Have You Ever Considered Doing Night Shifts?

When I first tried to start a business during my younger days straight out of college, I was very naive and soon realized that mere determination alone was not enough for me to succeed in becoming a business owner. Having a night job was the last thing in my mind at this time.

I was planning to start a custom software programming business. This is a business where I automate the database processes of my clients. It soon dawned upon me that I have the technical skills for the business but I still lack business acumen, namely marketing.

So I took on a partner who was also struggling just like me to start a software programming business. He had more technical and business skills than me and soon we landed our first client.

However, we soon both discovered that business could be a feast or famine scenario where your last cheque from your last customer could be your last for a very long while. My partner and I realized that we would both starve if we don’t get a steady stream of clients.

Eventually, my partner was the first one to go. He had actually secretly applied for a steady job as an employee of a well established company. I too know that my time as a budding business owner was coming to an end unless I can get a client.

This was when I realized that you need a good amount of capital for your business to tide you over during the lean times. Lucky for me, the software business is not capital intensive so I stayed with my parents for food and lodging while I searched for clients.

My parents where good enough to provide me with food and lodging but drew the line when it comes to business expenses related to acquiring clients and buying my IT equipments like a laptop.

My dreams of being a business owner crushed, I now have to face the reality that I needed a stable job that pays me a stable salary. The stable salary would allow me to built up a capital to sustain a business for maybe a year or two.

I took inspiration from struggling actors and actresses who waited on tables while they pursue their acting careers. As they would be frequently told by casting agents not to leave their day jobs.

Talking about actors and actresses, I began to realize that I don’t have to wait until I have sufficient capital to tide me over for a year or two if I ever start a business. Just like the actors and actresses, I can simply get a day job while I run my business or chosen career.

Genius right? Of course just like many struggling actors and actresses who have to come up with regular excuses to their irritated bosses just to go on auditions, I risk being fired from job to job.

This is because society has virtually scheduled all jobs to be between 8:30 am to 6:00 am on weekdays and sometimes even Saturdays. This is the irony of society having a regulated schedule for almost all workers.

This is the reason why I almost gave up on my dream of becoming a business owner. But I was determined, I tried to look for businesses that I can only operate in the evenings and weekends and away from the regular weekday work schedule.

Evening and weekend businesses however are mainly for hospitality businesses and do not target the majority of businesses that operate on weekdays. Are you already guessing the next option?

I came upon the idea of getting an evening job when I read the story of a now famous movie director and writer who at first had to work as a security guard guarding buildings at night when almost everyone is already sleeping.

Being alone at night enabled him to concentrate on the scripts and other writing he was about to do during the day after he got out of his night shift job. The isolation of his job is actually a positive for him.

But the greatest advantage of having a night shift job is that it frees up his schedule to meet possible contacts and customers during the daytime on weekdays. He doesn’t have to make excuses to his boss as to why he can’t come to work. He has no work and career conflict.

It would be lucky if you can manage a “day” job where you can work overnights and not merely evening shifts. An overnight shift is more than likely to remove all scheduling conflicts with your day activities.

My niece is a call center agent who works the overnight shift. Her schedule starts before midnight and ends a few hours after most people’s breakfast. Even though she has already done her overnight shift, she still has time to eat a late breakfast and cook lunch.

Besides this, she has time to do grocery shopping and any errands needed in the household. So far, I don’t see any detrimental effects on her mental abilities even though she works nights and sleeps during the noon and afternoon periods.

And the beauty of it all? She goes to college during the daytime. At first, her call center job was a work from home setup as well as her college schooling. At first, we feared that now that she was physically attending school she would not be able to manage both.

But to our surprise, she still managed to combine her evening job and her day schooling with no detrimental effects to her mental and physical health. She was also able to maintain her social life.

Though not really that many, there are evening and overnight shift jobs that you could apply for should you decide to have an evening job that would support your day based business schedule.

I have already mentioned call center jobs but I have also come upon other international based jobs that require a worker to work beyond regular weekday work hours. I saw an opening once for finance traders whose work include trading during the schedule of midnight to morning.

There are also restaurants, clubs, hotels and other entertainment venues who are primarily open during the evenings up until the morning. The jobs are varied from security, wait staff, housekeepers, musicians and other related positions.

Logistics companies also work on a 24/7 schedule. Shipping companies, courier companies, e-commerce companies also work day and night and usually lack staff who are willing to do the night or overnight shift. The job usually entails stacking cargo and parcels.

And don’t forget that there are many cleaning jobs available for evening and overnight workers. This is because cleaning during office hours cannot really be done with all the employees around so cleaning can only be done after the employees have left for the day.

Did I mention that the pay for evening and overnight workers is different as compared to daytime workers? This is because not many people are willing to work during the hours when they should be sleeping like most others.

The pay is higher for evening workers and most especially for overnight workers. This is a plus for people who besides wanting their daytime free also wants more than the average daytime worker is getting paid.

It is also quieter at night unless you are working in an entertainment based business. A night cleaner for example would have less distractions than a daytime cleaner and may be able to finish their cleaning tasks ahead of time.

Lastly, it is also cooler at night. This is especially helpful if you are working outdoors. Imagine the difference in sweating between a construction worker working on top of a building when the sun is up versus at night.

Although there are benefits to working at night, there are also disadvantages. One of the disadvantages of working at night is that it could be difficult to get transport to and from the place you are supposed to work at night.

Since late nights and early mornings are not considered peak times for transport, many public transport vehicles may not be in service yet or are expensive to obtain. We could also add that criminals lurk at night and are potential hazard when you’re traveling to work.

However, the most obvious disadvantage of working at night is that it plays havoc with your body’s internal clock. Night is when our body’s internal clock tells us to sleep. To people who cannot overcome this it could be fatal especially if you fall asleep while working.

You may be able to keep awake but you may have diminished concentration which is also dangerous. Imagine if you are driving after midnight, a sudden loss of concentration could cause you to lose control of your vehicle which could be fatal.

Working at night especially on an overnight shift frees you up from having to take time from your normal work which enables you to pursue another career or start a business with no hindrance.

Working at night would also benefit you financially and allow you to work in peace. However, you must make sure that you are able to overcome your body’s command which tells you to sleep. If you don’t, the circumstances could be fatal.

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