I’ve just found out that one of my friends that I used to work with until recently made over $250,000 last year by working two jobs at once in the technology services area.

In 2010, since the economy appeared to be on the recovery path, he decided to quit working for the company that I currently work for and to start technology consulting as a contractor.  He’s contracting through a large company, but he also has his own business and also does some technology work through his own initiatives.  Last year an interesting thing happened to him!  There was a six-month stint where he was working two jobs at the same time, with nobody being the wiser and everybody coming away from the situation happy.  In fact, he’s still working at the primary company that hired him as a contractor.

Opportunity To Work Two Jobs

Through a contracting firm, he was able to land a six-figure job that was to last at least one full year.  He worked this job for a few months remotely, gained expertise with it and understood and performed it well.  Then a few months later, much to his surprise, one of his former clients recommended him to another company that needed work done in the area that he specializes in.  Normally, most employees would say, “Oh, thanks, but I already have a job“, and accept the single paycheck provided by the company that they are currently working for.  Instead of letting such great opportunities slip by (perhaps he read my article: Making More Money By Working Two Jobs At The Same Time), my buddy had different plans! 

He knew that the term of this new opportunity was only a six-month-long project and although related to the area his expertise was in, was really more of a software engineering task.  As an engineer of a project, you create and know intimately the design and functionality of the system you design better than anyone else.  Since he was the architect, he realized there is a great chance that when the hiring company would want modifications or enhancements done, they will do so directly through him since he’s the expert.

My buddy was able to get paid almost the same amount that he would receive working for the primary company that he was working for but in six months instead of a full year.  Not to mention additional work that the company that he designed the system for, might want to be done in the future.

So how was he able to accomplish this feat, by working two jobs at once!

How To Work Two Jobs at Once

• He worked the first job for a few months before the second contracting opportunity became available.  So he knew what was expected and had developed a routine and work pace.  Initially, the first job required him to travel to the company location to ramp up his understanding of the company, their expectations, and to develop face-to-face relationships.  This worked out, enabling him to establish a rapport with his employers!
• He worked both jobs remotely, in fact, each jobs were indifferent states entirely different from the one he currently lives in. The great distance made it easier to work both jobs because he couldn’t drive to work.
• Since the six-month contract was more of an engineering task than a day-to-day operation kind of work, occasionally he would take a day off from the engineering job to travel for his primary contracting job for the occasionally required meetings.
• The second job started an hour later than the first job, so the work shifts were staggered, but only by one hour.  So his entire workday was 10 hours long because he worked an hour earlier than his second job, and added an additional hour explicitly for the second job.
• He cut out social and other performance-robbing activities during his day.

So overall, his multitasking contracting jobs by doing two at once worked out well for him financially.

Doubling Your Income By Working 50 Percent Less At An Additional Job

So some of you might be wondering how my buddy was able to practically double the amount he would normally make for the year by only working at a six-month job?  Well, since he’s not paying the contracting company a huge chunk of his hourly rate, he gets to pocket all of that money he would be required to pay them.  And since the rate he charges is twice the amount he gets paid from the primary contracting company, he makes out well.  Of course, taxes will be more of a pain, but that’s a different story.

This was an excellent real-life example of the article that I wrote about working two jobs at once in the past.  I wonder if my buddy read it, and later unconsciously was affected by the article?

Anyway, I thought it was an interesting example of my last article and I thought I’d share it.

Good luck,

MR