A side hustle is a way to earn extra income outside of your day job. I started my side hustle because I wanted to help women feel confident and empowered with technology so that they were able to use it to start online businesses. From there it has evolved to helping women start side hustles so that they can pursue their passions without having to quit their day jobs.

In working with side hustlers, I have found that most of us start them for one of three reasons: money, passion, or entrepreneurship.

Earn extra money

Some of us just want to make some extra cash. You can build up your travel or emergency fund by driving Uber or doing Instacart. You can also make what some people call “beer money” by doing surveys, focus groups or earning cashback from shopping through apps like Ibotta and Rakuten (formerly known as EBates).

Pursue a passion

Some people would love to be writers or coaches or artists but either feel like it won’t pay them enough or they have no idea how to get started. Side hustles allow you the flexibility to try that passion while keeping your day job and your main source of income intact. If you want to become a writer, you can start a blog.  To become a coach, you can offer to coach 5 folks for free. Experiment with a couple of ideas and get clearer on what you ultimately want to do.

Start a business in a low-risk way

Some folks are not a big fan of risk (myself included).  They want to be entrepreneurs but are afraid of quitting their job and going all-in on a business which unfortunately is sometimes the characteristic of startup culture. Starting your business as a side hustle allows you to experiment with products and services and then grow your business to a point where you have either saved up enough money or you are making a consistent enough income that you feel more comfortable taking the leap.

What’s your why for your side hustle?