The Best Bandwagon for Money-Making Writers
By Mindy McHorse

How would it be to jump on the best bandwagon in town?

I’m talking about the good kind of bandwagon here — the kind that puts you in a space alongside people you want to be like.

As a matter of fact, back around the mid-1800s when bandwagons were a thing, they had a positive connotation.

Literally, these were wagons that carted around band members, most often for a parade. And a curious fellow named Dan Rice, who was a popular clown at the time, had a circus bandwagon.

Rice invited future-president Zachary Taylor to campaign on his circus wagon, taking advantage of its music to attract attention. Taylor’s campaign went on to grow and thrive.

His opponents were teased that they should jump on that same bandwagon if they wanted any success.

Today, “jumping on the bandwagon” in this sense lines up with the similar thinking that you are the average of the five people you spend the most time around.

Hang out with winners and folks full of integrity, then you’re more likely to do and feel the same.

So if your pure desire is to really craft the perfect freedom-filled life, it follows that you’ll want to hang out with writers who are doing that or have already done it.

People who, like you, are looking to create, build, and achieve, whether that’s in the form of earning more money, stepping away from your current job, traveling more, whatever.

Which is why I’d like to introduce the concept of the side hustle — but not from the typical viewpoint.

To most people, a side hustle is a way to earn a little extra money on the side, ideally by doing something you enjoy.

And that’s true. You can do that. But a side hustle is so much more, particularly if you’re a writer. For example,

• If you’re looking for more purpose … you can get that from a writing-based side hustle. Maybe you’re not able to move away from your full-time job, or you’re doing fine financially. A side hustle helps you find meaning in your work.
• If you desire to be more creative … perhaps your day-to-day has fallen into a routine that isn’t challenging or interesting anymore. Perhaps you can’t or don’t want to step away from it. Maybe you’ve mastered your job and there’s no room to grow. Maybe you care for kids or aging relatives and you’d like an escape. Side hustles give you all that and more.
• If you’re bored with where you are … because you picked your current career path when you were young, or you’ve been doing the same thing for decades, chances are the person you’ve grown to be is capable of doing much more.
• If you desire connection … side hustles, particularly when they overlap with your own interests or passions, are a top way to connect with those who relate to the things you hold high in importance.

In the writing world, virtually any type of paid project can be added in as a side gig. AWAI’s 2023 Copywriting Pricing Guide lists over 80 types of paid writing projects, so there’s bound to be one (or a few dozen!) that interest you.

But how do you even get started given your other life or work obligations?

I’ve spent the last dozen years interviewing hundreds of successful freelance writers who started in the world of writing by dabbling in something on the side.

And the winning habits I’ve observed are:

1. They got really, really organized. Whether you’re keeping track of your full-time work or a full-time family, side hustling works best if you plan ahead. That means eyeballing your calendar in advance every week to work out whether you’ll have a spare hour each night or five hours over the weekend to devote to your side hustle goals.
2. They were forced to prioritize. Particularly in our era of easy-grab, high-temptation living (social media scrolling, potato chips, Netflix … ), it’s all too easy to reach for things that sap our time and energy. Prioritizing your writing plans over all of these isn’t easy, but it is the answer to getting things done.
3. They adopted a business mindset. This is actually a trick that helps you prioritize: Instead of looking at your writing goals as fun hobbies, look at them as the business opportunity they are, which is to say they can absolutely earn you thousands of dollars in extra cash. You can even assign a dollar amount to your time. Let’s say you value yourself at $100 an hour … which means any time you have a spare two hours but you choose goofing off over writing, well, that just cost you a couple hundred bucks.

And here are the things successful side hustlers I know have done to launch go-big, money-making ventures in their free time:

First, get clear on your purpose. Why do you want to start a side hustle in the first place? Are you looking to back your way out of a job while growing your writing income? Do you want to have some side money to fund vacations and college savings accounts? Having a clear why helps you overcome the initial challenges of starting and maintaining focus in the early days of your side hustle.

Second, honor your skills and interests. You’ll get off the ground faster and more easily if you begin in an area where you already have skills or knowledge. What you don’t want to do is pick a niche industry or writing specialty just because someone else said it’s easy or it’ll make you the most money. At the end of the day, you don’t want to be tortured by what you’re doing. It’s fine if you have lots to learn in that area or skills to acquire. It’s not fine if the whole journey is painful or distasteful to you.

Third, start small. Setting a goal of earning a hundred grand in your first year of side hustling sets you up to be seriously bummed out. So consider that many side hustles take a few months of legwork to get off the ground, and then plan to celebrate the little milestones (like your first earned dollar or your first paycheck from a client!). Once you start making a little money, then you can think about scaling up and setting those big goals.