I ask my career coaching clients, “if you lost your job tomorrow, what would you do? Do you have an income stream 💰to fall back on? If your situation is retrenchment, then that will only last so long.

I have been asking that question for a long time. I ask my clients to expand their minds 🤔to realize what else is possible. It gets people thinking about what would happen if they lost their role and would they have that extra income stream to fall back on. They often do not realize that something they do in their spare time could be their “side gig” or that next career transition move.

I am doing what I love, but I thought the other day, where is my side gig? I am known for my love of fashion, clothes 👗, shoes 👠and handbags 👜and I have far too much of everything. As I am not going into Collins Street as regularly as I used to, like most of us, my extensive wardrobe needs downsizing. Some I am going to donate to charity, but other items I am going to sell. I have always dreamed of having a retail fashion boutique. That is not feasible, but I thought, what about an online shop selling my gear – Lena’s Wardrobe. It is only an idea at the moment but let us see how I go to make it a reality.

But here is an interesting fact. The side hustle has been here for generations. In fact, it’s what Australia’s early migrants built their futures. Those migrants and then going into the first generation had not only one job but two or three. Their focus was to create a better life. They wanted something to fall back on if they lost their primary job. They worked in factories 🧑 🏭, laborers or their businesses 🏪 during the day, etc., by night cleaned offices 👷and took on sewing clothes together, often out of garages known as “piece work” or handyman jobs using their skills on the weekends. So, the side hustle has always been there but called working hard to create a secure future.

The thing that has changed is the type of hustles that people create. It’s much more diverse.  Our daytime role is still 💻 the primary source of income providing job stability. But as we have seen, many more people are creating extra income streams through a side hustle outside their traditional roles e.g. Uber drivers, couriers 🚴 ♂️, Airtasker 🔨, dog grooming 🐩. Every second person has a pet so that’s a big industry. When doing some reading 📚into this topic, I found there is a whole industry of people that are coaching 👩 🏫, creating tutorials, etc., all about creating the side hustle, so the side hustle is becoming the side hustle to generate income. And, sometimes the side hustle can be more than one gig it could be two or three gigs and that takes over the primary role to create more flexibility and opportunity.

So, there is truth in the saying “everything old is new again” and, in this case it has a name, “the side-hustle or side-gig” which is termed “the gig economy”.  

Please feel free to comment on what I’ve talked about and if you would like to chat to me about creating a “side hustle” contact me to have a chat.

#career #sidehustle #finance #careertransition #careercoaching #outplacement