10 Important Pros and Cons Of Side Hustles

Making extra money on the side is rarely a bad thing.

Having more income means you can get out of debt, save more money, and reach your financial goals that much faster.

As a result, side hustles are exploding popularity.

And as great as they sound, they do have their downsides.

In this post, I share with you 10 pros and cons of side hustles to consider before jumping into the world of side income.

10 Important Pros And Cons Of Side Hustles

5 Pros Of Side Hustles

pros and cons of side hustles

There are many benefits to having a side hustle.

Here are the biggest ones most people experience.

#1. Pay Off Debt

When working a side hustle, the extra money you earn can go towards paying off high interest debt, like credit card debt, or other debt, like student loans.

This is what I used my first side hustle to do.

I wanted to get rid of my student loans so I didn’t have the $300 monthly payment hanging over me for 20 years.

I wanted to have the money to be able to do as I pleased with it.

As a result of my side hustle income, I was able to pay off my student loans a lot faster than I otherwise would have.

#2. Save More Money

If you don’t have debt, another advantage of side hustles is you can save more money.

When I finished paying off my loans, I kept working my side hustle and put the money towards savings goals.

And it made a huge difference.

After setting aside some of the extra cash I was earning for taxes, I saved and invested the rest.

In this case, it was $10,000 a year.

After 3 years, I had a fully funded emergency fund and was well ahead of my peers in terms of savings because I invested the rest of the money.

So even if you don’t have debt, a side hustle is a great way to get ahead financially and meet your long term financial goals.

#3. Multiple Streams Of Income

There is another benefit besides paying off debt or saving money.

It is having an additional income stream.

Here is why this is important.

Let’s say you only have a single stream of income, your career.

You earn good money, but one day, you are laid off.

Suddenly life becomes extremely stressful.

You need to find a new job in order to pay your monthly bills.

And depending the shape of your finances, losing your job could destroy your finances.

But think if you had a second stream of income.

Life would still get stressful because odds are your side hustle isn’t earning you as much as your career.

But you have some money coming in.

If you can scale back your spending, your side hustle income could pay for a handful of you monthly bills.

The result is not being as stressed about how you are going to make ends meet.

It is because of this reason why I encourage everyone to have additional streams of income.

#4. New Or Improved Career

For many people, a side hustle is just a creative outlet they do on the side in their spare time to earn some extra money.

But for some people, they use their side job to improve their career or start a new one.

In terms of improving their career, maybe the side job is teaching them new skills they can use on the job.

This could be reason enough to earn a higher raise or get a higher paying job at another company.

Also, when you meet new people, you never know what may come of it.

They may have their own business and are looking for help, and this job opening might be exactly what you are looking for.

When it comes to a new career, maybe you get laid off from your regular job and you decide to turn your side gig into a full-time job.

This is what I did.

I turned my blogging business into my primary job.

It was a lot of work, but I kept at it and eventually I was earning more from my full-time business than I was from my previous career.

#5. Mentally And Physically Stimulating

For some, their day job is boring and not stimulating at all.

They might sit at a desk all day, getting little no exercise.

Others have gotten so used to their job they can just zone out and not be mentally stimulated.

With a side hustle you love, you can be mentally stimulated, physically stimulated, or both.

This excitement can then flow over into other areas of your life, improving your overall happiness.

5 Cons Of A Side Hustle

Cons Of Side Hustles

As great as side hustles are, there are drawbacks to them.

Here are the biggest ones you need to consider.

#1. Hard To Find The Right One

The gig economy is huge and there are a lot of potential side hustles out there.

The trick is finding the right one for you.

The good news is it is out there, the bad news is it might just take you some time until you find it.

You might think that since you enjoy watching kids, becoming a nanny on the side is a smart idea for you.

But you might find as much as you love children, being with then all day, every day, is too exhausting for you.

Whatever you do, don’t give up.

With so many options out there, it is just a matter of time until you find your perfect fit.

#2. Earnings And Effort Are Related

Another downside to side hustles is that effort and earnings are related.

You will see a lot of ads out there touting a simple way to make thousands of dollars with no effort.

These are scams.

As with anything in life, you have to put in the hard work with side jobs if you want to experience the reward.

In this case, the reward is income.

So don’t think you can take surveys online and make $10,000 a month.

Read honest reviews of side gigs to understand how much work is involved and how much money you can earn doing it.

#3. Less Free Time/Poor Work Life Balance

When you are working a full time job and add a part-time job onto that, you inevitably have less time for personal errands and seeing friends and family.

And for some people, this could lead to mental health issues.

This should be a major consideration as it can impact not only your life, but your loved ones too if you have a family.

Of course, working extra hours doesn’t mean your work-life balance has to be non-existent.

You can still set your own schedule so that you can enjoy both.

Just understand that no matter how you schedule things out, you will still be losing some of your free time on the nights and weekends.

#4. Employer May Not Allow It

Depending on the second job you choose, your employer might not allow you to do it.

Usually this happens when you are using your skills to work with competitors in the same industry.

For example, if you are consulting with businesses that are a direct competitor to your employer, you might get in trouble.

Or, you might be seen as a liability depending on your career.

If you are a tax accountant and have a side business of providing tax advice on an online blog, this might not be acceptable as clients might find your website.

#5. Could Start To Feel Like A Job

Finally, even if you pick a side hustle doing something you love, it could eventually end up feeling like a job.

This will result in you losing your happiness and excitement for it and instead dreading doing it.

This goes back to the earlier point about finding the right side hustle for you.

When you find a way to make money doing something you love, the odds of it feeling like a job are lowered.

Also, many times a side gig starts to feel like a job when it grows too much and takes up too much of your free time.

You can avoid this by intentionally keeping it small, so you don’t get burnt out.

Finally, if you do get burnt out, don’t give up.

You can always find another side project and start all over again.

Wrapping Up

There are 10 pros and cons of side hustles.

For many, the pros outweigh the cons and they push forward with a side gig earning more money.

While it is rare you hear people regret the extra income, it does happen.

For this reason, it is important you take into account all the factors before deciding to jump into the world of side hustling.

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