Working 2 Jobs: 6 Steps to Success
Just like having two or more college degrees, having two jobs is fast becoming the norm for many. Usually, it’s the money that motivates people to have two jobs at once.This is understandable considering that for many, salaries have barely increased for years while the cost of goods have risen dramatically.
But there are other benefits to having two or more jobs at the same time: it looks better in your resume and makes you less dependent on any of your employers. Also, it allows you to meet more people which further establishes your business and social network.
However, if you’re not careful, you’ll end up stressing yourself and straining your relationships with family and friends. More importantly, you might even end up jeopardizing your employment status with your main employer.
Here is a list of steps to successfully manage two or more jobs:
Note: This information was taken from my actual experience and from websites about time and career management.
Summary of “Working 2 Jobs: 6 Steps to Success”:
I. 6 Steps to Success:
1. Do Time Management1.1 Do you have time for a second job?
1.2 Simplify Your Tasks
1.3 Plan Your Activities
1.4 To Do Lists
2. Carefully Choose Your Second Job
2.1 Distance
2.2 Salary
2.3 Exposure
3. Do Money Management
3.1 Save Money
3.2 Budget
4. Relieve Stress
4.1 Eat Healthy
4.2 Exercise
4.3 Get Adequate Sleep
4.4 Relax
5. Take Care of Your Loved Ones
6. Don’t Lose Your Main Job
II. Second Jobs You Should Consider
II.1 Digital Content CreatorII.2 Freelancing
II.3 Ride Share Driver
II.4 Food and Products Delivery Driver
III. Your Own Business as a Second Job
Final Words
The Details:
1. Do Time Management
Time is constant. You might have one, two or more jobs but your time stays the same. That is why even before you begin working a second job, you should effectively manage your time:
1.1 Do you have time for a second job?:
Undeniably, not everyone can have a second job. There are just situations where an employee could only have one job.
For example, there are employees who commute more than four hours to and from work. This would leave them with around four hours for meals, and rest. Barely enough time to have a second job.
1.2 Simplify Your Tasks:
Having a second job means less time for your yourself. This is why you have to free up as much time for yourself by simplifying your tasks.
For example, if you regularly watch news on television, you might have to use the internet instead to get your news. The internet allows you to watch/read the news you want, cutting back on your news viewing time.
You might also have to simplify the meals that you cook and cut down on the entertainment you view to the bare essentials.
The idea is this: You must be able to do the activities you used to do at a shorter time without compromising on the quality of your experience.
1.3 Plan Your Activities:
If you’re still not yet using a day planner, you might not be busy enough yet. A day planner becomes very essential when you have a busy schedule.
A day planner helps you to prioritize your most urgent tasks and helps you remember the important tasks you need to do.
1.4 To Do Lists:
There’s a reason why To Do Apps are popular. They help people to organize their tasks. But what’s the difference between a day planner and a to do list?
A day planner helps you to organize your tasks while a to do list is a list of tasks that you need to do. Both of them complement each other.
When you have two or more jobs, your time becomes scarce and you might find it difficult to remember your tasks These two tools help you to remember and organize your tasks.
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2. Carefully Choose Your Second Job
Now that you’ve organized your time and simplified your tasks, it’s now time to find your second job. But what do you need to look out for in a second job? Here are a few things to consider:
2.1 Distance:
Commuting is a real time waster. This is the reason why too many people are only able to hold one job. You might have found a second job, but if its too far from your main job, you might find it hard to do both jobs.
Pick a second job that’s near or accessible from your main job. If you can find another job in the same place you work, so much the better.
For example, there are office workers whose main job is to work as an employee. After work, they either do cleaning or maintenance for the same company or building.
An excellent second job would be an online based job, like being a digital freelancer. You can basically work in a company, go home, rest, and be a digital freelancer right in your own home. No need to commute to a second job.
2.2 Salary:
Many people take on a second job because they want to earn more money. But if you’re earning way less per hour in your second as compared to your main job, you should rather consider making more money on your main job.
This could be via being promoted or by doing overtime work. Sometimes, you just need to communicate with your main employer that you need to earn more and would gladly do additional jobs for the company just to earn more.
2.3 Exposure: Sometimes, your second job might give you exposure that is more important than the money you earn from it.
For example, you might be an aspiring writer, comedian, entertainer, and so on. It is a perfectly good strategy to take on a second job that would allow you to be exposed to your chosen career.
For example, you can accept low pay or even work for free at a club that would allow you to express your entertaining skills to audiences, thus, increasing your popularity and experience. Even today, many aspiring artists do this.
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3. Do Money Management
The reason most people take on second jobs is because of money. Earning extra money through a second job is good, but if you don’t manage your money it would be just a waste.
Here are a few things you could do to make sure your extra money does not go to waste:
3.1 Save Money:
Make sure to save some of the extra money you have earned from your second job. You can do this by depositing money in your savings account at the bank, investing, or you can simply put your saved money in a safe place.
3.2 Budget:
You might be earning extra money, but this doesn’t mean that you can start spending all your extra money.
Create a sensible budget and stick to it. You might even work out your budget so well that you might not even need a second job just to get by.
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4. Relieve Stress
Perhaps your biggest problem when taking on a second job is stress. This is because you are forcing yourself to do more work for the same amount of time you used to. It is not easy, but there are a few things you can do to cope with the stress of having more than one job:
4.1 Eat Healthy:
Your second job can make you so busy that you might start skipping meals or start eating unhealthy foods. You must never stop eating regular healthy meals.
You should start preparing and bringing your own meals and stop depending on food shops and restaurants. This is because you might not have adequate time to get to these establishments to buy or eat food.
Also, by preparing your own meals, you can ensure that you are eating healthy meals. You would also tend to save money if you prepare your own meals.
4.2 Exercise:
Based from a European study, it was found out that exercising is the most important factor for human longevity and health.
Exercising is also a big factor in reducing human stress. Exercise enables you to work harder and faster. Exercise also makes the human brain sharper and smarter.
You don’t even have to go in the gym to exercise. You could just do exercises at home to stay in shape. Even regular walking or walking whenever you can, would keep you healthy and stress-free.
4.3 Get Adequate Sleep:
You might get away with skipping meals and still remain healthy, but you need adequate sleep in order to remain healthy and stress-free.
If you don’t get adequate sleep, you would have a tendency to not wake up on time for work. Worse, you might even sleep on the job which could either land you in an accident or result in you losing your job.
4.4 Relax:
After having a second or more jobs, you might become so focused on working more just to earn more and more money. As a result, you can burnout.
Learn to relax and don’t think about work and money all the time. Learn to enjoy your second job. Otherwise, your entire life might become one big chore.
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5. Take Care of Your Loved Ones
One of the big reasons why people take on second jobs in order to earn more money is because they want to provide more for their loved ones and other people.
In short, it’s your loved ones and other people that inspire you to work harder by having a second job. So, don’t mistake your main goal and neglect your loved ones and other people just so you can provide extra money for them.
Keep in touch with your loved ones and other people you know no matter how busy you become.
It could be as simple as calling, texting, and/or engaging in social media with your loved ones and other people you know on your way to your second job while commuting.
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6. Don’t Lose Your Main Job
You might become so engrossed with your second or other jobs that your performance in your main job might start to suffer.
This is something that you must not let happen even though your second or other jobs might be more appealing than your main job.
To clarify, your main job is the job that gives you the most stable and highest income. Therefore, you would suffer financially if you ever lose it. Your second or other jobs are just mainly there to subsist your income from your main job.
This is especially important if your loved ones or other people are depending on the income you derive from your main, second, and other jobs. At the sound of being blunt: being practical just makes more sense.
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II. Second Jobs You Should Consider
There are many types of second jobs that you can choose from, but here are some of the best and/or most popular:
II.1 Digital Content Creator:
The greatest advantage of a digital content creator is the fact that you could almost do it anywhere: in your home, at a cafe, in the library, at the park, and so on.
There is a variety of digital content creation jobs you can do: You can write, draw, create audio & video, and program for someone else to earn extra money.
Another advantage of this kind of second job is that for the most part, you can control the hours you work. You can do this second job after you finish your main work, late at night, early in the morning, on weekends, and even on holidays.
II.2 Freelancing:
You can do freelance work for companies in your spare time. For example, you can create digital content for a company, do accounting, drafting, maintenance, cleaning, and so on.
In short, freelancing is any job you can do for anybody on a per work basis. For example, you can freelance at a construction company being a contract architect or draftsperson.
Even temporary or part-time cashiering and grocery goods stocking can be considered freelancing as you still get paid for the amount of temporary work you do with a store.
II.3 Ride Share Driver:
Once considered only as a part-time job, being a ride share driver can actually become a source of full-time earning.
The beauty of being a ride share driver is that you can work as little or as hard as you can. You can work at your own pace.
II.4 Food and Products Delivery Driver:
With the popularity of food and other products being delivered right at the customer’s own doorstep, being a food and products delivery driver has not only become a part-time job for many, but also a full-time job.
The same as being a ride share driver, you can also work at your own pace and work around your own schedule.
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III. Your Own Business as a Second Job
Perhaps the best second job you can have is by being the owner of your own business. Being the owner, you can work at your own pace and work around your own schedule.
This means that you can schedule your business time around your main job. For example, you can own a shop which you only open after you’ve finished your main job.
Another advantage of having your business as your second job is that you only answer to yourself. If for example, you get late at your own business, you don’t have to answer to anyone else but only to yourself.
However, one of the biggest disadvantage of having a business as your second job is that unlike a paid second job, your income from your own business is unpredictable. There might be days when you don’t earn any money at all from your business.
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Final Words
Many people take on second and more jobs to primarily earn extra money. But having a second job is not easy. You should be able to manage your time and choose the right second job for you.
You must also learn to relieve stress brought about by having more jobs than just one. You must also not neglect your loved ones. Most of all, you must not neglect your primary job which is your primary source of income.
There are many great and popular second jobs you might want to consider: a digital content creator, freelancer, ride share driver, food and products delivery driver, and so on. You might even want to start a business as your second job.
But most important of all, don’t forget that you are taking on a second job to improve your life, your loved ones, and the people you know. So, don’t make the mistake of prioritizing work over your well-being and the people you love and know.
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You Might Be Interested To Read This Article:
How to Find the Job You Love: 15 Questions to Ask Yourself
Your job makes up a great deal of your life. You spend on average between 40 to 48 hours a week on your job, or a minimum of 36% of your waking hours each week. You also spend more than 4 decades of your lifetime in a job.
If you hated your jobs, it would be a very miserable life for you. There are employees who are so miserable in their jobs that they have resorted to alcoholism, drug addiction and other vices to make their jobs temporarily bearable.
This is why if you are just starting out on your career, or are already in a career, it might be time to find a job you love, for your health and sanity’s sake...