Every day they’re hustling

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This article was published 14/10/2023 (1040 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Cyril Coulibaly did not start a side hustle to spice up his life so much as those of others.

After all, Robin’s Hall Spice Company aims to bring the taste of West African and Caribbean cuisine to Canadian kitchens and barbecues.

But like so many Canadians engaged in side hustles, the 31-year-old, who immigrated to Manitoba about a decade ago, started his gig out of necessity after finding himself unemployed during the pandemic.

“I was trying to figure out what I would do besides twiddling my thumbs,” says Coulibaly, who founded the company with his brother-in-law Boyd Barrett, whose Jamaican hometown serves as its namesake.

“We figured spices would be a nice way to get into the food and beverage market, and being immigrants, we would try to share culture and tastes with our fellow Canadians,” Coulibaly says, adding many existing spice rubs contained a lot of fillers.

“So, we figured we would create something that is healthier and 100 per cent spices.”

Their side hustle remains a work in progress.

Both work full time in other lines of work, but the two Manitobans are likely in good company, given the findings of the recent BMO Real Financial Progress Index.

It found the majority of millennials and generation Zs surveyed are experiencing high levels of financial anxiety amid higher costs.

“The financial anxiety, particularly with gen Z — 90 per cent of them have financial anxiety — that’s quite high,” says Gayle Ramsay, head of everyday banking at BMO.

But the survey also uncovered many are looking for solutions, including boosting their income to keep up with rising costs.

Notably, 48 per cent of younger millennials — those under age 34 — and 40 per cent of gen Zs, under age 25, are seeking more information on side hustles.

“Gen Zs and millennials have always taken a gig approach to work — that is working many different jobs versus one full time,” Ramsay explains.

In general, more Canadians are working part-time as recent job data from Statistics Canada showed with an unexpected rise in job growth driven by part-time hiring in September.

It’s like many Canadians are doing side hustles — from driving delivery SkipTheDishes to running micro-businesses like Coulibaly — too, as a Payments Canada study from May shows.

It found the gig economy was a key source of income for 12 per cent of workers, nearly nine million Canadians, with about one in five of those relying on gig jobs as their main source of income. About two in three of these workers still use their hustle to supplement their main income, the study found.

Indeed, many are likely Manitobans, hoping to parlay their passions into side hustles that could one day become fully-fledged businesses, says Caroline Ksiazek, a Winnipeg-based business development manager for Futurpreneur, a national non-profit supporting entrepreneurs, including side-hustlers.

“In fact, a side hustle is a great way of seeing if you like working for yourself before diving in,” she says, noting many work in full- or part-time occupations.

To help them get started, the organization has been running a popular side hustle loan program —offering up to $15,000 — for the last five years.

“Futurpreneur is one of the few lenders right now with a capped interest rate,” she says about the program requiring no collateral from borrowers.

The interest rate is prime plus three percentage points, but it has been capped at nine per cent amid high inflation.

“Otherwise, the rate would be more than 10 per cent right now,” Ksiazek notes.

In addition to the loan, entrepreneurs receive free mentoring from Futurpreneur experts, and they can also leverage its free online tools, including a business plan writer.

“You just answer a few questions, and the tool writes the plan for you,” she says.

“It’s the same thing with our cash flow template where you can calculate startup costs and project first and second year sales.”

One piece of advice Futurpreneur does not provide is with respect to taxes.

Instead, side hustlers should seek help on that front from their financial institution or an accountant.

“I have seen a lot of people do contract work and forget they have income to pay on their earnings, which can come as a big shock at tax time,” Ramsay says while recommending individuals set aside a portion of income to pay additional upon filing.

For the time being, Coulibaly and his brother-in-law are less focused on tax issues than they are on seeing their business become debt-free as they close in on paying off their Futurpreneur loan.

“Once that’s done, we’ll start to see profit,” he says, adding that free cash will then likely go toward marketing.

If Coulibaly has any advice for would-be side hustlers, it’s to not expect immediate success.

“It takes time, dedication and patience,” he says.

Challenges aside, all their hustle has been worth it.

“It’s like your baby that you see grow and develop, and you feel a lot of pride knowing what you’ve been able to do,” Coulibaly says.

Of course, earning extra bucks in challenging times doesn’t hurt either.