If you’re building side income, flipping items, investing, or trying to grow something from zero into meaningful wealth, there’s a question you have to answer honestly:

Why?

Not the surface answer. Not “to make more money.”
The real answer.

I’ve done reselling before. I’ve done affiliate marketing. I’ve built websites. I’ve started businesses. Some worked. Some didn’t. All of them made money at some point. But when I look back at those seasons of side income, I realize something important.

I didn’t have a why.

I was just trying to make more money.

And when money doesn’t have a purpose, it disappears.

Every dollar I earned from side hustles just blended into normal life. Lunches. Bills. Random expenses. It all evaporated into the ether because there was no defined goal. It was a game. Make money. Spend money. Repeat.

This time is different.

At the end of last year, I sat down and asked myself why I was doing this Zero to Hero experiment. Why am I selling things out of my closet? Why am I flipping items on eBay? Why am I messing around with surveys and device usage studies and every other little side opportunity?

The answer wasn’t vague anymore.

I’m 54 years old.

Time feels different at 54 than it did at 34. My friends are older. My parents are getting very old. My kids are grown. You can feel the squeeze. You start to understand that time is not endless.

And when you combine that awareness of time with money, the questions get serious.

Will we have enough to retire comfortably?
Are we positioned well enough?
What happens if something unexpected happens?

I have more than some people. I have less than many others. That reality is motivating.

But there’s a second part of my why that’s even stronger.

My in-laws have been incredibly generous over the years. They’ve helped us with our first house. Helped our business. Helped our kids with rent and school. They live in a constant state of giving.

And here’s the truth: generosity is easier when you have margin.

It’s one thing to give when it means you go hungry.
It’s another thing to give when it barely affects you but changes someone else’s life.

I want to be that person.

My kids are in their twenties. They’re in that stage of adulthood where everything is tight. Crappy apartments. Career uncertainty. Trying to build something. I remember that stage. It’s hard.

What I want, more than anything, is to be able to help them when the moment matters. A down payment. A business boost. A safety net. A lifeline.

Right now, we don’t have that kind of margin.

That’s my why.

Not to buy more stuff. Not to upgrade my lifestyle. Not to eat better lunches.

To build enough that we can retire with confidence and give with freedom.

When you have that kind of why, everything changes.

Flipping a $20 item isn’t just about the $20.
A $36 gift card isn’t just lunch money.
A $200 net month isn’t extra spending cash.

It’s fuel.

And that’s the question I have for you.

If you’re doing side hustles, reselling, investing, or trying to grow something from nothing, what is your why?

If your why is vague, your money will be vague. It will slip away quietly.

If your why is clear, your behavior changes.

You stop absorbing side income into daily spending.
You stop treating it like free money.
You start compounding it. Protecting it. Directing it.

Your why becomes the guardrail.

In a future post, I’ll talk about the tension between paying down debt versus compounding assets. There’s nuance there. There’s compromise. But none of it matters if you don’t know why you’re doing this in the first place.

Zero to Hero isn’t about hustle.

It’s about purpose.

Find your why. Then build around it.