I used to just wait around for gigs to come back, now I build up a side project every slow month

Used to spend every dry spell panicking and refreshing my inbox, but last July in Portland I finally started teaching a weekend cooking basics class at a community center and it brought in $600 when my regular work had totally vanished. Does the hustle of finding new income streams beat the old way of just hunkering down, or is that extra stress not worth it?

2 comments

2 Comments

aliceharris1d ago

Is the extra stress worth it when the side project has a built-in time limit? Cooking classes every July gave me a clear cutoff so I never felt trapped in the hustle. A four-week gig with an end date feels way lighter than chasing endless freelance leads.

morganl711d ago

4 years ago I did a 6 week pop-up brunch thing on weekends only and honestly it was the best side gig I ever had. The end date was right there on the calendar from day one so I never felt that dread of "when does this stop." I knew exactly when I could go back to sleeping in on Saturdays. Plus having a hard stop made me actually enjoy the rush more because I knew it was temporary. Your mileage may vary but for me that built in finish line was a game changer.