Get your side hustle on and make the most of the changing landscape of work

Put your hobbies to good use by turning them into a side gig that can capitalise on the new ways we work and live post-pandemic, writes Hamish McRae

Crafting is just one of the ways people are making money from their hobbies (iStock)

Got a side gig going? Side gigs, aka side hustles, have been booming since the lockdowns. From Wales to New Zealand, people have figured out new ways of making money from their hobbies, using their spare time to start new businesses or just doing a bit of freelance work.

A lot of the evidence is anecdotal and much of this activity is under the radar, but the US has some fascinating data which does confirm a surge in business formations. The US Census Bureau shows monthly applications for tax IDs, which were running around 300,000 before the pandemic, reached 488,000 in April. In the UK there was a similar rise in new businesses, with 781,000 registered last year at Companies House compared with 691,000 in 2019.

Again, a lot of people are finding ways to make money as sole traders, without formally registering a business to do so, so these numbers are just the tip of the iceberg.