How to find time for a second job

It’s all very well preaching from my productivity soapbox about escaping from your wage slave job, about starting a business, about getting rich and being self employed and self fulfilled, but how do you actually do it? It's all about stealing back minutes from the time thief.

Wouldn’t it be great to have a ‘Back to the Future’ time machine to make time stand still so you could catch up.. You work thirty seven hours a week or more, you are exhausted in the evenings, the family need you at the weekend, your folks complain you never visit, the leaky tap needs fixing, the cat has to go to the vet. No way you say. I’ve barely time for one job, never mind two.

What if you are a single Mum and don’t get any help? How do you squeeze a business in between your roles as domestic demon and model mother? I’m not going to tell you to get out a stopwatch and clip board to analyse every second of your day. But irrespective of how busy you are the spare minutes are ripe for the picking. They hang in abundance from every hour of the day. Successful people know how to find them but you have to be motivated enough to look for them.

However, the magic minutes are not going to jump up and slap you on the backside. Oh no, they are sneaky devils, cunningly disguised as red traffic lights, bus queues, commuter journeys, lunch breaks, tea breaks, even ‘the boss isn’t watching’ breaks. It is your solemn duty as a budding entrepreneur to steal back minutes from the time thief and one of the best ways to do this is to carry a small notebook and pen at all times, even in the bath (you get great ideas in the bath!). Moleskine do an outstanding range of notebooks that fit snugly in a pocket or handbag. Expensive yes, but this is where it’s important to have an object that reminds you that you are going to be rich. It will be an investment in your future, a precious keeper of your hopes and dreams.

Great ideas appear unbidden, out of nowhere, in flashes of intuition and insight. You never know when they are coming. They sneak in under the radar, explode in your imagination then disappear in a puff of memory smoke. The notebook is your keep-net to land the elusive idea fish and store it until you have another minute to give it some concerted attention.

As well as writing on Hubpages, I write short stories, stage plays, screen plays, poetry and magazine articles. I do this with a full time day job. The only way I can lever in the extra minutes is to get up earlier. I'm usually up at 6am and leave the house at 7:30am. I get an hour to write or edit video's. Then I have two trains to work and I can make notes or write on the train. I can easily do 1000 words before I get to the day job.

A little forward planning helps. I'm too tired in the evening to do any more work, but I iron a shirt for the next day and lay out my clothes and shoes ready to scramble in the morning. If you don't want to disturb a partner - not everyone is crazy enough to be up with the lark - then put your clothes in the bathroom or another room, so you can dress without waking the house. I usually have a shave before I go to bed and that does me for the next day, even with a fast growing beard. Of course, this is easy for a guy. Ladies, well, I'm sorry but I'm just not qualified to advise about the female work preparation routine. I guess this is why I see a lot of women finishing their make up and hair on the train!

If you are disciplined about finding time then the rewards of being productive will make it easier in the long run.

If you would like to share your experiences or write about your interests and earn some money then why not join HubPages - its free!

Beware though - if you are in need of cash in a hurry then a paying job is a better option. It takes time to make money from Hubpages, but the minutes invested now will pay back with interest in the future, earning you money while you sleep. How much, well that depends on how much you put into it. Do more and do it well and you will receive more in return, it's simple.

Other opportunities to fuel your business await around every corner. Walking to the office past shop windows? Look at what is selling and for how much – make a note. Search Ebay pulse for hot keywords, see what people are buying and for how much – make a note. Have an idea in the supermarket check-out line for adding value by combining products or services – make a note. Inspiration for a blog theme while brushing your teeth? Make a note. Your notebook will become the hammer that breaks the shackles of penury and propels you into prosperity.

Ebay, although it offers terrific open ended potential, can take a bit of time to get your head round, especially the clunky listing form. If you are in more of a hurry Craigslist can be a quicker option, especially for things which should sell locally.

Traditional thinking is that a second job has occupy fixed time periods outside of your normal nine to five, but the truth is, most successful entrepreneurs are never off. That doesn’t mean that to be successful you must work 24/7 with no time for sleep or R&R. It means you have to seamlessly integrate your second job thoughts and actions into your working day.

As well as the micro moments that will fuel that dream, you will need bigger chunks of time to action your notes. Could you rise an hour earlier? I personally find the morning is my most productive time of day. The house is quiet, only the cat’s are up, expecting food, when they know fine well it’s still two hours till breakfast time. For others it’s the evening. A whole raft of new entrepreneurs run their online businesses after work in the evening – the ‘five-to-niners’ as they are called.

It all comes down to small steps and a big picture. The minutes invested in your goal are the pieces of the jigsaw that will make up the vision of the big dream. Even if you think your picture is baked beans and you cant make any sense of it. Putting in every little piece, one at a time, will build into a new dawn and a new life.

Go steal those minutes.