# 3 is the most powerful reason to start
2 decisions will always remain with us 1. The day we made it and 2. The day we decided to make it.
The powerful motivators are the ones that shake you from your slumber and comforts to start a new life.
It’s exactly like giving birth after the most excruciating labor pain.
In India, we are so brought up in the classical “job-trap-system” where we study for 22 years minimum, start applying for jobs which have no connection to our education and then wait for the benevolent master to pick us up for a job.
My side income drive
I started my side income journey in 2016 when I moved from Bangalore to Mumbai–city of hustlers and dreamers.
The motivation for me to earn more wasn’t exactly the reason to take this plunge but there was a sense of emptiness in my identity.
I wanted more people to know who I was and how good I was.
If you are in South Asia and reading this blog, here are some powerful reasons why you should start a profitable side hustle right now!
#1 You want to escape from the cubicle
Does this need to be explained?
If you are currently working for someone and making a X amount of salary selling Y amount of time, you are already doomed.
Because by the time you finished your shift, your employer just added $20mn.
- Research shows 79% of people in the age group of 25 to 44 are unhappy with their current jobs and want to leave it.
- 45% of the working population is suffering from lifestyle diseases and suicide rates are high
- 55% of graduates who passed out yesterday are staring at No jobs
A job is a life sucking system.
Imagine, you had a diamond in your house, a big one. Someone comes to your house and asks for it to be bartered in exchange for 3 pieces of silver.
And you give it away.
Does it make sense?
A job also doesn’t make sense.
We are selling away our time, for 3 pieces of silver to our employers.
#2 You want to clear your debts
We all have our debts to pay.
From credit card bills, to school tuition fees to home loans, a typical middle class has a variety of debt classes.
We have gotten into the trap of “buy now pay later”.
If you want to break that ice mountain of debt you have to keep hitting it with a hammer little by little.
A side income is a respectable way to get out of debt where you are bringing in money along with your job.
Think of another earning member in the family that is taking care of some of the bills.
If you are a sole breadwinner in the family, it’s like 2 people working. If you have your spouse also working , it’s like 3 people bringing in the money.
My personal life goal is to have a “no debt” life. I am tired of giving my money to make others rich.
#3 You are earning way less than your potential
Payscale.com shows what a particular role can earn in a particular marketplace but what it doesn’t or can’t show is your actual potential.
If you are a superb guitarist but stuck in an accountant role, payscale.com won’t know that.
If you start teaching using Zoom and a good webcam, it’s enough to start a business during the weekends that can bring in at least 20K INR each month.
If you have specialised knowledge like coding, teaching tools like FB Ads, generating leads, solving relationship crisis, numerology, you can charge much more.
These are your secret talents hidden inside which you only know.
Start mining that gold right away, you will find tools once you have made up your mind.
Why let a company HR tell you your worth? There isn’t a cap to how much you can earn.
Learn why I love Consulting as my favorite side hustles. Read here
#4 You have been procrastinating for too long
There are entrepreneurs and there are wantrepreneurs.
People who are waiting for a signal from up above, or an epiphany to get started.
Myself included, learning a lot of things, and just getting drenched with information won’t do the job.
I thought personal development is eternal learning. Well, it is so but it has to be acted upon.
Unless you have approached 50 people, spoken to 20 and closed 5 deals, you don’t have a business or a side business in hand. All you have is an expensive hobby!
Young graduates staring at job losses and working professionals staring at deep salary cuts or maybe layoffs, should start right away.
The best time was yesterday and the next best time is now.
It sounds cliche but is apt.
You must read my blog on starting a consulting business in 2020 here
#5 You want to buy back your time
Unfortunately, if you are working in a job you can’t get back the time you gave away to your employer but the good news is that you can plan a life where you are selling your time to yourself.
Starting a side hustle is like digging a tunnel inside Alcatraz.
The only rule is that you can’t stop digging.
There is freedom guaranteed though.
When you have your own side business, you learn the tricks of running a business, earning and managing money.
You control the outcomes and decide the next course of action.
Your boss or company policies don’t tell you what to do. Go and win back the time.
#6 Increase your retirement corpus
If you are in your 30s and see your retirement corpus not growing enough or if you are in your 40s, your nest egg isn’t looking big, a side income will ensure you are on fast track to build the nest egg.
The trick is to start a side hustle and deploy all funds earned towards either paying off your debt first.
Once your debt is taken care of , start piling up the retirement corpus.
Please remember, no one is going to take care of you during a financial crisis.
Your hustles, your ideas and creativity will only save.
Never hesitate to ask money from your customers, if you know you are good at what you do.
Keep piling up and your savings and watch them grow.
I love this article from Motley fool on 20 side hustling ideas. Read here
#7 Leave behind a legacy
A side hustle comes with a latent promise of becoming a fully grown tree one day.
So if your primary motivation is to escape, or square off debts or just be your own boss, you can’t ignore the fact that you have just planted a small money tree.
If properly nourished each day with water nutrients and sunshine, watch it grow into a mighty banyan tree someday.
Research says 40% of fortune 1000 businesses in the world today started as side hustles many years back.
A business has this great functionality of getting passed over from you to generations ahead.
Imagine your grandchild telling the story of her business 30 years from now, and how her grandfather, (that will be you) started it as a side business from his laptop.
To wrap up,
You don’t need a sign from above or a push from someone, all you need is initiative and strong desire to break free.
A side income may not make you a multi millionaire but it will definitely help you gain a lot of self confidence and respect.
You might not be known as the “Expert Consultant” in your workplace but afterwork you are the “Expert” that people pay to listen.