The side hustle

Toronto-based creative agency Eighty-Eight recently launched an initiative called Agency Side Hustle. The goal: “We want to celebrate the side hustle and make it acceptable to talk about them in the office.”

You can read their manifesto here. But it basically includes celebrating the side hustle, dedicating time to one of your team member’s side hustles every month, and giving people the independence to pursue their passions alongside work.

I think this is great. It’s also more evidence that how we think about “work” is almost certainly changing. In some cases a side hustle is driven by a need for more money. But in other cases it is simply about pursuing a passion.

If we are to be pedantic, there’s probably make a distinction between a hobby (not looking to make money) and a side hustle (looking to make money). But I think the common thread is that we’re talking about something people choose to do in their free time.

I’m reminded of a post that Chris Dixon wrote a number of years ago called: What the smartest people do on the weekend is what everyone else will do during the week in ten years.

Business people vote with their dollars, and are mostly trying to create near-term financial returns. Engineers vote with their time, and are mostly trying to invent interesting new things. Hobbies are what the smartest people spend their time on when they aren’t constrained by near-term financial goals.

Historically, side hustles have been frowned upon by employers. But to be honest, everyone I know seems to have a ridiculous number of side projects on the go, ranging from healthy juices and rental properties to photography projects and 

I don’t know if these have b

We are living  

cities

centralizing force

Daniel Pink famously argued that humans are generally intrinsically motivated. We are driven by autonomy, mastery, and purpose – rather than money.

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