Side Hustle. It’s become a ubiquitous term. Part of the lexicon of our times. Used to cover everything from second, third and fourth jobs to leveraging the sharing economy to an Etsy store to freelancing to blogging.
This thing that sits on the side of your “regular” hustle and delivers extra income. Something that consumes you and drives you and gives purpose. A million buzzfeed articles are written on this hustle and Facebook ads tell you can make a million dollars from it.
I have two problems with the term – “side” and “hustle”. It’s become a cute term that either misleads, diminishes or skates over bigger issues.
Hustle Hard. Stay Humble. A funky variant on work hard, wait your dues. I understand the marketing attraction of the word “hustle”. It implies energy, urgency and a modern take. To me it also conveys a sense of the shyster. Except in this case it’s not the side-hustlers hustling, it’s the people promoting it as the optimum lifestyle choice.
If people are having to work two or three jobs to make rent, that’s not a side hustle, that’s a problem with our economy and a widening gap between rich and poor. It means that there is a heavy reliance on, even exploitation of, casual workers.
When someone is starting the flames of a new business, it’s dismissive to call it a “side hustle”. It’s the start of something, the glorious beginnings. Calling it a “side hustle” demeans it something that will never become the bigger game. The same goes for those that have non-traditional jobs. That make an income from their freelancing careers, something they built themselves. That ain’t a side hustle. That’s a job.
Parents squeezing projects for themselves into their impossible lives aren’t “hustling”. They are searching for space to call their own.
And this blog? This is not a side hustle. It is a million miles away from hustle. This is where I escape. Where there is quiet. This is my bubble and my retreat.
I spend quiet Saturday mornings, before the house wakes, typing the thoughts that clutter my brain. A steaming cup of tea beside me as I watch the dawn breaking. There is no hustle. My heart beats slower here. Slower than it has all week. Right here, in this space, I am stripped back to nothing but my bare self. Me, a laptop, words and you.
It is here where I can breath. Can finally pause and claim a slice of time as purely my own.
This space offers a release valve from the constant pressure of income, of organisation, of parenting, of hustling. My life is full of hustle and bustle. I seek rest. And I find it here. In my opposite of a side hustle.
What’s your take on the side hustle?
I’ve not heard the term side hustle before. I do think it’s just a cute jargon. It does diminish the importance a little too….(and yes, my bolg is very important to me, though it’s usually in the hours of 6-7 in the morning that I get to do it…
Lydia C. Lee recently posted…First of the Month Fiction – August.
I hear it way too often :). The dismisiveness of it does annoy me but using it as a camouflage around bigger issues annoys me much more.
Robyna May recently posted…DIY Shopping Bag
I couldn’t agree more. The freelance work I do in addition to my part-time job is not a hustle. It’s work I need to do to pay the bills. It’s my second job. Great read.
That’s exactly it. It’s not cute and superficial and I feel like that term is both.
Robyna May recently posted…DIY Shopping Bag
I could not agree more with you. I’ve started to hate the term hustle in general. This generic idea that if you don’t have something, you aren’t hustling hard enough. The problems we have go far beyond the individual.
Amy @ HandbagMafia recently posted…The Announcement: “I’m Unliking Your Page Because…”
Yes. It’s a very individualistic idea all this “hustling” and I think we need a community focus, particularly amongst our politicians.
Robyna May recently posted…DIY Shopping Bag
I honestly haven’t heard of the term. Now that I have, I couldn’t agree more with you.
I can’t seem to escape the term 🙂
Robyna May recently posted…DIY Shopping Bag
I agree! I am certainly not hustling, just surviving and doing what needs to be done. Doesn’t mean I am not working my but off. 🙂
Nicole @ The Builder’s Wife recently posted…How To Make Your Home Feel Warm
It reminds me of when I first branched out by myself. I felt I had to post Insta snaps of my laptop and a coffee and references to “hustling hard” to legitimise what I was doing. Then I actually got busy and didn’t have time for that. The hustling thing feel so much like a marketing ploy.
Robyna May recently posted…DIY Shopping Bag
Nailed it with the comment about the economy. The term side hustle can often make a having a handful of insecure, poorly paid jobs sound sexy, when the opposite is true.
“Side hustle” as a snow job is what makes me really angry rather than just mildly annoyed.
Robyna May recently posted…DIY Shopping Bag
I passionately hate the term hustle, partly because of the busy competitions people like to be part of but also because it denigrates those who cannot hustle and implies laziness. If you really want hustle in your life, then fine. I just personally find it hard to believe anyone would want that 🙂 It’s something I really want to talk to people about when I no longer have a sore throat and can start my podcast; how they make their interests part of their life in a sustainable way.
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Maybe we need a new term. “Integrated slowness”. Actually, that sounds even worse. Maybe we just need to stop romanticising and buzz-wording all this kind of stuff.
Robyna May recently posted…DIY Shopping Bag
I could see corporate loving that term 🙂
Vanessa recently posted…#ArchiveLove 37
Totally agree with what you on the side hustle and the economy. My blog is a hustle free zone. Some people escape to the country, or to the beach or to the bush, but I like to escape here on the interwebs and that suits me just fine.
Sammie @ The Annoyed Thyroid recently posted…7 Game Changing Food Documentaries
Me too. And I like the company very much. Xx
Robyna May recently posted…DIY Shopping Bag
Thank god someone finally said it! I actually cringe every time I read the word ‘hustle’, it really seems to be a buzz word at the moment.
I’m a bit of a sucker for jargon but this one jars.
Robyna May recently posted…DIY Shopping Bag
I love your take on this. “Side hustle” seems explicably dismissive, blogs are passions! I totally get you.
Indeed! Lovely, beautiful, complicated passions. Not hustles.
Robyna May recently posted…DIY Shopping Bag
“Parents squeezing projects for themselves into their impossible lives aren’t “hustling”. They are searching for space to call their own.
And this blog? This is not a side hustle. It is a million miles away from hustle. This is where I escape. Where there is quiet. This is my bubble and my retreat.”
This is exactly how I feel about my blog. It’s like these are my words. Except they are not. They are yours. Thank you.
I’m so glad you feel the same about your online space. They are definitely retreats!
Robyna May recently posted…DIY Shopping Bag
I definitely relate! My blog is my happy place! 🙂 It’s one reason I’ve never tried to monetize it. I want my blog to be stress free!
I totally get that. I’m still open to sponsored content but it’s certainly not the primary purpose or main game.
Robyna May recently posted…DIY Shopping Bag
Totally agree … I also like to escape away from the ‘hustle’ by writing on my own blog or by reading other blogs that I relate to. #teamIBOT
I know- such an escape from mum life, while relating to mum life 🙂