The Side Hustle Epidemic
Episode 370: Show Notes
We did a survey to find out where you guys are currently at in your businesses, the areas you are struggling in, what kind of profits you are making and where we could come in and offer some guidance. What we’ve noticed from the feedback and about the industry in general is that there is an epidemic going on – one that involves the side hustle! So, we thought we better address this topic, not to pigeonhole you, but rather to give you the facts we’ve gathered.
The survey is technically still live, and the report is automatically updated, so you can keep checking in to see how the data shifts. In our email correspondence to you, we will link the survey and the results page for you to access easily. What do other similar surveys say? Where are most of you in your businesses? What kind of money are you making or hoping to make? We get into all of these questions, revealing some super surprising results! Join us to find out what your sisters said about their side hustles!
More About Our Survey and Prior Research
We’ve had about 1,000 responses which make for a solid sample size. Keep in mind our audience is mostly women who are creative small business owners. Before we released the survey, we did some additional research about who is serving this niche in the creative space, and there really is not a whole lot of information out about the kind of industries we’re going to be talking about today. Interestingly, the number one side hustle is being a real estate agent, but this is not an easy one because it requires a lot of work! Our survey is one of very few that are aimed at women in the creative entrepreneurial field that we are in. In terms of where others are at, we reckon most people would say there are far more people ahead of them than there are behind them in their business journey.
What Our Survey Shows About Other Small Business Owners
There are two broad categories of respondents: the one group is still in the idea phase (40%) while the other group has already begun making sales (60%). The majority of respondents (34%) have only made a few sales – they don’t consider themselves established with consistent sales. Only a very small portion of people consider themselves established and have some sort of consistency in what they make. What has emerged from the data is that those who have an idea and have started marketing are generally making sales, and that is an exciting place to be! Once you are ready to decide to put yourself out there, our findings show that you are likely to at least make some sales. From our prior research we also saw that, apart from the top two male-dominant side hustles – being a real estate agent and an Uber/Lyft driver – the top five side hustles do include the creative industry. One specific survey grouped photographers, graphic designers and artists together as one of the top five groups in terms of money and growth opportunity in 2019.
A Retrospective Glance at Our Categories and Audience
Emylee was quite shocked that “handmade” was the number one category for industries, but after we looked at all the other categories that were listed, we realized that they were all services. While we have a variety of service options, we only have “handmade” for products – so if you sell any sort of product, that would be the only category you could pick, which would, of course, have affected the weighting of the category. Emylee also thought either photography or graphic design would be the number one industry, because the graphic design category was also quite broad, including branding, website, logo, etc., but it ended up being number 4. Marketing came in at number 2. Here is some advice for those of you who might want to do a similar survey of your audience: You might think you know who you are talking to and then be completely surprised by who is actually responding? Your audience will also change over time.
What About Revenue? And the Figures That Will Shock You!
From our survey, 33% of you said that you would make less than $500 this year. This is bananas! Just to be clear: if you answered that, we are not saying that it is a bad answer. In fact, we were excited because we see so many opportunities for you all! What that percentage tells us is that you have sold a couple of things, which is great. Fifty-six percent of you said that you will make less than $5,000 this year. The reason we were so surprised is that our other research suggested that side hustles make people an additional $12,000 - $13,000 a year! That is about $1000 a month. So, this is what we expected, but only 23% of you are in that range.
Why Side Hustles Are an Epidemic
If all of you said what you did and reported that it fulfilled your desires and made you happy, then we would say, well done, keep going at it! We are cheering you on. Perhaps we need to be talking more to those of you who are happy with an additional $1000 a month. However, this was not the case! We had one more question which showed us just how much growth potential you all have. The question was this: do you want your business to be your full-time income? Now, take a guess what percentage indicated this is what they wanted. Ninety-two percent. If nine out of ten of you want your side hustle to be your full-time income, and yet over 50% of you are making less than $5,000, then you can see that there is a major problem with this figure. You cannot survive on that amount. This means you guys want it badly, and yet, some of you are becoming complacent. You are getting too comfortable and not pushing yourself, not doing those scary things. Other surveys showed the main reason people wanted an additional income was for discretionary spending such as vacations, electronics and other luxuries that are nice to have. But that is not what our survey tells us – you guys want more.
If You Want More, Change Who You’re Learning From
Almost all of you said you wanted your side hustle to be your full-time job, while other sources said most people only wanted extra cash. What does this tell us? You’ve got to change who you are listening to and learning from. Taking advice from someone who only wants to help you get to that dream trip is very different from the one who will teach you how to make a proper business out of your side hustle. There are many easy strategies for making a quick $300, but this is not what you want. You want it to bring in enough money so you can support yourself and your family. Maybe you want the freedom to work from home instead of doing a nine to five office job. So, if you want to start seeing business results, not side hustle results, you must change how you think about what you do. It can no longer only be a hobby. And for those who are still in the ideas phase, it’s about deciding to start. For those of you who have made a couple of sales: look at what worked and the circumstances around those sales and see what systems you can implement to make that happen more frequently.
Highlights
More About Our Survey and Prior Research. [0:03:56.1]
What Our Survey Shows About Where Other Small Business Owners Are At. [0:07:00.1]
A Retrospective Glance at Our Categories and Audience. [0:13:19.1]
What About Revenue? And the Figures That Will Shock You! [0:18:36.1]
Why Side Hustles Are an Epidemic. [0:21:02.1]
If You Want More, Change Who You’re Learning From. [0:25:45.1]
ON TODAY’S SHOW
Abagail & Emylee
The Strategy Hour Podcast
We help overwhelmed and creative entrepreneurs break down their Oprah-sized dreams to create a functioning command center to tame the chaos of their business. Basically, we think you’re totally bomb diggity, we’re about to uplevel the shiz out of your business.
