Work On Your Side Hustle During The Coronavirus Pandemic

There’s never been a better time to hunker down and make something.

With more cancellations and confirmed cases by the day, the coronavirus outbreak is grinding most things to a halt. No matter who you are, employer or employee, things are probably looking a little grim. But it’s clear at this point that there’s little we can do to stop the virus from taking its course.

What we do have control over is how we spend our days during this time of social distancing. Almost everyone is going to experience a big increase in free time spent at home. Whether that’s because you won’t be commuting for a while, your work hours have been cut, or your whole social life just got cancelled, there’s nothing better to do with this newfound time than work on that side project you just haven’t been able to prioritize.

I have nothing new to say about side hustles. They are still a great way to pursue a passion, earn extra money, diversify your income, and potentially even launch something that becomes a full-time career. The trouble with most projects like this is that they take time to build. I don’t even want to calculate how much time I’ve put into selecting, editing, uploading, and keywording my stock photography portfolio over the years! But now that I have some extra time, you can bet your toilet paper stockpile that I’ll be uploading even more images over the coming weeks.

It's not much (yet) but it's passive!

Need some ideas? Here’s the rest of my COVID-19 to do list:

• draft new blog posts to bolster my writing portfolio and Medium earnings

• finish building out the career coaching program I’m currently beta-testing

• create social media posts for my business for the coming months

• work on the op-ed I started writing last year (don’t worry, it’s evergreen!)

• set up the registration and payment systems for an event I’m building

Whatever you’ve been wanting to create but just haven’t had the time to do... now is the time! Even if you don’t have a side hustle, I guarantee there’s work to be done on your existing business. Maybe it’s time to experiment with a new product. Maybe it’s time to learn a new skill. Maybe it’s time to update your LinkedIn profile. There’s something out there worth doing for your career, but most people won’t actually do it.

Here’s the bottom line: would you rather come out the other side of this outbreak as the person who re-binged all of Parks & Rec, or the person who built something new and launched it?

I know which camp I’m in. I hope you’ll join me. And hey, maybe the thing you’ve been putting off could benefit from a professional touch. If that’s the case, I’m available!