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Side hustles are increasingly becoming a staple of the modern workforce. As of 2024, a notable 36% of American adults engage in side hustles, collectively earning an average of $891 each month. This figure represents a 10% increase from the previous year, demonstrating a significant trend in the pursuit of supplementary income.
However, side hustles offer more than just financial benefits; they serve as stepping stones toward a more independent work environment and a burgeoning freelance ecosystem. Recent findings from MBO Partners indicate that the number of full-time independent workers in the U.S. has reached 27.7 million, doubling since 2020. This growth persists even amid economic fluctuations, layoffs, and changes in remote work policies.
For those aspiring for greater flexibility in their careers, this shift suggests that many will eventually find themselves engaging in freelance work, side hustles, or adopting a fully independent career model.
As someone with experience in various professional settings, from corporate roles to startups and freelancing, I can attest to the adaptability that this new work landscape offers. Individuals have the opportunity to ascend the corporate hierarchy by utilizing freelance concepts to enhance their impact or to cultivate a business from the ground up while engaging with freelance talent. Additionally, it is possible to manage a small portfolio of clients, joining the ranks of the 4.4 million U.S. freelancers earning over $100,000 annually while maintaining an independent business.
This discussion may seem abstract initially, but this article aims to clarify why embracing a side hustle is essential, how to navigate a transition from side gigs to independent careers, and the convergence of various work modalities—freelancing, full-time positions, and everything in between—into a single notion of work.
Side Gigs Signal a New Future of Work
The way we approach careers has remained relatively unchanged over the past 75 years, even though the skills and industries we prioritize have evolved. Traditionally, individuals were expected to create paper resumes to attract employers and endure multiple rounds of interviews, typically securing a single job with an employer for several years to avoid being labeled a “flight risk.”
Today, this model is shifting. According to a survey from Paychex, 47% of Gen Z, 33% of millennials, and 28% of baby boomers currently juggle three or more jobs. Further, 93% of those from Gen Z are leveraging multiple streams of income. While the rapid move toward holding several jobs may seem daunting, those pursuing multiple positions are often happier, healthier, and financially better off than those bound to traditional full-time employment.
This transition reflects a broader change in loyalty and merit, underscoring a shift from allegiance to specific employers toward a focus on individual skills, technologies, and industries. Michael Morris, CEO of Torc, has pointed out that today’s software developers are more inclined to pledge loyalty to the tools they use—like AWS or Salesforce—rather than the companies they work for. This trend extends beyond tech; as Ryan Bettencourt, CEO of Growth Collective, observed, marketing freelancers often specialize based on industries or specific channels, which further indicates how this shift is manifesting across various sectors.
The key question is: What is your unique niche, skill set, or industry focus?
Side Gigs as the Gateway to a Digital Career
Unlike traditional job structures, the future of work is rapidly evolving, offering diverse ways for individuals to earn a living. Freelancing may prove to be one of the most straightforward avenues for individuals and organizations to collaborate effectively. I define freelancing as providing external consulting or professional services, where engagements vary with client needs and typically involve managing a limited number of clients at one time.
Freelance platforms have emerged prominently in this landscape, facilitating job searches and bolstering client relationships, allowing workers to quantify their impact via ratings and reviews. I view freelance talent platforms as multifunctional resources: a launchpad for starting your career, an outsourced sales team to help find clients, and a safety net for managing invoicing and client-related issues. These platforms usually charge a fee ranging from 5% to 35%, which often proves more economical than building an independent sales and operations team. For larger organizations, these platforms can also provide insurance and indemnification coverage unavailable to individual freelancers.
Freelance platforms are likely to persist and increasingly specialize, fostering unique talent pools. According to MBO Partners, 40% of freelancers utilized online talent platforms to find work in 2023, with 47% planning to do so in the future. The freelance platform market is projected to surge, with Grand View Research estimating it to grow to $4.39 billion with a CAGR of 16.5% from 2023 to 2030.
The future of these platforms remains uncertain. Will they continue to be solely a place for job searching? Will they evolve into business-building platforms or communities? Their potential benefits for freelancers are numerous, emphasizing that talent platforms are here to stay, with increasingly tailored offerings for individual unique value.
Side Gigs Can Replicate the Executive Path
What if you aspire to an executive career rather than consulting or content creation? If your goal is to manage teams and develop strategies, is there a digital career pathway that leads to the C-suite? Five years ago, pursuing such a trajectory through freelancing would have seemed challenging. However, the rise of the “fractional” work model has become one of the most dynamic aspects of the freelance marketplace today. Individuals in fractional roles span various functions, including part-time chief marketing officers and operations executives, engaging in tasks ranging from strategic planning to team leadership.
The Only Consistency is Your Digital Presence
As we look to the future, embracing a digital career—whether through freelancing, launching a solo business, or balancing full-time work with side gigs—provides numerous opportunities to design your professional journey. A quick search on topics like the gig economy and creator economy yields extensive self-help resources; however, this article aims to frame your side hustle within the broader context of evolving work trends and enable you to explore what suits you best.
Ultimately, the common thread across all potential career paths is that your value is increasingly quantified and digitized, offering opportunities for growth. Think of platforms like LinkedIn as a foundational representation of this reality. For developers, it may mean utilizing GitHub repositories, while designers might favor Behance portfolios. Regardless; the work and impact you curate can multiply across various platforms to form your digital identity. The vision for that identity is entirely in your hands.
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