Side Hustle Stack: The Art of Working More Than One Side Hustle At Once

In this day and age of ever-increasing costs, having just one income may no longer be enough for you to live the life you truly want.

As a result, you may be looking into building a side hustle stack! To put it simply, a side hustle stack is a combination of different side hustles that increase your overall income.

In this article, I’m going to be doing a deep dive into the side hustle stack. We’ll cover:

• The benefits of building a side hustle stack
• How to build a lucrative side hustle stack
• The unique challenges you may encounter.

Let’s get into it!

The Benefits of a Side Hustle Stack

There are multiple benefits to a side hustle stack, including:

1. Financial independence and extra income

According to the American Psychological Association’s recent survey, 83% of adults have cited inflation as a major source of stress.

We’re living in frightening times, and I would be lying if I said the cost of living hasn’t impacted me as well!

Starting side hustles and growing them into a side hustle stack is one way to start gaining autonomy over your financial life.

Extra income could tip you over the edge into the famed financial independence territory!

Financial independence can be defined as having enough money to live off without requiring an income from a job (in other words, living off savings and investments).

The extra money that side hustles can bring in can be a total game changer for reducing stress and giving you more opportunities.

2. Skill development and portfolio expansion

Your skills are indispensable to increasing your income, both with your primary job and your side hustle.

The skills that you develop in setting up and running a side hustle can also become beneficial to you in all aspects of your life!

With access to endless online education platforms such as Khan Academy or Udemy, there are so many ways for someone to start building their skills.

3. Flexibility and work-life balance

A big attraction of side hustles is that you are usually your own boss.

You’re able to dictate your hours, as well as how much (or how little) you want to do. This allows you more freedom over your work-life balance!

Successful side hustlers such as Alexandra Fasulo have even side-hustled their way into financial freedom and flexibility in job opportunities – the ultimate goal!

4. Entrepreneurial experience

Entrepreneurial experience not only grants invaluable life skills, but it looks fantastic on your resume if you ever want to go back to a conventional 9 to 5.

Running your own side hustle is going to force you to learn on the fly about the struggles and challenges of entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurial experience helps you develop skills such as goal-setting, risk-taking, and decision-making (especially in high-stress environments).

It shows leadership and innovation – qualities that are very attractive to potential employers and skills that will greatly benefit an individual in the long run.

How to Build a Side Hustle Stack

​​1. Identify Skills & Interests

Your first step in building a side hustle stack is taking note of your interests and skills and what you enjoy.

This could be writing, teaching, graphic design, or even dog walking!

Think creatively about how you feel your skills could fill a niche for other people.

How about offering a service where you write a special poem for someone for their birthday, or painting someone’s pet in watercolor? There really is an excess of options and opportunities there!

​​2. Research Platforms

Now you’ve got your idea, it’s time to start thinking about how to get it out there!

Upwork, for example, is a popular app used by freelancers. On Upwork, you’ll find writers, translators, developers, designers, marketers – and pretty much every other professional service you can think of!

However, the platform you use will depend on what you are offering and who you are marketing to. For example, if you are offering dog walking services, it’s probably best to join a local Facebook group or community page.

Think about your potential customers and where they might be looking for someone like you!

3. Choose Relevant Tools

There is an abundance of apps, software, and technological tools out there to help you with running your side hustle.

For instance, a popular accounting software that can help you send invoices and keep track of your finances is Xero, which is often praised for its insight and simplicity.

Think about what you’re providing, how you can provide it most effectively, and what you need to achieve that.

It’s worth investing in good quality tools so that in the long term you are set up for success – even if that means buying a $70 multi-strand dog lead for your walks around the neighborhood!

​​4. Determine Pricing

First of all, it’s important to conduct some research on industry averages. What are similar services offering, and for what price?

Though it may be easier to start on the lower end and build up with experience, it’s not necessary to undersell yourself either.

Say that you’re offering gardening services for $20 per hour: Are you thinking about the gas prices, or how long it takes for you to drive to a location? What about the amount of time you spend on marketing each week or the invoices you’ll have to file?

If you’ve previously worked for businesses, it’s a big mental shift when it comes time to price yourself properly!

5. Market Your Services

Who is your audience? There is a lot that goes into marketing, but one step that is just as critical is creating an audience profile. 

Don’t worry – it’s quite a fun aspect! Basically, you’ll build out a fictional character of your ideal client or customer.

These will include demographics, psychographics, goals, pain points, values, what platforms they’ll be found on, and buying behaviors. Once you’ve created a target for your marketing, create a campaign that fits around attracting them.

6. Manage Finances

This is perhaps the most important step of your side-hustling journey!

You have to be extremely savvy when it comes to managing your finances with side hustles; learning to do so properly is likely the best investment you can make in your business.

There is a wealth of online resources and software that can help you understand what’s going on with your venture.

7. Continuous Learning & Adaptation

If you haven’t figured it out already, things move pretty quickly in the professional world!

New technology such as ChatGPT can pop up out of nowhere, rendering your special birthday poem-writing business much less attractive.

Competition is also fierce, with other businesses offering attractive services to the same subset of clients.

You have to be ready to change and adapt to what’s happening in the market. Unfortunately, you also have to be to be prepared to fail so you can adapt and learn.

It’s all about having a growth mindset when it comes to building a successful side hustle stack.

8. Scale Your Side Hustle

Your side hustle is taking off – Congratulations!

One way to scale your side hustle could be figuring out where to save time. Don’t enjoy accounting? Outsource it to someone online, and use that time to focus on bringing in more income.

What is it completely necessary for you to do, and what can you sacrifice?

Everyone scales their side hustle in different ways, but the initial aspects that are worth considering when scaling are expanding your marketing reach and hiring more people to help bring in more income (which comes with its set of struggles).

Challenges You Can Encounter While Doing a Side Hustle Stack

1. Overcommitting and burnout

In APA’s 2021 Work and Wellbeing Survey, 79% of employees had experienced work-related stress.

While the concept of financial freedom and flexibility is tempting and can be a brilliant outcome of side hustles, you have to learn how to manage your time in a way that promotes your well-being.

Your physical and mental health is your biggest asset, so don’t overwork or exploit yourself!

2. Undervaluing your services

As I mentioned previously, it’s easy to undervalue yourself in terms of prices. This can have a long-term effect on your well-being and make your side hustle much less enjoyable to run.

One way to shift your thinking around our pricing is to think about how much value you are providing your customers.

For example, if you offer marketing services, calculate how much money your skills are going to bring them directly and negotiate for a percentage of that amount.

3. Not staying updated with platform changes

Be aware of how platform changes might affect your business!

There is so much change that comes with business, and your biggest competitive strength may be to be as resilient and adaptable as possible.

If you’re not ready to grow and change when required, then there’s a good chance that business and side hustles aren’t for you.

Always keep learning, reading, and researching about how you can change your services to best meet your clients’ needs!

Wrapping Up

Growing your side hustle stack could be your ticket to financial freedom and living the life you’ve always aimed for.

Aside from the financial benefits, a side hustle stack will also help add to your skill development and profile expansion – giving you entrepreneurial experience and valuable flexibility in your life.

There are countless niches out there ready to be filled; you just have to figure out how best you can contribute to them!

However, it’s important to always look after your well-being, be adaptable to inevitable changes, and back yourself with proper pricing that reflects your true value. Go forth and hustle!