In 2023, greater than than 305,000 U.S. staff misplaced their jobs throughout a surge of mass layoffs that impacted the tech business and past, CNBC Make It reported.
Meta worker Scott Goodfriend was a kind of folks. After he was laid off from his “dream job” as an augmented actuality producer on the tech big, he confronted an essential resolution: Go work for an additional firm or construct a enterprise of his personal.
Goodfriend selected the latter. The entrepreneur had been working his Final Meals Excursions facet hustle out of New York Metropolis for years, with a spike in exercise after he reworked his providing and listed it on Airbnb experiences in 2021.
Goodfriend’s meals tour facet hustle grew from $30,000 to $200,000 income a yr
As a weekend facet hustle to his 9-5 function, Final Meals Excursions earned about $30,000 a yr, Goodfriend instructed Entrepreneur.
The “candy, candy irony,” based on Goodfriend? He’d by no means got down to rework his ardour challenge right into a enterprise; in truth, when folks first inspired him to promote his tour, he was postpone by the concept of constructing an internet site and advertising and marketing the service.
Nevertheless, as soon as Goodfriend dedicated to turning the facet hustle right into a full-time enterprise, Final Meals Excursions tripled in dimension yr over yr — all the way in which to about $200,000 annual income as of April 2024.
Goodfriend is not alone in his journey from layoff to facet hustle success. Earlier this yr, Entrepreneur spoke with two different facet hustlers who constructed companies with vital income after shedding their jobs.
El Ghatit’s sentimental facet hustle earned $350,000 in 2023 and is on observe for greater than $700,000 this yr
In 2006, Illinois resident Alaa El Ghatit was working in IT when he bought the concept for his enterprise LifeOnRecord, a service that lets folks cellphone in tales, reminiscences and effectively needs for somebody celebrating a birthday, wedding ceremony or one other big day.
A number of months later, El Ghatit was laid off and targeted extra on his facet hustle. Though some orders got here in, they weren’t sufficient to help his household, so he took a brand new job 9 months later and continued to work on LifeonRecord on the facet.
LifeOnRecord earned $100,000 at its peak as a facet hustle, El Ghatit instructed Entrepreneur. El Ghatit left the company world behind to turn into a full-time entrepreneur in 2022. In 2023, LifeOnRecord introduced in $350,000; as of February 2024, the enterprise was set to greater than double that income.
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Ugalde’s facet hustle went from making $2,500 in month one to almost $3 million in annual income in 2024
Carlos Ugalde is one more entrepreneur whose layoff impressed facet hustle development.
When Ugalde, who relies in Las Vegas, Nevada, misplaced his job as a copywriter and touchdown web page designer at a Google advertising and marketing firm in December 2018, he opted to begin a facet hustle that may turn into his print-on-demand attire model, Home of Chingasos.
Ugalde opened a Shopify storefront, created about 10 primary designs, related it to the print-on-demand platform Printful and began working adverts on Fb. The enterprise earned $2,500 within the first month, $11,000 within the second and $54,000 within the third, Ugalde instructed Entrepreneur. In 2023, Home of Chingasos hit nearly $3 million in income, an almost 70% enhance over 2022.
“There is a flood of tales about people incomes astronomical sums from facet hustles.”
Constructing a facet hustle right into a profitable enterprise can repay massive time — and supply monetary safety exterior of a 9-5 wage — however the street to success is commonly rockier than it seems to be.
“Though there is a flood of tales about people incomes astronomical sums from facet hustles, such cases are exceedingly uncommon,” El Ghatit admits. “Normally, progress is slower than anticipated, resembling a dance of ‘two steps ahead, one step again.'”
El Ghatit’s finest recommendation? Be type to your self, give attention to a principles-first enterprise (which requires endurance and time) and “leverage your day job for its supposed function” — lowering your monetary danger as you construct a enterprise that may final.