Cherry on the cake

With the rise of platform technologies and increased use of freelancers, contractors and 'gig' workers by companies, it has never been easier to start a side hustle to generates income on the side of a full-time job. Nearly 44 million US workers are currently running a variety of side hustles ranging from driving for ride-sharing companies, renting out their houses or selling handcrafts online.

One reason for the surge in side hustles is the ease of starting one. For example, to get paid for completing online surveys on Amazon's Mechanical Turk requires a two-minute application and a brief wait for approval. To become a Lyft driver, all you need is a valid driver's licence, decent car, non-egregious driving record and an online application. Even side hustles that are more specialised, such as freelance graphic design or web development, can launch within a day or two by creating a profile on Upwork or other platforms.

But managing a side hustle is not without complications. To understand the benefits and challenges of balancing a day-job while moonlighting, we conducted a series of studies with over 1,000 individuals who held variety of full-time jobs and side hustles. Participants worked on their side hustles for an average of 13 hours per week across 4 days, median annual side hustle income was about $5,000, and almost half of participants had more than one side hustle....


From 'Make Your Side Hustle Work', Harvard Business Review