Ideas and Advice for Building Side Gigs at your Day Job
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I presented this session October 21, 2017, at the STC New England Chapter conference, Interchange 2017.
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Ideas and Advice for Building Side Gigs at your Day Job
- 3. WHAT’S A SIDE GIG? AND WHY WOULD YOU WANT ONE?
- 4. Job security Try something new Add software to resume Add apps to resume Retirement income Replace income Get on-the-job experience for new skills Change jobs Variety Add something fun to day Feeling stuck Feeling pigeon-holed Add skills to resume Learn something new Build skills Feeling invisible at work Get noticed at work Looking for new career direction Notoriety Make more money Get more respect
- 5. Job security Try something new Add software to resume Add apps to resume Retirement income Replace income Get on-the-job experience for new skills Change jobs Variety Add something fun to day Feeling stuck Feeling pigeon-holed Add skills to resume Learn something new Build skills Feeling invisible at work Get noticed at work Looking for new career direction Notoriety Make more money Get more respect
- 7. 2010 Manage Team of Editors Team Laid Off Communications Manager 2017 Sole Editor What was going on here? To make this happen here?
- 8. AMWA STC
- 15. WRAPPING UP Final Ideas and Advice
Editor's Notes
- Thanks for coming to my session today. I’m excited to talk to you about how to build side gigs at your day job. The reasons I have done this, and the reasons you might want to do it may be different, but I think we’ll still have plenty to talk about. Start at 9 am Start exercise by 9:15 am Start discussion at 9:25 am Go through final slide at 9:45 am Do Q&A at 9:50 am End at 10 am
- This is what we’ll be going through today. I want to start with an introduction…what will we cover today? Why build side gigs at your day job? Then we’ll talk briefly about my story (a case study if you will) of how I built side gigs at my day job and how I continue to do this as my job changes. Then we’ll get into the fun stuff…we’ll do a short exercise to get you thinking about how you can do this (I’m assuming that’s why you attended?). And lastly, but honestly, this is the best part, we’ll discuss everyone’s thoughts as they go through the form I’ll provide in the exercise and help each other make plans for how to build side gigs at your own day jobs
- So to get us all on the same page, let’s break down the terms we’ll be using. From my perspective, a side gig is work you do at your day job that is not your day job. Maybe it’s different than what they pay you for, it’s not something on your job description. It’s something you do when you can carve out a little time at your day job. If you’re lucky, you’ll find time to work on it during your normal hours, but sometimes you put in a little extra time outside of work because it benefits you and your career. So why do it? [Next slide.]
- So why do this? You see some of the reasons behind me… Personally, several of these resonate with me. Some are positive motivation. Others may drive you from a negative emotion.
- Does anyone have any to add?
- So let’s start with a case study, where I hope to provide you with some ideas, advice, tips, and motivation….
- So for those who don’t know me, I have been at Med Communications since 2010. I started as a lone editor. The company had never hired an editor before, and the client had not had an editor either, so this was a new thing for everyone. As time went on, I ended up hiring more editors as we grew our responsibilities with the client. By early 2016, there were 4 of us working remotely for the client. In June of 2016, Chuck and I moved into a new (old) house, then 2 days later, the US team of writers and editors were laid off. This should have included me. But you can see here that I have a new job today with the same company. What I would like to focus on is what I was doing before the layoff that allowed me to still have a position with the company when the rest of the editing team and most of the writers whose work I was editing were laid off from the client’s contract and therefore the company I work for.
- These are pictures of me with Bobbi Werner and Beth Fisci, of the Rochester Chapter. We were the co-chairs for the Spectrum conference in 2015 and 2016. In those two years, I furthered my skills with WordPress, which is the platform we use for the Spectrum and chapter website; I got really active on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, and I sent out emails about the conference using MailChimp. As it turns out, the company I work for has a website created with WordPress, so with the knowledge I had from the Spectrum website and my own WordPress website, I was able to help them update it as a side gig when I had time between my other tasks. I also started helping them promote their attendance at conferences using Twitter and LinkedIn and the website. And my editing team took over management of the employee newsletter, which was done in MailChimp. I know I have gone a little out of order, but the STC work is really where I have built my skills and experience, but I did learn how to use MailChimp from my local AMWA chapter who had me send out member emails as Member Communications Liaison. And they had me manage their LinkedIn group, so I gained a bit more experience with LinkedIn from them, too. So much of what I do in my day-to-day now as Communications Manager, I have learned through volunteer activities.
- So as I mentioned a moment ago, in my first set of side gigs, I did some social media work, updated the website, and worked on the employee newsletter with my team. In this case, the side gigs turned into a PT job for me (rather than getting laid off). About a month later, I was brought back as an Editor again for the client on a different contract, which was my original day job, and I now work half my day as Communications Manager, and half my day as an Editor for the client.
- But a funny thing has happened while I have been PT as Communications Manager, I have ended up with other side gigs. They are related to the first day job, as they involve editing, but they were not editing tasks that I ever did when I had the initial Editor day job. One of my side gigs is editing journal manuscripts for publication for the company’s clients, something they thought I never had time for when I was FT on a client team as an editor. This is a new skill set for me as a medical editor, and good skills/experience for potential freelance gigs outside of my day job. Another side gig I have is editing proposals and presentations for the Business Development folks. I’ve learned a lot about the company and have been able to advocate for including editors in the proposals. This also led to me creating a proposal form for them, to ensure consistency and make the process easier and faster for them. And since they don’t know how to use Word, and the fancy features I put in their new proposals, I made videos for them to show them how to use the form. This is a skill I had been wanting to learn, and having this side project gave me a good opportunity to try it out. So enough about me….before we get into the exercise, does anyone have any questions or want any clarifications on some of what I talked about? I know my story too well, so I may have left out some details. Did all of that make sense to you?
- EXERCISE So now that you have a glimpse into how I came upon this topic and some of my ideas for how and why to have side gigs at your day job, let’s get into the fun stuff, the exercise and brainstorming! Pass out handout So now we get to the fun part…take 10 minutes to fill out this handout, or at least look at it, and think about it. This is for you, so you don’t need to write everything down if you don’t want to, or it can be chicken scratch, as long as you can read it! But at least use this form to think about side gigs you might want to pursue, questions you might have, or skills you might want to build and why you’re doing this.
- Great, so that was 10 minutes. Let’s take the next 20 minutes to talk about our ideas.
- As I wrote in my proposal, I really want this to be an interactive session, but I’d like us to follow some ground rules. I want people to have the freedom to think aloud and brainstorm without others shutting them down. So let’s make this an empowering, positive experience for everyone. Does anyone want to begin? Please start with an introduction of some sort, name, company, what you do…then get into your ideas or questions or whatever you want to talk about based on what we have worked on… Facilitate discussion
- Keep in mind that I don’t have all of the answers for what will work for you in your situation, and neither does anyone else. As it is in much of life, you will have to make your way alone when you get back to work, but hopefully our discussion will bolster you to be a little brave and try new things. If people struggle with how to get experience, go to slide 20 and unhide If people bring up obstacles, go to slide 21 and unhide
- I’ve done almost all of these things to learn about new things and acquire new skills and experience. There is a wealth of experience in this room and at this conference. So talk to people about what you want to learn and I would be willing to bet you will leave here with resources to get you on your way. You don’t have to do all of this, but think about what you can do where you work or in your local community.
- Thanks for coming to the session. If you have any other questions or anything else you want to discuss, grab a business card or catch me later today or after the conference via email or social media.