You need a side hustle. Here’s why

Are you familiar with the analogy of going up a down escalator? If you stand still, you’re going down the escalator. If you walk/step, you’re lucky if you just stay in place.

But if you run, you can make some headway and actually reach the top. Difficult - but you can do it. Life is exactly the same believe it or not. 

Very few people actually hustle, but those who do, far outpace their peers in almost every walk of life. Tom Corley, author of Rich Habits, studied the habits of millionaires during over a five-year period.

He found out that 65 per cent had three streams of income, 45 per cent had four while 29 per cent had five or more streams of income. If that isn’t reason enough, here are five others why you absolutely need a side hustle:

It Increases Your Skill Set

Starting a blog doesn’t seem like it can do much to raise your resume/portfolio. But it can increase your management, scheduling, coding, writing, networking, and marketing skills.

These are incredibly useful skills for the business world, skills that are transferable to other jobs besides your side hustle.

It can help you get a raise (or a new job) if you want it, and can make you a top candidate at your day job. Not bad right?

Acts as a safety net

How safe is your job? Let’s face it, no job is really ever safe, especially during recession. Not too long ago twitter was abuzz with #Ilostmyjob, when betting companies packed their bags and had to let go of hundreds of employees.

Having other sources of income can help you deal with a job loss much easier than being caught off guard. Even if your other sources of cash can’t cover all of your monthly expenses, it can still give you time to figure things out.

Helps you live within your means

You want to be wealthy right? Then spend less and earn more. But what if you can’t cut back any further? You have to create a new source of income in order to live within your means.

Whenever you want something expensive, find a hustle that will provide the money to purchase it.

Pays for college

Not yours, your childrens’. How much are you saving for your childrens’ college? Any older, wiser entrepreneur will tell you it is never too early to secure your future.

Instead of putting your retirement at risk by saving up for your child’s secondary education, why not create an alternative income stream to help out.

Having multiple side hustles bringing in cash every month can ease the burden of paying for college.

You probably have the time

One of the biggest objections people have for not getting a side hustle is that they don’t have enough time. Maybe that’s true. But I’d argue that in most cases it’s not.

Here’s a great example – working out for one hour is only four per cent of your day. What if you could work on your side hustle for one hour per day?

That’s only four per cent. You skip going to the gym all the time because you don’t have time. You could figure it out if you were motivated enough.

If you are worried about the time thing, sit down and map it out. Could you squeeze an extra four per cent out of your day? Could you go see your greenhouse in Makueni during the weekend? You probably could.