The world is full of people that want to start a business, but few of them move past the dreaming stage. They’re caught up in the idea rather than the action, and they forget the hard work that goes into making a business happen isn’t always as fun as sitting there thinking about it.

What’s stopping most people is a fear that something will go wrong. That they’ll be a complete failure. That they’ll lose the respect of their family and their friends. People often need a reason to start something big like a side hustle, but it doesn’t have to be scary. It can be as easy as picking up the phone and asking a friend if they’d buy into your product or idea, or going online and setting up a Facebook page outlining your business idea.

If you actually had the willpower necessary to start something and to be successful, the chances are that you wouldn’t actually be reading this article. But for most of us, we need a little push.

Here are 5 reasons to start that side hustle you’ve been dreaming about NOW:

1. The times are changing

More and more people are doing gig work and joining the gig economy. A higher percentage of people are surviving without formal jobs, and are even managing to make comfortable livings working only on digital side hustles. As more people embrace flexible working, it’s important to stay at the top of emerging trends and ways of earning a living.

“There is no downside to a side hustle. There are only benefits to building more than one source of income. A side hustle is the new job security.” – Forbes

2. Nerdy is the new sexy and the new rich

Digital startups, side hustles and passion projects are the new sexy these days. Investing time in one of these side hustles is a fantastic way to develop oneself and gain more self confidence in both your career and your personal life. Those with a digital specialty are more able to be competitive in a constantly changing environment and are likely to earn higher salaries and be more successful financially in the long run.

3. It will help you develop self awareness

Planning ahead, organizing, and managing marketing for a project or side hustle will help you grow as a person. Setting aside one to two hours a day to focus on a side project will help you develop a deeper sense of self awareness and help you identify what really matters most to you. It will also help you to focus and prioritize.

4. Finding flow is the first step to happiness

Starting a business requires mindfulness and the ability to act with persistence. The ability to prioritize what matters to you and then act upon it requires persistence and the ability to come up with a list of actions to take to reach a stated objective. Reaching these objectives typically requires entering into a state of flow. We enter a state of flow when we busy ourselves working on something that is both enjoyable and challenging.

5. The path will set you free

At the end of the day, starting your own side hustle helps you become free in your personal and professional life. The main reason that people are attracted to the idea of side hustles is that it provides you with a sense of freedom and openness to explore new things. The freedom you get from not having to answer to anyone but yourself can be freeing. It can also be invigorating to use your own creativity to develop a product which can help people and serve a greater purpose.

“Don’t wait for the right moment to start the business. It never arrives. Start whenever. Now.” – Lauris Liberts

So how do you start now? It just takes one little step. One little action. As soon as you finish reading this, pick up the phone to a friend. Write that email to a mentor. Post that Facebook post announcing your intention to create that next big thing. The simple action of writing something down or communicating something to others can mean the difference between never acting on an idea and building a business which could change your life forever.

Don’t let the opportunity slip you by and pass you up. Every little action you take, over and over again, will build up and grow into something great. The chance to start something, to create something all your own, that is what you gain by acting now. Don’t start thinking of the end result. Rather think about this as a grand experiment, a study of empathy, personal development and motivation. And for god’s sake start now, as quickly as possible.