Finding Your Perfect ADHD Side Hustle

(Part 4 and final of the Side Hustle Mini-Series)

Hey friends, welcome back to A Solo Person’s Guide to ADHD!
I’m Christine Dunning — Master Certified Life Coach, owner of Two Cats Coaching, and your caffeinated companion through the wild world of ADHD-friendly side hustles.

If you’ve been following the mini-series, we’ve covered:
👉 Episode 18 – Finding the Right Side Hustle for You (and Your ADHD)
👉 Episode 19 – Side Hustles: Failures and Successes
👉 Episode 20 – Top 15 ADHD-Friendly Side Hustles

And today, we’re wrapping it all up with the final piece: how to choose the right one for you — plus a few tools, mindset shifts, and money tips to make it actually work.

So if your brain is currently a pinball machine of ideas (been there!), grab a notebook — this is your roadmap to finding a side hustle that fits your ADHD life instead of fighting it.

🧭 What You’ll Learn

• How to define your “Why” before you chase the next shiny gig
• The Three Filters — Time, Energy, and Money — that make or break sustainability
• The three main Side Hustle Styles and how to match them to your brain and schedule
• A quick self-check quiz to find your personal side hustle “sweet spot”
• Tools, templates, and ADHD-friendly systems to keep you on track
• How to know when it’s time to pivot, pause, or pass

💡 Resources Mentioned

• ADHD Budget Template click here
• Two Cats Coaching: TwoCatsCoaching.com
• Free 30-minute consultation: Book here

🧩 Key Takeaways

✅ Your “why” is your compass — without it, you’ll chase dopamine and burn out fast.
✅ Use the Three Filters to evaluate every new idea.
✅ You’re allowed to pivot!
✅ Sustainable side hustles should give you at least one of these: money, skills, joy, or fun.

💬 Share your favorite side hustle wins on socials — I’d love to celebrate with you!
🌐 TwoCatsCoaching.com
@TwoCatsCoaching  🧵 Threads 📧 Substack

Free stuff!  Click here

Next month’s theme? Holiday Burnout! (Yes, we’re doing hacks, humor, and survival plans for ADHDers.)
Until then, stay curious, stay kind to your brain — and give your cat an extra treat for me.

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey friends, welcome back to a solo person's guide to ADHD. I'm Christine Dunning, a Master Certified Life Coach, the owner of Two Cats Coaching, and your tour guide through the wild, wonderful world of ADHD side hustles. If you've been following along, we've covered quite a bit over the last few episodes. In episode 18, we explored why side hustles are such a good fit for ADHD brains, the three different kinds, and the passive income fallacy. In episode 19, I spoke about my own personal experiences as a multipreneur and gave some real life experience on things that work and some things that don't. In episode 20, we went through the top 15 ADHD friendly side hustles from all three categories, some pros and cons for each. And today we're wrapping it all up with how to choose the right one for you. Plus a few tools, mindsets, and money tips to help you actually make it work. So if you've got a list of ideas bouncing around in your brain and you can't decide where to start, grab a pen. Today is your roadmap. So first, let's start with your why. Because before you chase the next shiny gig, pause and ask yourself, what do you actually want this side hustle to do? Do you need extra cash to pay down debt or fund a dream trip? Are you craving some structure and routine? Do you want some connection or quiet focus? Are you testing the waters for a future career shift? Or maybe you're between jobs and you're just needing something to fill in the holes. Knowing your why is going to help you filter all those ideas we covered in episode 20. For example, if you need steady structure or you're between jobs, a part-time job, actual job, might be your best bet. If you want freedom and novelty, you might be looking for freelance gig, whether it's 1099 work or a small business idea. And if you are thinking about working for yourself, looking at some of those 1099 jobs that are similar to what you do, or just go for it and start with a small micro business. Your why is your compass. Without it, you're just gonna chase some dopamine and you might burn out really fast. Section two, the three filters time, energy, and money. So now that you know your why, let's run down some potential hustles through those three filters. So first, let's start with time. How many hours can you realistically commit each week? If you only have a few, you need to make sure you skip anything that requires long prep time or travel. If you're wanting to do some side hustle businesses, um, do something that you can do beginning, middle, and end in that short period of time. If you have a little bit longer time, um, maybe say you have weekends available, just as an example, don't forget to keep some time for yourself, both for you socially, to take care of your own personal chores, housekeeping, things like that. We all need to do them. It's part of what we do. Number two is energy. ADHD energy fluctuates. Some weeks you're on fire, others you're hoping you fed the cat, and I I say that as my cat is down here. I think she's hungry, although I did just feed her. So you want to look for work that fits your natural rhythms. If you like flexible hours or creative bursts or short, high dopamine tasks, you need to find something like that. And if it's really better to have low decision making, then find something where somebody says, I need you to be at work at 7 o'clock. And your shifter is from 7 to 11. And you say, Okay, I'll be there. And the third one, of course, is money. We're doing this so we make some money, right? So some high some hustles pay quickly. Um, delivery, tutoring, side gigs. Places like Lyft and Uber, you can literally cash out for just a small fee, you can cash out anytime. Others take time to build. Certain side jobs. I'll give you a warning. Teaching, one of the school districts I teach for, you get paid at the end of the month for your work you did the previous month. Takes a long time to get paid. Some things take time to build. If you are trying to sell digital products, it takes a while to create a product that somebody would be interested in. Then you got to market the thing. None of these are wrong. Just know what your budget and patience can handle. Now, the next thing is again a quick review. Where are those three big categories? But now, this time I want you to think what fits for me. The first one again, part-time jobs. Easy to find. Our economy often has easy retail, restaurant food, things like that, jobs that they need just part-timers. Four-hour shifts here or there, maybe the occasional all-day weekend. It's perfect if you need accountability and structure. Find one that you like. If you're a crafty person, look at craft stores, especially around the holiday time. People really need bow makers, for example, at Christmas. Coffee houses, restaurants, bookstores if that's what you love. All low decision, high predictability. If you're a social ADHD who thrives on people, this is your lane. Again, the 1099 contract work, you're working for somebody else, but on your own terms. You're going to have to be a little bit more responsible about choosing when you work. Rideshare driving, delivery, field inspections, or companion gigs are some of the ones that I talked about earlier. Great for dependence, but make sure you're keeping a close eye on things like your gas, wear and tear, and taxes. And third, building something from scratch. You're your own boss with all the joy and all the headaches. Sky's the limit, but think digital products, Etsy coaching, content creation, videos, or even things like doing a little bit of house cleaning or babysitting to help out your neighbors. These can grow into full-time businesses, but they demand self-management and marketing. So if you missed episode 20, go back and grab the full list. There's something there for everybody, I think. And now, how do you choose? We'll do a little self-check quiz here. So grab your notebook or phone notes if that's easier for you. And think about these questions. Do you want to work with people? Or do you prefer to have work that you can mostly do on your own? How much time per day, week, or month do I have? Would it be easier to have something that you do a couple of hours here and there? Or that you can dedicate an a whole day on a weekend to which is more important to you? Something steady or something flexible? Do you have skills that you can use? Skills that you would like to build, or are you just looking s for some easy cash? Do you need external accountability? Other people to set deadlines and give you training. What's your risk tolerance? Are you okay with starting slow? Not having much income at first, maybe even investing money at the beginning. And what skills do you have? The more unique and marketable your skills, the more you can charge. Once you answer, look back through your top two or three side hustle ideas. You'll probably notice one that fits your current energy better than the rest. And a reminder you don't have to do the same thing forever. You're allowed to pivot. Many ADHD entrepreneurs evolve their side hustles as they grow. A few things to help keep you organized and hopefully sane. Use one calendar for all your commitments. Color code it if you need to. So I actually have two things I do, and I can't turn my computer to look, but I have a big wall calendar here that I just jot things on, but primarily I use the calendar on my phone. And anytime I book something, I stick it on there. I also put notes to myself in the calendar. And I'll give you an example. So, as I mentioned, I teach some voice and piano lessons a couple of days a week. And so if I'm talking with a student, and I teach several students in a row, and so if I'm talking to somebody, it's really easy for me to forget that we talked about, oh, next time we're going to work on this song that I need to bring from home, or that we want to work on this skill or activity. So I jot that in my calendar for the that day the next week, so that as I'm looking ahead, it's like, oh, that's right. I need to bring this book with me so that my student has this information. So the more you can put on one calendar. Now, if you're somebody who likes to do all that stuff in paper, that's great. For me, if it's not digital, it usually doesn't exist. So think about that. You'll want some way to track your income and expenses. I've got some budgeting sheets. I talked about budgeting before. A lot of that can be used for this as well. Automate what you can. Mileage tracking, invoice templates, anything that's a reoccurring to-do. Get those in an automatic state. If you're doing creative writing or things like that, consider finding body doubles or co-working groups to keep you accountable. I know there are several online. I've been part of core weeking groups where we just show up at a coffee shop the same time every week and we spend those two hours writing. We take a couple of breaks where we chat and say hi. We aren't really discussing what we do unless you want to. We're really just doing that to keep each other accountable and make sure we spend some time getting those things done. And please do set boundaries. It's, you know, we're prone to say yes until we can't fit anything in anymore. Or maybe that's just me. And then a big one is consider being somebody who hires other people. Hire help for things that may fall by the wayside. For example, I have a monthly cleaner who comes to my house and cleans. They're also the same person I use to turn over my Airbnb rooms because I don't have the time and energy to do that. And if my house gets cleaned once a month, it stays relatively clean. And I make more money doing most of the other things I do than what I pay my cleaner. So it's a it's worth it. Plus, I'm the world's slowest cleaner. And he is not. Remember, you want your side hustle to support your life, not take it over. If you find that it's draining your energy, you're getting really frustrated, think back to my loan signing debacle, um, it's crowding your creative time or messing with your sleep, it's okay to stop or switch, or reduce the number of hours, even. So a good side hustle should give you at least one of these things. Gives you money you need, skills that you can continue to grow and learn. It should have joy or purpose that you can feel. And please let it be fun. Because if it's not fun, what are you doing? If you're not getting any of these, release. Gratitude and move on. It's time to find something different. And that is our wrap on a side hustle mini-series. Over the past few episodes, we've looked at why ADHD years thrive with multiple income streams, how to match your energy and focus, and which specific jobs might light up your brain without hopefully burning you out. If you found something that resonated here, I would love to hear about it. Share your story with me on social media or at 2Cats Coaching. Let's celebrate your wins, big or small. If you need some one-on-one help to figure this out, I'm your gal. This is what I do. Sign up for a free consulting session to see if we're a good fit. And then we're going to be shifting to a whole new theme after this and talking about holiday burnout and how to deal with all the different holiday things when you have ADHD and you're single, and everybody wants to know when are you getting married or something silly like that. Anyway, until then, stay curious, stay kind to your brain. Keep chasing what lights you up. And a reminder even though you are single and have ADHD, you're not alone. There's a lot of us. And as always, give your cat an extra treat for me. Take care.