The Pitfalls Behind the '80% Satisfaction' Rate of Side-Hustle Talent

According to the 'Side-Hustle and Freelance Talent White Paper 2025' released by Persol Career in 2025, approximately 80% of companies that have utilized side-hustle talent reported being 'satisfied.' On the other hand, the number of companies with experience in utilizing such talent remains at less than 30% of the total.

If you see these numbers and think, 'Well, let's bring in some side-hustle talent too,' please wait a moment. I believe that behind this '80% satisfaction' rate lies a crucial point that small and medium-sized enterprises often overlook.

Side-hustle talent is not 'instant firepower'

The common purposes for utilizing side-hustle talent are as follows (from the Side-Hustle and Freelance Talent White Paper 2025):

・Improvement and efficiency of business processes: 23.5%

・Launching and promoting new businesses: 22.1%

・Management and strategy planning: 21.3%

In other words, the main usage is not simple labor supplementation, but rather 'bringing in knowledge and skills from the outside that the company lacks.'

The problem here is, 'Can you explain that work?' Side-hustle talent only works from a few hours to a dozen or so hours a week. They don't come to your office, nor do they read the atmosphere of the company. That is precisely why you need to clearly communicate 'what' you want done, 'to what extent,' and 'by when.'

However, according to the 2025 White Paper on Small and Medium Enterprises, only about 20% of SMEs are currently utilizing side-hustle talent. Reasons for the slow adoption include comments like 'I don't know which tasks to delegate' and 'The acceptance system is not in place.'

Is your company's work in a state where you could hand it to someone on a single sheet of paper saying, 'Please do this'?

'Visualizing business' comes first, external talent comes next

Companies that achieve results by utilizing side-hustle talent have one thing in common: their internal business workflows are organized.

In a case study from HiPro (Persol Career), when a small manufacturing company asked side-hustle talent to formulate a marketing strategy, the first thing they did was 'summarize the flow from order receipt to delivery on a single sheet.'

This may seem obvious, but many companies fail to do it. In my conversations with various business owners, I feel that in many cases, the flow of work exists only in the heads of the president or long-term employees and has not been put into paper or data.

Three steps to visualize business

The concrete steps to visualize business are actually simple.

・Write down the steps from meeting a customer to receiving payment

・Record 'who' is doing it, 'with what tools,' and 'how many hours per month' at each step

・Mark the tasks that would stop if that person were absent

With just this, you can see 'where external talent is needed' and 'where AI (automated processing using artificial intelligence) or tools can be used as a substitute'.

The truth behind 'satisfaction' is a story only for companies that were prepared

Hearing that '80% are satisfied' makes it feel like everything will work out just by bringing in side-hustle talent. But in reality, the companies that are satisfied are those that have already organized their internal operations.

Conversely, if you bring in external talent while your operations are disorganized, you risk situations where 'instructions are vague and no results are produced' or 'someone inside the company ends up having to follow up constantly'.

Utilizing side-hustle talent is merely a 'means.' What is needed before that is to take stock of your company's operations and decide 'what to do yourselves and what to outsource.' If this decision is made, not only side-hustle talent but also the introduction of BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) and AI tools will proceed smoothly.

Summary: There is only one thing you should do first

When you feel a labor shortage, there are many options—'hiring,' 'side-hustle talent,' 'outsourcing,' or 'AI.' But no matter which means you choose, the first thing you should do is the same: write down your company's workflow on a single sheet.

With just that, your next move will become clear.

Source: Persol Career 'Side-Hustle/Freelance Talent White Paper 2025' / 2025 White Paper on Small and Medium Enterprises (Small and Medium Enterprise Agency)

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ShakeHands LLC
A business partner that organizes labor shortages from the structure
You are short on staff. But 'hiring' is not necessarily the right answer.
ShakeHands LLC is a partner that faces the labor shortages and business expansion of small and medium-sized enterprises, organizes the options of hiring, outsourcing, and AI utilization, and designs the optimal strategy.
We do not make proposals just to sell; we think together about choices as management decisions.