Side Hustles Are a Scam

And no, you won’t get rich and quit your job

It’s been 5 months since my tech layoff, and 3 months since I went all in on the solopreneur life.

I’m a career coach, brand consultant, content creator, digital product builder—all that jazz.

But let me tell you, the hustle is real.

In my first month as a solopreneur, I barely saw my friends. I’ve been working 10-hour days, weekends included, just to keep the momentum going.

Don’t get me wrong - I love every bit of it. Waking up excited, doing work I’m passionate about, and building something of my own is next-level exhilarating.

But here’s a shower thought I’ve been chewing on for the past few months:

How the f*ck does anyone run a side hustle with a full-time job?

I’m pouring in 10 hours a day, and I still feel like there’s not enough time to do everything I want—like launching more digital products (so far, I’ve only created two).

Building something people truly love takes a ton of time.

And after talking to a lot of friends and internet folks, I realized something:

99% of side hustles don’t go anywhere.

This whole “get rich through a 30-min-a-day side hustle and quit your job” narrative? It’s a total scam.

Photo by Zanyar Ibrahim on Unsplash

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Do you really need a side hustle?

Here’s the truth: most people who jump into a side hustle do it because they’re unsatisfied with their current job—whether it’s about the money, lack of freedom, or the absence of purpose.

So here’s the million-dollar question you need to ask yourself before you dive into a side gig:

Am I so dissatisfied with my current situation that I’d regret not making a change five years from now?

If you can’t answer with a “f*ck yes,” then guess what? Your side hustle is likely to fizzle out before it even gets going. It takes deep commitment and a clear reason why to sustain something extra alongside a 9-5.

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The cold, hard truth: Side hustles are real work

After chatting with 20 people over the past few months, the most common reason for side hustle failure is simple:

“I don’t have enough time after work.”

Just like anything else, side hustles rely on the compound effect—the more consistent effort you put in over time, the bigger the pay-off. But you’ve got to put in those lonely hours upfront.

When I started writing in May this year, a 5-minute article took me 15 hours to finish. That’s 2 hours a day, 7 days a week, just for writing.

And here’s the kicker: your first few articles will suck. Like, no one-read-them suck.

But most people throw their hands in the air and quit at that point, because there’s no instant payoff.

We all see stories of people who “made $2K a month after building a website in 6 hours.”

What we don’t see? The 1,000+ hours they spent churning out blog posts and optimizing SEO to make that website work.

This means, they spend:

• 0.6% of the time coding

• 99.4% of the time marketing.

That’s what side hustles really look like.

I know a guy who works a high-pressure job at a FAANG company and still manages to run a small business on the side. He wakes up at 6 a.m. every day, leads a team of engineers, and hustles hard on LinkedIn to market his product. After two years of grinding, he’s just now breaking even.

This is what building a real business looks like. It’s not some fairy tale of working “an hour here and there” while you magically make 5 figures a month in your sleep.

Photo by Kate Stone Matheson on Unsplash

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To grow, your side hustle needs to become your main bae

Here’s a common misconception:

“When my side hustle makes the same money as my day job, I’ll quit.”

But that’s backward.

You have to prioritize your side hustle first if you want it to grow.

No priority, no growth.

A friend of mine, who works in finance, runs a coaching business on the side. But his biggest challenge? He can’t market his business under his name due to industry regulations. It’s like being the product but not being allowed to talk about yourself.

And it’s crushing his growth.

This is what happens when you’re forced to prioritize someone else’s dream over your own.

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So, yes, starting a side hustle is easy—but growing one is hard work.

Honestly, looking back, I wish I had started sooner—before my layoff in April.

But if I’m being real, I’m not sure it would’ve survived while juggling a full-time job. All the challenges I’ve laid out above would’ve likely held me back.

But hey, here we are!