Side Hustles (In Los Angeles)
—Side Hustles (In Los Angeles)—
Are an everyday part of life for many Angelinos (including myself). Living in Los Angeles is expensive. To live comfortably in Los Angeles is damn near impossible. Luckily, the Beautiful One and I have—through years of hard work and smart financial decisions—made living comfortably in LA a reality. We are grateful and fortunate and have been aggressively saving and investing to purchase our first home—hopefully within the next couple of years.
And my side hustles have helped to make this happen.
(Not any real insight here; mostly a breakdown of my work outside of work. Read onward if uninterested. You’re not missing much, I promise.) I define the side hustle as an at-will engagement to contract with another party outside your full- or part-time job. I maintain (as of this writing) three of them, which combined, help to generate an additional $1200-1700 of income per month. They are as follows:
TUTORING — I tutor four days per week for a few different families. Most of my clients are high school aged, though I’ve worked with middle schoolers before. I’m proficient in math (thru AP Statistics) and, with my experience as an AP Exam reader and high school English teacher, can tackle most humanities- and language arts-based assignments. It helps that I enjoy the work and requires no preparation on my part. I also get to develop relationships with cool students and families outside of Temple City HS (I’ve worked with one for the past five years; fun to see these students grow).
MUSIC — Music has opened for me a lot of doors. Since high school, I’ve probably played over 500 live shows; I’ve gotten to groove with hundreds of artists; and I’ve met some great friends. Drummers—relative to the other mainstay players—are often in high demand. And not all gigs pay terribly. I’ve tried to capitalize on this: I gig twice a month at various churches, and sit-in for groups who are absent a drummer—infrequently; about 4-5 times a year. Good San Juan will sometimes play a show and will sometimes get paid. Playing and writing music is another of my creative outlets and I’m thankful I can squeeze some cash out of it.
POKER — I’ve scaled back my playing to twice a month (Perhaps a future post dedicated to poker...). I play no-limit Texas Hold-Em locally in Los Angeles, and Las Vegas (3-4 visits per year). Mostly cash games. I study the game away from the table and, though it’s part of the game, try to minimize losses (remember, it’s a long-term game; you only lose when you pull out:)). It’s a high-risk-high-reward endeavor, but it gets the blood pumpin. It’s also addicting. Be careful with it.
All these make for a busy schedule, but I enjoy them; they feel productive. I could probably devise ways to generate more passive income (the Beautiful One and I are working on that), but I’d still like to maintain the hustles I’ve worked hard to establish. They require time and my presence, so I organize my weeks as efficiently as possible so as to limit inconveniences, e.g. traffic patterns, proximity to the gym, etc.. But writing, friends, and time with the Beautiful One take priority—for the most part :))).
The side hustles are fun and help to make my life a little more interesting. Most of the additional income is saved or goes toward my student loans or travel or watches, or drum stuff.
If you can manage it and/or are looking for some extra income, give the side hustle a try. See what happens. Live life like a leprechaun lap-dancing on a lily. Or just live life.
I hope you’re having a great morning.
Peace and love,
-Taylor
TJH -- 03.03.2025