Hustle culture. Boss babe. Those are all “trendy” catchphrases that come to mind when I think about creating multiple streams of income, and all those social media “gurus” that post 24/7 about their e-courses to help you get there. As someone who’s held multiple jobs (and many at once), I decided I needed to share my story in hopes it can help you find a little bit of extra financial freedom in your own life.
Read on for my no frills, real life example of how I created multiple streams of income in my 20s and how that’s carried on now that I’m in my early 30s.
In my early 20s, I was doing what many young adults are doing – grinding through college. I was working my way through undergraduate studies in Biology at the University of Hawai’i, and jumped straight into a Master’s in Public Health Program at the University of California at Davis shortly after. I was working part time wherever I could to help pay the bills and reduce my student loan amounts (Whole Foods, Bath and Body Works, lab and research assistant jobs). Even with all of that, college and rent were so expensive. So, thanks to my mom, I learned how to flip and resell items from local thrift stores on platform such as eBay (which is still my main platform today!)
Once I finished college, I landed a government job in public health. I’ve been with my agency for 8 years now. At first, the pay was low (although stable, which I’m grateful for). So, I kept a few side hustles – working a second job on weekends and my eBay business. I also started pursuing other hobbies, such as fitness and travel. As I got towards my late 20s, I really started thinking about investing in myself. I enrolled myself in a Certified Personal Trainer course, and started working part time at Orangetheory in my spare time (I was already a member so the free membership was a no brainer). I focused on my main job and dug into climbing up the ladder, but also kept room for personal training and working at Orangetheory on weekends and super early in the mornings. I ended up shifting my eBay to the backburner (after trying to really expand into resale and it failing). I don’t invest a ton of time into selling on eBay and Poshmark anymore, although I still do it on a small scale.
Back to my other hobby I mentioned, travel. I know what your thinking. Listing travel as a hobby is SO cliche. Most recently (early 30s now) I decided to turn that hobby into a little side hustle as a Travel Advisor. I was working on building my social media presence, I had launched a YouTube channel as a hobby showing hotel rooms I was staying in (it helped work travel was picking up), and I just enjoyed taking photos and videos of new destinations. I really enjoyed the process. So, I decided my next skill for my 30s was going to be investing my free time in learning about the Travel Advisor space with a company called Fora (I’m happy to do a review about them in a future blog or YouTube review!)
Now that I’m about to be 32 (literally this month) and as a mom of one, what streams of income do I still have?
- My main, 9-5 job in public health. (which I am grateful is mostly remote)
- Coach & personal trainer. (I do this mainly 2 days a week)
- eBay, Poshmark, Whatnot. This is mostly passive, once I post items they’re on the site until they sell. (some resale of items I find and to help declutter my closet, nothing on a big scale anymore)
- Travel Advisor & Lifestyle Blog/Vlog. I’ll admit, I haven’t made much at all from this yet – but this is my (hopefully) up and coming next big thing in my 30s, so I’d mark this one as my “new” skill I’m investing in.
So, if you take away anything from my story – I want you to reflect on these key questions and tips:
- What is my “9-5” that I rely on to pay all (or most) of my bills? No matter what, that needs to be the priority.
- What are my hobbies? Can I monetize any of those? Monetizing a hobby will help you have the passion to keep a side hustle going.
- Is there a new skill I really want to learn, that I can monetize in the future? A broad variety of skills will serve you well for years.
- What do I envision my future looking like? Think about how much money you really need to be “happy” (studies show it’s probably not as much as your thinking).
- How much time do I have in my schedule to devote to the process? As a new mom, my week looks a lot different now – and I had to rearrange my schedule and how I manage my income streams.
- My last tip… it’s okay to fail. I failed spectacularly with an online Shopify store and liquidation resale business. I learned A LOT from that process, that has taught me some valuable life lessons.
Do you have a side hustle or an idea for one? Let me know in the comments!
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