3 Ways Your Side Hustle Could Stop You From Getting Promoted

Side hustles are great, but they do have their pitfalls.

The great thing about working a side hustle is getting the freedom of having more money at your disposal. It may be the case that you need most of your paycheck from your main job to cover your essential bills, like your mortgage, car payment, and food, leaving you with little cash left over for things like entertainment. But your side hustle income could give you more spending power for the things you love.

While there are certainly a number of benefits you might reap by working a side hustle, if you're not careful, that second job could make it harder to succeed at your main job. Here are just a few ways a side hustle might stop you from snagging a promotion at work -- and boosting your pay in the process.

1. You might lose out on sleep, which makes you less productive

There are only so many hours in the day, and if your main job requires you to work for eight or nine of them, between that, your commute, and your responsibilities like cooking and cleaning, holding down a side hustle could mean working until all hours of the night. Not only is that apt to be hard on your body, but it could impact your productivity during the day.

It's not a secret that a lack of sleep could lead to a decline in output. But if the only time to get your side hustle done is 10:00 p.m. until 1:00 a.m., you may end up seriously deprived of shut-eye.

2. You may have to dart out early instead of pitching in on key projects

Some side hustles are more flexible than others. But if you commit to a second job that requires you to be at a certain place at a certain hour, such as a tutoring gig or restaurant shift, then that could make it so you don't have the flexibility to put in extra hours at your main job.

Meanwhile, you never know when a last-minute project might pop up, or when a work emergency might arise that you're asked to help out with. If you're forced to constantly duck out of the office at 6:00 p.m. on the nose to get to your second job, it could reflect poorly on you, thereby making it harder to climb the ranks.

3. You might get overwhelmed and have that impact your performance

The simple act of having a second job could add to your stress load. And carrying around that stress could affect your performance at work. This holds true even if you're the type of person who normally manages stress pretty well. Let's face it: It's hard enough holding down one job, let alone two.

Be careful with your side hustle

None of this is meant to discourage you from going out and getting a second job. Just be realistic about the amount of time you can put into that second gig and the type of gig you can commit to. Limiting your side hustle hours and keeping your schedule flexible could lead to the best of both worlds -- extra money at your disposal without putting your main job on the line.