Trying to juggle a full-time job and a business can be done. Consider these tips for smooth sailing.
1) BE UPWARDLY MOBILE: If you are still holding down a day job you will find that handheld wireless units provide privacy as well as constant e-mail contact with your clients. It’s best to check on your side business at lunch or during breaks. My favorite gadget is the T-Mobile Sidekick, mainly because it is so easy to use. Other options would be the Blackberry or Treo.
2) USE BETTER BUSINESS CARDS: If you must give a business card out at work or to people associated with your job, it won’t scream “I HAVE MY OWN BUSINESS,” if you use a card with your name, personal e-mail and phone number. Don’t include the name of your business if you want to remain below the radar.
3) AVOID TIME WASTERS: Write form letters that can be reused and store them on your handheld wireless device. Simply change the details for each business transaction for fast and easy communication. This cuts down on response time during business hours.
4) CELL FORMULA: Create an outgoing message that lets callers know how to get the quickest response from you. Add a tag line, “I check my voicemail regularly however, for a faster response please e-mail me at (fill in your e-mail address)
5) FAUX FAX: There are options if you don’t want to miss receiving a fax during work hours. Use one of the free electronic e-mail services; it is a convenient option you can access from a computer. Otherwise let the person faxing know that they need to call first so you can stand at the fax machine because you are at work.
6) ARE YOUR LIPS SEALED: Some employees don’t mind if you have a side-business yet others would prefer you keep what ever it is that you are doing a SECRET! Be careful not to flaunt what you are doing because it may cause friction or jealousy amongst your co-workers.
7) TIMING IS EVERYTHING: It is best to handle things for your side-business when you are NOT at your day job even if you have lots of free time. Run your business evenings and weekends and set boundaries for your clients by letting them know the hours you are available to them.
EASY ACCESS: Use a Virtual Receptionist to greet, screen and route calls and e-mails to the phone number you select. Each time you are at a different location you can have calls routed there. For example calls can go to your home, cell or even to your parent’s number if you are visiting them. As I write this, Grand Central offers a free service.
9) BYOBB: Bring Your Own Brown Bag lunch to work. It is best to eat alone on the days that you are returning calls and e-mails for your side-business. By flying solo you don’t have to worry about your boss or co-worker eavesdropping on your conversations.
10) CAMOUFLAGE: Fly below the radar, if your business starts making a lot of money don’t suddenly bring attention to yourself with a flashy new wardrobe or a sports car.
11) BATHROOM CONFIDENTIAL: Don’t assume the company bathroom is a safe place to return phone calls. You never know who’s listening.
12) LASTING IMPRESSIONS: Since this probably isn’t the right time to quit your day job, go the extra mile at work. This isn’t the time to slack off or to get sidetracked with your side-business. Do things that will keep your boss feeling you are committed to your job. Perhaps you can take on an extra project from time to time. Or, volunteer to come in early or stay late once in awhile if you feel this will earn extra brownie points with the boss.
This entry was posted on Saturday, May 19th, 2007 at 10:51 pm and is filed under Work, Starting a Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.9 Responses to “Weekend Entrepreneur @Work”
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May 22nd, 2007 at 5:22 am
Great blog. Gives me some good pointers.
June 8th, 2007 at 7:24 am
Please tell you’re not actually giving advice to tell people how to “slack off” at their primary place of employment…
It’s both unethical and definately incredibly rude to your current employer if you’re attempting to establish or manage your business during any hour of the day that isn’t tied to your own primary job. Mixing the two during the day is a one way ticket to the unemployment office. If you’re passionate about this “side job”, that you must keep tabs on it during your empoyer’s time, then you should consider doing everyone a favor and do the thing you’re most pasionate about full time.
Definately keep your personal time to your own and the advice about lunch time activity fit in well. If you must do this side job during the day take advantage of off times where your customer’s actually might have better service 8am to 9am and 6pm to 8pm… you’ll find that offering afterhour responses can get you far AND won’t conflict with your day job.
There is no privacy or anonimity within your workplace… office gossip, casual conversations, overheard phone calls and a simple google search or errant blog post and you’re open to a visit from your primary HR Rep. Instead, focus on being honest and open about it, hopefully your ’side job’ can be benefitial to your current employer or be paired with other services that can impact both you and your coworkers.
It’s pretty clear with todays 2.5 worker per home income needs you might have to hold down a second job to keep afloat… check with you HR Rep and see if there are forms and policies that will keep both of you in the clear. A lot of companies and state employee services require a secondary employment form that must be filled out.
Your employer is paying for your undivided attention during the work day to focus on their business, job and livlihood… if you’re busy attending to your emails and customers then you are probably not paying any attention to your employer’s emails and clients.
June 10th, 2007 at 9:41 am
Billy,
Reading your comment makes me wonder if you are one of those business owners or managers who does not understand the principles with which this country was founded. Entrepreneurship is a fundamental tenant of American life that is indelibly woven into the fabric of American society. Can you imagine where we would be without the Getty’s, Ford’s, Rockefeller’s, Howard Hughes or Bill Gates of the world? We are a country of entrepreneurs. In my opinion, I don’t think Michelle was suggesting that anyone should be a disloyal employee, splitting time between two jobs while being paid by a single employer. In fact, quite the contrary, she encouraged remaining loyal to the current employer and if possible, increasing productivity.
Second, the American job market has change over the past 20 years. Many employers have absolutely no loyalty to their employees. At the end of the day it’s the bottom line that counts. As most business owners know, employee costs are the largest expense and the easiest to cut. People no longer go to work for life with the same company. Every working person in America rich or poor, employed or otherwise should always be looking for their next job or starting their own business venture. It is essential for survival in this day and age to consider having a side business. An employers loyalty is usually to their bottom line, not their people. Are you going to continue paying the salaries of employees you layoff for let’s say three years or until they find a new job??? I think not!
Why is it that the rich can explore better economic opportunity while everyone else is relegated to making the rich even wealthier?
The industrial revolution of the early 20th century changed the way we think about the job market. A large segment of the population focused on education and jobs as opposed to entrepreneurship. Those who stayed true to their entrepreneurial roots—such as those names mentioned above became wildly successful, while the rest of us got jobs (just over broke) working for these people. It’s part of the problem that plagues America today. We keep expecting others to provide stable employment for us.
Look around you for a minute. Massive job layoffs, foreign competition and the outsourcing of American jobs, lost benefits, 47 million people without health care, and lowering wage base. Need I go on?
American workers I have found are extremely loyal to the persons cutting their paychecks, but you can not expect them to abandon their search for better economic opportunities. The entrepreneurial spirit is what this country was founded on—that is of course unless you are willing to sign a contract guaranteeing employment and retirement benefits for life regardless of whether you are still in business or not.
Michael
June 11th, 2007 at 8:02 am
Sounds like Billy runs a company and doesn’t want anyone else to get a ahead. Well, Billy, if do not want employees to work for themselves , IN THEIR OWN TIME, perhaps you might think about paying them for 24 hours a day.
Last I heard, California employers don’t pay anything beyond eight hours even though most employees work for 10 hours, giving two hours a day for free to their employers and in the retail sector, employers try to only employ people for 35 hours per week so that they do not have to pay benefits.
What people do in their own time is their own business. Literally.
Let’s have more people trying to better their lives and those of their families rather than everything being corralled into the pockets of the privileged few.
Employers may want to start looking at their employees as gifts to be appreciated and not chattels to be manipulated.
I’m sure Billy would love employees ’side jobs’ to benefit his company. Then he could ’steal’ their ingenuity and not have to pay for it. Do the words ‘modern slavery’in the work place ring any bells here?
June 22nd, 2007 at 7:35 pm
[…] Entrepreneur […]
June 23rd, 2007 at 5:42 am
Michael, your point “In fact, quite the contrary, she encouraged remaining loyal to the current employer and if possible, increasing productivity.” demonstrates that you don’t pay attention to what you read.
Look closely at her 5th point, Michael regarding the office fax. This would clearly be misuse of office equipment for personal and unrelated purposes.
FAUX FAX: There are … computer. Otherwise let the person faxing know that they need to call first so you can stand at the fax machine because you are at work.
So let me get this straight. First the client has to call meaning that they’ll likely call your cellular phone so you’re taking unrelated business calls at work while you should be perhaps…WORKING? Second, standing at the fax machine? So you can intercept the fax the moment it’s received? That’s a shady practice at best.
I too have my own freelance web design business on the side while working a 9-to-5′er during the day. I invested in a PDA to receive email and voicemail to take my calls when I am at work becase I’m serious about my business. I return emails/phone calls when I am on lunch and breaks and I can still return phone calls in less than two hours to clients. I would never consider using the company’s fax machine which they bought and paid for to receive faxes which serve only my business needs. Nor would I consider taking a business phone call during the time I’m supposed to be paid for work I’m doing for my employer as I would be absolutely livid at having someone do that to me when I am paying them to work.
I would be absolutely furious if I hired an assistant to manage my day-to-day administration and found out they were using something which I paid for to help further their own success without first consulting with me.
If you understand and appreciate proper business ethics, you would understand just how unethical this is.
Furthermore, Anthony, your tone in your message indicates a clear hatred for employers which, if you are attempting to start your own business on the side is a sentiment completely at odds with starting your own business potentially becoming an employer yourself.
Bottom line, I spend my days working and my weekends/nights programming and I don’t even think about the fact that my employer doesn’t allow me to work my business during work hours. If you want to have a side business, sacrifices must be made and this includes pulling 4 hours after work or on weekends to return customer calls, emails, AND faxes.
June 23rd, 2007 at 6:22 pm
Dear Billy & Mike. You don’t get it.
I have run a group of three aviation companies in England very successfully, with very happy employees, who were not only paid well, but were encouraged to further themselves as much as possible. I even paid fro two of my flight instructors to take their commercial pilot’s license courses and test and blessed them as they left my employ to fly jet airliners. Last I heard they were both Captain on International air routes.
Now in the USA and a citizen, I have two companies and again, my employees are happy, able to further themselves as THEY wish and not as I wish. Employees make company owners wealthy, they should be encouraged to start their own business and helped if necessary. That is the point that is sadly lacking in this modern age of corporate greed and selfishness. I’m sorry you have worked for employees who have brain washed you into believing that you owe them everything.
Of course you could always send me your resume, maybe we might have something for you.
June 24th, 2007 at 9:06 am
I totally agree with Anthony Clark.
In today’s society of horrific unemployment rates, an unsure government and even unsure financial future for the ‘after-working’ years, EVERYONE who has an ounce of ambition should have a side option no matter how big or small. I even find working at my current company that, while the company’s boss is a decent guy, I can never fully devote all of my time to that particular job, no matter where I work unless it’s my own venture. I’m sure a lot of people will understand that since, if you’re really passionate and focused on your business, that consume most of your time anyway.
I’ll put it simple and plainly like this…
I’m in my late 20s. If I stayed at my J.O.B. until I was “due” for full retirement, it would be the year 2043.
With the advancement of technology and global opportunities, since the early 1990s alone, I’ve asked myself the question…can I really see myself at this job for the next 40 years?
I think her comments were great and creative and keeps the entrepreneurial mind always thinking and working. Isn’t that the real point…coming up with new ways to mind your business!
June 27th, 2007 at 4:39 pm
by no means an easy process, but it can be done. Michelle Anton at Weekend Entrepreneur offers twelve very useful tips to both make efficient use of your time and to stay under the radar. The latter is important.