In the midst of the worst of my financial crisis I had no other choice but to try to make more money. At one point I set up a website design business taught myself how to code and tried to build clients. I had designed a few websites back in Utah and thought that I could maybe use that for extra income. However it takes time to build clients.

I was lucky that I worked for the newspaper in Utah and helped design their site, which led me to additional options for webdesign. Unfortunately in South Carolina I had not yet made enough connections to gain customers and that was as time consuming as designing the sites.

I did volunteer to build the website for my homeowner’s association, but that did not account for any income. So faced with the mounting pile of debt and all the bills I had to keep up with the only course of action was to take on additional work. At the time, side hustles were not a thing, so I did what I could and took a retail job.

A Side Job

I worked in the electronics department of Staples and as essentially an IT consultant to an engineering firm in my full time position, taking a retail job was a difficult decision. It is as the saying goes, I did the best that I could with what I had.

My day would start at 8 am at my full-time job and I would work until 5 and then ride my motorcycle to Staples and work from 5:30 until 9:30 every single night and all day Saturday and Sunday. Needless to say I was always exhausted.

After taxes I would make about $200 a week, which helped me keep my bills up to date and my family from being homeless. I also built up some additional web design clients at the time and some amazing friends.

Everyone Should Work Retail

I also came to appreciate the people working retail. I often think that I could do it again just to add some extra money to my savings and travel more but some days I would get home and my feet would hurt so badly that I could barely walk.

We all approach these situations differently. I knew that I wanted to provide for my family and do the best that I could and therefore I put in the extra effort and worked as much as I could. One of the best outcomes was that I built a relationship that eventually would help me land my current job.

Whether a side hustle or a second job, I encourage you to seriously consider it, especially if you are facing financial ruin. It takes time and effort but the payoff will be worth it in the end. I have friends that continue to work retail mainly fro the discounts on equipment or the extra spending cash. It is not always a bad thing and can be a nice way to earn some extra income.

What Type of Side Hustle

The question over whether to do the second job or start in the gig economy depends on several factors. During the pandemic you need to weigh the choices and decide what could be a good option.

There are many second jobs that will help during these times, you could always work for Door Dash or Uber Eats. The grocery stores are looking for people and you could work restocking shelves. Typically those jobs are evening or overnight. There is also picking up some freelance work, although that does take time to develop.

In a follow-up post to this I will describe some of the options to the side hustle that you can do right now, even during the pandemic.