Nearly 1 out of 2 people in the U.S. work from home in some capacity...
as part-time entrepreneurs, full-time business owners, and telecommuters.
At one time or another, most of them have had to work around a “day job” for an outside employer, with the work usually done from an outside office. Nearly three-quarters of all home businesses are started on a part-time basis. Most of them hope that their part-time ventures will one day turn into full-time ventures. Many also want a back-up income should they lose their present job or need to supplement their retirement income. Others start a part-time job to fulfill their desire for more creativity and satisfaction in their work. With today’s technology, almost any type of business can be started from home.
If you use the right combination of productivity, technology, time-management, and smarts, you can run your business while at your day job and do it in a manner that is both ethical but still allows you to maintain or even improve your day job performance.
The Pluses and Minuses of Starting Part-Time
Of course, there are advantages and disadvantages to starting a part-time business venture. On the minus side, much of your free time will be spent working on your new business, which means you have less time for social activities, plus, it will probably take longer until your part-time business begins turning a long time profit.
However, there are many pluses to starting part-time. Profits from your part-time venture can be used to help pay off debts, lower your monthly expenses, and build up savings for a full-time venture. With your day job providing health and other benefits and security, you can test-market your business profit potential, and, over the long-term, ease the transition from your current “day job” into a full-time, home-based operation. If your work is done ethically and legally, an outside job can also provide you with a network of potential contacts, advisors and future customers for your part-time venture.
Part-Time Considerations
If your present job is secure and has a light workload, this may be the ideal time to start a part-time venture. Even if only part-time, however, you still need to be a good time manager, able to perform multi-tasks, and capable of remaining calm in stressful situations as you satisfy your customers’ needs.
Deciding what business to start is another consideration. A business that incorporates your present skills will help your part-time venture succeed faster, and it should be a business that you can run from your day job. Part-time businesses that are labor-intensive, require travel, specialize in single products, or involve 24 hours of responsibility are the most likely to conflict with your present job.
Ultimately, your goals for a new start-up venture are to manage your day job satisfactorily and long enough for the part-time business to generate enough income and cash flow to cover living expenses and eventually enable you to quit your day job to go full-time.
Avoiding Burnout
It is very easy to burn yourself out in trying to work, start and run a business, and have a life! With commuting, many daytime office workers cannot get home and settled into working their part-time home business until after 7 or 8 o’clock. If a person lives on the West Coast, it is already close to midnight on East Coast, and there is no way to conduct business. If you are too tired, you will miss critical client contacts and your business will suffer. Thus, you have to do some work during the day if you wish your business to thrive.
Choosing a business that you enjoy will help prevent burnout because it is easier to find time for something that you like to do, or you can be a better employee to the day-job by staying later to make up for time spent working on the home business. If your part-time business is causing you to get behind on your full-time day job work, and your employer notices that you are exhausted from late-night and weekend work, then consider the ironic measure of taking work home from your day-job to get caught up at night. This option will help you to free up time to work on your part-time job during the day. The situation could be a win-win for both parties, if you plan ample time and resources to take care of all your responsibilities to prevent burnout!
Ethical Dilemmas
Although no concrete rules exist, you will face ethics issues when it comes to operating a part-time job around your day job. Trust your instincts -- if an action does not “feel” right to you, refrain from doing it!
You are likely not under a contract that forbids you from doing any work on a separate part-time business during the day. So, at the end of the day, the ethical question you must answer is: Are you getting your job done as well as if you were not operating a part-time business?
As long as you are fulfilling your day job expectations, then the work you do on your part-time job while you are at your day-job is appropriate and does not have a negative impact on your employer. If you think your day job is suffering because of your part-time work, then you will need to cut back hours spent on your venture or ease your job’s workload.
From another perspective, work place productivity experts estimate that people work constructively only several hours per day. The rest of time is lost with breaks, socializing, phone calls, and on other time-wasting matters. In using time more efficiently, many entrepreneurs discover they accomplish more at their day jobs while still devoting time to their part-time business venture.Strategies for Maximizing Work Time
One strategy to maximize your work time is to stay longer at the office during the day to account for the time spent on your part-time job, which may prove to be a better option than leaving the job earlier and trying to run your business exclusively from home. Another is to make better use of email, which is an excellent communication tool you can use to converse with clients and other business contacts. Encourage clients and business contacts to use a web-based email system or spring mail that allows you to be in contact with them via the Internet. Beware, though, that legally employers can monitor their employees’ emails. You can also maximize your work time by partnering, bartering or paying other home-based entrepreneurs to handle tasks that do not need your expertise.
Business Tasks You Can Do at Work
There are many business tasks you can do at work such as conversing with clients using email or a cellular phone, coordinating your marketing plans, and using available office equipment such as printers, fax machines, scanners, and certain computer applications. However, using your job’s equipment may get you into trouble. As soon as you can afford it, purchase, lease or borrow your business’ essential equipment. Invest in technology that can be used at work — cell phone, laptop computer and an Internet service for your e-commerce activities and for customer service using preferably, web-based email.
During the day, you can also use your work’s computer for bookkeeping, project estimates, business planning and other tasks; and schedule client consultations during your lunch hour.
Work Place Savvy
Be discreet when you talk to others about your business at your day job. A co-worker may be a friend or confidant of your boss or supervisor. Barbara Mainhart, an independent public relations specialist, says prior to going out on her own, she had discussed the possibility with vendors — designers, photographers, and printers. “But definitely not with anyone at work.”
Legal Issues
Do not steal your employer’s clients! If your business competes with your employer’s, it is not wise to work both at the same time. Randi Minetor, owner of a virtual ad agency did not start her home business while working. “In starting an advertising agency, very often clients follow you from your old position to your new one. This was the case for me -- had I done work on the side for these clients while still employed at the old agency, they could have sued me,” she says.
If you signed a noncompete contract for your employer, by law you cannot solicit its clients until the designated time limit is over. Even if you did not sign a noncompete contract with your employer, soliciting an employer’s customers may or may not be acceptable by others.
Attorney Dianne Brinson, author of Internet Law and Business Handbook, says, “Avoid using valuable confidential business and technical information you acquired in your full-time job. Such information is likely to be protected by trade secrets laws you are entitled to use your general knowledge and skill in your new venture, but not to use trade secrets belonging to your employer. Examples are customer lists, designs, instructional methods, manufacturing processes, document-tracking processes, and formulas for producing products. Drawing the line between general knowledge/skill and protected trade secrets can be difficult.”
When Your Boss Knows
Before discussing your part-time venture, figure out how you are going to approach others with your plans. If your boss confronts you, ‘fess up, be honest, and explain what you’re trying to do. Depending on your relationship, you may even want to tell your employer about your business plans. If your business is noncompeting and you are a valued employee, your boss may be one of your first customers and best referrals.
Try to tie in your part-time business with the day job, to see if it can benefit your employer, and discuss guidelines about how you will juggle things. If your boss is still upset, decide if you are ready to quit and go full-time, or to keep your business completely at home. Avoid damaging your employer relationship, as you may need a future reference or even a potential client.
Technology Assistance
Save time “on the go” and at your office by simplifying your communications and managing data access. Technology devices help you to conduct business while commuting or driving. You can simplify your communications while keeping close to clients with a cell phone that consolidates voice communication with text messaging and paging. Use a “follow-on service” linked to your cell phone. With one phone number, the follow-on service receives incoming office phone, fax, cellular phone, and voice mail, and then, based on your instructions, forwards calls to you.
A personal data assistant (PDA) or a hand-held computer can provide you with instant access to your data while traveling and save enormous amounts of time. A PDA can store documents; work with your cell phone to receive and respond to email when you’re on the road; and permit you to jot down notes for projects. You can also bring pagers and cell phones to your job, which can be shut off and checked later for messages.