My Side Hustles...

I think that everyone that I know that has paid down debt quickly has done so with a side hustle; my side hustle is m.y.s.t.e.r.y s.h.o.p.p.i.n.g. M.y.s.t.e.r.y s.h.o.p.p.i.n.g has allowed me to, every now an then, make significant payments towards my credit card bills, as well as the minimum payments on my student loans, which will be deferred when I return to full time status in the fall.

For anyone who has thought about or is thinking about m.y.s.t.e.r.y s.h.o.p.p.i.n.g, or developing any other side hustle, I will tell you this about my experience:

1) Set up cost should almost be zero. Unless your side hustle is your own business, in which it would make sense to invest, you should not be investing large sums of money in your side hustle. I paid zero out of pocket dollars to begin m.y.s.t.e.r.y s.h.o.p.p.i.n.g and any company that makes your pay to work for them is a SCAM.

2) Figure out what your time is worth. For example, it makes no sense for me to do a shop which would require that I use time that I could otherwise be working at one of my other jobs; the other jobs pay better. Another example, it would make zero sense for me to complete a shop that would require that I drive more than ten miles from my home; the cost of gas prices would offset an profit that I hope to make.

3) You should probably not be turning to your side hustle in desperation; it should be an alternative way to make money. Turing to a side hustle in desperation could very well be a set up to make very poor choices about what you are willing to do and because unless your side hustle is illegal (which I am not knockin'), the turnaround time on payments is usually the same time that it takes for any other job. That is unless your side hustle is on a cash only basis, to which I say, hooray for you.

There are some great articles on the Internet about side hustles including these from Essence magazine.

So what's your side hustle?