Hello darling,

I wanted to start this newsletter issue with an epigraph about hustle culture, and my Google searches led me to a website called “sidehustlenation” (no backlink because they don’t deserve it), and an article titled “Hustle Quotes: 52 Famous Quotes About Hustling.” Inventive. Groundbreaking! 

My hope had been that I could find a clear quote that epitomized what has come to be seen as hustle culture since I aim to spend the majority of this newsletter talking about the nuance between side projects that invigorate you creatively and intellectually, and side hustles that drain you of your energy as you pursue unattainable promises. 

Instead, what I found was a list of bro-coded wall art sayings– the kind of “Live. Laugh. Love.”-quality drivel that would only appeal to someone whose frontal lobes havent finished forming and unironically refers to himself as an alpha male. Quotes as motivational and insightful as “Everyday I’m Hustlin’” and “Eat. Sleep. Hustle. Repeat.” 

(It should come as no surprise, dear reader, that for each of these quotes, there just so happened to be a link to a t-shirt on Amazon bearing the quote across the chest. Very subtle, very valuable affiliate marketing!)

Rather than start with one of these wow-factor quotes from Side Hustle Nation, I’ll open things off with a quote of my own: “wow, there’s a lot of bullshit online.”