Why you need that ‘side hustle’

I READ with a lot of interest an article published in The New Times last Friday, which was titled ‘Are you living a borrowed lifestyle?’ In it, the author challenges those living the ‘Rwf700,000 dream’ on a ‘Rwf300,000 budget’, calling them financially illiterate for living on salary advances, overdrafts and bank loans every single month of the year. While I don’t know anyone personally who engages in this financial Russian roulette, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that a lot of young people (and old mind you) live like this. I call it financial Russian roulette because those engaged in it are a single salary cut, job loss and long-term illness away from losing absolutely everything they own. We have talked about the need for a savings culture in our country and I agree that we could do a lot better. We talk of financial management all day long, urging people to live within their means; however, I think that that is simply a pipe dream. The fact of the matter is, the majority of people my age and younger DON’T want to live within their means simply because we feel that we deserve better. I’m sorry, but how in the world can you tell a young person, recently graduated from university, that they should scrimp and save the little ministerial salary they receive so that, in some unknown future, they will be rich? While it seems possible in theory, we have to understand that they are constantly accosted by images of the ‘good life’ and they want it NOW! So perhaps, instead of asking them to financially tighten their belts, instead we should be urging them to earn their Rwf700,000 lifestyles. I used to work at a certain ministry and I would talk to colleagues and ask them how they survived. I learnt that they lived in shanties, ate poorly and lived a hand to mouth existence. This is despite the fact that they were well educated young men and women with skills. The sad part for me, when I talked to them, was that they couldn’t see a way out. That is, unless they received a master’s scholarship and earned a salary increment on their return back to work. Interestingly, none of them talked about getting a second income stream, either by getting a second job or starting a business on the side. Presently, I feel that the financial management argument we are receiving is geared towards consolidation of our earnings and not necessarily the growth of these earnings. Sure, we need to save more, but how can you save when you have nothing to save after deducting your bills? Are we supposed to live just so we pay the bills? Where is the joy in that? We aren’t robots, we need fun and excitement to live fulfilled lives. Asking someone to live like Ebenezer Scrooge, the fictional character from Charles Dickens’ classic, ‘A Christmas Carol’, is simply cruel. There is a term those younger than I employ, which I love. The ‘side hustle’. The side hustle is simply any activity that one does to earn a second income stream alongside the steady job. It can be babysitting, working as a tour guide, researcher, freelance writer, freelance photographer, crafts maker, MTN card dealer, taxi-moto rider etcetera. The job doesn’t have to earn you a whole lot, but whatever little you make can go quite a long way. Those entering the job market (and even those who’ve been in it quite some time) have to start thinking about getting little jobs here and there. Do you love music? Perhaps you can deejay. Artistic? Perhaps you can print some tee-shirts and sell them. What I cannot believe is that someone doesn’t have some skill or talent that cannot be monetized at some level. Some will argue that young Rwandans are too comfortable and too lazy to get off their rear ends and make some moves. That they would rather earn peanuts and sit in an air-conditioned office all day and go to bed hungry rather than have a taxi moto side hustle. Perhaps they are right. But I believe that this isn’t the case anymore. For you see, I can still remember when the idea of a university student working as a waitress, a cook or any other ‘demeaning’ job was a pipe dream. But look what’s happening today. The smiling young person serving your tea is probably a year shy of getting a Bachelor’s degree. I have hope that in a few years a fellow selling me a ‘I love Rwanda’ baseball cap will also regale me with financial statistics. Why? Because he works in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning. The writer is a journalist at The New Times Publications Ltd. Twitter: @sannykigali

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Why you need that ‘side hustle’