Always have a side-hustle.
Fortune Magazine
A side-hustle can be thought of as a decision to hedge work risks. If your main gig doesn’t pay enough; you don’t like your main gig; you’re bored; or you may be displaced by automation, what do you do? Get a side-hustle or gig-work to hedge your risks. Your side-hustle is actualizing the Brand You to do desirable work based on your risk appetite, prosperity mantra, and work gospel.
The on-demand economy is creating disruption through wealth inequality, which leads to work and income disparities. The on-demand economy allows you to be your own boss, choose work you want to do, choose your own hours, and projects to work on based on an agreed rate.
The side-hustle happens in almost any type of work. The gig economy is happening not only with low-end services such as cleaning houses and mowing lawns, but includes by lawyers, engineers and coders.
For example, the gig economy is disrupting computer coding. Software projects in the past required legions of coders and a team of project managers. Smart entrepreneurs discovered that by chunking code into smaller pieces, they could get freelance developers throughout the world to bid on bite-sized chunks of code. This reduced costs and saved time for clients. We’re seeing communities of freelance professionals and consultants offering services at a fraction of the cost of big name consultancies and law firms.
Is the side-hustle working for everyone? Too early to tell. However, one result of the side-hustle disruption may be the specialization of work. Professionals may focus on doing one task very well and will be paid accordingly.
Work Lesson Earned: Our mantra for readers: Think different. Do different. Live different. Work different. In many ways, this is the mantra of Silicon Valley startups.