Many of us want to start a part time business with our full time job so that we can have a better bank balance. However, when we try to juggle both, then there is simply so much to do that we don’t have enough time in the day to do it.
This does not mean that if we can’t balance a part time business with a full time job, then we will give up pursuing our life’s goals!! We will fight back, use what knowledge we can most, and diligently find a way to balance the two work worlds.
Before we get into things, here is some basic advice for people who want to manage part time business with a full time job.
- Know that part time business can be very hard to grow but can be profitable also. Several freelancers even make what started out as a part time job, a permanent job. Meaning they work from home whenever they can and when at office, they complete projects and tasks which are meant to be completed in their job.
- Full time jobs should always take top priority till the time your part time business is capable of handling your complete expenses. Granted full time jobs are as unreliable in the modern market as part times are, but that is just the state of things. A risk has to be taken and it is wiser to err on the side of caution.
- Once you have made your part time work more important than your full time, you can divide time accordingly. To distribute your work time equally between the two can be extremely challenging and stressful. You cannot serve two masters, as they say.
Three main tips for managing part time business and full time job
1) Schedule tasks between part time business and full time work
As simple as this idea might seem to some people, making a schedule is important and yet difficult to follow. You are guaranteed to succeed as long as you diligently follow the schedule, making only relevant changes, over the course of one month; rinse and repeat.
Online services like Google Calendar, or any other that you may find more preferable, do help. Use mobile devices to help maintain your schedule. Not only can you manage your daily work activities whether you are at the office or on your way home, mobiles help make things more convenient than schedules solely saved on your computer; which can sometimes be inaccessible.
- A schedule’s main power is to let you spend time on one task, close it when the time is up, and continue spending time on another task. This way, once you have prioritized your workload, you are giving yourself a command to sit at projects and give them equivalent amounts of time and attention.
- A schedule that gives a few extra hours to priority tasks and less and less for others, with part time jobs taking up an average value (not too little not too great) can help you see steady increases in completion rate and efficiency.
- With a schedule you have no room to rush. You will sooner or later understand that things will take as long as they take. You will then stick to each project for the time you alotted for it. Surprisingly enough, you will complete most of them on time.
- Some good programs for making and following schedules are Evernote, Trello, Google keep, Remember the milk and many others.
2) Work with priority and relevance
You must know the type of work that you can handle. You should not load yourself with new material and hope to learn along the way. While that is ideal in college or external classes they will only be a burden when it comes to balancing full time job and part time business.
- As mentioned above, relevance is key. Get a part time job that reflects, in some measure, what you do in your full time job. This keeps the playing field simpler. On stressful days (you can be certain of such days) you will find the going a bit easier when you come home and transition from full to part time workloads.
- On the other hand, you need to be prioritize where active jobs are concerned. When you are required to be on your feet every day, then opt for part time jobs that let you sit before a computer or perform creative or other work that is relatively sedentary. This way you will not wear yourself out by the time you land at the office tomorrow.
- Since we are on the topic of relevance, make sure you choose a part time business that you know. While it is admirable to try things you are new to or have no idea about but want to learn, do that in your free time; off schedule. But learning something new and doing a part time business in it is a recipe for disaster.
3) Patience is a virtue
One of the critical things which can help you balance your full time job and your part time business is patience. You are working in a part time business because you are filled with aggression and you do not want to sit passively in life with low earnings. Alternatively, you might have a talent which is left undiscovered or you are passionate about your part time business and you want to continue it.
- There will be times when you will miss out on one of the two – part time business or full time work. Due to one reason or another, you might not be able to complete all your work at a time. At such times patience is necessary and you need to maintain your composure so that you can continue with the same tempo the next day also
- Patience is also necessary so that frustration does not set in. For example – you might think that there is a lot of potential in your part time business. But you are unable to leave your full time job because you don’t have the financial backing. In such times, you need to be patient because your part time business will eventually earn you enough money to make it a full time business.
- In any type of work, pressure can come from all sides. So you need to have the right expectations with yourself. If you over expect from yourself and don’t have a realistic foresight, then you are uselessly adding pressure in an already packed life of yours. This will further lead to irritation.
Conclusion
Remember that your full and part time jobs are paying you money. Take them both seriously and do what you know. The last thing you need is for a project you adore to go to someone else because you have your schedule full of useless and irrelevant tasks that you are not going to do 100% right anyway, because you do not know them as well as you wanted to.
Work is essential. As long as there are billions of people on the planet, money is crucial in maintaining equality and order (despite several sources marring the very use of money). To get money, you need to work. Most people juggle two jobs or more to pay the bills.
Life is not fair, and plenty of successful people have attested to the claim. Get serious, grow up, and learn to balance work schedules. You can certainly pull off managing a part time business and full time job with little stress if you are willing to be diligent and determined and are ready to dance to the Song of Balance.
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