College is demanding, and time and money are scarce. At first glance, college may seem like the last place you’d want to start a side hustle. But it could be the perfect time to launch your own side hustle. Here’s why:
Help Determine If You Want To Be A Full-Time Entrepreneur
Do you have a passion for creativity and innovation? Enjoy a flexible schedule? Want to be your own boss? Appreciate the ability to move quickly, try new things, and learn on the daily? A college side hustle is the best time to determine if you’ve got the entrepreneurial chops. Many students discover that their side hustle becomes their main hustle after graduation.
Make Your Side Hustle, Hustle For You
College is a great time to get creative and use your college side hustle as an opportunity to explore your interests. For example, during college, I worked in luxury food catering during the weekends. Am I interested in food? No, but I’m interested in luxury cars. Along with catering and serving our customers, I volunteered to valet park their cars, which were usually luxury cars and very fun to drive. During another college side hustle, I worked in marketing and was a tour guide at a botanical garden. I love the outdoors, and as a tour guide, I enjoyed a considerable amount of time outdoors in beautiful surroundings. Finally, I was the morning show associate for KCQR, a rock radio station. Did I enjoy waking up at 4:00 am every morning for the show? No, but I love music, and I regularly received VIP Box Seats to major concerts playing the Santa Barbara Bowl or the Wiltern in LA. So, go ahead and get creative while working side hustles and turn these jobs into enjoyable experiences.
Side Hustle Into “The Future of Work”
Non-linear careers are “The Future of Work,” as presented by Singularity University, a Silicon Valley Research company. “The Future of Work” refers to the evolving ways in which work will be done over the next decade, influenced by technological advancements, changing demographics, and social shifts.
Side hustles are similar to non-linear careers as they allow you to try new things, continue to grow and learn, and discover your passions. Non-linear careers are a fundamental shift in how we’re approaching our personal development. Long gone are the days when you go to college, get a degree, get a job, and then climb the corporate ladder for years. This traditional approach can compromise your growth opportunities and happiness. Many people are now finding satisfaction in non-linear careers, and exploring side hustles in college is a great way to experiment with non-linear career trajectories in a relatively low-stakes environment.
Use UC Irvine’s Free Resources
In college, you have access to a number of free resources to support your side hustle. Make the most of what you have available to you. For example, UC Irvine offers valuable resources like the ANTrepreneur Center, startup mentorship, Y Combinator Startup Class (I’m a big fan), The Side Hustle Challenge (contact Ryan Foland Director of the UCI ANTrepreneur Center at rfoland@uci.edu for more information), a podcast studio, and a 3D printing room, amongst other student side hustle and entrepreneurial offerings.
Tap Into A Pool Of Potential Customers
Many times, entrepreneurs struggle to locate potential customers. Look around you; you’re surrounded by potential customers. Your fellow students and friends offer an immediate testing ground for your college side hustle. Being on campus allows you to connect with potential customers while gathering real-time feedback from students regarding your side hustle product or service.
Learn Real-World Skills Fast
A side hustle can teach you real-life skills—possibly better than a classroom environment. Stand out from others with a resume showing drive and innovation. Your college side hustle will teach you how to problem-solve, pitch yourself, learn about finances, and market your work. Along with real-world skills, working a side hustle provides the opportunity to make friends, form connections, and network for your career after college.
Also, if you aren’t learning AI already, college is a great time to start. There are plenty of opportunities to incorporate AI into your side hustle, make some cash, and gain useful skills for after graduation. For example, I explored prompt engineering with Outlier.ai, a platform owned by Scale. Here, you can complete paid tasks to train generated models for Scale’s corporate customers, such as Google, Meta, and OpenAI. Learning how to use AI is an important skill that will be useful regardless of industry, so use this opportunity to develop your AI abilities.
Thinking Of Getting Started? Here Are Some Tips:
- Brainstorm things that you’re good at or love doing. Your friends can help share their perspectives on your interests too.
- Use your UCI campus, community, mentors, and the ANTrepreneur Center for support and feedback.
- Try different things and see what sticks.
- Pick something flexible; something that works around your class schedule.
- Choose something with a low startup cost.
- Choose a side hustle that solves a real problem.
- Think long term here, look to build skills that can help build your resume or future career.
- Schedule your side hustle time like a class. Block it off and show up.
College is a launchpad, where you don’t need a perfect plan; you just need to start. With a side hustle, you can test your ideas, have fun, and make some cash. Who knows, your college side hustle could become your full-time dream.
This is a guest article written by Brooke Tessman. If you would like to submit content to be featured on our platforms, learn more here.