BY IGA, ZINUNULA SAMUEL
A side hustle is any type of employment undertaken in addition to one’s full-time
job.” Yet, to hustle is to “push roughly, to jostle”. Also, informally, to hustle is “to
obtain illicitly or by forceful action”
In 2008, during the global recession, two friends, Lawrence and Moses, visited me at home. My family and I lived seven
kilometres from the city centre, on a small patch commonly known in Kampala as the fifty by a hundred. We talked about the recession, the
hardships. I said, “one of the things we have to do is produce something.
Each home, each person should produce something.” Lawrence noted, “but how?” “What can you produce here?” he asked, sweeping his long arms across our tiny compound. I took them round the corner of the house and showed them a lush patch of amaranthus. Wow! He exclaimed.
That patch of doodo assisted the family through the hard times much more than you can believe. Today, on a bigger compound, we produce
most of our vegetables. What is more important is that we actually enjoy tending the gardens, gifting friends and neighbours occasionally
and involving the youngsters. That is our side hustle. “A side hustle is any type of employment undertaken in addition to one’s fulltime job.” Yet, to hustle is to “push roughly, to jostle”. Also, informally, to hustle is “to obtain illicitly or by forceful action”. Google. A side hustle
can produce items for sale or direct consumption. It assists with that extra “income”. It could be started circumstantially, as in my family’s case, or it could be deliberate, well thought out, planned. It could remain small; it could get bigger. Either way, nurture it. A side hustle can be the perfect place to get our children to learn various things practically.
Tips on how to manage a side hustle Ask yourself if you really want a side hustle – it may be that you sincerely do not want to put in the extra effort because you are genuinely comfortable or you know you are too lazy. Side hustles need extra time and effort but if you really
want it, you definitely can do it and it can be quite rewarding. Remember, where the regular job requires your 8 to 5; the side hustle will call on you to adjust to 5 to 8. You will wake up at 5am and work up to 8pm. In the deciding process, you should think what is making you do it: is it something you are fond of and think you will enjoy? Is it out of pure need for extra income? Have you seen a clear opportunity and you want to grab it? Or, do you have extra time and nothing else to do?
Plan, project, persist – once you have decided to go for it, conduct some basic information gathering and analysis. Do some financial projections and see possible profitabilities and cashflows, painting different scenarios. One dictum to remember is; “Do it on paper first. If it works on paper, it will probably work on the ground; but if it does not work on paper, it will not work on the ground”.
Once you dive, remember this: persist. Do not jump from one hustle to another and hope to make it one day.
Start small – even think big, but start small. But start. Tomorrow won’t be better than today. Do not take out large loans or salary advances to launch your side hustle, else you get trapped into abandoning your main job to “save” the hustle in case the start becomes bumpy.
Have a partner – having a partner who has similar commitment and time schedules complementary to yours is a good way to see that the hustle
is effectively attended to. Remember, probably, the biggest challenge to enterprise development is the human resource.
Grow systems – very simple technologies and procedures help. Think about them and start with them. For example, Point Of Sales, Electronic payments instead of cash, regular stock taking and audits. Better to spend a little more at the start to safeguard the future. Systems help the trust grow between partners and within teams.
Enjoy it – a good hustle should be quite a bit fun, like playing a saxaphone to an audience in the evening. There is no point in starting a side hustle that will stress you just as much or more than your main job. Challenging, yes; stressing, no. Be strict, be organised – let things of the hustle be of the hustle. Don’t be using main job facilities such as computers, vehicles to conduct your hustle business. Don’t steal official time – adjust your time. Else you are hustling – obtaining things illicitly
