If you have a hobby that other people might consider valuable, then maybe it’s time for you to think about turning it into a side hustle. Whether you spend your time on the weekends baking amazing pies, making pottery, or doing yoga, your beloved pastime could be a potential gold mine.
Great side hustlers might come from any background and have different personal stories, but they do seem to have a few traits in common with one another. Here are some of them. If you can develop some of these traits in yourself, you could become a successful baker, potter, or yoga instructor yourself.
Side Hustlers Have Boundless Energy
One thing that all side hustlers seem to have in common is that they always have energy and are always on the move. Sitting on the couch all weekend streaming reruns wouldn’t sound like a good time to someone who is on the lookout for new hobbies (and new revenue streams). Side hustlers take their energy and spend it on the activities they’re passionate about, and a lot of them say that their side hustles actually restore their stores of energy, rather than draining them.
If you’d like to be more energetic, one way to do this is to wake up earlier! While the temptation to sleep in on weekends may be difficult to resist, studies have shown that exposure to sunlight raises Vitamin D levels, enhances nighttime sleep, and boosts bone density, allowing you to keep doing what you love for longer periods of time.
Side Hustlers Don’t Waste Time
Side hustles need two ingredients: effort and time. The first ingredient was discussed above, but the second is a little tricky. Time is limited: we only have so many seconds, minutes, and hours before the day moves forward, whether we want it to or not, and whether we’re done with everything we have to do on that day or not. Side hustlers understand this very deeply and don’t allow what time they have to go to waste. They spend it instead on activities that factor into their side hustles.
Try to find activities that maximize the amount of time you have. If you’re a baker, why not spend an hour watching some video tutorials on the internet about techniques you can apply to your baking This gives you some much-needed downtime on the couch, but also builds the skill set that you need to make your side hustle successful.
Side Hustlers Work Hard at What They Do
The term “side hustle” implies that the person doing the side hustle does in fact have a “main hustle,” more commonly known as a job. Therefore, this should be obvious to everyone by now, but it bears repeating for emphasis: side hustlers work HARD. Viewed from the outside, spending the weekend at the pottery wheel finishing a new piece might seem like a taxing way to spend one’s time after a long week at the office, but not to the side hustler who’s passionate about what they’re doing. Long hours and cramping hands mean little to those who love their hobbies enough to turn them into additional ways to make money.
Before you embark on your side hustle journey, take a minute and think about whether you’re willing to work hard and sacrifice for it. You might have to stay up later to finish a project, or forego hanging out with friends. Each person is different and only you can decide whether giving these up is worth the diligence that your side hustle will probably require of you.
Side Hustlers Make Full Use of What They Have
Of course, not everything is about keeping one’s nose to the grindstone. Side hustles wouldn’t be nearly as fulfilling (or as popular) if they were. Successful side hustlers take stock of all the resources they have available to them and use them to make their lives a little easier. A resourceful yoga instructor, for example, might just use their phone propped up on some books and a lamp or two to take their stream live, rather than buying the latest 4K Ultra HD webcam, tripod, boom mic, and LED spotlight.
Resourcefulness is all about using the tools one already has at hand, and one of these tools that’s sure to be helpful to side hustlers is Maya’s Digital Invoice. This convenient system designed by the Philippines’ leading payment gateway allows side hustlers to accept online payments for their products and services even if they don’t have a business website.
Side Hustlers Listen to Criticism (Selectively)
Even side hustlers with extensive experience or professional training make a mistake and slip up once in a while. That’s why every successful side hustler listens to criticism that can help them refine and improve their business. Sure, there are trolls out there just looking for every bit of attention they can get, but side hustlers brush those critiques off and focus instead on the ones that are designed to make their business better. If yoga students say that a pose is too difficult, for example, an attentive instructor might suggest an alternative pose that works and stretches the same muscle groups, but to a less intense degree.
Side hustles should be treated just like any other business venture. If they’re cared for and taken seriously, they could be a satisfying way to add a few zeroes to one’s bank account.
