Dancing in the Moonlight: happiness while holding two jobs at once

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, about seven to eight million Americans work multiple jobs. This phenomenon is called moonlighting and is defined as dual or multiple jobholding. Moonlighting can be extremely important to entrepreneurs. How does one start another career without leaving one's job? By keeping in mind the following six moonlighting tips, you may find yourself dancing in the moonlight, instead of failing underneath it:

Compartmentalize your jobs into two separate worlds
One of the most important aspects to stress when moonlighting is keeping the two jobs separate from one another. By maintaining certain conflict of interest disciplines, both of your careers will not suffer. Once you allow the two paths to cross, however, problems may arise. If you spend time at your job on your moonlight business, or vice versa, one's productivity will rise above the other. Working on your moonlight business while at work is also unfair to your employer. If you find yourself working on your moonlight business while at work, consider hiring an emergency employee for your own business to cover the important items while you are at your job.

Choose a start-up that is appropriate for moonlighting
You must be able to start up a company that has the ability to run as a moonlight business. Companies that have thrived as moonlight businesses in the past include single product, real estate, specialized food, e-commerce, direct marketing, and of course, family-owned businesses.

Another important tip is to avoid starting up a business that relates directly to your current job—do not become your own employer's competition! Although you may know a lot about what it takes to run that particular business, it is usually not a good idea to start up your own unless you have already quit the job ahead of time.

Use your resources
One of the best resources for a moonlight business are friends and family. The people who you surround yourself with may want to help you run your own business. These people could become a great asset during the building of your company. For example, if you operate a family-run business, the family will be able to help with day-to-day tasks while you are at work. You already have a built-in organizational structure minus the painful employee interviews and screening.

If family is not an option for help, consider utilizing a business incubator for help in running your business. Attorneys, IT Services, etc. are available on the spot, so there is no of finding these people to help your business flow.

Do not overwork
Moonlighters have been known to work up to seventy-five hours per week. Therefore, as a moonlighter, expect to spend less time with family and friends. In order to run a moonlight business, one must have outstanding time management skills, otherwise job burnout is quite likely. Renee Lee Rosenberg , an author and career coach with the Five O'Clock Club in New York, stresses the importance of researching what your new business will entail before starting it up. You need to know whether "you can function the next day".

Know when it's time to quit
You cannot moonlight forever. As mentioned above, seventy-five plus hours of work a week cannot be maintained for a long time, therefore, it is important to know when to quit one of the two jobs. Whether it's when you reach your financial goal or when you are about to break down, you must reduce your load sometime. Figuring out when to quit your day job [hyperlink to other article] is also an important aspect in the success of your new business.

Multiple jobholding is difficult, but for some, it works to their advantage. By following the tips mentioned above, you will have a much easier time balancing the work load of two jobs simultaneously.