Moonlighting to Start Your Business
March 27, 2009 by Kim Beasley
Filed under Business
Being able to start your own business in today’s economy is an adventure that many have chosen to take in order to become free from working for others. Yet, in some cases, you may find that you have to continue working your daytime job in order to have steady income.
Thus moonlighting comes into play which Webster.com defines as “to hold a second job in addition to a regular one“. When you have a daytime job, it is important that you keep your prospective about what’s important. Which means that “daylighting” something that you should prohibit yourself from doing. Just think, if you had an employee working for you and they were “daylighting” then they would be stealing time from you. Is this something that you as a small business owner would be able to except an employee doing to you?
So how can you start up your business while making sure that you are not “daylighting“? Good question and I have included a short list below to get you started.
- If you work 9 to 5 every day, you can schedule your potential client meeting during your lunch hour for the first half and then take the second half and plan out your client projects.
- Make sure when you start your business that you determine how many hours you need to set-aside every week to work your business part-time. Then add to your daily calendar during the evening according to your availability.
- Create short- and long-term plans for transitioning into working your business full-time. Determine all the factors of what it would take for you to be able to walk away from your current full-time business.
- When setting up your business, see if you can outsource some of your project tasks to a virtual assistant (VA) who may be available to work during the daytime.
- Remember that it is also important to include “me time” on your schedule.
- Checkout available online resources for business startups:
Remember this is just a starter list. If you have additional suggestions that you think should be on this list, please share your feedback. It would be great to hear how you have successfully transitioned from moonlighting to working your business full-time.
What a timely post, Kim! My husband, Rick, is embarking on a “moonlighting” excursion that will require that he spend some time “daylighting”. He’s already been doing some planning work during his lunch hour. He’s a very disciplined person when it comes to work and is the type who doesn’t leave a minute before 5, so I’m really rooting for him as he explores this new opportunity. Thanks for sharing some wise advice!
I’m glad that this information was helpful. If you get the opportunity, please share an update in the future on how things are going. Good luck!
Kim Beasley
http://Bizzia.com (Leadership columnist)