You’re not “owned” by your employer.
A reader recently sent me an email telling me exactly that.
He said he worked for a less than progressive corporate and that a side hustle is a no-go. “You can’t do that here” they said.
This is ridiculous.
Let’s dissect whether you can make money outside of your normal job, so you don’t miss out on amazing opportunities.
The biggest mistake you can ever make with an employer
The reader told me he asked his employer whether he could have a paid side hustle and write online.
Oh my freaking god! Why the heck would you do that?
Don’t ever ask your employer for permission. You’re not their s*x toy. Of course if you ask them they’ll say no or make it hard. Don’t tell them. And if they find out just be vague.
No employer can stop you mowing lawns on the weekend for some extra side hustle cash. And they can’t stop you from posting on social media.
“The employment contract says I can’t”
An employment contract isn’t the bible.
Most of them aren’t worth the paper they’re written. Corporations can throw whatever crap they want in there and scare you into thinking they can enforce it.
Nice words in contracts are one thing. Enforcing them is another.
The best example in history is non-compete clauses. So many companies have outrageous ones in their standard employee contract. One employer I worked for had it written in there that I couldn’t work in the finance industry for 5 years after leaving my job with them.
LOL.
I asked my lawyer and he’s like “that’s not even legal in Australia. Just ignore it. No judge will ever decide in their favor.”
So that’s what I did. And when I quit, I happily told them I was going to their competitor and they did nothing about it. Many other employees did the same thing.
If you’re interested in how stupid employment contracts are then follow American Jonathan Pollard on LinkedIn. He shares live stories of employers he’s crushed with their silly non-competes.
“I won’t have a side hustle and you’ll never fire me, deal?”
The reason making money online through side hustles is so crucial is that you can lose your job at any moment.
Multiple income streams are how you de-risk yourself in the event you do get laid off in this recession. Right now inflation is out of control. Are most employers giving their people pay rises to ease the pain? No.
So your paycheck is going down each year. This year’s pay cut for Americans was roughly 8.5%. Nice.
If your employer doesn’t want you to have a side and needs you to be 100% reliant on them then say this:
“Sure, I’ll never make money online if you guarantee never to lay me off.”
Because that’s the deal they’d have to make with you to ban side hustles and wifi money from your life forever.
The truth is when times get tough employers lay off people like they’re disposable pieces of garbage. It happens to high-performers too.
I’m not mad at it.
This is the model of capitalism. You do a job so a corporation can exploit the most amount of profit from your ass until you’re too old and have less energy, then they chuck you into forced retirement and give you a $10 bottle of wine to say goodbye.
All you can do is flip the model back in your favor with side hustles and internet money.
Here’s what to do if you work for a dinosaur employer that insists on crushing you financially
Sometimes they won’t budge. Bastards. Do this.
1. Use a cheeky nickname
Online writers are a great example of this.
Some of my favorites write killer articles and simply publish them under fictional names. Then they buy a picture of a monkey smoking a cigar and use it as their JPG NFT profile picture. (God I love this.)
You can too. Online side hustles don’t need to be attached to your real name. Or attach them to your partner’s name if you want.
2. If they find out, tell them why it’s good for them
My last employer found out about my side hustle of online writing.
They were super chill about it. In fact it’s one reason they hired me.
Customers loved it too and told my boss about it. See the thing is employers only get mad with your side hustles if it interferes with your work or makes them look bad.
Most of you aren’t going to go on LinkedIn and trash your employer, so they won’t care.
In my case my employer asked me to teach my colleagues about social media. They felt they were lucky to have someone with my side hustle skills — and that’s how most employers will feel.
3. Get another job
Then there’s the 1% of employers that belong in the museum next to Kodak. They don’t know what The Great Resignation or Quiet Quitting is.
They think they bark loudly like a rottweiler and you do as they say. LOL.
Nothing you can do about these drongos except fire their ass and get another job. The good news is LinkedIn has made it easy to shop for jobs.
If you already have a LinkedIn profile you’re likely getting pitches by recruiters on the daily. Nice.
Maybe it’s time to accept a job elsewhere.
Final Thought
Own your life or get owned.
If you keep asking for permission you’ll keep getting told what to do like an adult baby. Just stop. Make money online or start a side hustle after hours like you just don’t care.
In this economy side hustles equal survival. Harsh but true.
Disclaimer: None of this is legal advice (obviously)
