Under Increasing Cost-of-Living Pressure, Many Australians With Full-Time Jobs Are Taking On a Side Hustle

And they’re finding breakout success.

Article by Nina Hendy

Side HustlersFrom left: Boss Media founder and actor Tahlia Crinis. Photograph by Sally Flegg Photography; The brand strategist and now gallerist Damian Madden. Photography by Rose Jiiwulee Madden / A.Single.Piece.

Working full-time as chief of staff for one of the world’s biggest tech brands keeps Clare Barrins more than busy. She relocated to Silicon Valley from Melbourne almost seven years ago for what many would consider a dream role operating within the upper echelons of leadership. Although it can be demanding and challenging at times — one day, Barrins could be mapping out and executing a strategic plan, the next managing stakeholders and working out how to improve operational efficiency for the tech juggernaut — she loves the work. Yet Barrins always wanted to pursue her own business. On and off for the past decade, she has been working on various ideas, but never fully progressed them. That was until 2022, when she conceptualised plans for a new venture after trying to buy new swim shorts and finding none in stores that appealed to her. “Due to my own insecurities and not wanting to wear traditional swimsuits, I was living on the sidelines,” she says, “missing out on these moments with my children and friends.”

Now, after a long day in the office, she ticks over to Australian business hours to work on her side hustle, Sheila, a swim- and activewear brand she launched last year, having built it from scratch. “I’m on Zoom most nights of the week, actively working with the Sheila teams in Australia,” Barrins says of the brand, which instantly found a niche. Australian sales have grown 25 per cent year-on-year and Barrins plans to expand into the US market later this year. Right now, Australia has a vibrant side-hustle culture, as motivated, entrepreneurial people close their front door after a day at work and then begin building businesses they can call their own. The barriers to entry are relatively low thanks to the availability of a wide range of online tools and services to help set up new businesses, empowering go-getters to push ahead with their side hustle. Meanwhile, real wage growth remains relatively stagnant against the high cost of housing amid a shortage that’s at crisis levels, prompting households to tighten the belt, pick up extra work where they can and get creative about how to grow their income. New research by Great Southern Bank shows that Australians are looking for ways to combat unrelenting cost-of-living pressure and keep home ownership in sight by taking matters into their own hands, rather than leaving it up to their boss to dictate their financial worth. Two in three (64 per cent) of Australians say their financial plans have been set back by at least 12 months due to the current economic climate, and 67 per cent of homeowners have started or say they are considering a side hustle or second job to help cover loan repayments. Meanwhile, labour force data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that 6.5 per cent of people have more than one job.

It’s hardly surprising. The cost of living crisis is dragging on as households battle against the highest inflation rate in more than 30 years. Living costs have risen as much as or higher than the Consumer Price Index, with food prices up 7–8 per cent and utility costs up 12–14 per cent. A second research report from the web hosting company GoDaddy found that establishment costs for side hustles were low in many cases. Almost a third of respondents set up their side hustle for less than $500, and the majority are making at least $2,500 per month from it (almost a quarter are earning 10 times that). More than half (56 per cent) say they spend less than 10 hours a week running their new venture.

Damian Madden
The brand strategist and now gallerist Damian Madden. Photography by Rose Jiiwulee Madden / A.Single.Piece.
Upcyle founder Kylie Wallace
Upcyle founder Kylie Wallace. Photograph by Giorgia Maselli.

This path to a supplementary income stream also appealed to Damian Madden, a busy brand strategist who has co-founded a contemporary art gallery in Sydney’s Surry Hills area with his wife, Rose Jiiwulee Madden. He describes A.Single.Piece as an “immersive art experience” that exhibits artists from across the Asia-Pacific region, with a particular focus on art from Korea (Rose is Korean). The gallery also derives income from offering art advisory services to brands and businesses. Madden, the father of two young children, believes in the power of art to transform lives, and recognised the opportunity to do something different that provided a platform for artists to gain greater exposure for their work. “Since our launch late last year, we’ve held the Australian debut shows for seven artists, and 70 per cent of our artists are based overseas, selling pieces priced between $2,000 and $5,000 each,” he says.

Helping people sell their unwanted items and sharing the profits with them has become a reasonably profitable side hustle for Kylie Wallace. By day, she’s the CEO of the charity matching service Seedling Giving. As it’s her own venture, she has the flexibility to try her hand at other social enterprises. She spotted a chance to help households wanting to declutter, and launched the Melbourne-based business Upcycle. Most of its customers want help selling household goods like furniture, rugs and art, but the company has also sold gym equipment, a camper van and electrical items including a vintage turntable. While it’s early days, Upcycle has already proven profitable after 20 sales, with a deceased estate in Melbourne’s Brighton neighbourhood contributing to a record week’s takings of $12,000. Wallace is now in talks with investors to scale the business.

Conservative spending trends have sparked growth in the second-hand economy, while many consumers want greener products as they look for ways to shrink their carbon footprint. “Australians want to do their bit to reduce their waste, recycle household products and lighten their impact on the planet,” Wallace says. “But they’re time poor and fearful of being scammed.” Wallace draws a modest monthly salary from Seedling Giving, which represents about 75 per cent of her personal income, while Upcycle earnings constitute the rest. “Helping people and the planet is my passion,” she says. “I’m so grateful to be working in this space and helping to make a difference through these two very different and unique ventures. At the moment, income generated from Seedling Giving is reinvested in the business to help it grow, while Upcycle is great for being able to generate quick cash to keep everything afloat.”

Tahlia Crinis.
Boss Media founder and actor Tahlia Crinis. Photograph by Sally Flegg Photography.

Tahlia Crinis brings in extra dollars by picking up acting gigs, despite already working long days at her own Sydney-based PR business, Boss Media. After auditioning for acting school and studying two nights a week for a year, she has been training and building her experience, mostly in theatre and short films, and working as an extra. “I put the extra money I earn back into acting, paying for professional headshots, acting classes, filming showreel footage and paying subscriptions to all the platforms actors need,” Crinis says. While Crinis has always loved acting, she says that when she was growing up, a grandparent, along with schoolteachers and friends, urged her to get a “real job”, so she went into public relations. In 2016, her husband encouraged her to finally give acting a go. “People say the acting bug never goes away and for me, that’s true,” she says. “I always found myself thinking ‘what if’, because acting felt like an out-of-reach dream. So I decided to do something about it.”

Crinis has had some incredible opportunities already, including being picked as a stand-in for Asher Keddie on the drama series “The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart”, for which Crisis spent two months filming around rural New South Wales, and getting to watch Mark Wahlberg and Ryan Gosling in action. One day, she hopes to find fame and fortune herself.

Natalie Scanlon
Writer and Oska & Ed founder Natalie Scanlon. Photograph courtesy of Natalie Scanlon/Oska & Ed.
Jacqueline Beltz
Okkiyo founder Dr Jacqueline Beltz. Photography by Ksenia Belova.

Sometimes, ideas for side hustles seem to land in your lap. Dr Jacqueline Beltz, an  ophthalmologist, has become a beauty boss after seeing countless patients with sensitive eyes having to forego eye makeup. It was difficult to know which products to recommend, because most weren’t tested on people with sensitivities. “Traditional teaching in ophthalmology has always exacerbated the issue,” Beltz says. “Most ophthalmologists are men, and the teaching was always to tell patients not to wear makeup. The problem was, I hated that advice. I didn’t want to take makeup away from people.”

Beltz decided to create her own makeup line, starting with mascara. It meant learning about mascara science, branding, business and entrepreneurship — Beltz admits she was naive about how much work and expense would be involved. Eventually, she launched Prioriteyes mascara, and promptly sold more than double her projected sales. Beltz’s brand, Okkiyo, is the first Australian beauty brand dedicated to the more than two billion people globally with low vision. Okkiyo now has 19 stockists in Australia and an online store, and more products in development. Beltz hopes to disrupt the beauty industry and change the game for those with vision impairments, eye sensitivity and allergies. “Most of the stockists have come to me,” she says. “When I have time, I’ll focus on this more and I’m sure we can have a lot of retailers, but for now the slow approach is working nicely and is at least manageable.”

For many side hustlers, it can take a while to turn a profit — and there are tax implications to consider. But the adage “It is better to have tried and failed than to have never tried at all” seems to propel these entrepreneurs forward, making the effort feel worthwhile.

Natalie Scanlon, a freelance writer, has created a range of vegan leather tote bags and briefcases under the brand Oska & Ed. While she admits the initial investment was substantial, working directly with the manufacturer cuts out middleman costs, meaning the profitability of the product is relatively high at $300 for the tote. Scanlon is confident that in time, the investment will pay off. “Making the business financially successful means I have to launch products individually for the time being,” she says. “Each product launch and subsequent sales are then reinvested into the business to support the next product launch.”

Inspiration for Scanlon’s side hustle came from attending an event in Sydney. “I noticed that the majority of attendees were reaching for their phone,” she says. “So many attendees were looking for a seat near a power point to charge their devices.” The problem was so noticeable, it distracted her from the event. So Scanlon created the Muse planner with internal power bank and wireless charger ($180). While Scanlon admits that her side hustle is essentially “also her social life”, she says she’s happy building the business.

In Silicon Valley, Barrins says managing a side hustle in addition to a full-time job is a major juggle. She says she doesn’t think she has yet nailed work-life balance — “I’m not sure anyone who’s juggling a full-time job, a business and a family does,” she says — but employing a part-time nanny for school pickups and help with extracurricular activities certainly helps. “I do lead quite a scheduled life,” Barrins says. “I block my calendar as needed and book things in advance, and I say no to a lot of things.”

Beltz says that it always helps to celebrate the wins, no matter how small. “It’s easy to get stuck in the grind and forget to do that,” she says. “The to-do list is infinite when you start a small business, so the most important tasks need to be at the top. Also, done is better than perfect. Some tasks need to be absolute perfection, but others just need to be done, and I try not to get the two mixed up.”

Above all else, a side hustle requires a degree of passion, says the gallerist Damian Madden. “If you can tie it to something that’s important to you or provides additional benefits outside of financial ones, then that makes it easier to push through and maintain the motivation when times are hard or you’re pushed for time.” Madden says it’s critical to have realistic expectations, constantly reassess your goals and be prepared to walk away if it doesn’t make you happy. “Having that plan can make the decision making easier and less emotional,” he says. “Because you’ve invested a lot of yourself in this project, it may be hard to see the forest for the trees down the line.

“You also need to set some rules to make sure you maintain a balance with the other aspects of your life, especially if this is effectively a second job and you do it at home,” Madden continues. “It can be all too easy [for the side hustle] to take over your life.”

Kylie Wallace agrees. Her advice for those managing multiple ventures is to focus on building a strong support system, prioritise tasks that drive the most value and be disciplined with your time. “Also, be willing to adapt and make changes as you go,” she says. “Flexibility is key to thriving when juggling multiple roles. Remember that balance is dynamic — some weeks one venture may need more attention than the other, and that’s OK. The goal is to maintain overall progress and impact across all fronts.”