The following post is by MPFJ staff writer, Melissa Batai. Melissa is a freelance writer who covers topics ranging from personal finance to business to organics to food. She blogs at Mom’s Plans where she shares her family’s journey to healthier living and paying down debt.
When I started working at my full-time teaching job out of grad school, the pay was pitifully small, especially for the cost of living in a big city (Chicago). From the minute I started the job, I looked for extra ways to make money. I taught extra classes, I took on additional work assignments that had monetary stipends to boost my pay, and I took more graduate classes to get a pay raise.
I wasn’t afraid to work hard, and I needed to. My husband was in graduate school himself and also working as a grad assistant.
But all of those extra jobs weren’t enough. I tried my hand at running an eBay business for a while (which was a disaster!), and then I started blogging. After my second child was born, I only worked as a teacher for another year before I quit after the birth of my third child.
Within a year of having a third child, I was working 30+ hours a week from home doing virtual assistant work and freelance writing.
I had a side gig for nearly 15 years.
Thanks to the Internet and the ability to work flex-time from home online, many, many bloggers talk about the benefits of a side hustle. After all, you have the ability to gain more and more work and ramp up your income. What’s not to love?
Well, I’m here to tell you that a side hustle as a permanent way of life is not always a good thing.
The Drawbacks of a Side Hustle
Though the money from a side hustle is nice, that’s definitely not the only consideration. Working too hard can have serious repercussions on your life.
Health. Working more than 40 hours or every day of the week can have serious repercussions on your health. “Over time, working long hours can increase your risk of depression, heart attack, and heart disease” (Business Insider).
Not only is the physical stress bad for you, but when you’re working so many hours, finding time to exercise and eat healthy foods is difficult.
Your amount and quality of sleep is also likely to suffer. A “study, published last year in the Journal of Sleep Research, found a link between long work hours and reduced quality of sleep. The health effects of too little sleep are well documented and include decreased memory, increased weight gain, irritability, and other mood problems, serious cardiovascular health problems, and possibly cancer, to name a few” (LinkedIn).
Depression. Since working too many hours can lead to stress, health issues, and weight gain, it’s no surprise that working too many hours can lead to depression. In fact, a “European study suggests that those who work long hours are twice as likely to experience a major depressive episode” (ABC News) as those who don’t. One worker, Shari McGuire, was frustrated working 70 to 80 hours a week because she had no time to spend with her toddler son. She ended up on not one but two depression medications. When she finally quit her job, she set new boundaries at her new job, and she was able to get off her depression medications. “The key, she said, is not managing time better but ‘changing your behavior. I now only work 40 hours a week and I’m happier,’ she said. ‘I can live my life again. . . .If your job doesn’t allow you to do that, you are in the wrong job’” (ABC News).
Relationships. To have a successful relationship with your family, you need to be able to spend time together and to talk. However, when you’re working all the time, this simply can’t happen. Without the nurturing relationships require, you may find yourself with little in common with your family, and, as a result, little to say to them.
What If You Need a Side Gig?
I get it, sometimes in life you just need a side gig. I certainly did when I was making such a low salary. Like me, you may need one because you simply need the extra money or maybe because you’re planning to quit your job and make your side gig your full-time job.
However, to make sure that you don’t burn out or let your side gig affect your health or your personal relationships, you need to set some boundaries.
Put a time limit on the side gig. When most people start a side gig, they’re doing something that they enjoy, so at first, the extra job isn’t a burden. Plus, the extra money is always nice. However, early on in your side gig, you should make an exit strategy. How long will you have your side gig? Set a concrete goal so you don’t end up like me, having a side gig for 15 years and facing health repercussions because I always worked too hard. Maybe set a goal of two years with the side gig, which should be enough to boost your income or transition your side gig into your full time job.
Change your lifestyle so you don’t need the money as much. If you have to work a side gig for the money, consider changing your lifestyle so you don’t need the money as much. I’ll be honest, a few years into my side gig, I was in a vicious circle. Because I was working so much, I was stressed and tired. Because I was so busy, I didn’t have time to grocery shop as I should have, so my husband and I started going out to eat more. Essentially, then, my side gig was helping to pay for a luxury we didn’t really need. I would have been better off working less on my side gig and taking better care of myself.
Be smart and responsible with the money you earn. Create a nice emergency fund so you won’t have to rely on the side gig as much. Try not to give in to lifestyle inflation because you’re exhausted. Cut your expenses where you can to make the extra income go further so you can reduce your hours and gain your life back.
Set office hours so you’re not working all the time. Set limits on your side gig. Let’s be honest, there’s always work to do. But a lot of the work can wait. If you’re working 40 hours at your full-time job, maybe cap your side gig hours to 10 to 15 hours a week. Don’t run yourself into the ground. Give yourself time to relax and enjoy time with family and friends. Set strict office hours for your side gig and abide by them.
Thanks to the Internet, more and more people can find side gigs online. While a side gig can be great, try to limit the hours that you work and be responsible with the extra money so that you don’t become a slave to your side gig. When you routinely work too much, you face a host of physical and mental health issues as well as the possible loss of family and friends.
How about you all? Do you have a side gig? If so, how long have you had it? Have you faced any serious physical or mental health issues because of your side gig?
Share your experiences by commenting below!
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