Side hustles have become increasingly popular as a way for you to pursue your passions, diversify income, and achieve financial goals.
In this podcast I’m exploring the benefits of having an online business side hustle and how it can enhance various aspects of your life.
Let’s connect on Instagram! I’m @melyssamunday and @mamasmakingmore.
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As a mom, starting your own online business, such as a virtual assisting business or even becoming an entrepreneur, doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing decision. You can start and grow your online business as a side hustle, allowing for flexibility and the ability to pursue your passions, interests, and skills while generating extra income.
Recently, side hustles have been on the rise, with up to 45% (!) of Americans having some sort of side hustle. I personally think this is because of things like the pandemic and economic uncertainty, leading people to look for additional streams of income and take control of their financial futures.
Want to learn more about starting your VA Business? Grab my Quickstart Guide to Build Your VA Business now!
For stay-at-home moms (SAHM), starting an online business as a side hustle can help make ends meet, provide extra spending money for fun activities or savings for big-ticket items like a car or a home. It can also be a way to reduce debt, bump up savings for emergencies, retirement, or college funds for kids, and diversify income streams to reduce dependence on a single job.
Starting your VA business as a side hustle also allows for a trial period to test the waters before going all in. It can offer benefits such as earning more income, reducing debt, diversifying income, and gaining valuable skills and experience. And, despite being a side hustle, your online business can still be considered a legitimate business and may be eligible for tax deductions, resulting in lower taxable income and liabilities (yay!).
Starting an online business as a side hustle is a flexible and viable option to consider if you want to pursue your entrepreneurial dreams while managing other responsibilities. Are you dreaming of starting your own side hustle??? Send me a DM, I want to know what online business you are dreaming of starting. You can also get on the waitlist for the VA Business Builder Program (and get a special VIP rate) when it launches.
Are we Insta friends?! I LOVE connecting there, voice DMs are super fun! I’m @melyssamunday and @mamasmakingmore.
Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Melyssa: Hi friend, hello. How the heck are you doing today? I am super excited that you’re joining me for another episode of the Mamas Making More podcast and I’m just gonna like jump on in. For today’s episode, I wanted to share with you that having your own online business, having your virtual assisting business, heck even just being like an entrepreneur in general, it is not an all or nothing type of situation.
[00:00:26] Melyssa: In today’s episode, I really thought it was important to address this because I haven’t specifically touched on this in previous episodes. But what we’re going to be talking about can be a huge factor in your decision making process when it comes to deciding to jump on and start your own online business.
[00:00:43] Melyssa: So, what I wanted to talk about is that your online business can be started as a side hustle, your online in business can grow as a side hustle and it can remain a side hustle forever and ever, and ever. This is something that really only, you are going to know what’s [00:01:00] best for you.
[00:01:00] Melyssa: And just to clear up first, before we get too far into the episode, I was a little hesitant about the phrase side hustle. I’ve always had like a little twinge when using it, because it’s often linked to the MLM industry and that’s not what I’m referring to, this discussion. Isn’t about the MLM industry at all. And also there’s other things that are considered side hustles. Such as like, if you’re driving for Uber, if you’re a grocery food delivery person, if you are selling homemade products, all of those are also considered quote unquote side hustles.
[00:01:34] Melyssa: But that’s really not the focus of this episode or even what I teach. So you’re probably not even here for that reason.
[00:01:40] Melyssa: Having an online business as a side hustle, it allows for flexibility and the ability to pursue your passions, what you’re interested about, and to really gain a lot of extra skills while you’re getting some extra income, because you need that extra income because you don’t want to run your business for free.
[00:01:59] Melyssa: [00:02:00] Okay, just to take a quick step back and to like, look at the side hustle landscape that’s out there. It’s really been growing rapidly in the past few years. It’s actually estimated that up to 45% of Americans have some sort of side hustle. Now that not only includes what I’m talking about, the online businesses, but also the other, possible side hustles that I mentioned a couple of minutes ago. And I think there’s two main factors for this pretty big increase. One is the pandemic. It was such an unknown for us and people lost their jobs. They may have lost hours and they really just had the need to supplement their income and they had to do it in creative ways.
[00:02:41] Melyssa: So that’s one factor. The second is just in general, economic uncertainty. This can really result to the rise of people wanting multiple streams of income and just being a bit more in control of their financial futures.
[00:02:56] Melyssa: In addition to people who are currently employed and [00:03:00] have a side hustle. For stay at home moms, it can also be for a variety of reasons and a variety of factors that you may want a side hustle. Maybe you live in an area where childcare basically negates whatever it is that you’d be making in a traditional W2 job. But living off of just one salary is rough sometimes.
[00:03:18] Melyssa: And starting an online business as a side hustle, it can be really, exactly what you need to make ends meet. Or maybe you’re a one income family and you have like, just enough to get by, but you want some fun toys. You want some like things that you can take out in the desert or up to the mountains or out on the lake, or maybe you have some big vacations that you want to save up for. So starting this online business can provide that extra fun time money. It can also be, if you’re a stay-at-home mom and you have, perhaps you just have that one income, maybe you want to save up for a big purchase, like a car or a home.
[00:03:53] Melyssa: Side hustles can be perfect if you have a traditional type of job and need just that extra bit of income, or [00:04:00] if you’re a stay-at-home parent and want that extra contribution, a bit more to that single income in your family. The other benefit of starting a side hustle is that you can kind of dip your toe into the industry before fully committing kind of having a little bit of a trial period. It’s a little bit of a less scary way to become an entrepreneur, to start your small online business.
[00:04:24] Melyssa: It’s completely valid to start your online business, to become a VA and just do it as a trial period. You can set a trial period. That’s a certain timeframe, or you can set a certain monetary goal of reaching before deciding if you want to go all in on your business and make it your only source of income.
[00:04:44] Melyssa: So in case you’re wondering why side hustles could be a benefit in these situations. I want to cover some of the common benefits that you can have from having this online side hustle. Obviously the number one answer is that it can be a way [00:05:00] to earn some more income without having to take on additional W2 jobs. It can be a way to pay off your bills, cover unexpected expenses, or just a general financial boost.
[00:05:11] Melyssa: A second benefit is that it can reduce or eliminate debt that you already have. And look, there is no shame in having student loans or having a credit card balance, medical bills, whatever your circumstances are. Having this income from a side hustle can help address that and help you pay down that debt much sooner than you’d be able to with just having your corporate or just your traditional W2 type of job.
[00:05:36] Melyssa: The side hustle, it can be a way to bump up your savings for your kids college funds, emergency funds, retirement. Maybe you want to retire early, or maybe you just want to be prepared for like anything unexpected that comes up.
[00:05:50] Melyssa: I also touched on this earlier that having an online business as a side hustle can be a way to diversify your income so that you aren’t solely dependent [00:06:00] on a single source. This can really be a safety net in case the economy dips, if there’s some downturn or you just straight up lose your job.
[00:06:09] Melyssa: So here’s a real life example for you. My husband has worked at the same company for 27 years. That is two seven 27 years of his life. He was told just this week that within a couple months, he will either need to take a severance package and find a brand new job, or he can stay on with the current company. But all of the full-time employees will only be able to have at max a part-time schedule.
[00:06:38] Melyssa: That was quite a bit of unexpected news. And if he did have a side hustle, he doesn’t. but if he did have a side hustle, that could maybe have made this blow like a little bit less. It could have like cushion that blow a little bit more for us. But anyways, so that is. Um, My real life example of how, if he had had a [00:07:00] side hustle that could have been a benefit for us.
[00:07:02] Melyssa: Your side hustle, it can be structured in many ways. But just because it isn’t your full-time quote-unquote “job” for lack of a better word. It doesn’t mean that it can’t be a legitimate business and therefore have all of the tax benefits of being a business. Please first talk to your accountant or your legal professional, but if you’re a sole proprietor, an LLC, a corporation, you likely can be eligible for some tax deductions for business related expenses for your office supplies, equipment, and even a portion of your home expenses if you’re working out of your home.
[00:07:37] Melyssa: So this can result in a lower taxable income and liabilities. Again, get a clear answer from your accountant or CPA about your exact circumstance, but this is definitely something that can be a pretty big benefit.
[00:07:51] Melyssa: Now finally, having a side hustle, it can give you this opportunity to develop new skills. You can [00:08:00] gain some experience that you maybe weren’t gaining at your current job. It can expand your network. And it can, if you’re interested, maybe make you a little bit more employable because you have some extra skills.
[00:08:13] Melyssa: Now, if you do want to in fact, keep this business as a side hustle and keep your current nine to five corporate type of job. The skills and experience that you gain from having a successful side hustle. They can be transferable and really valuable in that main job. Or maybe if there’s another career path that you want to look into.
[00:08:34] Melyssa: Remember a side hustle can be a temporary or long-term. It can easily slide into full-time entrepreneurship at some point, you may find that the, you start an online business as a side hustle, and eventually it allows you to leave your corporate job altogether.
[00:08:51] Melyssa: And don’t get me wrong. Going all in on your online business doesn’t mean trading corporate hours for online business hours. It’s not a one-to-one [00:09:00] trade. I know many moms who have online businesses who are making as much or more than they did when they were working in the corporate world and they’re working less hours.
[00:09:10] Melyssa: In next week’s episode, I’m actually going to be continuing this side hustle theme. And I’m going to be sharing how to build your side hustle around your job or your momming time. I’m making momming time, like a real legitimate thing.
[00:09:24] Melyssa: If you’re excited about this idea of starting your online business as a side hustle. I would love, love, love for you to send me a voice DM on Instagram. I’m at melyssamunday or at mamasmakingmore. It’s my absolute favorite way to meet and learn more about you guys. That’s all I have for today’s episode. I can’t wait to share more about starting your side hustle in next week’s episode. So I will see you then.