The Importance of the 'Side Hustle'

Find your side hustle; explore your passion.

Rule of Three’s definition of “side hustle” may differ from that espoused by others: We believe that a side hustle is an activity which provides you with the sheer joy and energy and personal satisfaction that your “day job” may not offer.

Yes, it’s critically important that each of us secure a job (or, increasingly, jobs, in this “gig economy” into which we are evolving), in order to make a living. But, looking to a side hustle solely to supplement one’s income, we believe, violates the spirit of what that activity is intended to provide: fueling one’s passion.

But that’s not what exists in the ether (and, by “ether,” clearly I mean, on the internet). A quick scan of headlines attached to a web search for, “Most popular side hustles,” yields the following:

• “23 Side Hustles for 2024 - 23 of The Top Side Hustles” (financebuzz.com).

• “Best Side Hustle Jobs of 2024 - Top Ways to Make Money in 2024” (partners.thepennyhoarder.com).

• “Best Side Hustle 2022 - Easy Ways to Make Money” (surveyjunkie.com).

• “Side Hustles To Make Money - Top 10 Sites To Sell Online” (top10.com).

• “Best Side Jobs For Extra Money - Best Remote Jobs 2024” (flexjobs.com).

• “30 Best Side Hustles Ideas for 2024/TIME Stamped” (time.com).

• “30 Side Hustle Ideas To Make Extra Money in 2024 - Forbes” (forbes.com).

• “27 Side Hustle Ideas To Earn Extra Cash - Ramsey” (ramseysolutions.com).

Do you notice a theme here? That’s right: these pieces are all about supplementing your income - not a single one of them touches on “fueling your passion.” If you’ll permit us to offer further critiques of these headlines (and, given the reality of Substack’s publishing model, we don’t see how you can stop us - your only recourse is to complain once this piece is published, in the comments section, and, frankly, we generally ignore that feedback, but, knock yourself out), it appears as if financebuzz.com’s headline was just plain lazy, perhaps a leftover from the previous year’s piece - it’s 2024, man - why not identify “. . .24 of the Top Side Hustles?” Also, if you’re going to tout ways to make money, maybe consider a different domain name than pennyhoarder.com - it doesn’t exactly scream “big money,” does it? Surveyjunkie.com hasn’t bothered to refresh its advice since 2022? Or, that advice is so stellar that it remains atop the search list two years later? Or, and I think this is probably the real answer, surveyjunkie.com is paying Google to boost their site’s standing in search results. And, in the category of “Great Minds Think Alike,” we have co-winners: Time and Forbes, who have each settled on 30 being the appropriate number of side hustles to highlight - perhaps they’re both gearing-up for the all-important article to be published a scant six years from now; we further believe that Time bungled its headline by appending an “s” to the word, “hustle,” although we admire the wordplay inherent in its “TIME Stamped” word choice. Finally, I thought Ramsey Solutions’ Dave Ramsey’s only wealth accumulation advice was to eat rice and beans for every meal - it’s nice to see that he’s broadened his approach beyond simple meal planning.

Ignoring the internet’s singular focus on making money from the side hustle, examples of side hustles deployed by people I know include: playing the trombone with a local R&B group; writing romance novels; publishing a weekly humor column; and performing open-heart surgery. Alright, that last one’s not true, but the other ones are. Do you understand the lengths to which we humor writers go to attempt to land an instantly forgettable joke? In this instance we violated an inviolate precept of Rule of Three, by adding a fourth component; we’re ashamed - we’ll go sit in the corner (like Dennis the Menace) and think about what we’ve done.

But, suppose you haven’t yet determined what your passion is - how do you go about discovering it?

Of the articles identified above, the lists compiled by Time and Forbes appear to be more expansive than the others, most of which suggest various ways to earn extra money online, while lounging on your couch in your underwear. The side hustles reflected on the Time and Forbes lists in most cases require the wearing of pants, and include such broad categories as: providing personal services, such as hair and makeup, or tutoring, or transporting people or food and groceries, or cleaning things like cars or houses, or managing pets, or babies or seniors; marketing creative products such as blogging, freelancing, publishing ebooks, podcasting, online coaching and creating social media content; and selling stuff, such as artisan crafts, or clearance products, or stuff that falls off the back of a truck (I’m paraphrasing).

Perhaps you enjoy picking up dog poop. Then, by all means, you should pursue your passion, and spend time walking other people’s dogs - Time and Forbes believe that there’s money in it.

Or, alternatively, maybe you get a kick out of disposing of another type of poop: that generated by babies. Then, you should lean-in to providing childcare services.

Or, you can easily lift things that fall off the back of a truck - an activity in which you are unlikely to encounter poop of any sort. If that’s your passion (and, who am I to disagree with you?), then you should spend your spare time chasing after trucks with faulty rear doors.

But, for the sake of argument, let’s say that Time and Forbes have not touched on that activity that gets you excited. Ah, that’s where Rule of Three comes in, my friend. We recognize that there are many choices available to you, when it comes to finding your passion, and we appreciate that you’ve come to us. We won’t let you down. . .assuming that your expectations for us have been set really low.

One of my favorite pastimes (at least, according to my wife) is lounging in a comfortable chair, typically reading or watching television. If you share that passion, you could resolve to spend an inordinate amount of time similarly positioned. I’m not sure there’s significant side hustle money to be earned from this pursuit, but, given the growth of niche audiences devoted to all sorts of strange things, you might consider filming yourself performing this task for hours at a time, and post your own personal “Lounge-Cam” videos on YouTube. And, even if there’s ultimately no market for the videos, you are still “fueling your passion.”

Uber and Lyft and other ride-share companies have grown exponentially in recent years, dedicated to driving people from Point A to Point B. But, I believe there might be a niche market for those who no longer commute to work, or rely more on ride-share services, and miss the aggravation caused by traffic jams they used to encounter regularly. If you count yourself among that group of “traffic jam alumni,” there might be an opportunity to satisfy your desire to, once again, find yourself stuck in traffic, railing on about the injustice of it all, and how it’s causing you great pain, and will likely result in you being late; the side hustle element is that you could advertise this service, and attract paying customers to come “along for the ride.”

With my growing stable of grandchildren, with whom I love spending time, it occurs to me that I could contract them out, at reasonable rates, to those people who don’t have children or grandchildren, as companions. Perhaps you are similarly-positioned, and could develop a modest side hustle yourself. This would be a home-run for a colleague of mine, whose current grandchild count checks-in at sixteen.

I’ve noticed that some of my Substack colleagues have developed ancillary businesses attached to their brands, including podcasts, classified advertising and dog walking services (I’m kidding about that last one - most Substackers have an aversion to managing poop - but at least I delivered the instantly forgettable joke using the requisite number of components, without having to resort to adding a fourth). Clearly, Rule of Three needs to up its game, and incorporate a side hustle. Any ideas? We welcome your advice - just, you know, make sure it doesn’t involve managing poop.

For the time being Rule of Three is laser-focused on publishing its weekly column - no attention diverted by a side hustle.  The least you can do is respect that dedication, and click the button below to subscribe now - it's free, man!