Things Are About To Blow Up
The dream of the pandemic side hustle might be a big lie
Holly Case wrote an excellent Medium article lamenting the romanticized notion of the side hustle:
I’ve noticed something lately in the freelance writing groups and self-employment groups I follow: this belief that the only thing that separates us from earning a million dollars or more is how hard we’re willing to hustle for it.
I say that’s bullshit.
Right on.
In a perverse twist, at the same time as we eschew traditional views on work as it relates to a good, productive life, we hang onto this decidedly conservative ideal that how hard you work dictates success in the world.
It’s as if side hustles are so readily available and seemingly prolific, you have nobody to blame but yourself if you can’t turn your passion or some form of freelance work into reliable income that leads to financial comfort, security, and even financial freedom or flexibility.
Holly drops a dose of reality on us:
The rest of us are couching the need to have multiple jobs in entrepreneurial language and blaming the fact that we still can’t get by on a personal lack of “hustle.” The truth is that for most of us, it’s not ever going to happen…
You too can become a millionaire from your “side hustle” if only you hustle hard enough!…
In truth, this is exactly the same thing we were always told about how to become rich: everyone can succeed if they work hard enough. But this is not true now and I’m not sure it ever was.
You’re right. It wasn’t.
You gotta laugh at the prevailing acceptance of the “side hustle” as a 21st Century invention.
If you watched your Dad — as I did — work a second job, you know it’s the Silent Generation who invented side hustles. In fact, they’ve probably been around since the beginning of time.
You go out and hunt and fish for enough food to feed your family or whatever, then you sell the rest to the people in your village. That’s a side hustle.
You work a full-time, working class job the way my Dad did, then you spend evenings and…
