These days, everyone has a side hustle. Your friends have them, your significant other, your siblings, maybe even your parents. Among young people especially, it feels like it's become as essential as, well, a regular day job. You can chalk this up to whatever you want – maybe it’s the state of our current economy. Maybe it’s that our generation is hell-bent on dismantling the stereotype of millennials being lazy and entitled. Or maybe it’s just that having spare cash is cool.

Whatever the reason, side gigs are here, and it doesn’t look like they’re going anywhere. And Lyft and Uber aren't the only game in town. Here's how you can find one for yourself.

Find Your Passion

Personally, I think the key to a successful secondary gig starts with thinking about your primary one – and then doing something totally different. If you’re one of those rare folks who has managed to turn their passion into a career, this might not apply to you, but a good side hustle often draws more on what you love more than what can net you the highest financial gain. It often involves something you love doing that doesn’t feel like work. For example, a friend of mine works a steady 9-to-5 day job, but in his spare time, he works on leather crafting.

He’ll put in standard office hours during the week, then spend his evenings messing around and making belts, bracelets, wallets, and other cool, one-of-a-kind goods. Then on weekends he’ll set up a table at local flea markets, bazaars, and trade shows and sell his work. He’ll also take commissioned work when he has time. It’s a longtime hobby of his that he’s now managed to turn into something that gives him more financial breathing room. And since it’s an operation he runs by himself, there’s no boss to answer to. He can do it when he wants, for as long as he wants, and if he needs a longer break from it, he’s free to take it.

Similarly, a few of my friends have found great side gigs in the form of freelance work. Some teach private music lessons while others have gotten licensed as personal trainers. These are, much like my friend’s crafting business, jobs that allow them to be their own bosses. They’re single-person operations that simply require knowledge of what’s being taught and an ability to manage one’s schedule. They also come with the added bonus of sharing your passion with others in a way that allows them to fall in love with it themselves. Teaching a young kid how to play guitar or helping someone get in shape is a tremendously rewarding experience. Jobs like these feed your heart just as much as your wallet.

Set Your Own Schedule

These gigs I've mentioned bring up another pretty crucial element of a good side hustle: it should be something you dictate, not vice-versa. Your primary job is going to have you on a pretty set schedule, be it a 9-to-5 (or maybe an 8-to-6) or an ever-changing weekly one. The liberty that comes with a side hustle is that it doesn’t have a binding schedule. Look at Uber and Lyft – neither company requires set hours for their drivers. This isn’t to say that there shouldn’t be any structure to your work at all, but rather that the time you put into it should be up to you, not any sort of boss.

It’s easy for me to draw on freelance writing as a point of reference for this. If I don’t have the time or energy for freelance work in addition to my day job and other responsibilities, I don’t have to pitch anything to my editors. That freedom alleviates a big chunk of the stress that comes with getting the work done.

Make it a Career

More often than not, especially when we’re younger, we find ourselves working day jobs that aren’t necessarily rooted in our passions, or even what we studied in college. It’s a bummer, yeah, but it’s the nature of getting bills paid. Sometimes the way we get that done isn’t all that fun.

Your side hustle could be where that changes. Because I very often see side gigs becoming the bedrock on which a career is built, it seems like the best decision you could make in finding one is making it something that can eventually turn into a career. When you’re approaching something as a passion project rather than a full-time job, there’s room for error. You can learn as you go, and get better at whatever it is you want to do, as you’re doing it . That's something you can’t quite do at a day job without seeing consequences. Think of your side hustle as an opportunity to build the resume that will get you the job you really want. And the harder you hustle, the sooner your side hustle can become your full-time one.

...Or Don't

Having said the above, it’s not imperative by any means. I don’t think my aforementioned friend is gunning to be a leather craftsman for the rest of his life. Sometimes we don’t need career boosters so much as we need a passion project. It’s just worth mentioning that if you want that passion to turn into a full-fledged career that you stay with for a long time, a side gig can be where that journey starts. If not? No worries. Just make sure you aren’t hustling for something that makes you miserable. It should be what you look forward to on weekends, not what you dread waking up for on Monday morning.

Not everyone is going to have the time to dedicate to a side hustle. We all have responsibilities outside of work – including the responsibility we have to take care of ourselves and not run ourselves ragged with jobs, side or otherwise – and sometimes those can be plenty time-consuming on their own. But if you find yourself in the position to take one on, I can’t recommend it highly enough. They can teach you a great deal about prioritizing, time management, and what you’re capable of when you’re your own boss. And at the end of a day's work, you've got some extra beer money to boot.

What are you waiting for? Get to hustling.

How (and Why) To Find a Side Hustle