Episode 112 - When Did Everything Become a Side Hustle?
When did everything we enjoy doing suddenly need to become a way to make money? In this episode of The Books By Josh Audio Immersion, I talk about how we've reached a point where almost every hobby comes with someone telling us how to turn it into a business. If you enjoy playing video games, you should become a streamer. If you like writing, you should publish books. If you're interested in technology, you should start a YouTube channel or build an app. Somewhere along the way, simply enjoying something stopped being enough. I get into how social media, hustle culture, and the rising cost of living have contributed to this mentality, especially when so many people feel like their regular income isn't enough anymore. There's nothing wrong with wanting to make extra money, but I think we've gotten to a point where people feel like they're wasting their time if they're not trying to monetize it.
I use my own experiences because I've tried plenty of these things myself. I've streamed video games, made YouTube videos, started businesses, invested in stocks, and published books. Some things worked, others didn't, and a few I simply stopped doing because I wasn't passionate about them. Writing, blogging, and podcasting are different because they're things I genuinely enjoy and would continue doing even without the money. I also talk about the reality of passive income, something that gets promoted constantly online as though money just appears in your account while you sleep. My books still require attention, my investments required years of putting actual money into the market, and even something like owning rental properties comes with expenses and responsibilities. We hear about the money people make, but rarely about everything they had to put into making it happen.
I also get into how social media sells people a lifestyle without showing them what goes on behind the scenes. We see successful streamers making millions, influencers posing with luxury cars and private jets, and people selling courses promising that anyone can generate thousands of dollars a month. What we don't see are the failures, operating expenses, taxes, and years of work that come with running an actual business. I've worked with small-business owners and seen firsthand how much effort goes into something as simple as responding to customers and building a client base. Now, with AI, we're seeing another wave of people promising easy money through automatically generated books, apps, digital products, and businesses that supposedly require almost no effort. I use AI myself, including for projects I'm building, but there's a difference between using technology to create something you care about and flooding the market with products you barely understand because someone online told you they would sell.
Ultimately, I'm not against side hustles, entrepreneurship, or wanting to improve your financial situation. I have multiple sources of income myself, so that would be pretty hypocritical. What bothers me is the idea that everyone needs to constantly chase the next opportunity, especially when that opportunity comes from someone selling a dream rather than showing the work required to achieve it. Being busy doesn't automatically mean you're successful, and spending every free hour trying to make money doesn't necessarily bring you closer to financial freedom. If you have something you're passionate about and want to build a business around it, that's great, but understand what you're getting into and be willing to put in the work. If you're only doing something because someone promised you easy money, you might want to reconsider why you're doing it in the first place. Not everything needs to become a business, and sometimes it's perfectly fine to have a hobby that stays a hobby.