Side Businesses and Multiple Income Streams

The other thing I’d meant to post about, mentioned in the previous post, is employer attitudes toward side businesses or other multiple income stream activities.  Where do things stand in general these days?  Is there a lot of resistance or need to hide such things?

I ask because of two experiences.

When I worked at Halliday Lithograph, they paid okay, but not so much that side income couldn’t be helpful.  It was made crystal clear that nobody was supposed to work a side job or have a side business, period.  That was 1980 - 1982, and seemed primarily to be a thing with my otherwise Best Boss Ever, who was an old guy near retirement.

At the time, I technically still had a side job mowing lawns and such, and I did continue to do some of that, but let it trail off in no small part because of the attitude.  I tried to avoid the fact being known.  A guy I worked with, named Kenny, had a full fledged side job at, as I recall, a lumber company.  That fact was top secret from the company, though I’m not sure how, since we all knew about it.  It was secret because it was frowned upon to the point of risking your job.

When I started at Corporate Software in 1994, one of the items on my resume was my own business, and it was current at the time, if not its heyday.  When I was interviewed, it was stressed that I “would no longer be doing the business, right?” It was fairly low key, but they made it crystal clear it was frowned upon, at least.

I drifted out of doing what little of that remained, in largest part because I was sick of the seasonal stress of doing taxes, but in some part due to the “you will give this up” that I had encountered.  I don’t even remember exactly when that was.  I had labeled the business as ending in 1994, but I may have actually continued to 1995.

I’d like to believe that attitudes have changed, and unless a company is paying well enough to practically own you, it shouldn’t matter.  I suppose it depends.

1. In my experience employers not only frown on it but prohibit it and one must agree to those terms as part of signing the employer/employee agreement and suffer the consequences if those terms are violated in any way.  Protection of intellectual property is a primary driver for employers requiring such commitment from their employees.

   Posted by  on  10/24  at  10:49 AM  from  Red Sox Nation

2. Since I have been out of the working world for many years, I probably should not be responding to this at all. I also worked at Halliday and did the books for Dad’s business. Both daughters have worked second jobs at sometime in their lives. One is still working a second job. Unless specifically asked at time of applying, I would not bring the subject up. Many people today have to work a second job just to make ends meet!

   Posted by  on  10/24  at  01:03 PM  from 
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