What can I get out of starting a side hustle?

A ‘side hustle’ is defined as a job or activity outside of your normal day job. Side hustles aren’t a new concept, but saw a huge rise in popularity during the pandemic, as many people saw the opportunity to make up for lost income, or to take the leap on an idea that they’d been contemplating for a while. According to a study by Henley Business School, 1 in 4 adults in the UK have one, and it’s estimated that they contribute £72 billion a year to the UK’s GDP.

A side hustle could be a venture that you’re working on alongside your day job, while on maternity leave, or the beginnings of what you’d like to work on full time in the future. With a vast amount of small business owners also having another job role on the side, many motivated themselves to create a small business out of a hobby or passion that they’ve harboured for years and saw the opportunity to make it into something more.

The first leap to becoming self employed

For many, a side hustle might be the first way to test the waters of a new business that a budding entrepreneur wants to take full time. Starting a business idea as a side hustle allows you to dip your toes into the market, and to see if your idea could be a success – or even just build up the reputation of the brand before you put all your eggs in one basket.

Multiple Sources of Income Gives You Options

A side hustle allows you to create multiple income streams, which could help you to work on your own personal goals as well as your professional ones. If you aim to make your side hustle your main source of income one day, beginning with it as one of a few is a safe route to take until you’re sure that you could create a sustainable income out of it.

Iron out the wrinkles of a new business, while having income to fall back on from your day job

As well as allowing you to benefit from multiple sources of income, beginning your business idea initially as a side hustle allows you the safety net of being able to iron out the wrinkles  of a new business while having your income from your day job to fall back on. You’re able to assess whether your business idea is viable, whether you enjoy it, and whether it’s profitable for you long term.

Following your passion or hobby

According to Indeed’s Work Happiness Score study, which surveyed more than 1,800 organisations in the United Kingdom across 25 different industries in 2022, one-third of workers in the UK report being unhappy with their job. Following statistics like this, it’s no wonder that the amount of side hustles in the UK has grown in the last few years, as many seek to create work that they enjoy and find fulfilling. 

A side hustle could span from creating a business centred around anything, from crafts, to baking, to design or gardening – the potential for side hustles is as vast as the amount of hobbies out there.

Building your portfolio and gaining experience before a career change

The pandemic highlighted to many workers how there could be a different way of working, or that they might enjoy a new career path entirely. With the job market changing and the amount of remote and hybrid working roles available, huge amounts of people changed job roles to better suit their desired work-life balance, or realised that they wanted to pursue a whole different career.

With the realisation that they might want to pursue a new route to work, many people realised that they lacked the skills or experience for their desired job role or sector. This has led to an increased amount of people taking on side hustles as a means of gaining the experience to one day turn their side hustle into their full time job.

Added flexibility and control

Outside of the boundaries of a traditional 9-5 or full time job, a side hustle where you might be working for yourself can be a refreshing change.

As you can work on your side hustle in your spare time, you can levy the amount of time you spend working on it if you want more time to be with your family. Being able to choose your hours and control when you work on your side hustle means you can make it work for you – your full time job might mean that you have a lot of free time on the weekends or evenings, and you might be able to utilise this free time to work on your side project to earn some extra income on top of your main role.

Do you want to start a side hustle, or want to turn your side hustle into a full time job?

Our team has a wealth of experience in helping entrepreneurs turn their idea into a reality – Get in touch to find out more