Creative Side Hustles for the Extroverted Introvert

Extroverted-introvert: it sounds like oxy-moronic bulls**t, but I stand by it. To me, an extroverted-introvert is someone who needs just enough socialization and more than plenty of alone time. This is me to a T. I live alone, work alone, and don’t go out unless I make an effort to. I’m perfectly happy to hermit around in my house, Netflix-ing and chilling by myself and a $5 Merlot. But, I’ll admit, I can go a bit stir-crazy. Sometimes, I just want to be around people, make them laugh, and have fun. Even better if I can do it and get paid for it.

And, guess what? It’s completely within the realm of possibility. Because there’s such gigs out there as…

Hosting Trivia

I value knowledge for knowledge’s sake, and have been this way for as long as I can remember. Pub trivia, Jeopardy!, Trivia Crack, Quizbowl… these have all been big parts of my life at one point or another.

For four years straight, friends and I met at a local restaurant once per week to play trivia. One day, the company posted a Facebook ad calling for applicants, and the idea of hosting electrified me: it was as exciting as it was terrifying. I had zero public speaking experience, and even though I thought I was entertaining, I was humble enough to realize that maybe my jokes weren’t that funny.

But, I took a chance. I wrote an obnoxious list of why I would be the perfect hostess, interviewed, and landed the gig. I hosted for two and a half years before I moved on to other ventures; I’m incredibly glad that I stepped so far outside of my comfort zone. Not only is public speaking a crazy marketable skill, but it boosted my confidence, improvisational abilities, and social skills – bars are full of drunks and hecklers, and if you can perform gracefully under fire, then you can conquer most anything in life.

As for the extroverted-introvert in me, I felt like I was hanging out with a group of friends for two hours, and then I would leave them until next week’s show. It was perfect.

Plus, it was solid money for a side hustle, paying between $50-$80 for a three-hour show. Not enough to break the bank, but for something that strengthened numerous resume skills, I’ll take it.

Face-painting

This was actually my first paying job at the tender age of sixteen. I worked at an apple orchard on the weekends, and my supervisor took a chance on my art skills one day and assigned me to the face-painting booth. Donning the required clown costume, I faked my way through my first shift, and eleven years later, I’m still going strong. Somewhere early on, I struck out on my own, as I realized people will pay way more than $5.15/hour for face-painting (yes, that was the minimum wage back way back when).

Out of all of my creative side hustles, face-painting is my main squeeze. With a little bit of clever social media marketing, initiative, and word-of-mouth referrals, the income from it has grown to where I need to pay taxes on it (…unfortunately).

I get the socialization of working with happy people at parties who feed me and compliment me on my artistic abilities. It feels good, plus I thoroughly enjoy the work that I do. Were it possible, a diet of nothing but color and glitter could sustain me for life.

Plus, the pay is great, and I get my lifetime fill of being around children without actually committing to having a child myself.

Mystery Shopping

Mystery shopping is an awesome side hustle. If you follow my income reports, you can read exactly how much pocket change I make from it per month and what freebies I garner from it. It’s a rather perfect side hustle in that it’s easy to get started, not background experience required in most instances, and you get paid to shop/eat at restaurants/go to the movies/etc.

As for where it falls on the extroversion-introversion spectrum, I would say it actually leans more on the side of being a side hustle for introverts. You aren’t actively MC-ing or working with people at an event – in fact, that’s pretty much the antithesis of mystery shopping. It’s only slight extroversion in the sense that it gets you out of the house and sometimes you have to interact with employees.

Interested in a referral to the mystery shopping company I work with? Leave it in a comment below or drop me a line!

Working on a Cruise Ship

Not exactly on the mark as far as creative side hustles go, which is why I left this bullet point for last. I considered my time on a cruise ship as a side hustle because I joined knowing full well that it was a temporary (yet profitable) adventure and a diversion from ‘real life’.

This was the ultimate fulfillment of creative extroverted-introversion for me. I was part of the on-board entertainment and activities staff, so my job duties were essentially ‘have fun with the guests’; dancing, game-shows, socializing… even drinking (there was a weekly Roaring Twenties themed party where we all drank ‘tea’). I even made use of my previous side hustle skills hosting on-board trivia four times a week.

When work was done, if there wasn’t an all-crew party or [India/Brazil/Philippines]’s Independence Day, it was easy to be an introvert if I wanted to. I either kept up with a few close friends or cozied up in my cabin with my Kindle and a bottle of wine. If we were in port, I ventured out by myself to a beautiful beach and just floated for hours, staring at the clouds, and thinking about I’d found my Happy Place.

.+++.

Those have been my noteworthy creative side hustles to date to fulfill this introvert’s need for a little bit of extroversion. There’s an infinite number of side hustles out there, suited for introverts, suited for extroverts, suited for the creative and technical among us, and everything in between. It’s just about how you approach it. How do you side hustle? Do you consider yourself an extroverted introvert, or something else entirely?

---

Enjoyed this post and want to stay in the loop about side-hustling? Sign up below to receive email notifications on the latest and greatest from Life Well Hustled.