At the beginning of 2018, I got an unexpected side hustle opportunity. As part of that initial six-month contract, I received a travel budget to attend at least one of their sponsored conferences (which drives the brunt of revenue for the organization).
Well, I finally got to go to a conference last month! I took a few days off work, flew out to Salt Lake City, then drove to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to provide whatever assistance I could as Webmaster. While I was not paid for this trip, my travel expenses were covered, so there was no reason for me not to go.
Side Hustle Perks in the Grand Tetons
For a whole week, I was surrounded by beautiful scenery. Okay, a large part of my week was spent in the basement of a building working, but I took as many chances as I could see the sights. While the conference was within Grand Teton National Park, it was also only a short drive away from Yellowstone, so I also had the opportunity to see Old Faithful. I would never have expected to visit three national parks in such a short time frame.
A lunchtime break offered me this amazing view.
When you work any remote job that requires a significant amount of stakeholder management, getting some face-to-face time can really make a difference. I enjoyed spending a few days doing work completely unrelated to my day job. It really felt like I was making a difference in the organization.
Maybe it’s because the organization is small, but I started to feel really invested in their success. Although I was there officially as Webmaster, I ran the conference registration booth, provided general conference information, and volunteered wherever possible. I even spent a few hours doing adjacent social media/website work, pro bono. (Outside the scope of my existing contract.)
One of my trip highlights was petting this horse!
Side Hustle Update
The initial contract terms were for a six month period. Set to expire in July, Ian and I were just informed if we wanted to extend the contract another six months. Huzzah! This isn’t quite the news we wanted – a proper contract extension would have been for one or two years, but it’s a start. At the very least, we will be able to travel to Cancun for another conference in October; something we’re looking forward to expensing.
After the next six months, I’m going to push for a longer contract term, or end the engagement completely. It’s a lot of work to manage such a short engagement – I want to eventually have this run on autopilot. For now, though, we’re doubling our income, so no complaints.
Effects of the Additional Income
Ian and I recently just paid estimated taxes on our first six months of work. After accounting for taxes paid and other expenses, our current take-home is just under $5K each. 🤑
$5K for six months of work isn’t too bad! Although my initial plan was to help move forward my FIRE timeline, I’m still dealing with major medical expenses, and I’ve also begun rethinking what FIRE is to me, as well. The earnings from these first six months will cover the last of my medical bills. The rest will likely go towards savings and investments. (Maybe I’ll put aside a few hundred for play money.)
This first side hustle has been a great learning experience so far. There are absolutely strong downsides to freelancing, but the income and development of additional skills have been worth it for me. If you want to read more about my side hustle experience, check out this guest post I did for WFH Office, and head on over to the Cash Fasting’s Side Hustle category to see a list of all related posts.
Comments
Yay, I’m so glad to hear it’s working out well so far and that you’ll at least get another six months from it! That’s fantastic you got some awesome national park time out of the conference too, plus a trip to Cancun in October?! Sign me up!
How many hours do you think you put into it in the first six months in order to get the $5k take-home each?
I think I’ve put in around 50 hours so far (I should really track my hours better), which gives me a solid hourly rate. Those hours, however, don’t include the time I spent at the conference in Wyoming, which was easily another 20 hours of work spread out over a week. Even taking those additional hours into account, though, my hourly rate is still reasonably high. 😄
That’s an awesome side hustle and so cool it got extended as well!
I’m also searching for side hustles to help quicken my progress to FI and I think something like this where I could be an independent contractor (and build financial models and stuff since I do that in my day job) would be ideal. Just need to figure out how to find a customer that needs it!
Thanks!!
There are side hustle opportunities out there for everyone – this is definitely not one I ever expected to have (or thought I could do), but things just kind of turned out this way. I think being open to anything, and developing a variety of skills is the best way to set yourself up. I guarantee there’s a demand somewhere for freelance financial models that you could provide!