The Side Hustle I Almost Started (And Why I Didn’t)

A woman walks down the street, pushing a stroller with her sleeping 2-month-old inside. Her body is recovering from birthing her third child, but her mind is restless. She has headphones in, listening to a My First Million podcast with Alex Hormozi.

She is mesmerized. Hormozi is one of the most popular business teachers on Youtube. He has risked it all, lost it all, and won it all. Shaan Puri asks him what he would do if starting from scratch, and he answers “healthcare - specifically ‘pseudo-medical’” businesses like med spas because the supply/demand inequality is massive. Every med spa he's walked into is crushing it. Most owners don't even realize it's abnormal to have this many customers. “When I see a lot of people who don't know what they're doing all making a lot of money,” he says, “there's something there that's good.”

She decides: this is IT! After years of thinking about starting something and giving herself a deadline to move forward by the end of maternity leave, she’s found her answer. She can do some quick research on med spas (which she has never been to) and lead gen (which she hasn’t done in over 8 years) and start pitching local businesses.

She dives in. She listens to more Hormozi content, develops an offer (“We guarantee 15 New Booked Consultations in the first 30 days, or we work for FREE until you hit that number”) and brainstorms company names with her AI friend. She’s excited about finding something like Alohomora - the Harry Potter spell that unlocks doors - since she’d be helping med spas “unlock” growth.

Her husband asks how she’ll actually help these med spas get more booked consultations. She has a vague idea based on what her AI friend told her, but she hasn’t set up any ads or automations yet. She figures she’ll learn as she goes. She builds a half-baked landing page using Lovable and gets frustrated because iterating in Lovable is way too hard. She cold outreaches to 20 LA med spa business owners on LinkedIn.

Time goes by and she hasn’t made much more progress. She does have a newborn at home so free time is limited - but even in her free time, she’s not inspired to work on this. She questions it. Maybe she won’t “love” her side hustle, but financial freedom is the most important thing, so maybe it’s still smart even if it’s not fun.

One day, she talks to a different AI friend and shares her hesitations. This AI friend explains to her that even though it is an amazing idea for Alex Hormozi - or for those with sales or lead generation backgrounds - it is not an amazing idea for her. It does not leverage any of her existing skills or experiences. She agrees and re-opens the side hustle brainstorm.

Her new AI friend asks different questions. Not "what sounds like a good opportunity?" but "what are you actually good at?" and "what do you enjoy doing?"

She lists her background: 15 years across product, operations, and business development. B2B and B2C. Startups and Fortune 100 companies. A few years in venture capital. She could do consulting, sure. She could build software. Both make sense on paper.

But then she mentions that she’s been posting on TikTok for a month straight and, though she has no idea what she’s doing, how she’s enjoyed the creative outlet. The thing she's been doing for fun while figuring out the "real" side hustle.

The AI asks: "What if that IS your side hustle?"

She pauses. Wait, what? Content creation? That's not a real business. That's just... posting videos. Anyone can do that. (And a lot of people are.) What would make her stand out here?

But the AI pushes back. “You're not just ‘posting videos.’ You're building an audience of people who relate to your specific experience - ambitious parents trying to build something while barely keeping it together. You're sharing insights from 15 years of experience, mixed with real talk about parenting and wanting financial freedom. That's not generic content. That's a niche. That's a voice.

And yes, a lot of people are creating content. But most of them quit after three months because they're chasing views instead of building something real. Most of them are trying to be someone else instead of just being themselves.

What makes you stand out? You're not a guru. You're not pretending you have it figured out. You're a Stanford-educated product leader with three kids who's exhausted and ambitious and sarcastic and real. That's differentiated.”

She sits with this. It feels too simple. Too obvious? Shouldn't a side hustle be more complicated than "keep doing what you're already doing"?

But then she realizes: She's been making this harder than it needs to be. She's been looking for the clever answer when the real answer was right in front of her.

The AI explains: “This is how every creator-entrepreneur starts. Free content first. Build trust and an audience. Then monetize through sponsorships, products, advisory, courses - whatever makes sense once you have people who care.”

It's not fast. It's not a get-rich-quick scheme. But it's real. And more importantly - it's something she'll actually do.

She realizes: She's been so focused on what she SHOULD build (software, consulting, lead gen for med spas) that she missed what she's ALREADY building.

—

In case after all this you had not guessed, that woman was me. And I'm NOT starting a lead gen business for med spas! You can’t make me!

I'm also not building software right now.

I'm also not doing consulting.

I'm creating content. Documenting my journey of trying to build something while parenting three kids and working full-time. Sharing what I'm learning about side hustles, career, ambition, and making it all work (barely).

Is it the "smartest" opportunity? Probably not. Will it make money quickly? No.

But here's what I learned: The best side hustle isn't the one that sounds impressive. It's the one you'll actually stick with.

You can't build something you don't enjoy. You can't sustain something that drains you. And you definitely can't spend months working on something that makes you avoid your computer.

So I'm building the thing I'm already doing. The thing I actually like. The thing that uses my skills (strategic thinking, creating, shipping) without forcing me to learn an entirely new domain.

Maybe in six months I'll pivot. Maybe I'll build software or take on advisory clients. But for now? I'm just having fun creating, learning, and figuring out how to grow an audience on TikTok.

And that's enough.

—

If you're stuck trying to figure out what to build, stop looking for the "perfect opportunity." Look at what you're already doing that you enjoy. Look at what leverages your actual strengths. Look at what you'd keep doing even if no one was watching.

That's probably your answer.