This Business Owner Hates Side Hustles – Here’s Why He’s Wrong

A business owner hates side hustles.

Shocking.

While not surprising, it’s always disappointing to see business owners who recommend that people quit their side hustles.

Below is a screenshot of a LinkedIn post the business owner made. It has since been removed.

I blacked out the name and picture of the individual who posted it.

 
There is so much wrong with this.

Let’s start by level-setting on how many American workers actually have side hustles. Per CareerBuilder research:

• Nearly a third (32%) of workers have side hustles

• 35% of women and 28% of men have side hustles

• Of those workers 35 and under, more than 4 out of 10 (41%) have a side hustle, compared to 27% of workers older than 35

• African American workers (46%) and Hispanic workers (40%) are more likely than White (29%) and Asian (26%) workers to have a side hustle

• 1 in 4 workers making more than $75k and 1 in 5 workers making more than $100k have a side hustle

I’m a big proponent of side hustles. They help people dig themselves out of difficult financial situations, build financial stability, and give them a brighter financial future. It also provides a secondary stream of income and a ton of “unexpected” upside (more on that later).

When anyone aggressively attacks side hustles – especially business owners – there is usually a few common themes:

• A general fear of employees who have income streams outside of their 9-5 job, making them less dependent on their 9-5 income and more difficult to control.

• A lack of empathy for people that are in different circumstances and have different goals.

Let’s not sugarcoat it: the business owner I quoted above is telling those with side hustles that their career will suffer at his business if they decide to take one up – or don’t quit one they already have.

Assuming that employees work on their side hustles entirely on their own time, whether it’s in the morning before work, during lunch, after work in the evening, or on the weekends, discriminating against an employee for how they decide to live their life in their spare time is wrong.

You would hope that this would be obvious to most people, but I’m sure there are countless stories of individuals who have been discriminated against because of side hustles or extra income they’ve pursued in their spare time.

The business owner’s advice is that instead of working towards your side hustle you should put more time and energy into your career.

I think we can all connect the dots: this is a way of saying someone should spend more time in the office (40-55 hours is not enough), be available in the evenings and weekends, and in general drop other responsibilities to put in more hours.

Let’s focus on how the business owner started off his post, by saying that those with side hustles “aren’t fooling anyone.”

Huh? I wasn’t aware that by starting a side hustle it’s required that you attempt to “fool” others? Again, the risk of discrimination is the main reason that would drive an employee to stay quiet about what they do in their spare time, and using language like this reinforces it.

Creating an environment that is hostile towards employees who decide to make money in their spare time instead of watching Netflix, playing video games, or other leisure activities is wrong. Employers should treat all employees equally regardless of how they choose to live their life outside of work.

With nearly half of workers 35 and under having a side hustle, it would be wise for employers to think twice about how they are portraying themselves to current, prospective, and future employees who either have a side hustle or may want to start one in the future.

Why Do People Side Hustle in the First Place?

 
At it’s core, the reason people side hustle is simple: to make more money.

Which is why you get so many people responding to side hustles with the question of “why don’t you just work harder and advance at your 9-5?”

Some people who side hustle do work hard and advance at their 9-5. It’s an oversimplification of the situation to assume that people who have a side hustle do not advance at their 9-5, or that they are under-performing. There are a ton of people who have extra streams of income who are crushing their 9-5.

In some jobs or careers it doesn’t matter how many hours you work or how productive you are. You’ve hit a ceiling, even if it’s temporary, before you would be considered for a promotion.

Let’s take the example of an entry-level accountant. Even if they got promoted a year after starting, they would still have to wait, at minimum, one additional year before getting promoted from that position.

They may be buried in student loan debt, though, or have a wedding they need to save for. And let’s not forget how expensive things like housing and health care have become.

They’ve “maxed out” their 9-5 income. Regardless of how hard they work the next year, they won’t see a pay bump for at least a year.

Another good example is a teacher. They have little control over their income at their 9-5. Assuming they like their job, making money on the side may be the only way to reach their financial and life goals.

The reality is that most people don’t plan on having their side hustle be their full-time gig. According to Careerbuilder research, 67% of workers with a side hustle do not want to turn their side gig into their day job.

Someone who has a side gig doesn’t necessarily want to do it full-time. They may be doing it temporarily to hit a financial goal, like paying off student loan debt, going on a vacation, or building up a down payment for their house.

Again this all goes back to this point that I can’t stress enough: employers should not discriminate against employees based on how they spend their time outside of work. They can choose to make extra money, or not. They can choose to have kids, or not. They can play video games every single night. Or not. It shouldn’t matter.

With that being said, there are employees who would like their side gig to turn into their full-time gig.

Whether an employee leaves the workforce to pursue their side hustle full-time or for some other reason shouldn’t matter to an employer. Employees leave their jobs all the time for a variety of reasons, whether it’s to do a similar role at a different company, to relocate for a partner’s career, to spend time at home raising children, or some other reason.

As long as the employee is performing their job duties and their side hustle does not conflict with their 9-5, the employer has no business having an opinion – especially a negative one – about their efforts to create income streams beyond their 9-5.

Unexpected Upside of Side Hustles

 
The business owner claims that a side hustle is limiting an employee’s career success, not enabling it.

It’s easy to say that, but he provides no examples of what that looks like. Why is it limiting their career success? If they didn’t know the employee had a side hustle, would it still be limiting it? If not you can chalk it up to discrimination on the part of the employer.

Despite what the business owner claims, side hustles have a ton of upside, much of it “unexpected.” Some of this upside may not be realized for years and years of working a side hustle; other upside could come quickly.

Here are a few examples of the upside somone may experience through working a side hustle. And keep in mind this is above and beyond the obvious benefits of working a side hustle, which is making extra money that can help you reach your financial goals faster and diversifying your income so that your income is not 100% reliant on your employer.

 
Skill Development
 
Time and time again I’ve seen people with side hustles develop a wide variety of skills quicker than they would have if they had followed the advice “stick to your full-time job.” Some skills that people gain through side hustles would have never been gained if they hadn’t pursued a side hustle.

As I explained in this blog post, side hustles can give you not only skills but experience that employers are looking for. Side hustles can be better than formal education for making career pivots. Not only are you learning the necessary background info about a career as you would in a classroom, but you are actually gaining experience.

There are countless examples of how people have leveraged side hustles to change their careers, launch a business, or gain promotions in their current career path. From a mortician who became a full-time writer, to someone working in human resources who leveraged their side hustle to land a content marketing job, people are leveraging side hustles to advance or change their career.

 
Ability to Take Risks
 
One big reason a business owner may dislike an employee working a side hustle is because it’s much more difficult to control an employee who doesn’t “need” their job, or who have even a little less reliance on their 9-5 than an average employee.

One reason layoffs are so traumatizing is because a large majority of people do not have additional income streams beyond their 9-5, and most do not have emergency funds to cover them for an extended period of time. That forces most employees to operate with a sense of fear – fear they will say the wrong thing, propose an idea that is not popular, or otherwise put a target on their back if layoffs come around.

Side hustles can help employees build an emergency fund as well as income streams beyond their 9-5. Having these in place will allow an employee to not operate from a place of fear on a day-to-day basis. Imagine how many employees would love having a flexible work setup where they work remotely part- or full-time, but are afraid to propose it out of fear of causing waves. An employee with additional income streams can move forward with confidence and not have a fear of job loss be the driving force of their day-to-day life.

While some business owners would prefer a workforce they have more control over who operate primarily out of a sense of fear of losing their job (whether they would admit this or not is a topic for another day), I personally think financial confidence makes for a better employee. If you don’t have employees sharing their opinions and making the workplace – and business – better, how can a business expect to compete long-term? I can guarantee you ambitious, competent employees are going to be the first to leave.

 
Business Opportunities
 
My blogging side hustle started with a political blog a decade ago where my Uncle shared the encouraging words of “but WHY would anyone go to this site? Who would want to read what you wrote?”

Thanks.

Fast forward and I have a website with a handful of contributors (both writers and other creatives), a book, influencer/endorsement opportunities, and a startup that will leverage all the work I’ve done the past six years.

Had I never started a side hustle or followed the advice to “kill your side hustle,” I would never have had these opportunities. Especially considering the fact I made no money on my blog the first year.

I am hardly an anomaly. There are many incredible stories of people who started a side hustle that led to opportunities that they could never have anticipated. A common theme is that they stuck with it and continued to work at it.

They didn’t kill their side hustle.

 
A Lump Sum or “Windfall” of Cash
 
One of the most unexpected, but most exciting, upside to a side hustle is a potential for a windfall of cash.

Let me first say that for most side hustles this is not what you are working towards. Someone who drives an Uber or waits tables in their spare time is not building an asset that they can sell down the road. And that’s okay.

There are a variety of side hustles, though, that do have the potential for a lump sum of cash. For example let’s say you run a blog that makes a small amount of money each month. If you decide after a few years that you no longer want to work on the blog in your spare time, you could sell it for a lump sum of cash. This could be a significant amount of money that can be used to wipe out debt, build an emergency fund, or invest.

This is also why I recommend anyone who is entrepreneurial to choose a side hustle that allows them to build a business or brand. Even if you break even the first couple years or even the first handful of years, if you consistently build the business you will eventually find a buyer when you decide it’s time to exit.

One final point: you don’t necessarily have to sell a business to get a lump sum of cash out of your side hustle. You may work for years and then finally get a really huge deal, customer, contract, or opportunity. There’s something to be said about sticking with your side hustle long-term, especially if you are building a brand.

 

 
Employers shouldn’t be shocked or surprised when employees pursue side hustles. More than 8 out of 10 employees say they are not in their dream job, and more than 4 out of 10 employees think they will never be in their dream job. With those statistics in mind, can employers honestly be surprised when an employee thinks about giving a side gig a try in their spare time?

It also has never been easier to work a side hustle in your free time. Technology has made it extremely easy to start a side hustle. Even a smart phone alone can be all someone needs to start making a secondary income.

Considering the unprecedented level of student loan debt, high cost of living, stagnant wages, and opportunities to make extra money outside of a 9-5, the trend of full-time workers participating in the gig economy or even running full-fledged businesses in their spare time will only become more common.

I for one, think it’s a good thing.
 
 

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