1402: [Part 2] The Side Hustle Emergency Fund by Kevin Ha of Financial Panther on Income Generation

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00]: This is Optimal Work Daily, Episode 1402, The Side Hustle Emergency Fund, Part 2 by Kevin

[00:00:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Ha of FinancialPanther.com.

[00:00:09] [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm your narrator, my name is Dan, and today's post, if you heard yesterday you

[00:00:13] [SPEAKER_00]: already know this, is Part 2 of a longer post, so if you haven't listened to the first

[00:00:18] [SPEAKER_00]: half yet, I would recommend going back and listening to yesterday's episode first.

[00:00:22] [SPEAKER_00]: That's Thursday's episode, 1401.

[00:00:24] [SPEAKER_00]: But if you're caught up, let's get right to Part 2 and continue optimizing your

[00:00:28] [SPEAKER_00]: life.

[00:00:32] [SPEAKER_00]: The Side Hustle Emergency Fund, Part 2 by Kevin Ha of FinancialPanther.com.

[00:00:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Here's how I've set up my Side Hustle Emergency Fund over the years.

[00:00:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Airbnb.

[00:00:44] [SPEAKER_00]: I started hosting on Airbnb over two years ago and have built up hundreds of reviews.

[00:00:49] [SPEAKER_00]: I know that I can rent my guest room out and generate $500 to $1,000 per month.

[00:00:54] [SPEAKER_00]: If I wasn't working, I could rent it out every single night since I now have

[00:00:57] [SPEAKER_00]: the time to flip the room each day between guests.

[00:01:00] [SPEAKER_00]: This one room could cover my mortgage most months, and getting guests to book isn't

[00:01:04] [SPEAKER_00]: a problem because I have so many reviews built up over three years of hosting.

[00:01:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Rover.

[00:01:10] [SPEAKER_00]: I've been dog-sitting on Rover for so long now that I have a good base of repeat clients

[00:01:14] [SPEAKER_00]: that I can count on to book with me each year.

[00:01:16] [SPEAKER_00]: I should always bring in somewhere between $100 and $200 per month and presumably

[00:01:20] [SPEAKER_00]: I could increase that amount if I was willing to watch more dogs at once, which

[00:01:24] [SPEAKER_00]: I'd probably do if I had to.

[00:01:26] [SPEAKER_00]: And with so many 5-star reviews, I usually have no problem finding new clients.

[00:01:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Postmates, DoorDash and Uber Eats.

[00:01:34] [SPEAKER_00]: If I wasn't working, I could easily work on all of these apps and generate $100

[00:01:37] [SPEAKER_00]: per day.

[00:01:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Since I've done all of these apps for so long, my efficiency on them is very high.

[00:01:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Wag.

[00:01:44] [SPEAKER_00]: With over 175 star reviews, I'm now in a position where I can get a steady

[00:01:48] [SPEAKER_00]: amount of wag walks.

[00:01:50] [SPEAKER_00]: I also have preferred status with a lot of dogs and depending on how often

[00:01:54] [SPEAKER_00]: I wanted to do walks, I could probably make enough to cover a lot of expenses

[00:01:57] [SPEAKER_00]: just with wag.

[00:01:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Antbird and Lime.

[00:02:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Depending on when in the year we're in, I can easily bring in an extra $500 to

[00:02:05] [SPEAKER_00]: $1,000 per month from charging scooters in my house.

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_00]: And my efficiency level has gotten much better as I've spent the time

[00:02:11] [SPEAKER_00]: learning the ins and outs of this gig.

[00:02:14] [SPEAKER_00]: The important thing is that because I've put in a lot of the groundwork

[00:02:16] [SPEAKER_00]: already, I can turn to any of these sharing economy and gig economy apps

[00:02:20] [SPEAKER_00]: and start earning income immediately.

[00:02:22] [SPEAKER_00]: When the next downturn happens, a lot of people are going to turn towards

[00:02:26] [SPEAKER_00]: these gig economy apps to try to make ends meet.

[00:02:29] [SPEAKER_00]: But if you've been spending time creating your side hustle emergency fund,

[00:02:32] [SPEAKER_00]: you'll already be ready to go.

[00:02:34] [SPEAKER_00]: All you have to do is just turn on your phone.

[00:02:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Benefits of the Side Hustle Emergency Fund.

[00:02:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Number one, you don't have to dig into your cash savings.

[00:02:43] [SPEAKER_00]: The biggest benefit of the Side Hustle Emergency Fund is that it makes

[00:02:46] [SPEAKER_00]: it so that you don't have to dig into your savings.

[00:02:48] [SPEAKER_00]: Instead of pulling out money to cover your expenses, you can stretch

[00:02:51] [SPEAKER_00]: your savings longer by simply earning most of the income to pay for your expenses.

[00:02:56] [SPEAKER_00]: You can stretch your savings longer by simply earning most of the income

[00:02:59] [SPEAKER_00]: to pay for your expenses.

[00:03:00] [SPEAKER_00]: This has the added benefit of making it so that you might not need

[00:03:03] [SPEAKER_00]: to keep as much money in your emergency fund.

[00:03:05] [SPEAKER_00]: A three month emergency fund might last six months, or indefinitely

[00:03:08] [SPEAKER_00]: if you have a Side Hustle Emergency Fund covering some or all of your expenses.

[00:03:13] [SPEAKER_00]: Two, diversifies your income.

[00:03:16] [SPEAKER_00]: One of the odd things I've noticed is that a lot of people will tell you

[00:03:19] [SPEAKER_00]: that you shouldn't put all of your eggs in one basket.

[00:03:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Yet those same people will only have one source of income,

[00:03:24] [SPEAKER_00]: all earned from their nine to five day job.

[00:03:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Just like diversifying when it comes to investing,

[00:03:29] [SPEAKER_00]: it makes sense to diversify your income sources as well.

[00:03:32] [SPEAKER_00]: If you lose one income source, you'll at least have some other income sources

[00:03:35] [SPEAKER_00]: to hold you over so that you don't lose 100% of your income generating power.

[00:03:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Three, no wait time to start earning income.

[00:03:44] [SPEAKER_00]: While these sharing economy and gig economy apps do allow you to earn money

[00:03:47] [SPEAKER_00]: basically immediately, they still require a ramp up period.

[00:03:51] [SPEAKER_00]: If you're just starting out on Airbnb or Rover,

[00:03:53] [SPEAKER_00]: you'll start off slow because you need to take some time to build up your reviews.

[00:03:57] [SPEAKER_00]: When you start doing deliveries or charging scooters,

[00:04:00] [SPEAKER_00]: you'll be worse at it early on just because you're still learning

[00:04:02] [SPEAKER_00]: how to do these gigs efficiently.

[00:04:04] [SPEAKER_00]: But when you've been doing these sort of things for years,

[00:04:07] [SPEAKER_00]: there's no ramp up time.

[00:04:08] [SPEAKER_00]: It's just a matter of turning on some apps and doing it.

[00:04:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Four, the Side Hustle Emergency Fund keeps you busy.

[00:04:14] [SPEAKER_00]: I haven't personally had any extended period of job loss yet,

[00:04:17] [SPEAKER_00]: but I know one thing.

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_00]: If I were to lose my job and had nothing else to do,

[00:04:21] [SPEAKER_00]: I'd be bored out of my mind.

[00:04:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Worse yet, I'd start feeling bad for myself if all I was doing

[00:04:26] [SPEAKER_00]: was sitting home for eight hours a day while all of my friends were at work.

[00:04:29] [SPEAKER_00]: It's important to keep yourself productive,

[00:04:31] [SPEAKER_00]: and having a Side Hustle Emergency Fund is one way to do that.

[00:04:35] [SPEAKER_00]: And five, keeps you mentally healthy.

[00:04:38] [SPEAKER_00]: One of the issues a lot of people have is that their big time job is their identity.

[00:04:42] [SPEAKER_00]: There's an idea that some things are beneath you when you get wrapped up into your identity,

[00:04:46] [SPEAKER_00]: so if you're forced to do them, you can start having problems.

[00:04:49] [SPEAKER_00]: But if you've spent time building your Side Hustle Emergency Fund,

[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_00]: you've been working at these quote-unquote low level jobs for a while now.

[00:04:56] [SPEAKER_00]: When you're forced to lean on them more,

[00:04:58] [SPEAKER_00]: it won't feel like you're taking a step down,

[00:05:00] [SPEAKER_00]: or at least it'll seem less so.

[00:05:02] [SPEAKER_00]: If anything, it'll help you build up that sense of humbleness

[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_00]: that's always good to have.

[00:05:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Keep the Side Hustle Emergency Fund in your back pocket.

[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_00]: When you think about it, being able to generate a thousand to three thousand dollars of income

[00:05:14] [SPEAKER_00]: outside of your day job is a big deal.

[00:05:16] [SPEAKER_00]: Depending on your lifestyle, it's possible to cover most or even all of your monthly expenses,

[00:05:21] [SPEAKER_00]: purely through all of the Side Hustles that you've been building up in your Side Hustle

[00:05:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Emergency Fund. This becomes even more likely when you consider that during periods of job

[00:05:29] [SPEAKER_00]: loss, you're probably going to naturally cut back on things.

[00:05:32] [SPEAKER_00]: For instance, fewer steak dinners, more ramen and PB&J sandwiches.

[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_00]: When everyone else is scrambling to figure out how to make ends meet,

[00:05:40] [SPEAKER_00]: you'll already be in good shape because you spent some of your spare time building up

[00:05:44] [SPEAKER_00]: your Side Hustling skills. Even better, you probably made yourself more humble by working

[00:05:49] [SPEAKER_00]: in the trenches so you won't feel bad for yourself now that you're out in the trenches

[00:05:53] [SPEAKER_00]: with the regular people. So keep that Side Hustle Emergency Fund in your back pocket.

[00:05:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Literally, since all of these Side Hustles use your phone.

[00:06:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Treat it like an investment, something that you're building up over time.

[00:06:04] [SPEAKER_00]: It might do wonders for you when you need it.

[00:06:10] [SPEAKER_00]: You just listened to part two of the post titled,

[00:06:13] [SPEAKER_00]: The Side Hustle Emergency Fund by Kevin Ha of financialpanther.com.

[00:06:17] [SPEAKER_00]: This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. We all have non-negotiables. Maybe you never skip leg day

[00:06:24] [SPEAKER_00]: or have to take your morning walks. But when your schedule is packed with kids' activities,

[00:06:28] [SPEAKER_00]: big work projects and more, it's easy to let your priorities slip.

[00:06:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Even when we know what makes us happy, it's hard to make time for it.

[00:06:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Therapy can help you reclaim control of your time and values.

[00:06:40] [SPEAKER_00]: And make no mistake, therapy is for everyone. Whether or not you've been through significant

[00:06:45] [SPEAKER_00]: trauma, therapy can be a great tool for setting boundaries, learning positive coping skills,

[00:06:50] [SPEAKER_00]: and ultimately becoming the best version of yourself. If you're thinking of starting

[00:06:54] [SPEAKER_00]: therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It's entirely online, designed to be convenient,

[00:06:59] [SPEAKER_00]: flexible, and suited to your schedule. Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with

[00:07:03] [SPEAKER_00]: a licensed therapist and switch therapists any time for no additional charge.

[00:07:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com

[00:07:12] [SPEAKER_00]: slash workdaily today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash

[00:07:19] [SPEAKER_00]: workdaily. And thanks again to Kevin who started this blog to share what he's learned about

[00:07:24] [SPEAKER_00]: money and side hustling over the years as well as to document his own journey

[00:07:28] [SPEAKER_00]: toward financial independence. It's his hope that his experience and knowledge can help

[00:07:33] [SPEAKER_00]: you out in some way. So check out more from him at financialpanther.com.

[00:07:37] [SPEAKER_00]: But that does it for today here on Optimal Work Daily. I appreciate you being here

[00:07:40] [SPEAKER_00]: for this two-parter and I'll see you right back here tomorrow where your optimal life awaits.