Side Hustles are Breaking the Barriers of the Traditional Career Path

A New Working Path Developing Right in Front of Our Eyes

What is the traditional career path? For many Americans, the dependable track—not to mention the comfortable track—consists of going to school, developing knowledge and skills, and landing a job with a company to stick with until retirement at a ripe old age. This stable, somewhat romantic life path has been tried and true for so many in the past. You likely have friends and family who have happily gone down the traditional career path. However, labor dynamics have been changing dramatically throughout recent years, prompting many people to rethink the pursuit of a traditional career path. 

The rise of online services and increased efficiency in product delivery through internet platforms has opened the doors to more professional online work possibilities than ever before. The effects of pandemic-era policies served as a nationwide inflection point for Americans and their relationship with work. Layoffs hit workers across the country as businesses suffered while at the same time, other workers moved into work from home or remote roles. All of this revealed that the traditional career path was not as predictable as advertised and that the alternatives are becoming more and more attractive. 

The Increasing Popularity of Side Hustles

Younger Americans that belong to the Millennial and Gen Z eras are quickly discovering the opportunities to create extra streams of income with one or several side hustles. These jobs done in addition to one’s main day job not only provide extra income, but also reduce a worker’s overall dependence on a single employer in a traditional career arrangement. Many of these opportunities are internet based and include E-commerce sales, graphic design, web development, SEO consulting, online writing, YouTube content creation, and affiliate marketing, among others.   

This could just be the beginning though. Not only are Americans discovering the benefits of having a side hustle, but some are also finding that it is increasingly possible to shift their side hustles into their main job as the benefits of that job outweigh the traditional career path. The potential for individuals to set their own working hours and their own terms of service by harnessing the myriad conveniences of online platforms has made it easier for more people to become their own employer, interacting with their own set of clients, and pushing forward with their own entrepreneurial spirit. 

While data shows that by the end of 2020, around 9 million small businesses were temporarily or permanently closed, business startups in the United States grew from 3.5 million to 4.4 million from 2019 to 2020, a 24% increase. That’s Schumpeter’s idea of creative destruction happening on a large scale all across America. 

For many, the benefits are not just financial. The adoption of side hustles or taking on a side hustle as a main job means the power to forge a personal career path. This applies especially to work that can be done remotely with nothing more than a device with an internet connection. It gives many the freedom to live location independent. This means living in a different physical location from where the main activity of work is based or even living as a digital nomad traveling far and wide. 

The possibilities are already visible with countless stories from those who have found success, the many ways that they achieved it, and the satisfaction that many feel pursuing their own vocations.