Feature photo by woodleywonderworks
Today’s guest post is courtesy of Oscar Del Ben, a freelancer, blogger and entrepreneur. He writes about personal development, productivity and lifestyle design at freestylemind.com. His personal mission is to help as many people as possible to switch to doing what they love.
People often ask me if my job is secure or not. The reason they ask me this question is that I don’t have a regular job. I’m not employed by anyone and I don’t have a fixed paycheck.
Instead I am a freelancer, blogger, and internet entrepreneur. The majority of my income comes from freelancing work that I do for internet startups. Recently I also started building internet assets, like my blog, a web application, and a few mini-sites. My goal is that each of these assets will eventually generate an interesting stream of money one day.
So, is my job secure? Actually I don’t have an answer, mainly because it depends on what you mean by secure, but also because I don’t believe in job security at all. The real question is: can any job be secure?
Unfortunately the answer to the last question is no. It doesn’t matter if you are employed full-time in a big corporation, because history teaches us that you can lose your job any day. Even working for yourself isn’t secure, because when you lose your client you have to start over again.
Does this mean there’s not a solution to job security? Not at all. It is possible to build a relatively secure lifestyle if you plan ahead and follow some guidelines. The main problem is that our society doesn’t teach us how to do it. When we go to school they prepare us to work for one company, not many, and when you quit working there, you are often in a big trouble.
There are many solutions to this. For example you can build a remarkable resume by staying competitive and managing your reputation, so that when you quit working for a company, you’ll already be considered an expert and you’ll get another job more easily. Another solution is to create different sources of income, so that if you lose one, you’ll have many others that support you.
How to build a second income stream
The good news is that it’s not hard to come up with a second income stream. You don’t need to be an entrepreneur or an internet marketer because there are plenty of opportunities available to everyone.
If you have trouble thinking about how you can diversify your income, the following list might be a good start:
- Find a part time job. Having a part time job is not uncommon; many people have one. For example you can work in a bar during the weekend or do baby sitting on Saturday. If you are good at math, or you master a foreign language, you can also offer repetitions. Do a local search in your area to find out which part time jobs are available.
- Offer consulting. If you already do any kind of technical work (writer, programmer, marketer, accountant, etc.), you can offer consulting to companies or individuals in your free time. By offering your expertise you can earn higher rates, even if you work only a few hours per week.
- Build a website. Creating a website is a good idea if you are already familiar with technical stuff. The trick here is to find a niche where competition is not huge and where you can fulfill some necessity. Building a successful website it’s not easy, but it can bring great rewards, and potentially a lot of money.
- Ask your friends for collaboration. Many times you don’t need to approach new people to find a part time job. For example I have a friend who runs a company and he needs someone who does some errands for him. He can only hire for 4 hours a week, so he’s looking for someone who can do this just on Saturday mornings. Another thing I often do is to offer my help to people who are creating a new product. Everyone is willing to accept your help if you can add value to them in some way, so don’t be shy and just ask.
There are tons of opportunities available to anyone who wants to start making money in his free time. You just have to remember that there’s no quick fix and you have to put real work and time in whatever you choose to do.
When you find an alternative stream of income, it’s important that you don’t immediately raise your lifestyle expenses and spend all your money. Save cash for later, or better yet put it into a high interest saving account, otherwise you’ll be in the same situation as before.
Case study
I have a friend who works full time in a company during the day, and then offers design consulting at night. She usually has no time to do other work during the day, but she can manage to find one hour in the evenings and another six hours on the weekends.
I asked her how much this part time work brings her. She replied to me that her hourly rate is 30 dollars, and in a normal month she can make $1,400–$1,500.
That’s not bad for just one hour per day and six hours in the weekend. I expect her to quit her job soon if she can find even more clients, but that’s another story.
Remember, it’s better to find something else now, rather than waiting for the necessity to arise later.
“Does this mean there’s not a solution to job security? Not at all. It is possible to build a relatively secure lifestyle if you plan ahead and follow some guidelines. The main problem is that our society doesn’t teach us how to do it. ”
You nailed that one…glad you and people like Cody are bringing awareness to that. Great starter tips for generating a trickle of second income…only up to go from there!
I’ve always felt that it’s much riskier to have your job security in someone else’s hands than your own. If some other person has the power to cut off your ability to make a living (by firing you), you’re much worse off than if you simply can’t find clients (you can always figure out a way to make money for yourself if need be, but not if you’re tied to the paycheck-system).
Great reminder of this!
Great post Oscar. All good info.
I really feel you at the end there: “…it’s better to find something else now, rather than waiting for the necessity to arise later”. Though I have relative security in my job now I feel that some coworkers (who, like myself, cannot gather the motivation to turn to desperation mode like some managers have) are just sitting around kinda hoping/waiting until they might get laid off.
Being a little younger, and having the ability to take risks now I should act on my own behalf soon. And will, once the clients can be more secure for my future business.
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Thanks Cody for giving me the opportunity to write for your blog!
I recently found out how unsecure my job was. I got laid off in July and was out of work for three months. I have since found a new job. The layoff was definately a wake up call. I’m working on developing new income streams to give myself a bit more security.
I actually made the decision to resign from a full time job at a local university. Call it a preemptive strike. I did the cost benefit- analysis, and gained peace of mind, but not without sacrifice. Because I was a home owner, I had to sell my town home(something I’d been wanting to do), and move onto my brothers couch. I then took the time to find a part time job tutoring kids(much more fulfilling, but less pay), but with the free time I’ve spent the last 10 months building a blog, and building some design,marketing, and programming skills. You are right, every path is risky, but you mitigate risk by building skills, and gaining more control over your future. Very practical advise!
Oscar, you’re absolutely right – job security doesn’t exist. The good thing about being independent is that it all depends on you, and of course, having a variety of income streams is generally safer than relying on only one source, be it your employer or your one big client. Getting started on building up other streams while probably being in another job (or dependable on one client) seems to be certainly some good advice!