12 Millennial Women On Earning Money Through A Side Hustle

"My 'side hustle,' as they say, started with bookbinding leather journals, and has since expanded into handbags and small leather accessories, like wallets and keychains. I've kept each entity separate with its own name or 'brand,' but all are housed under my main shop, FoxWood Provisions. Starting a small business on the side when you have a full-time job is challenging. I just love creating things. If I see something I like, I want to make it myself, make it better, make it different, and make it my own. I've always had a love and eye for designing, so this is my creative outlet where I get to do that. The fact that someone is willing to pay me for it is just an incredible and extremely humbling bonus!"

"I think Millennials represent the 'side hustle' generation, which is interesting to me because of the lazy stereotype also associated with our generation. Since my first job out of college, I always had a side job that filled a passion or supplemented income that I wasn't completely getting in my 9-to-5 environment. As I progressed in my career, having side jobs has helped pay for my wedding, save for travel experiences, and pay down debt. I believe that no one should have only one source of income, and that is especially true for women. It is important to diversify your money just in case one of your sources goes away. I am an Atlanta personal finance and lifestyle blogger for She Makes Cents (which I also founded), a landlord, and I also handle social media content for private clients in various industries. One nugget of advice: Make sure your side job/hustle does not create a conflict of interest that could compromise your main income stream."

"Last year, I started a local business called Ivory Consignment. We host pop-up events at which women and buy and sell their gently used, name-brand clothes, shoes, and accessories — think a consignment store filled with your favorite brands packed into a weekend-long, pop-up market. I started this to 1) create a place where I could sell my clothes and actually make money; 2) build relationships in my local community; and 3) put my copywriting and marketing skills to work for myself. I have loved learning so many firsthand lessons from the experience, and feel even more empowered as a Millennial business owner and female."

"I am currently doing my post-graduate studies in e-commerce and doing an accounting designation on the side, which is quite costly and time-expensive. I recently decided to take my passion for traveling and fashion and build a small online store, Inside My Luggage, to pay for my living and education expenses. Running a business is definitely not mastered overnight — it is a continuous learning process, and, not only will it make you business-savvy, but it will give you some important life lessons. I've learned so much about marketing, finance, selling, and more about my own strengths and weaknesses. My advice is to take what you love doing and start building something out of it. E-commerce has become easily accessible to anyone, cheap, and scalable to no end. Whether you start a blog, social media, make videos, or sell items online, you will be able to build a big fan base because the subject is what you know best and customers will see that."

"I do have a 'side hustle' in addition to my corporate position. I started a women's association, Women of Denver, that's become one of the more well-known organizations for women in the City of Denver. Women of Denver is a social enterprise association supporting women in reaching economic equality. We help women recognize their value, build influence in their field of business, and gain the confidence and skills to command higher pay. We also support nonprofit organizations that support the financial empowerment of women. What began as a personal strategy for network building has now become the most impactful thing I've ever done. Since launching in late 2014, I've connected thousands of women through the program and held over 100 events."

"My Brooklyn-based ceramics and naturally dyed linens brand, MostRecklessly, is dedicated to creating individual unique pieces for the eclectic collector and thoughtful gift giver — from your favorite cereal bowl to a personalized set of linen napkins for your next wedding gift. Deciding to create MostRecklessly was the easy part, but learning the business side and taking it full-time has been more difficult. As a first-time business owner and sole employee, I found that, while I still need to work full-time, positioning myself in companies that could provide me with the best learning experiences, like advertising or PR, would become golden. This way, I don't need to cut into my already shortened creative time in the evening, but am still able to advance my skills. From there, my next step was getting involved locally and opting into all the free webinars and classes or social media groups that I could find in order to continue building my network. Finally, one of the most important pieces of advice that I have is to write down and celebrate your achievements. It'll help when you hit a rough patch!"

"To help pay for my education, I started a side business of raising show-quality French Lop rabbits. In addition to that, my company, Busy Gals Homestead & Leah's Lovely Lops Rabbitry, teaches people how to take their homestead from hobby to business through courses and one-on-one coaching. We provide a selection of herbs, salves, and essential oils through our online Etsy shop, as well as the education on how to use herbs and essential oils with their pets and livestock. I only work a part-time job. My home based business brings in about one-third of my yearly income right now, and I am scaling up to be able to work from home by the end of 2017."

"My side hustle is doing PR and communications. Since that was my area of expertise before I left to pursue other passions, it made sense to apply my key learnings and make a little extra money out of it. What's great about it is, I can set my own hours and do it while I travel abroad. I'd recommend it if you're good at balancing your time and planning ahead, because it does require you to be on the ball — and, if something bad happens, it's on you. It may also get hard trying to manage the free time you wanted to have before getting involved in your side hustle, so make sure you plan ahead and know how much you want to invest in it (time and energy). The extra money does come in handy, though, for miscellaneous items."

"I started working my Avon business part-time under my mother at 17 when I was in high school, and I worked my business through college. At first, the extra earnings went to my school textbooks, but later went towards paying down my student debt — which I was able to fully pay down by age 29! Today, I work as a full-time architectural designer, and have found time to work my Avon business into my everyday schedule. I bring brochures wherever I go, take calls with my 150+ team members on my morning commutes, and am a walking model for Avon everyday — be it my makeup, skincare, clothing or, accessories. It's important to take the time to find your perfect 'side-hustle,' something you're passionate about and are willing to put in the extra time and hard work. I'm extremely passionate about empowering women, whether it be building their confidence with a new shade of lipstick or coaching them as they start Avon businesses of their own, so I'm always willing to go the extra mile. A 'side-hustle' opens so many doors — to new people, new learnings, and new opportunities. It’s been one of the best decisions I've ever made."

"By day, I am a PR/Social Media professional at an apparel company. Working in a corporate setting often does not allow for you to be as creative as you'd like, and there is a lot of red tape to bypass. Because of this, Non-Corporate Girls exists, a podcast that covers our frustrations with juggling a 9-5, which pays the bills, and nurturing our passions, also known as our 5-9s. Non-Corporate Girls aims to create a middle ground where both can flourish. Although starting a business is challenging, we started small. We set up studio time to record episodes, booked a photographer to use fresh images for our branding, and started with engaging people on social media to promote it. When starting any business, consistency is key. The brand will grow into a lifestyle movement that supports other women facing challenges when starting their own businesses and offer them resources, advice, and coaching to help them succeed. Being non-corporate is a mindset; it does not mean we are against working in a corporate setting, but we are against not making our dreams come true because we work in one."

"In the past, I took any side job I could get — on Craigslist, TaskRabbit, and more, in order to pay off my student loan debt. I also started my blog, DearDebt.com. My latest side project is LolaRetreat.com, a conference about women and money geared toward Millennials. My co-founder, Emma, and I are so passionate about helping other women manage their money. After dealing with our own financial struggles and coming out on the other side, we want to share financial empowerment with others. Money means more freedom and more choices, which is so important for women. We started it because it's a legacy/passion project for us. You know, 'What will people remember us by?' We hope it's that we've changed women's financial lives. This is our first year doing it, so it's definitely a side hustle with a full-time job amount of responsibility. But we're making it work with a lot of heart and hustle!"

"Starting a side hustle was a no-brainer for me. I pursued it for many of the same reasons that other Millennials do, to pursue my passion and gain new skills that I can't in my day job. Starting my blog, Optimistic Millennial, and becoming a contributor for Forbes has allowed me to help other Millennials, and also taught me so much about social media, marketing, SEO, and workplace trends. These days, Millennials who don't have some kind of side hustle, whether unpaid or paid, are behind the eight ball in advancing their careers."

As you can see, many Millennial women are all about the side hustle, and their side job passions vary greatly. Perhaps you can relate and you have a side hustle of your own, or perhaps you've been thinking about starting one. Whatever the case may be, know that it's definitely possible, whether you want to save more money for retirement or for the here-and-now (like a Fun Fund). One thing's for sure: You can definitely get inspired from the Millennial women above. I know I did.

Check out the “Get Money” stream in the Bustle App for more tips and tricks on how to save and spend your money.