Meet Kathy Kristof: Founder, Editor and CEO of SideHusl.com

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kathy Kristof and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kathy, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
Balancing work and kids changed my life. And, to a great degree, led me to start my business. To explain. I started my career in the early 1980s, when the dominant thought was “you can have it all.” This appealed to me because I’ve always been ambitious. By the same token, I love children and always wanted my own. It wasn’t until I had my own kids that I realized how incredibly difficult it was to raise your kids when both parents had traditional jobs, where you go into an office every day. It was more impossible for us because neither my (now ex) husband or I had 9-to-5 careers. Both of us had jobs that would sometimes require late nights and/or early mornings. Weekends? Those too. The key for me ended up being working from home. It allowed me to save the commute time and, often, work weird hours to accommodate the things I wanted to do with my kids. Working at home was rare at the time. Very few of my colleagues were able to negotiate the same arrangement as I had. Naturally decades later, when the so-called “gig economy” promised flexible, work-at-home jobs, I thought it was a wonderful. I imagined that it would give millions of other parents the advantage that I got by working at home. So, I started investigating gig jobs and found that many were misrepresented. I think because I had such high hopes, this offended me. I thought people were being misled into bad options. So, I started SideHusl.com to provide independent reviews of the online platforms providing these gig jobs. We now have more than 350 heavily-researched reviews of money-making options and we add new ones each week. Additionally, our blog, which aims to highlight different options for people who want to freelance, now also runs in the Los Angeles Times and several other newspapers around the country.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I started SideHusl.com after being a consumer and financial reporter for more than 30 years. I think what sets us apart is three things: Research, independence and empathy. I’m going to start with empathy. That was the driving force for launching the site and remains what inspires our copy each and every day. I try to put myself in the shoes of our readers — people who are smart and ambitious, but are short on time. Then, we try to figure out what they need to know to evaluate a part-time job prospect. That caused us to create a simple form that provides a snapshot of what you need to know: How much the opportunity pays; what the requirements are; where it’s available; whether your pay is nicked by a commission paid to the site that connects you with work, etc. And we have a Husl$core, which is a five-point scale that gives our best assessment of whether this gig platform is good or bad. Independence is also key because so many blogs are influenced by something called “affiliate income.” So, let’s say you’re trying figure out whether you should deliver for Postmates, for example. You search the web and dozens of sites are telling you this (in our opinion, rotten) site is great. Why? Postmates pays them for every referral. We tell you the truth, to the best of our ability. We might occasionally get it wrong, but it’s not for the wrong reasons. Finally, my investigative journalism background gives me the ability to research each site in a way that I think few other sites have both the capacity and the will to do. I think that serves our readers really well. Is it easy? No. I’ve never worked so hard in my life…and I was a bit of a workaholic before I started SideHusl.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Los Angeles is so full of fun places to go and things to do, that my itinerary for a friend would depend on who they are. And, of course, whether the pandemic was still raging or over. But, if they had young kids, you would have to go to Disneyland and Universal Studios, of course. If they were all adults, you’d want to check out both the romantic beaches, as well as the incredible hikes and bike rides and restaurants that are all over the city. When it comes to restaurants, my absolutely favorite place for a romantic meal is the Paradise Cove restaurant in Malibu. You sit with your feet in the sand, overlooking one of the most scenic beaches in the world. Unlike the better-known Nobu, the Paradise Cove restaurant is casual and the service is friendly. If they’ve got a table by the water, they’ll give it to you. They won’t hold it hoping that someone famous shows up.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My kids, Samantha and Michael, and my step-kids, Rory and Katya, are my inspiration. And my sons now provide a lot of help with my website. Michael has been helping with a lot of the organization and spread-sheets that I need to run my site efficiently. And, Rory is my web designer and all-around tech person extraordinaire. There’s no way I could have pulled this off without him. My husband, Sean, has also been incredibly helpful and supportive. He had experience running and launching publications in the past and has provided invaluable help and advice every step of the way. And then there’s my sister, who was my first email subscriber. (We now have about 10,000.) She still reads my weekly missives and provides help and support….and my parents, and nieces and nephews, who are always looking to pitch in…and my close friends. Honestly, when I go down this road, it’s hard to stop. So many people help me in so many different ways, some direct and some indirect. I don’t think anyone succeeds alone.

Website: https://SideHusl.com

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Linkedin: KathyKristof

Twitter: @kathykristof

Facebook: Kathy Kristof