Second job or sideline?

Posted by Fran V on Jul 8, 2010 in Entrepreneur, Living the 1099 Blog | 9 comments

From the Steinfeldt Photography Collection of the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest.

Somebody recently told me that today everyone has to have a sideline. I’ve been hearing that for years, but never before has it been so true. For most people, a sideline usually meant a second job or a little side business. Like the lady at your office that works in administration, but sells and decorates homemade cakes in her off hours. The sideline still meant working for others.

No one can count on an employer anymore, and we’ve all become career mercenaries, doing what we need to do to pay the bills and get ahead. Loyalty to one’s employer is no longer rewarded. And why should it be? Your job will dump you faster than you can say “sales are flat,” if it suits them. Ask around, most everyone you know has either been laid off at least once, or has someone close to them who has.

Yet, this is true for clients too. When the numbers are down and the budgets cut, freelancers and consultants are the first to go. If you’re a consultant who’s been around the block a few times, you’ve probably gotten the “I’m sorry but we just can’t afford to keep you” speech a time or two.

So what do you do when neither employer nor client is reliable (or at least way less reliable than they used to be during the good times a few years ago)?

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Required Moonlighting

A few months ago, my business was facing some cash flow challenges as clients crashed and burned in their own businesses. I was struggling with whether or not to keep freelancing or to go back to work at a j.o.b. (just over broke). The thought of working for someone else, and the often spirit killing office politics that follows, is not something I would normally look forward to. A mentor of mine, Jim Progris, said to me, “It’s okay to do marketing and PR for other people. You should do that. But just remember to always have something you are doing just for yourself. Always build something that belongs to you.”  Ah, the sideline.

This made a lot of sense to me. Instead of limiting ourselves to a sideline that is just more work for hire, and must be duplicated time and again in order to bring in money, why not broaden our thinking to include little empires we are creating that actually work for us? Why not do things that go direct to the consumer or the buyer, and make you money even when you’re not there?

Whether you work for an employer or clients, we all have to be doing something that is just ours. It belongs to us. A client, boss, or employer can’t take it away. In times of downsizing, it may be the only thing we have left.

I’m back working full time, doing marketing, PR and social media, but I’m also selectively consulting. And now I’m embarking on my sideline journey to find my niche, generate passive income, and build my little kingdom that only belongs to me.

So what are you doing that’s just yours? Are you writing blogs that draw traffic and advertising? Marketing e-books that people want to purchase for download? Developing an e-commerce business? Creating how-to videos? Designing apps or inventing a better mousetrap? What’s your sideline?