Do You Have a Side Hustle?

A new report shows 27% of Americans have a side hustle to make extra cash. NBC News Radio National Correspondent Rory O'Neill joins us with the details 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Do you have a side hustle. Let's get the numbers.
And this is West Michigan's Morning News Steve Kelly, that's
Lauren Smith and Brett mckdath. And we do, by the way,
each of us do a little something on the side.
Rory O'Neil, ABC News Radio National correspondent, how about you.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Technically, I guess yes, yes, I do. So We're all
guilty of it. That's the nature of the business, I think.
But a bank Great survey finds twenty seven percent of
US nationally have side hustles, you know, work beyond the
normal Monday through Friday nine to five. And while twenty
seven percent sounds high, that's actually the lowest since twenty seventeen.

(00:36):
You know, during the height of the inflationary spike, we
saw thirty six even thirty nine percent of Americans had
side hustles.

Speaker 3 (00:44):
I don't mean to be negative this early in the morning,
but I think of myself in twenty seventeen and now
and I've just I've given up on being financially successful.
Is that kind of a part of this? People are like,
you know what, I'm just going to get some of
my life back if I can.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
Well, actually a lot of what is it, more than
a third of the side hustlers say they need the
money to pay living expenses, and about that same number
think they're always going to need a side hustle, that
the main income will never be enough to pay the bills.
Or you know, look, a lot of people do the
side hustle to pay off a debt, to put away

(01:19):
money for the kids college fund, or have a specific
assignment for the vacation fund. Even let's be more positive
about it. So there are side hustles that sort of
have a goal and are goal oriented. Look, others do
side hustles because that's what they like to do. You know,
if you have if you're into woodworking or needlecraft or whatever.
It may be something artsy that you can make and

(01:40):
sell stuff on Etsy. That's great, and that's what you
like to do versus you know, that accounting job Monday
through Friday nine to five.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
Yeah, or maybe lay the groundworks for the next career,
just to sort of feel it out, like you said,
because that's your passion and you'll do what you have
to do to pay the bills. But let's just try
this out well, right, and.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
It can be enjoyed, well, then it can actually generate
quite a lot of cash. Side hustlers on average earn
about eight hundred bucks a month. I think the median though,
is like two hundred bucks. So you know, half the
people with side hustles make over two hundred bucks. Half
with side hustles make under two hundred. But you know,
it can be a pretty substantial amount of money depending
on how much time you want to commit to this.

(02:19):
But for a lot of folks, so it's necessary income
because that extra two hundred bucks. Can you know that
pays the cell phone bill or that pays the cable
bill or both each month?

Speaker 3 (02:30):
Rory, did we know some of the more popular side hustles.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
Well, a lot of them do. It's like maybe their
professional gig, maybe this is what they do full time,
but then they'll work on the side in freelance writing
or graphic design. Online sales is a big part of it.
I'm trying to figure out only fans is the code too,
some of these descriptions.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
Let me get my shoes back on.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah, but food delivery is big. Teaching and tutoring also
just even pet sitting is a common side hustle for
folks you know, they like the extra dog or cat
around and and they maybe earn a few bucks at
the same time.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
There you go. Rory O'Neill, Nbceniors Radio National Correspondent, Thank you, hey,
Thanks Steve