57 million Americans have a side hustle.

Have you ever thought about starting your own small business while you still hold down a full time job?

Incredibly, 57 million Americans do this. As of last Saturday there were 327,355,053 Americans. So, roughly, 1 out of 5 Americans has a side job, which can also be called a side hustle.

to hustle = to work very hard
to hustle someone = to cheat a person out of money, to lie to a person to get money unfairly

So 'hustle' in a side hustle is used as a noun even though the word is used primarily as a verb.

Here is an interesting article about this trend in American life. What really seems to be interesting is that Americans are pursuing their side hustles primarily to make extra money, and not out of a sense of enjoyment or enrichment or passion. 

How about you? What kind of side hustle would you like to create and would it just be to make extra money?

The article:
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/28/people-start-a-second-business-for-a-lot-of-reasons-but-mostly-its-this-one.html

Vocabulary to help you understand the article:

a side business - to start something on the side means that you already are doing something important, but you want to create something smaller as well. So a side business is a small, extra business.

pursuing a passion - doing something because you love it or desire to do it

the plain and simple truth - the basic truth

the side gig - the side job, the side business, the side hustle; gig means job

a finding - a discovery

finances were the main driver - money was the primary motivation

escaping the rat race - in the 1960s young people in the USA coined (created) the term 'rat race'. Being a part of the rat race meant you were living like a rat in a highly competitive society, just working, working, working, competing, competing, competing and not think much about what you were doing or could be doing instead. You were racing through life like a rat, and not savoring and understanding and appreciating life like a human being. So many young people wanted to 'escape from the rat race' - they wanted to find different types of jobs or activities that would make them feel better and help them learn more or appreciate life more.

it makes sense - it can be easily understood

myriad aspects - many different parts of something

affiliate marketing - getting other people to assist you as affiliates (junior partners) and rewarding them when they make sales for your brand

would-be side hustlers - possible side hustlers

he cites - he refers to, he points to

to monetize and scale - to make money and grow

an undying passion project - a project for which your passion will be undying (your passion will not die)

a viable model - a possible model, a realistic model

one caveat - one warning. caveat comes from the Latin expression: Caveat emptor!!! = Buyer, beware!!! (This means that before you buy something you should be super careful.)

to fall into a trap - to make a common mistake, like walking into a trap that someone has set to catch an animal

a paradigm-shifting idea - an idea which changes everyone's perspective or belief about something. 

proliferation - a fast multiplication of something, when something multiplies quickly

to break new ground - to do something new

to be empowering - to make one feel stronger and more confident

a transition - a change

to be primed for something - to be ready for something

an entrepreneur - a business person