A Career Hustle Offers What No Side Hustle Can
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BACK WHEN I was 25, a few years into my first full-time job, I was burned out and in desperate need of more income. My salary of $45,000 as a payroll supervisor in southern California was barely making ends meet.
This was around 2012, the “Gangnam Style” era of YouTube, years before the flood of hustle-culture influencers made their way to the website. But if they had been around, I’m sure I would have been bombarded with videos telling me I could make a better life for myself by delivering food, turning my car into a taxi, assembling furniture for other people, or... YouTubing.
Many of these modern side hustles promise thousands of extra dollars each month if you just sacrifice some of your free time (and car mileage). That promise is drawing people in.
Sixteen percent of Americans have earned money using an online gig platform (Uber, TaskRabbit, DoorDash), according to a 2021 survey from Pew Research Center. There is money to be made, too. A survey of Uber-driver data provided to Ridester.com found average hourly earnings of $16.95 before tips in 2020.
Not only is that more than every state minimum wage, but these gigs come with fringe benefits, like the freedom to set your hours or take time off without stressing about what your boss might say.
The gig jobs also separate us from the daily grind of a job job. You know the cycle: Get a new job, excitedly learn the ropes, fall into a comfortable routine, and then inevitably get burned out and fed up with stagnant wages and/or horrible management.
But back in 2012, I decided to try something different. Instead of picking up yet another side hustle, I made a strategic career hustle.
I went to my boss and asked her what I could do to grow professionally. She recommended I join our statewide business association. I did, and the following year I volunteered to fill a vacant committee seat.
My next move was to work closely with other departments in our organization, like human resources, to fill gaps in my knowledge. The HR team taught me how it handled hiring and benefits, and I learned ways to improve how our departments worked together. Soon I was being asked to assist with companywide decision-making because of all my new experience.
Within two years, I was able to turn my effort into a new job with a $17,000 raise and eventually double my previous salary a couple years later.
This all sounds great, but the glaring con to this approach is that change will not happen overnight. Julien Saunders, coauthor of Cashing Out, believes in making the most of your career but is also a huge fan of side hustles. He says that a person’s ability to wait for the investment in their career to pay off is directly linked to how urgently they need more money.
“If you have time, you’re not in desperate need of income, and there is observable room to grow in your position/company, it may be beneficial to focus more on advancing in your career,” says Saunders. The good news is you don’t have to be locked into one path. You can blend strategies.
A few hours a week on a side hustle paired with putting in the effort to make moves in your career can provide both the short-term cash you need and the long-term career and financial gains. Plus you won’t ever have to “rise and grind”—unless you really want to.
A version of this article originally appeared in the October/November 2023 issue of Men's Health.
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