When people think about how they want to spend time at university, often their first thoughts are going out for a pint with friends or joining a society to dive into a hobby that they love. But some students are taking things one step further.
Side projects or hustles are not a new thing for cash-strapped undergrads but recently there has been a huge increase among students looking to do more than just work your standard part-time job.
According to Save the Student’s 2024 National Student Money Survey, 30% of students are working a side hustle alongside their academic commitments. Furthermore, accommodation provider, Fresh, analysed Companies House data and they found that a total of 4,093 businesses were registered by students in 2022, with the majority falling in the 18-25 bracket.
I spoke to three students who invested their time into different kinds of ventures from a trading community to an indie rock band and a music events company.
A different kind of trade
Arjun Rai, a 21-year-old trader from London started YouTube channel ‘Arjun Trades’ in his first year of university. His channel is based around foreign exchange trading which has now grown into a community where he teaches students how to trade.
His interest in trading began at the end of his first semester. He went on holiday to visit family and his uncle introduced him to the world of trading.
“He was just heavy into crypto trading. I was just very fascinated with seeing all these lines and charts. I was fascinated in how you can actually make money and how you can predict where it’s going to go next?”
He originally invested some money into cryptocurrency but after some ups and downs in the trading he transitioned into Forex, which he became ‘fascinated’ with and began learning about the intricacies of it all.
“It’s not just all about the money, it’s about just the fact that I love doing this, and it doesn’t even seem like work to me anymore.”
I asked him how he found the balance during the different phases of his degree.
He said: “In first year, I wasn’t that serious about the channel. In second year the tempo started to increase so I was getting more serious, so I had to sacrifice going out on the weekends. Then I was just focusing on everything from the channel to my trading to reading and educating myself with marketing.
“Third year is where I’d say that I had both of them on the same scale (degree and channel). I started to get students who want to learn from me. So now it’s more about teaching and building a website, so it’s not just YouTube anymore.”
With the work increasing on the channel and its expansion into a whole community of people, Arjun in his own words said he had to make the ‘hard choices’ even if it meant missing out on what a ‘typical’ uni life would be.
But he said: “It wasn’t easy, but I just had to put in the work and get through it.”
Banding together
Nathan Baggott, 21, is a member of indie rock band ‘The Wears’, alongside friends Ted Bryant, Josh Brooke, and Jake Collins. They formed while at college, but they initially fell in love with the idea after seeing Blossoms perform in 2016.
They have steadily risen since the start of 2022, even though they were not able to gig prior due to Covid. Their first gig post lockdown was at the Spinning Top in Stockport – then, two years later they headlined and sold out the Deaf Institute.
Luckily he hasn’t found it hard to strike the balance between the band and his degree in music and sound design as they go “hand in hand.”
He said: “It’s never really sort of been too much of an issue. Obviously, nearer a uni deadline that is prioritised.
“But there’s never been issues with clashes because most of it is just using what I’ve learned at uni basically to help the band.”
I asked if there was anything universities could do to encourage more people to take up a side project and the benefits of a student taking one up.
He said: “Definitely. I think just more of a focus on other extracurricular stuff because most of the time it’s your normal sports teams and societies.
“Encourage people to have a different hobby, outside of the degree, just to keep your sanity really.”
Something to rave about
On the opposite end of the musical spectrum, 21-year-old Charlotte Barber created an events company called Burst Drums.
The idea came when Charlotte and her coursemate Edward Bayley realised Manchester Metropolitan University did not have a rave or DJ society. So after a lecture they decided to create their own alongside co-founders Ryan Douglas and Luke Hollings.
She said: “We wanted to get involved in the DJ scene within Manchester. Ed is from there and I’m from Blackpool. So when I came here, I really wanted to get involved. We thought how hard could it be? Why not go ahead and do it?
“We also didn’t want it to just be something massively associated with students or uni. We wanted it to be a thing of its own.”
As it was a project so focused around creating and promoting events I wondered if the balance would be hard to strike because of the workload.
She explained: “It’s weird, because it goes in and out. You know we could be putting on so much more stuff than we are. But then it will roll around to exam season and it does get a lot.
“I don’t do all the artwork but I do a lot of graphic and online stuff. So when we’ve got a poster, Instagram, and TikTok posts to get done, I do get stressed.”
But the stress is not just the balancing Burst Drums and uni – it’s also the nerves the night before an event.
“I get really stressed and nervous before the night, thinking no one’s going to come, and then it’s all great and you manage to hand things in on time,” she said.
“So it does work out in the end, but it is just a bit of added pressure.”
When I asked if there was any help universities could provide to facilitate more students creating a side project, she said: “I know that the uni does do grants in other areas so whether there’d be an option potentially where you could do an additional course and at the end you get a little start-up grant.
“I know that a lot of students don’t necessarily want to go into direct employment. They want to be self-employed. And to start that most people do need a loan or a grant. If the university was able to do that it would be amazing.”
While it is an events company on paper, Charlotte told me how they want it to be fun and be used as a vehicle to help smaller creatives.
She said: “In the past we’ve done outreach posts looking for DJs, photographers, videographers and if you’re a young creative, or someone starting out and you want to come and test out your skills on our night, be our guest.
“That’s what we’re doing at the very core of it, we’re just all testing out our music and our skills, and just trying to have a laugh and fun while we do it.”
Where next?
Even though most of these projects are in their infancy, I wanted to know where they each see them going in the future.
Arjun, over the next five years, wants to grow his community and following as much as possible.
He said: “I would say over 100,000 subscribers, to put a figure on it, I say over 100,000 followers on social media platforms as well, and 1000 members in my community, in a paid community, and 10,000 in a free community.
With The Wears, Nathan said they want to do more gigs in places like London, Sheffield, and Liverpool while also continuing to record more music.
Charlotte said how they want Burst Drums to expand into a music label and magazine. Their goal for next year is to do a festival takeover which she said would be a ‘dream’.
Advice for others
I asked each of them if they could give any advice to students who want to start their own projects during university.
Arjun said: “I would say whatever it is and just have fun with it. Enjoy the journey, enjoy the process, and see where it gets you.”
Nathan stressed to not be put off by fear because you can’t spend all your time “doing work.”
He said: “At the end of the day you need a life outside of just doing uni work. Go and try to do something because you can definitely balance the two more than easily enough.”
Charlotte said: “Just do it because you would regret not doing it.
“You can feel so unprofessional and you have that ‘Oh, you’re just a student’ and you may not get taken seriously, you just have to shake off that stigma and do it anyway.”
There are countless ways to spend time at university and these students have shown it is possible to create something you’re passionate about whilst studying towards a degree.
More than ever Gen Z are looking to invest their energy into small businesses which they start just for fun, extra cash or in the hope of turning it into a fully-fledged career.
So if you are a student looking to turn an idea you love into something new, as the interviewees put it best – don’t be afraid and just do it.
Main image credit: @10before Instagram
