This is the second installment of a four part series on how to navigate taking on a side job or starting a business in addition to your regular employment. If you missed the first part, click here and check it out!
Once you have checked your contract for your employer’s restrictions on outside employment and decided whether or not to tell your employer, you need to consider when you plan on doing the bulk of the work.
When will you work on your side project?
If you currently have a job with chunks of downtime or you are salaried and don’t punch a clock, and you are hoping to freelance or start your own company during this time, you may want to consider your plan more carefully.
If you do the work while salaried or “on the clock” you employer might have an argument that anything you actually produce belongs to him. This generally only becomes a problem when you least want it to, after your project has become successful.
For example, in the web development world, a developer who works for a fashion company might use her down time to write an amazing program that helps college kids sell their used books online. This program appears to have nothing to do with fashion but if the program becomes successful the fashion company could want to use an element of the program to help people sell used dresses. The fashion company could claim the developer created the program while working for them and thus they should be allowed to either a) use the program at no cost or b) be entitled to any profits the developer got from selling the program. This is last thing you want when you have worked hard to create a successful business.
To avoid these issues entirely, you want to plan to avoid working during business hours and document this in case your employer ever asks. If you have concerns that the business you want to create might not abide by these rules, you should consider trying to negotiate with your employer so the parameters of what will belong to you and what will belong to the employer is well-defined before you begin your side business.
As you start your side business, remember to pay attention to when you are working on your project and when you are working on your employer’s project. If any entrepreneurs have a great time keeping system, I would love to hear about it!