income, stop calling it your side hustle. It isn’t an after-thought, it’s a priority and it deserves to be treated accordingly.
But I have day job and it’s hard to explain that I also have this other thing that I love.
Instead of downplaying it, define it as a microbusiness that you are building. Because that’s what it is. You are growing something, with the intention of having it become your primary source of income, your main squeeze, the Shrimp Scampi, the front door adorned in all the pumpkin and skeleton goodness you could scoop up at Hobby Lobby last November 1.
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