NFIB

How to Be Part-time While You're Still Full-time
03/ 28/ 2002


Imagine this nightmare scene: you're toodling along at work one day, and your boss comes up, just as you are on the phone with your biggest client from your part-time business. Your boss figures this out and hangs up the phone.

Or: your clients from your home-based business begin to complain that you're impossible to reach. The problem? You've given them your home number (instead of your work number -- you're smarter than example no. 1), but the answering machine has your children singing and urging callers to try again some other time. Cute, but not good for business.

Part-time business owners who still have other jobs have many obstacles to overcome, but Workshop contributor Edith Helmich has many suggestions to encourage you.

Home businesses are usually born while a person is working in another job. The idea for the home business is frequently sparked by personal interests or special talents. Converting this enjoyment into a profitable business can be a very rewarding experience from both a personal and financial viewpoint. However, most home-business owners are not able to abandon paid employment when a microbusiness begins. It takes time to establish a clientele of regular customers and to show a profit. Until that happens, most people need a regular income and continue working for someone else.

In fact, a good proportion of home business owners plan to conduct their business on a part-time basis, leaving time to also be employed outside the home on a part-time or full-time basis. Maintaining health and retirement benefits may be weighty reasons in the decision to continue working for another company. The group rates and opportunities for participation in insurance plans can translate into long-term benefits that are not available to a sole-proprietor of a small business. Individual circumstances determine the reasons why many home businesses are run by part-time proprietors.

A successful balancing act for business people who work another job is often dependent on the following conditions being in place:

1. There is no secrecy about either job.

2. The business is not incompatible or uncomplimentary to the job.

3. There is no client competition between the jobs.

4. Working hours do not overlap.

5. Family members are supportive of dual work schedules.

6. Technology (answering machines, FAX machines, etc.) is used to keep communication lines open to customers during on-the-job hours.

7. Sufficient and separate space is available at home to conduct business, produce the product, etc.

8. Commitments to deliver services or products are realistic.

9. Coordination of the business and the job is a planned process.

By being both self-employed and an employee of another business entity, it is possible to have the best of both worlds. To do so, however, requires careful planning. Without that planning, there is an increased likelihood of home business failure or trouble on the job!

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