What are your favorite side-hustle ideas?
Why do people take up side hustles? The reasons vary — earning extra money to make ends meet, saving for the future, or simply pursuing personal dreams.
Side-hustle ideas abound online. I had one lifelong career until retirement — fully occupied and wholly committed. So if I were to recommend side hustles, they would be handicrafts and handmade jewellery — not because they are lucrative, but because of what I witnessed in two women who were close to my heart.
In my childhood, my mother worked on her handicrafts — knitted sweaters, embroidered cloth — while her children slept, were at school, or during any free moment in her day. She did so to earn extra money for more snacks or pocket money for her children. Her side hustle left a significant impression on me — for her resourcefulness, creativity, tenacity, and sacrificial love for her children.
The other person was a very talented English lady — a farmer’s wife who looked after the housework and raised ducks and chicks beside the farmhouse. At sixty, she began making jewellery of all kinds as gifts for family and friends, and later, with encouragement, sold them in her hometown. Today, I still keep the bean necklaces and bronze pendants with paintings she tailor-made for me. Her masterpieces, showcasing her creativity and heartfelt love, still linger in my memory even after four decades.
Today, handicrafts are still made; handmade jewellery still prevails. Many are on the market for sale. But for me, they are not the same — the personal connection with the makers is missing.
Yet, driven by economic and social currents, more people are launching business ventures on social platforms. Last week, online sellers came to our estate to sell products of their own brand as a celebration event for the Mid-Autumn Festival. Although their products were never seen in the market, because they were sincere — showing genuine interest in producing natural and healthy foods and beverages — and because of my longstanding support for small businesses, I bought some goods from them.
I believe in sharing support for those who are putting their dreams into action. And so I did on that day of the Mid-Autumn Festival. The sellers came to our estate, serving humbly, conversing passionately about their products, and showing their desire for their first visitor to buy from them. That vivid moment created a sense of warmth and connected two strangers in a very pleasant encounter — one to linger on.
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