Romanticizing the Side Hustle: When 1 Job Isn’t Enough

Ah, the side hustle. More commonly known as the “second job,” side hustles are a badass, creative, independent—yet completely romanticized—way to increase your income. They’ve become a symbol of entrepreneurial go-gettership, a way to show the world that your ideas and goals are far too important to contain in a single 9-5. Side hustlers are super humans with the energy and vision to Get Shit Done.

Or at least, that’s the rhetoric we all perpetuate by romanticizing the side hustle.

Let’s call a spade a spade. A side hustle is a goddamn second job, and if you have one it means either a) your first job is failing to pay the bills, or b) you’re willing to trade all of your free time in order to retire early because your job sucks and doesn’t pay enough to achieve this goal. Neither scenario is particularly inspiring or empowering.

I’m not saying we should all revolt against the concept of side hustles and give up our efforts to make extra money. You can pry my side hustle from my cold, dead hands, as a matter of fact. But I think a dose of realism is in order lest we get carried away romanticizing the side hustle.

The normalization of poverty

Put simply, all that glitters isn’t gold. The reality is that the contemporary ubiquity of side hustles is just another sign of the normalization of poverty wages and our current shitty economy. While a side hustle might indeed shower untold wealth upon many, for others it’s just shiny new packaging on the solution to an old problem: stagnant wages in the face of inflation and the need for two or more jobs to make ends meet.

Like the tiny house craze, the romanticization of the side hustle is a way of normalizing wage stagnation. A family of four was not meant to cohabitate in thirty square feet of impractical, made-for-HGTV decorating during a Michigan winter. And given an affordable choice, I sincerely doubt they would. (Trust not the charlatans of Tiny House Hunters. Theirs is the snake oil of willful discomfort.)

Tiny houses likely started out as a practical solution to rapidly rising housing costs in major cities. But what used to be a way of surviving a tough economy became an Ethical Lifestyle Choice™, a trendy way to display to the world how minimalist and efficient you are.

Likewise, the side hustle. Or rather, as most Americans making minimum wage call it, the second job. It’s something the poor have done out of necessity for ages. But now we slap the fancy label of “side hustle” on the packaging and suddenly it’s a glamorous vocation!

Really what you’re saying with your side hustle is “I am not making enough money to meet my goals with one full time job so I need a second one.” Or even worse: “If I rest I’ll lose my home.”

But I like my side hustle…

This is not to say that the practice of side hustling is totally unhealthy, evil, or self-defeating. Far from it! I myself have a couple of side hustles going (freelance editing, babysitting, flipping furniture… this very blog…), and I find them both emotionally and financially rewarding. And not because I’m a workaholic or a masochist (though I am absolutely both).

I’ll freely admit that until recently, when I gained a big bump in salary, I still kept up my side hustles partially because I enjoyed them and partially because I relish the idea of making as much money as possible so I can say FUCK YOU to The Man as soon as possible.

I am not alone in this. And if side hustles were just a convenient way to make “extra” cash, then there wouldn’t be a problem. But for many people, they are neither a convenient way to make extra cash, nor a road to self-employment. They’re a way of literally making ends meet because your full-time job does not pay you enough to cover your basic living expenses.

Many use their side hustle as a way to transition into full-time self-employment. And that’s great! But it doesn’t always work out for the aspiring entrepreneur. A cursory Google search reveals sad stories about side hustles gone horribly wrong, companies that take advantage of independent contractors, and jobs that suck all the joy out of the hustle. So I guess what I’m saying is, you better love driving a whole helluva lot if you’re going to sell your soul to Uber.

If entrepreneurship interests you, here’s what we’ve got on the subject:

Leisure time is meant for leisure

The biggest drawback to the side hustle is its unique ability to murder your free time. If you work an eight-hour day only to come home and work another four hours on your side hustle before squeezing in a shower, a food, and a sleep, then at what point do you take a break? At what point do you read a book, catch up on the news, learn a new skill, clean your house, exercise, buy healthy groceries, spend time with your family, walk your dog?

Leisure time is meant for leisure. The whole reason we have a culturally accepted eight-hour work day is because labor rights activists fought to keep employees from working to death by dividing their lives into thirds for working, playing (or, y’know, erranding), and resting. 

Studies show that human beings work better when they get to fully experience the rest and leisure thirds of their lives. You need a respite from work so that you can continue to be good at that work. It’s healthy to pursue other hobbies outside of your career. That underground gingerbread house-making tournament could literally be saving your life!

So if you’re filling the leisure third of your life with a side hustle, exactly when do you expect to… leisure? Rest???

Why are side hustles so common now?

Despite all this, I support side hustling precisely because it is necessary for so many of us. The world has changed. No use denying it. One income often doesn’t cut it anymore and there’s no sign of that changing any time soon.

For some, a side hustle is a necessary buffer between them and homelessness. For others, it’s a great way to pad savings and investments. And for others, it’s a stepping stone along the transition toward full-time self-employment. It can be a rewarding way of making your hobby your career, of meeting your financial goals faster, and of monetizing your free time.

But side hustles are more common than ever, and it’s hard to ignore the historical precedent this sets. In the 1960s, 70% of American families survived on the income of a single breadwinner. In 2012 by contrast, 60% of households were supported by two full-time incomes. That’s right: what many of our grandparents could achieve on one salary, we now, on average, need two to achieve. So it makes perfect sense that to get ahead, those households already supported by two full-time, salaried workers would find a side hustle—a third or even a fourth job—very, very appealing.

So let’s cut the shit. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s probably a grueling and not entirely voluntary way of trading your precious spare time for money because you really, really need that money.

Side hustle if you need to or want to. But don’t kid yourself about this trendy new mode of financial freedom. For far too many it’s just another form of struggling to make ends meet.

Side hustles can lead to burnout

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23 thoughts to “Romanticizing the Side Hustle: When 1 Job Isn’t Enough”

  1. On point as usual, bitches! P.S. I can tell I’ve now fully converted to your unique flavor of actionable advice + critique of our current American economic system, because now every time I see BgR in my inbox, I do a little “ooh!” of excitement and click through immediately even if I’m supposed to be finishing my taxes *cough*.

  2. PREACH! Thanks for presenting this in a way I hadn’t thought about before. I’ve been telling myself for almost the past year that I need a side hustle but really I don’t need any more money.

    1. We are beautiful, complicated animals. We can paint pictures, plant flowers, write novels, save whales, and watch every single episode of Terrace House on Netflix. If you don’t need a side hustle, don’t get a side hustle! Pick one of the many wonderful, fulfilling activities life affords you and go do that instead. The Bitches smile upon your hustle-less-ness.

  3. Ugh, fuck tiny houses.

    Particularly when I look at the sizes of properties here vs the US. I can almost understand the desire to downsize in that case…. but here the standard is Pretty Darn Small and I do not want to go any smaller. (My next post this week is called I don’t want to live on less, btw…)

    1. Right? They’re infuriating. I think the speak to our American need to do everything in extremes. Tired of living in only half of an impractical McMansion? Don’t just buy a small house! Buy a TINY house that prioritizes decorating over storage!

      Can’t wait to read your new post. You’ve been KILLING it.

  4. Even the term “hustle” comes from poor culture, specifically, drug and pimp culture. Why the middle class gotta steal all our shit?

    On topic: When I first started blogging several months ago, I saw where bloggers kept referring to side-hustles. I thought they were dropping off quarter bags after they got off work. No. They were just talking about part time jobs. While I fully support side-hustles, I don’t think they’re great on the long term. We need time to relax and enjoy life.

    1. YES! THIS! I didn’t realize before how it’s an uncomfortably appropriative term. I kinda think I’m going to use “freelance work” or “part-time job” instead.

      1. I’ve used the term side-hustle on my blog, but I hated it. Who the hell uses the term side-hustle in every day life? Let a cop hear you use it…

        “Officer, if you don’t mind, I’m on the way to my side-hustle and I’m running late.”

        If that isn’t probable cause, I don’t know what is.

    2. I hope the restless ghost of Malcolm X haunts white people who describe their freelance lifestyle blogging as “hustling.” Also I hope someone makes a TV show based on the previous sentence.

    3. The side hustle originated during slavery to make money behind the slave owners back because as you know it was forced free labor, hence, side hustle: to get paid for services unbeknownst to the slave owners. Fast forward: 2017, A side hustle has in fact been an epic part of African American people due to oppressive socioeconomic inequality. The side hustles money remained largely unreported thus; Hustle, selling dinners, selling snacks to neighborhood kids and no permit, drug dealing, hood daddy (sugar daddy in the hood) etc. So, for African Americans a side hustle is unreported income to keep bills paid and enjoy some of the perks as well. Now you white people now have to get second jobs aka SECOND JOBS…NOT A SIDE HUSTLE BECAUSE ITS A REPORTED INCOME. All in all…WELCOME TO OUR WORLD.

      1. An excellent point and even more reason not to use the term “side hustle” to describe a second job. Thanks for filling us in on the background of the term.

      2. Yep if it’s reported to the IRS it’s a second job not a hustle.

        Hustles are cash or trade (help out vendors at a farmer’s market, take home veggies for the week) and are most definitely not reported to The Man.

  5. It’s weird because I consider my side hustle (my blog) to also be a hobby, but, if I not careful, I don’t get enough
    computer-free time in, thus making my butt hurt and my back ache. It’s all such a delicate, delicate balance.

    1. Girl I hear you. I keep eyedrops next to my monitor at work because by the end of the work day my eyes feel like sandpaper… and then I go home to blog and edit some more. Get some rest!

      1. Have you tried blue light blocking lenses? I dont even wear glasses, but I bought some just to see if they worked. I stopped getting headaches from my screen time ecause of some plastic lenses with a blue light filter. May not be the only cause of eye strain or dry eyes, but is def doesn’t help.

  6. lol – I love this post! My list of 23 side hustles is full of things that were really just ‘second jobs’ that I *needed* to survive month to month.

    Thankfully my current 9-5 is more than enough for my family to thrive on, but it hasn’t always been that way. I hope my ‘side hustle’ blog can help out someone that might be in the middle of a grind is just living to fight another day! Keep fighting. Work that second job. Make smart money decisions and after a while your situation will improve. It doesn’t always happen as fast as we’d like, but it will happen if you stick with it.

    Good stuff Piggy

    1. Thank you so much!

      I like to remind myself of the days when my side jobs weren’t really optional… I needed them. It keeps things in perspective!

  7. I do feel for those who are juggling with essentially a second job. No one is talking about how to fix stagnant wages because the issues is so much more complicated than listing off AirBnB and Rover as a solution. All I can think about is that episode where Homer gets a second job at the quik-e-mart in order to support Lisa’s pony and he’s so tired he falls asleep with his head stuck between the sliding doors lol. Awww…

  8. Refreshing honesty, though I wouldn’t use the colorful language you do.

    There is way too much romanticising in FIRE. There’s talk about not trying to keep up with the Jones. It seems to me that’s exactly what many in the community are doing. There are models of FIRE to which many aspire to become. Comparing is never a good thing to do.

    So, if you don’t have a side hustle making a gazillion dollars a year, you’re failing. Though many bloggers talk about their successful side hustles, you’re so right about the reasons many have them. It’s to make ends meet. We’re kind of living in a bubble right now. The stock market is up for ten years. Many investors have never experienced anything but this kind of market.

    Unemployment is low according to the stats. But that’s the reality. More people have given up looking for jobs so they aren’t counted.

    I appreciate you two keeping it real. I wish more bloggers would, though with less colorful language. Then again, be true to yourself.

    1. Thanks for the thoughtful comment, Fred! If you’re looking for more PG blogs that still keep it real, I recommend shepicksuppennies.com. Penny might still swear, but definitely not as much as we do. She’s also brilliant and insightful. It would feel disingenuous to clean up our language at this point. 😉

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