Money Matters Monday - The Side Hustle

Most of the get out of debt, secure financial freedom, make money in your free time.... blogs/post and articles all talk about some sort of side hustle. 

Of course there is the time honored second job. A second job just isn't feasible for me. I am trying to build my business and I need to devote myself to that business 100%. I cannot do that if I am working a part time job somewhere else. I also did not have any luck in securing a part time job (every place felt I was over qualified). 

Why is being overqualified a drawback? The answer is simple economics. It costs money to train a new employee and every time an employee leaves it costs money. Now an overqualified candidate can promise to stay on for a certain period of time (2-3 years) but in New York this is an at will state, so either party can terminate a contract at any time. Time was that when an individual gave their word it was good, but these days people have all sorts of excuses for breaking their word. Some suggest that overqualified candidates dummy down their resumes. The problem with this is that a candidate may need to carry skills from a position that are now eliminating or in my case it would leave a 12 year gap on their resume. 

Additionally, I no longer own a car and the RGRTA bus system is at its all time most unusable. I used to love taking the bus to/from work when I worked downtown. Now if I worked downtown I would consider driving and paying for parking because I would be walking from the NEW transit center to my office and I could get soaked in the time that would take (even with an umbrella). Used to be I could also grab a bus from the SE city to Greece or Webster (never had any luck trying to get to say Pittsford) but NOW one has to take the bus to the transit center. By the way, any of those buses I have to walk 1 mile pay $1 to ride .5 miles to the transit center and then take on most occasions 2 additional to within 2-3 miles of my destination. For the last 4 places I needed to go it was time (and money) better spent simply walking the 3.5 miles to and from. If I had taken the bus it would have cost me $4 round trip and I would have walked the first mile and the last mile and a half each way.  

So the side hustle it is. Typical side hustles include Party Plan Companies, Direct Sales, Multi-Level Marketing, or selling online (stuff you make or stuff you own).

I have had many experiences with Party Plan Companies, Direct Sales and Multi-Level Marketing and I have NEVER made any money with those. The truth is there are people making good money with those. They are TYPICALLY individuals who have money to spend ($2-$3k in the first year) to BUILD that business the same way you would build a business of your own. My issue with those plans is that I don't have that kind of money to spend AND I don't have transportation to go hold parties. Now consultants will tell you, you can be successful without having a car. I listened to a woman who has never held a live party but has a team of 300 under her. She simply shares her love of the product with everyone she meets. They take a sample, fall in love and order (or sign as a consultant). The minimum monthly order is $25 to be "active" and she orders that for herself, family and friends. The truth is SHE IS AN ACCEPT ION, NOT THE RULE. The truth is there is money to be made in those companies for those willing to work hard enough to earn it. The individuals making good money might tell you they are only "working 2-3 nights a week", but what they mean by "working" is hosting parties. They aren't telling you about all the time they spend talking to people, making follow-up phone calls, mailing information.... working a real business close to full time (and for some full time plus). The BENEFIT is they choose the hours they want to work. 

Selling stuff I own online. Sorry I am not an online person and I won't sign a PayPal agreement so most online auctions are out for me. Also I don't own valuable stuff. I have been selling items through Facebook Auction pages, but alas it is a lot of work for NOT a lot of money. Most of my big ticket items are gone. Everything else I'll be lucky to get $.25-$1 for. These are the kinds of items meant for a garage sale. 

A Garage Sale has been a key part of my budget since I had kids. I used to make enough money selling the stuff they had outgrown or didn't use to pay for all the fun Summer Stuff we did and Back to School Clothes. But as kids become tweens and teens they don't outgrow as much, and stuff is pretty specific to their tastes. I still have a garage sale or two each summer, but the yields have gone under $200 per sale. Which if you consider the 2 8-10 hour days worked for that money it isn't much (and that doesn't include all the time before the sale sorting, cleaning and tagging), but I continued to do garage sales because it helped me clean out the clutter. 

The problem I face now is that I no longer have a driveway or an ideal spot for a garage sale. So I have to cart my stuff to my Mom's (which means I can't sell half the stuff I want to get rid of because the believes she gave it to me, or decides she wants to keep it - and then a couple of months down the road gives it back to me as a "family heirloom" forgetting that she got it from me in the first place).  I also don't have my own car so I have to get a ride and pack my stuff the day of the sale (limiting what I can take - and exhausting me before the day has begun). I have a friend who regularly holds a sale at her place (and used to join me for a sale at my place) but again I have to borrow a car and load it up to drag stuff out there. I do it, because it is an opportunity to go and hang out while maybe getting rid of some junk and making pizza money. 

Regardless I am going to join my mother when she has her garage sale and I'll just bring the stuff I know I can sell there. Then I'll join Susan for hers, and I'll even try to have one on my very limited little lawn out front. 

In the meantime I am going to try to list everything I can on the Facebook Auction Page between now and then. 

The last side hustle is to sell something you make, but I am just not that talented. I have often daydreamed that I could refinish furniture and sell it, but I have never even attempted to refinish something. I have daydreamed that I could sew doll clothes, but anyone who knows me knows I don't sew (at least not well). I once dreamed of starting a scrapbooking business where I made albums that people could just slap pictures into, but I don't have the space to dedicate to what is a dying industry - most people have gone digital.

So the truth is that my best venture is my business venture and I am better to spend my time, effort and money in growing that.