Side Hustle Nightmares: 12 Things No One Tells You about Extra Income

By Krystal Brown

In the world of side hustles, the allure of extra income is often seen as a blessing, but beneath the surface lies a multitude of unspoken challenges. An experienced gig economist, making thousands of dollars passively, aims to shed light on the hidden nightmares that accompany side hustle jobs. Their insights are crucial for individuals seeking to embark on this adventure, providing a glimpse into the undisclosed rigors and complexities that await.

Reduced Downtime

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Side hustle will rob you of the time you should spend with your family and friends. Most have dedicated their weekday to full-time work while the weekends have been slated for other side hustle jobs. This has eliminated any ounce of respite you can think of. Some people have cooked up what they call low-stress side hustle and have weaponized to cover up the reduced downtime. I’ll be frank with you, there’s nothing like such. Most of your time will be spent on the marketing part and development of the side hustle. It’s a win-win, but to the detriment of your time.

Increased Stress and Burnout

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Stress and burnout are the price you pay for every dollar you make from your side hustle. Even those regarded as no experience side hustle require your grit to compensate for your lack of ingenuity. Balancing your full-time job with any side hustle will undoubtedly increase stress and burnout. In addition to taking time away from your family and friends, meeting deadlines, work submission, marketing, and client acquisition are tasking endeavors that take their toll on your mental state.

Becoming Distracted at Work

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No one would tell you how distractive a side hustle might be on your regular job. This often has dire consequences on your day-to-day job if care is not taken. A side hustle is a juicy avenue to make extra income online. These are passion projects that ought not to take much of your time. But the side hustle stack we have nowadays requires a large chunk of your time and dedication, for example, as a data entry specialist, that is needed to upload thousands of data to the company database. Embarking on this side hustle would pose a severe risk to your main business. Therefore, I’ll advise you to create a schedule for your day-by-day routine. 

Difficult to Determine Your Self-Worth

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A side hustle is a one-person business. If care is not taken, you’ll sell yourself short. Not everyone knows how to handle price negotiation. This is a large chunk that side hustle entails. You must place yourself on a pedestal and research extensively to increase your proficiency. In addition, you must pass a jury on yourself and run a timely appraisal of your proficiency. Lastly, you are your chief accountant, who is responsible for collecting money and how you manage it. In hindsight, you must know how to set standards, blow your trumpets, and never sell yourself short.

Market Trends and Saturation

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Market saturation is common with side hustle. Almost everyone in this line of business has witnessed this phenomenon one way or the other. How you attract customers or gain traction in this type of scenario depends on how you skill up and always be on the learning path. For instance, those in less lucrative side hustles like dog walking, dropshipping, affiliate marketers, etc., are having their demand reduced in addition to a large influx of people entering the business. Always stay ahead of the curve with timely refinement of your skill in line with the market demand.

Health Consequences

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Extra income is sweet but comes with a dire consequence that affects your health. Practically, your full-time job requires utmost dedication and commitment. This is the same with your side hustle that needs spreading yourself to the last bit, ranging from long hours, order fulfillment, dealing with clients, heavy workload, etc. This type of investment often leads to compounding work-related stress, resulting in issues like depression and anxiety.

Strain on Your Personal Relationship

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All of us fell short while scaling through the hurdle of balancing side hustle with personal relationships. It’s practically impossible to do in my years of experience. Strained connection with loved ones is one of the most common issues with side hustle no one talks about. Your commitment will start to wane, and your time will also take a hit. It’s challenging to keep in touch with your loved ones when you have dollars in your earning report ready for the taking. 

Isolation

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Side hustle is all about working independently. In some cases, you might outsource some of the workload to others, yet this doesn’t stop you from doing a large chunk of the work. There is a feeling of loneliness and isolation enshrined in earning extra income online and offline. The reason is that Side hustle lacks any form of workplace interaction compared to those you enjoy in a conventional workplace. Therefore, you must concisely keep in touch with family, friends, and people in your line of side hustle.

Legal and Tax Complexities

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This can be excused for people in the gig economy who only have to register, run the KYC (Know Your Customer) process, and get started. This is not the case with people in one or other form of side hustles that require business registrations, compliance with local authorities, sales tax, and keeping in touch with intellectual property rights. These are complexities that some side hustle requires you to navigate before you can set yourself up. It’s a lonely and tasking adventure that requires firm commitment and dedication to guide every step of these requirements. 

Over-Identification

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Nowadays, side hustles have so much creep into most people’s day-by-day jobs. This is most common among those into a side hustle that pays well. Numerous occurrences of side hustle ideas have been identified with people as their primary source of income. In the long run, someone who takes online coaching as a side hustle can be easily identified as a coach. This is quite challenging for people to disconnect from such.  

Learning Curve

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Generally, less is spoken about the learning required to succeed in your chosen side hustle job. Earning extra income is surreal and easy to propagate, but the amount of courses and training required to attain the level needed to become certified in such fields can be painstaking. I’ve seen people take two to three years before understanding the basis of freelancing. This is a tasking process because they have to combine this learning curve with their 9 to 5 job. 

Changing Regulation

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With one change in algorithm or human behavior, you might be out of business for as long as you can not even imagine. That’s what his fickle side hustle is. A sustainable side hustle is a mirage because human nature changes over time, and freelancing website and the industry doesn’t stay in one direction. This is a dangerous precedent that you have to always take into consideration. That’s why you have to stay ahead of Circe and be ready to adapt to ever-changing regulations as they come. 

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