Side hustle business loans: funding a business you run alongside a job

Plenty of Australia’s best small businesses started on the kitchen table after a day at work. A side hustle lets you test an idea with a salary as a safety net. At some point, though, the idea needs money to grow: more stock, better gear, a proper website, a first batch of ads. That’s when founders start asking whether a business they run in their spare hours can get funding.

Can a side hustle get a business loan?

Yes, once it looks and trades like a business. Lenders don’t fund ideas; they fund businesses that can show they bring in money and can meet a repayment. For a side hustle, that usually comes down to four things:

What lenders need to see	Why	How to get there
An ABN and a businesslike set-up	Shows it’s a business, not a hobby	Register an ABN if you’re carrying on a business; keep records
A separate business account	Makes revenue easy to verify	Route every sale and cost through it
Steady revenue over time	Shows repayments can be met	Keep trading and build a run of months
A clear use for the money	Shows how funding lifts revenue	Tie the request to stock, gear or marketing

The ATO describes a business as generally involving ongoing and repeated activities with the intention of making a profit, and business.gov.au points to indicators like registering an ABN, keeping records and a separate bank account. Those same signals are what make a side hustle fundable. Our hobby or business guide goes deeper.

Does my job help or hurt?

A bit of both. On one hand, a salary means you’re not relying on the business for living costs, so more of its income can go to repayments and reinvestment. On the other, business funding is generally assessed on the business’s own trading. A strong salary won’t usually replace evidence that the side business can support the loan itself.

Where the job really matters is personal risk. If the funding is secured on your home, or you personally guarantee a business loan, your salary protects you if the business has a slow patch. That’s a reason to borrow modestly and for things that clearly lift revenue.

What can a side hustle realistically borrow for?

The best early funding requests are specific and tied to growth:

• Stock for a product that already sells out.
• Equipment that increases output or quality — a better camera, a second machine, a proper packing set-up.
• Marketing for a channel you’ve already tested at small scale.
• A website or platform upgrade that removes a bottleneck in how customers buy.

Vaguer requests — “working capital” with no plan, or funding to replace your salary so you can quit — are harder to support, because they don’t show how the money comes back.

Think your side business is ready? Take the full-time readiness check for a quick read, or start a 60-second enquiry with no credit check.

What if the side hustle is still very new?

If you’ve been trading only a few months, there may not be enough history for an unsecured lender to size a facility. Two paths are worth considering:

1. Build the record. Keep trading, keep every dollar flowing through the business account, and revisit in a few months. Six months of clean statements is a common first milestone.
2. Use property security. If you own property with equity, a property-secured business loan from $20,000 can work for newer businesses because the security carries more of the weight. It puts that property at stake, so the plan needs to be solid.

The under six months trading page covers this in detail.

Illustrative example: a weekend print business

Illustrative only. A graphic designer sells art prints and custom posters on weekends. After ten months, revenue averages about $6,500 a month, all through a separate business account, and a large-format printer would let her produce in-house instead of outsourcing each print.

She has an ABN, keeps records in accounting software and has registered for GST because she expects to pass the threshold. The printer and set-up cost about $11,000. Because her statements show steady revenue and in-house printing would noticeably lift margin per print, the funding conversation is straightforward. Her salary isn’t the reason she qualifies; the business’s own trading is.

What about tax once the side hustle grows?

Growth brings obligations. If your GST turnover reaches $75,000, the ATO expects you to register within 21 days. Income from the business needs to be declared, and if it’s a business, you can generally claim its expenses. Losses from a side business can be restricted by the non-commercial loss rules, which our guide explains. None of this should stop you, but it’s worth talking to an accountant as the numbers grow.

Back the business you’re building after hours

If your side hustle is trading steadily and a bit of funding would take it to the next level, let’s talk. There’s no credit check to enquire, your details are handled by one real person rather than shopped around to lenders, and we’ll call to understand where you’re at. Please be accurate on the form, particularly months trading, monthly revenue and whether you own property, so the first option we suggest is the right one. When you’re thinking about the leap itself, read going from side hustle to full-time.