Why does everyone suddenly have a side hustle?

What do you want to be when you grow up? A teacher, a doctor, or a journalist — which was my dream, That was twenty years ago when your job title and the kind of work you did seemed to shape the life you would have. Today, I sit with my nieces and nephews and ask the same question, the ten-year-old proudly tells me he has already started his own gaming channel while my younger sister tells me about a friend who began building her fortune selling phone accessories online before she even started university. They all seem to agree on one thing, the goal is wealth that gives them freedom, and it does not necessarily have anything to do with a job or a profession.
These conversations always leave me with bigger questions, why are so many people today looking for something beyond a single job and a single source of income? Is it simply about making more money and buying a little freedom from the traditional nine to five, or are we also looking for something a salary alone may not give us - “a sense of purpose, ownership and meaning”?
A 2022 Harvard Business Review study found that 90 per cent of employees and executives surveyed around the world wanted their work to bring a sense of purpose to their lives. Perhaps then the side hustle is not always about the extra income and sometimes, it is about building something that feels like your own.
In recent years, this shift has become hard to miss in Oman, as small businesses seem to be everywhere, often starting from a phone or an Instagram account, selling everything from perfumes and clothes to cosmetics, homemade products and services.
And the numbers suggest this is more than just a social media impression. By mid-July 2025, Oman had 10,543 licensed e-commerce businesses, after growing at a compound annual rate of 191 per cent between 2020 and 2025, and local e-payment transactions also jumped from 67 million in 2024 to more than 168 million in 2025.
This is not just happening in Oman, as the same shift towards starting something of your own can be seen around the world, with more than 900,000 new businesses started in the UK in 2023 according to NatWest’s New Startup Index, while the number of online stores hosted by Squarespace jumped from around 12,700 in 2020 to 300,000 by early 2024, showing how quickly the idea of having your own small business has spread.
Although a side hustle can be a good way to earn some extra income as living costs rise, it can also give you the chance to try, plan and learn how to run something of your own. But as easy as it may seem - to start a business today with just a phone and a social media account - succeeding is another story, especially as more people enter the market and competition grows.
So perhaps keeping the day job is not such a bad idea after all. Research published in the Academy of Management Journal found that entrepreneurs who started their businesses, while keeping their jobs, had better chances of survival when they later moved into full-time entrepreneurship. So maybe a steady salary is still the safety net we need before becoming a little braver with our business adventures.
I am not sure whether this article has answered why people are no longer satisfied with just one job, or whether it will tempt you to try your own luck in the world of business. But one thing seems clear is that the question itself is changing. Perhaps “What do you want to be when you grow up?” is no longer the right one, as the new generation does not seem interested in defining itself by a single job title.
They can be employees, business owners and content creators all at once, and perhaps something completely different a few years later, so maybe the question we will hear more often in the future is simply: What do you want to build?

RAHMA AL KALBANI The writer is a journalist and writer specialising in economic and social affairs.