Oct 19, 2026 · 4 min · 3 segments
Why Side Hustles Keep You POOR ~ Leila Hormozi
Leila HormoziHost
So here's the top three reasons why I'm not really a fan of side hustles given what I just told you.
The first one is that if you're trying to build multiple skills at once, you are going to get beat by the person who is focusing on one skill.
If I focus on sales and I focus on mastering sales to the best of my ability for two years, will I be better or worse than the person who focused on sales, they also focused on marketing, they also tried to sell a course on the side, and they also had an Etsy store? Who's gonna have more depth of skill? The riches are going to follow people who have mastery.
And so if you don't have mastery but you're just a jack of all trades, typically you're gonna end up making less money in the long run than those who truly have mastery.
Especially in a market like today when people are so transparent, you can tell who's bullshitting and who's not.
So these guys who are making 20, 30 grand a month, once their audience finds someone who's actually more skilled and who has actually put the time into that, they're gonna go leave him and go for that person because they see through him and they see that he's not actually a master of that skill.
The second reason I'm not a fan of side hustles is because I think it's very short-term focused.
Oftentimes, it's usually because people can't decide and they don't have clarity around what they really want to invest in terms of growing their skill set.
And I think that a lot of times people don't put the time into that, and they just decide to do a bunch of different little things because they can't decide what that thing is.
You don't become really good at any one thing, you just become okay or mediocre at a bunch of little things.
Right now it might be very appealing to make 20 or 30 grand a month, and you're like, "All these people are making 20, 30 grand a month." My mind immediately throws up a red flag.
Even if I'm not sure, what I've always followed is I should never do what everybody else is doing.
All these people are doing it, I'm like, "I don't wanna end up like all those people." I don't see the point in doing something unless I'm gonna be the number one and best in world at it.
If everybody else is going and doing these side hustles, become the unfair advantage by focusing on one thing and beating all of them in that one thing.
So here's the top three reasons why I'm not really a fan of side hustles given what I just told you.
The first one is that if you're trying to build multiple skills at once, you are going to get beat by the person who is focusing on one skill.
If I focus on sales and I focus on mastering sales to the best of my ability for two years, will I be better or worse than the person who focused on sales, they also focused on marketing, they also tried to sell a course on the side, and they also had an Etsy store? Who's gonna have more depth of skill? The riches are going to follow people who have mastery.
And so if you don't have mastery but you're just a jack of all trades, typically you're gonna end up making less money in the long run than those who truly have mastery.
Especially in a market like today when people are so transparent, you can tell who's bullshitting and who's not.
So these guys who are making 20, 30 grand a month, once their audience finds someone who's actually more skilled and who has actually put the time into that, they're gonna go leave him and go for that person because they see through him and they see that he's not actually a master of that skill.
The second reason I'm not a fan of side hustles is because I think it's very short-term focused.
Oftentimes, it's usually because people can't decide and they don't have clarity around what they really want to invest in terms of growing their skill set.
And I think that a lot of times people don't put the time into that, and they just decide to do a bunch of different little things because they can't decide what that thing is.
You don't become really good at any one thing, you just become okay or mediocre at a bunch of little things.
Right now it might be very appealing to make 20 or 30 grand a month, and you're like, "All these people are making 20, 30 grand a month." My mind immediately throws up a red flag.
Even if I'm not sure, what I've always followed is I should never do what everybody else is doing.
All these people are doing it, I'm like, "I don't wanna end up like all those people." I don't see the point in doing something unless I'm gonna be the number one and best in world at it.
If everybody else is going and doing these side hustles, become the unfair advantage by focusing on one thing and beating all of them in that one thing.
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