2025 Side Hustle Guide: Going Solo in the Digital Age

The Rise of Solo Workers in the Digital Era

In the age of AI, the number of people going solo will only increase. In the era of the internet and social media, a large number of individuals or small studios have emerged.

One person or a small group of three to five people can create huge value, achieve financial freedom, or at least have more freedom compared to many regular employees.

There's a saying: You don't have to do it, but you can't not know how.

The same goes for going solo. You may choose not to go solo, but you should have the ability to do so. Ideally, you should have the skills, courage, knowledge, opportunities, and resources to go solo and succeed at any time.

Having a sword but not using it is completely different from not having a sword at all.

However, the skills developed in a corporate job are often the opposite of what's needed for solo work.

In larger companies, job roles are more specialized. While specialization brings expertise, it also limits an individual's vision and makes it difficult to understand the entire business cycle.

I saw a joke online about imperial chefs in the palace. The gist is that when these chefs went to the outside world, they couldn't cook a complete meal. Some were great at knife skills, like carving on leaves, but couldn't finish a dish on their own.

Who Has a Higher Chance of Success When Going Solo?

People in sales or marketing positions are more likely to succeed when going solo.

The most straightforward way to go solo is to sell things. You can set up a street stall to sell snacks or daily necessities, or sell products online.

This doesn't require advanced technology, and you don't even need to produce the products yourself.

You just need to find a decent product and sell it to others.

Some might ask: Is this considered entrepreneurship? I've never said it's entrepreneurship. And entrepreneurship doesn't mean you have to create something completely new.

Don't make it sound so fancy. It's just the logic of doing business, which is simply selling things.

Before the internet and social media, self - employed individuals could do some things, but their scope was very limited, and their growth ceiling was low. With the internet, especially the emergence of social media, the barriers for self - employed individuals have been lowered, and the growth potential has increased.

The barriers are lower because you need less capital. You can make money without renting a physical store.

The growth potential is higher because you can use the internet to increase your profits and sales.

The emergence of AI has accelerated productivity and improved efficiency, enabling you to do things you couldn't do before. For example, if you couldn't code before, now you can with AI. If you couldn't draw or do design, AI can help you achieve that.

Previously, you had to learn things from scratch, hire someone to do the work, or recruit employees. Now, with AI, you can do it yourself. It enriches your skills and boosts your work efficiency.

Starting a Side Hustle to Overcome Confusion

I saw a view on a short - video platform the other day. It said that if you're confused, you should learn sales.

Confusion often stems from not knowing what to do, what you're capable of, or what can make you money.

If you do sales and sell things, the only questions you need to answer are: What are you going to sell, and who are your customers, and where can you find them?

To figure out what to sell, you can search on various online platforms, like e - commerce platforms or social media platforms, to find out which products are popular and easy to sell, and then sell those.

This is also a way for most people to start a side hustle.

Starting a side hustle on your own can help you break free from confusion. Keep it up!

Daily Reading & Writing by Xiaolu 2025.04.10 [Day 584]