What’s your Plan B? What’s your fallback plan? This is a type of questions you need to ask yourself if you don’t want to fall victim to life’s ups and downs. Don’t have one yet? Maybe it’s time to consider having one.
We know the possible consequences of putting all eggs in one basket. You risk losing them all. From an investment point of view, you should never place yourself in that high-risk position.
Game on! Remember last time you were in a casino playing Roulette? With a handful of chips in your possession, you weighted up your chances of winning, carefully put them on the table. Were they spread across different numbers? Don’t tell me you had a pile of them all sitting on one number! Anyway, I guess this is a terrible example as I’m not a gambler myself and in no way I’m promoting it, but hey you get my point of what I’m trying to say.
The idea of side hustle came up the other day when I was listening to a radio program on internet and later a podcast on YouTube as well (Funny they all go hand in hand. When you find one thing, the next thing along the same lines then pops up magically). A side hustle as the name suggests, is a second job you do outside the main job. It allows you to earn a secondary income while you earn a regular income from the main job.
Why is a side hustle important? Because it’s like your backup system or safety net when things go wrong. If your “Plan A” goes pear shaped, a side hustle is like your Plan B. You won’t left high and dry, with nothing to spare.
What about you? Do you know someone who has a side hustle? How did they start from zero to one? Or even better how did they go from zero to hero? Share with me and my readers if you do. For now though, I’ll share with you someone I know first.
Ian is a colleague of mine working part time over three days a week from Wednesday to Friday. The other two days Monday and Tuesday or the weekend, you won’t see him sitting at home doing nothing. He’s got a gardening business to keep him busy. Of course, he also earns money from it.
So, how did his side hustle take off? To my surprise, it was Direct Mail Marketing he ran locally. He started by personally delivering his advertising materials into the letter boxes in the neighbourhood areas. Yes! As simple as that! The rest? Is history. It’s estimated 90% of business come from the nearby residents some blocks away. How good is that?! Even though Ian is 65, getting closer to an official retirement age, he’s still keeping his mind and body active, while remaining engaged in the community through his business. It’s a win win.
They say don’t give up your day job. I agree. In this day and age, when job security no longer exists, you just never know when your day job will become a thing of the past. A side hustle is like a second skill, a second hobby you develop, it may one day become your number 1 sidekick when you need it most…
Ted Tsai 