When I was a teenager I wasn’t allowed to babysit or have a job. My mom dug in and said no to my requests to babysit or pick up a little side-hustle. I just wanted to have some fun money without asking my mom for money that I knew she really didn’t have to give to me at the time. I’ll never forget her saying “Once you start working, you don’t stop.” While she wasn’t necessarily wrong I finally wore her down and was able to get her to agree to me working my first job in downtown Denver. I was making sandwiches at what would now be considered a hybrid between fast casual and fast food. I made SO MANY SANDWICHES. In fact, I made so many roast beef sandwiches at that job, I still really don’t care for them to this day. That job would be the start of almost always working a side-hustle in addition to my main job for my entire working career. I’m GenX. So, when I tell you that right now I’m literally having a weird existential crisis about letting go of side-hustles, I thought I would share it with my listeners because I think a lot of people can relate to the situation that I’m finding myself in. I’ve brought this up occasionally in passing on the show but I thought I would take a deep dive into the issue that I’m struggling with. I’m at a financial crossroads and not all money is good money. Not sure what I mean? Continue listening to the show.
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Show Notes:
- Americans take a lot of pride in the amount of work that they can take on. Working extra hours, side-hustles and picking up entrepreneurial endeavors. I’m just as guilty of doing this as the other people that I’m referring to.
- Side-hustles have paid my rent and mortgage, paid off my debts and helped keep my finances stable while working on growing my digital business.
- Like most Americans, I’ve grown up with the mindset that you don’t turn down work. If someone reaches out with an opportunity or a side-hustle I’m almost always going to say “yes”
- As I’ve begun to earn more in my business I’ve started asking myself a number of questions connected to money and what I’m willing to do to earn it with the most pressing question being “Is all money good money?” Basically, being in business for myself and finally earning more has brought up some unexpected financial conflict and conversations that I’m finding myself having with myself and others.
- After an entire lifetime working side-hustles as an adult, I realize that there were a number of financial conversations I never had in relation to my career.
- I never had someone say to me: Strategically earn more in your career. The conversations were more connected to work stability vs. strategically leaving a job to earn more income. Also, work conversations were often connected to professional happiness vs. income. Are you “Happy” with the work that you’re doing. Because most people work until retirement because they have to . So, job satisfaction factored in heavily in my job conversations.
- And, because I wasn’t the only person side-hustling, we all had something in common.
- Even before COVID, I found myself starting to low-key resent the time that side-hustles took away from building my business and earning more in it.
- Basically, I found myself dealing with an unexpected emotion-guilt. Guilt that I wanted to say “No” to side-hustles even though I was saying “yes” to higher earning projects and work.
- It continues to feel strange to earn thousands of dollars for a few hours of work vs. tons and tons of hours of work.
- Now I do want to clarify something, I’m not saying that making money via side-hustles is bad. I’m saying that there’s a time when we may have to identify and decide if we’ve arrived at a financial crossroads and what does the transition mean and look like?
- Financial crossroads are so emotionally challenging because I’m finding that I have some additional unexpected financial mindset work that I need to work through. I’m going to be honest and say that the emotion around this issue has caught me off guard.
- It’s hard for me to admit that I just don’t want to side-hustle anymore and that it no longer is a good fit for me and unsustainable in terms of the time that I have to allocate towards it.
- What I’ve learned is the following:
- Side-hustles were a part of a long financial season
- Financial seasons eventually end
- It’s ok to move on
- It’s also ok to feel fear around financial changes.
- The other part of the “Is All Money Good Money” conversation includes the following:
- How are you earning this money? Does it compromise your values?
- Is the business model set up for you to win or lose a la MLMs
- Are you compromising your mental or physical health to do the job?
- Do you have other options or resources/communities that you can join to help connect with different resources/networks or ways of thinking about how you earn money.
- Let’s also talk about something that isn’t discussed enough. Technology. The role that technology has played in changing people’s conversations around changing jobs, negotiating wages, wage transparency and normalizing asking for more.
Again, I don’t want someone emailing me and saying that they thought I was saying “side-hustles were bad.” Nope. Not the point of this podcast episode. I love my side-hustles and they helped me so much during some really tough financial years. At the heart of this episode is recognizing and navigating financial crossroads. What are your thoughts? Have you had an experience like this?
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[…] In a recent episode of her own podcast, Michelle talks about figuring out which side hustles make sense and how not all money is good money. […]