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Overheard some kid at Indigo Crow yesterday say freelancing is just 'side hustle culture'
Told him I‘ve been doing this since 2009 when it was just called 'being broke between paychecks' and he looked at me like I had two heads, anyone else feel like the whole vibe shifted from survival mode to people acting like it's a lifestyle choice?
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alext521d ago
Freelancing is just side hustle culture" yeah okay tell that to someone whose mortgage payment depends on finishing that proposal before Friday. The thing that bugs me is calling it a "hustle" at all. Hustle implies something temporary or extra, like flipping thrift store finds on eBay. But freelancing since before the apps took over was just... working. You found clients, you did the work, you hoped they paid you before your credit card bill was due. The whole vibe shifted when people started treating it like some kind of life hack instead of just the thing you do when the normal 9-5 door keeps slamming in your face.
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taylor.brooke1d ago
honestly i used to be on the other side of this argument. i thought freelancing was just a cool side thing people did for extra cash, like selling art on etsy or whatever. but then my buddy lost his job and started freelancing full time to pay his rent, and i saw how real it actually is. you're right that calling it a "hustle" makes it sound like a choice or a trend, not the grind it actually is. the whole vibe shift you mentioned is spot on, it sucked all the seriousness out of it and made it seem like a life hack instead of survival for a lot of people.
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taylor.brooke1d ago
@alext52 you're speaking my language here. my cousin was doing freelance graphic design for like three years before anyone even called it a hustle, she was just... working. paying her bills through a recession. then all these social media gurus showed up and suddenly her actual career was being lumped in with people who made $50 on fiverr once. it's wild how the word stripped all the weight out of the experience. like calling a plumber a "pipe artist" or something, totally misses the point.
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