How to Balance Working 2 Jobs at Once To Make More Money

Having a second job is a lifesaver for lots of people,
especially young professionals who can’t find full time employment, or are
under-employed.

Extra income from a second job can help you save money for
retirement, pay off your student loans, and beef up your savings account. It also protects you from the risk of losing your
primary income source. If you lose one of your two jobs, you’ll still have a
part of your income to tide you over.

Some people work two jobs out of choice, like a full-time
web developer who also moonlights as a coding instructor to help the community.
Others might find their 9 to 5 job boring or unfulfilling, so they look for
ways to have fun while earning, such as desk jockeys who spend their weekends
as a trail guide.

In most cases though, lack of full time employment and low
hourly wages are the main motivators.

Because when you can’t make rent and can no longer cut back
on your spending, a second job can push you from broke to making ends meet in a
few months. Even if you’re bad at budgeting, and
can’t stop using your credit cards because your
salary isn’t enough, at least you can get a second job.

In this tutorial we look at the benefits and pitfalls with working a second job. You'll learn how to find a second job that fits your goals, negotiate with your current employer for approval, and strategies for staying sane and productive when working multiple jobs. 

3 Non-Monetary Benefits of a Second Job

Having a second job doesn’t just give you more money. It
also gives you:

1. More Network and Job Opportunities

The bigger
your network, the more opportunities you have. Who knows, one of your
co-workers or bosses might refer you to your dream job.

2. Test a New Job, Without Quitting the Other One

Still hesitant about changing careers, because you think
it’s impossible to get a job in the field you like? Now you can test the
waters, and see if you have what it takes to switch careers without losing your
paycheck.

You can stay at your primary job, and find part-time or
freelance work in whatever career you like. If you don’t’ have a formal
background in your target job, you can take a lower paying side gig that
teaches you the experience you need to find gainful employment in that field
later on.

This strategy also allows you to test if you like the actual
work, not just the idea of it. For instance, some people think being a chef is
fun, until they realize how brutal and draining it is to work in a restaurant.

3. Balancing Two Jobs Improves Your Skills 

If you can’t find full-time employment in your chosen field,
you should at least choose a job that teaches skills valuable in your target
job.

Want to be a video game animator? Pick a second job editing
videos instead of flipping burgers. Can’t find full-time employment as a
designer? Work at a T-shirt printing business where you can stencil designs
during your free time, instead of waiting tables. 

These might not be your first
pick jobs, but they are closer to your field so at least you can write the experience in your resume.

• 
  Resumes
  
  
  How to Write Your Resume Work Experience Section Right
  
  
  Charley Mendoza

Dangers of Working 2 Jobs

Of course, juggling two or more jobs requires more time.
That’s time you can’t take back, and time you won’t get to spend with your
family, friends, and on your personal needs.

Balance is important. Working 100 hours a week is overkill,
but juggling two jobs at 60 to 70 hours a week won’t kill you. As long as you
manage your time and obligations wisely, that is.

Business and Legal Implications of Having 2 Jobs

You’re decided you want a second job.

Your first step is not to apply for a bunch of potential
side gigs.

What if your employer finds out you’re doing this behind
their back?

To avoid a surprise termination or lawsuit, find out if your current
employer allows side gigs first. Check your company’s employee manual or
consult with your HR manager.

If you’re afraid your boss or HR Manager will take this
against you, ask about other employees juggling multiple jobs. What second jobs
do other employees have? Are they full-time employees or contractors?

Now let’s say they allow employees to have second jobs.
Great!

But you’re not fully cleared yet. Find out about the
restrictions they impose on employees working multiple jobs:

Example Restrictions or Limitations

• Can’t work for competitors


• Can’t disclose information about
  current projects, products, customers, and Intellectual Property information
  about the company


• Fiduciary duties


• Can’t divert business away from
  the employer, or solicit its current customers or vendors


• Country and state guidelines for
  total cumulative work rendered

Sam Nuttall, Office Manager at RH Nuttall, agrees, "There's a disclosure course within the employee contracts. We also make sure that there's no conflict of interest, if an employee informs us of a second job. They have to show that they can complete the hours they're paid for without sacrificing the quality of their work."

Your Options in Choosing a Second Job

1. Freelancing and Flexible Jobs

List all your professional skills and identify which of them
can be turned into a freelancing job, which often pays more per hour compared
to manual labor.

Working as a freelancer means you complete tasks for
multiple clients or employers, some of which are overflow from the workload of
their in-house staff.

Companies often hire freelance editors, designers, writers,
transcriptionists, data-entry specialists, and even coders. Freelance music
teachers, dance instructors, and yoga teachers are also good job options if you
want to make money while taking your mind off work.

The best thing about freelance jobs is you can do most of
them at home, or anywhere you have stable internet connection. Most freelance jobs also
have a flexible schedule, so you can adjust it to fit your current routine. Learn how to get started freelancing: 

• 
  Freelance
  
  
  A Comprehensive Guide to Starting Your Freelance Career
  
  
  Collis Ta'eed

2. Starting a Side Business

While this may not technically be a job, a side businesses is another option you can pursue. Whether it's freelancing, as mentioned above, or one of the many other side businesses you can pursue. 

You have a bit more control with running your own side business, than with adding another type of job to your schedule. The drain on your time and challenges to your schedule can be just as demanding though. There are likely to be more setup costs as well, though the earning potential can be quite a bit higher. 

Learn how to quickly start a side business in our multi-part series, or begin with these articles: 

• 
  Side Business
  
  
  The Best Side Business Ideas (That You Can Do Part Time)
  
  
  Celine Roque


• 
  Small Business
  
  
  How to Start a Side Business - While Working a Day Job
  
  
  Celine Roque

3. Service Industry Jobs

This is a collective name for customer-facing jobs, such as
waitressing, working in a fast food, or helping shoppers in a retail store.
Phone-based customer service representatives are also included in this
category.

As you can imagine, service jobs are physically and mentally
draining. It’s hard to put on a smile and help dozens of people a day. It’s
also hard to be on your feet and serve food and drinks for hours. But the good
news is you can earn decent spending money from the tips you get.

4. Seasonal and Contractual Jobs

These jobs are perfect for employees with predictable down
times every year, like teachers who have summer breaks.

Contractual and Seasonal Job Options

• Retail jobs during holidays


• Resort jobs during summer


• Tax season jobs for accountants
  and bookkeepers


• Trail maintenance jobs during
  camping and hiking season


• Ski teachers during winter


• Tour guides


• Summer festival jobs

5. Caregiving Jobs

Includes
all types of work where you care for kids, adults, and elderly. Caregiving jobs
are also tiring, but not as much as service jobs where you’re on your feet the
whole shift. These jobs also have a higher rate compared to many service jobs
in the retail and food industry.

Not sure what type of career will fit your lifestyle? This guide will help you:

• 
  Careers
  
  
  How to Find a Career That Fits Your Working Style
  
  
  Rachel McCollin

How to Split Your Time Between Multiple Jobs

Five
PM usually means the start of happy hour at the pub, or the mad rush to go home
and beat rush hour traffic.

That
won’t be the case for you, once you start working on that second job. Clocking
out of your first job means you have to start preparing for the next shift, that’s
why it’s best to find jobs with complementing schedules.

Below
are examples of feasible schedules from two sources with a regular day job, and
a flexible side gig.

Rebecca
Lee says, “I wake up at 3:45 AM every
morning to arrive at the hospital and begin my work as a Nurse Manager at 5:30 AM.
Then I get home around 5:00 PM and start researching and strategizing for my website
at RemediesForMe.com, where I write and edit articles.”

If
working two jobs in one day is too much for you, try a job you can do on
weekends, like what Jimmy did.

“I’m a wedding photographer and IT
professional. Majority of weddings are held during weekends, so there’s little
time conflict with my usual Monday to Friday schedule, says Jimmy Chan.

But
there’s a catch. He works every day, especially from summer to fall (a.k.a. wedding
season). His winters are also busy, as that’s his free time
to update his website and meet potential clients.

As
these two examples suggest, it’s easy to squeeze in a few hours after week nights,
and on weekends for a part-time job. Working two full-time jobs might work for
a short time, but it’s almost impossible to maintain it for a long time.

Time
isn’t the only thing to consider when balancing two jobs though. Think about
these factors as well:

1. Travel Time between Jobs

An important consideration if both jobs have a fixed
schedule. Allot enough time to get from Job A to Job B, otherwise you’ll always
run late and you might end up losing one or both jobs.

2. Different Dress Codes

Do you need to bring a change of clothes or a uniform for
your second work? You have to allot an extra five to 10 minutes to switch clothes
if you brought them with you at work, more if you have to go home first.

3. Stress Level and Physical Energy for Each Job

One job might pay more, but be twice as stressful as a
lesser paying job. Consider: will you have enough energy for the second job if your first
job is stressful?

For example, do you think you can handle working a full day tutoring
kids, and another four hours doing customer service work on the phone? I did
this after college and I didn’t last a year because both jobs severely tested my
patience—first in dealing with kids, next in dealing with grumpy customers. It’s
brain draining and stressful.

This is also the reason you should avoid taking two physically
exerting jobs. It’s extremely tiring to spend the whole day on your feet,
especially if you’re always on the move cleaning tables or stocking shelves. The
best scenario is to combine one desk job that stimulates your mind, and another
somewhat physical job that exercises you while freeing
up your brain.  

However many jobs you have, you can learn more about how to get more productive. We have a number of productivity tutorials here on Envato Tuts+ that can help:  

• 
  Productivity
  
  
  How to Create Your Own Productivity System
  
  
  David Masters


• 
  Time Management
  
  
  Get More Flow: Sort and Schedule Your Tasks by Creative Energy Level
  
  
  Annie Mueller

Challenges of Working Two Jobs and How to Overcome Them

1. Balancing Work Schedules and Personal Errands

Balancing two jobs means dealing with two bosses and two
sets of deadlines. All the sources I talked to rely on a calendar to keep track
of their commitments in and out of work.

But calendars aren’t fool proof, so you can still lose track
of time or forget an appointment. So it's important to be honest with
your boss so they can help you if something unexpected comes up in your other
job. They’ll also understand if you can’t make it in last minute meetings or
events.

As for personal errands, it’s common for people with
multiple jobs to do them during lunch or on their ride home from work.

2. Not Getting a Vacation Leave or Down Time

Yes, many people with two or more jobs have trouble going on
vacation. It’s not impossible though, you just need to plan in advance.

Advise friends and family to notify you at least three to
four weeks in advance, so you have two weeks to notivy both employers and
another one or two weeks to fix your schedule. This gives you enough time to
either delegate your work, or finish some of your work in advance.

It also helps if you read your employer’s procedure for covering
shifts, so they can’t easily decline your request for time off. If they forget
to schedule your leave, they can help you fix it.

3. Not Having Time to Eat

What’s the easiest thing to forget when you’re busy running
around one task after another? Eating. Your full time job will give you a lunch
break, but you have to remember to eat after three to four hours so you don’t
feel faint or develop an acid problem.

Pack two lunches—one for each job—if you want to save money.
If one of your employers doesn’t have a communal fridge, consider packing a
sandwich or ordering takeout.

Another option is to use a slow cooker to make a big serving
of one recipe good enough for two to three days.

What I do is prepare all my meals on Sundays, and then make
one slow cooker recipe that night. Whatever I cook the previous night will be
ready for a packed lunch on Monday and dinner the next day. Then I freeze the
rest for leftovers on weekends or any day I’m too lazy to cook. 

Monday night, I
load another bag of prepped food into my slow cooker so I have a different
lunch for Tuesday and Wednesday dinner.  I
repeat the same process whenever I only have one meal left at the fridge. 

It
sounds like too much work, but in reality, I only spend less than 10 minutes
loading my slow cooker with food and setting the timer. On weekends, I spend
about two to three hours chopping veggies and meat to place into freezer bags.

4. Losing Sleep

There’s no one rule here that can apply to everyone, because
your sleep will largely depend on your work schedule.

Try to get a solid six to eight hours block of sleep,
whether you have a 9 to 5 job or a graveyard shift. If you have an irregular
schedule, or more than two jobs, try to squeeze a 30 minute nap in between
jobs. You can also try any of the Polyphasic sleep schedules described here.

Taking it a Step Further (Working 3 Jobs or More)

Is working three jobs possible?

Lyn Alden, Electronics
Engineer, website builder, and freelance writer is one of the many people that
prove it’s possible to have three or more jobs.

“I’ve been an
electronics engineer for eight years, while pursuing other opportunities as a
writer and builder of financial websites. My main job has set hours, while my
side hustle of writing and building websites can be ramped up or pulled back
whenever I want.”

From the examples I’ve read and the people I’ve talked to,
it’s feasible to have three jobs if it meets the following criteria:

• At least two are part-time or require only about 4 hours of work or
  less


• Freelance or flexible, so that you can control your schedule
  or you can work any hours you wish as long as your deliverables are finished on
  time


• The jobs are complementing so it’s either the same type of
  work in a different setting (i.e. teaching at a school and tutoring kids in
  private) or uses the same skills required in your main job (i.e. working as a
  software programmer, and developing games on the side)


• Two jobs with a fixed or flexible schedule, and another jobs on
  an as-needed basis.

Of course, balancing two jobs or more complicates things like your schedule and leaves. But this also diversifies your income source and skill set. You have to weigh these pros and cons against your long term plan before you decide if you're ready to take on more responsibility.