On the radio today they were talking about how people make a income/living. One person raised the issue of diversifying your income. They thought it was better to have like 5 different incomes each making $4,000 a year than it was to be tied down to just 1 way of income and making $20,000 from it. If you were to lose that 1 way of income,then you would lose all,but if you were to lose or do bad on 1 out of 5 you would still have 4 others to provide from. But the other issue that got bought up was what about quality of the work your doing? If you are doing 5 different things are you really going to do your best at 5 things instead of just 1? They were not just talking about farm/homestead stuff but out in the world work also, like having 5 differnet jobs (part-time janitor,part-time security,part-time bookkeeper,etc.) I have to admit both ways seems to have a point. Does anyone do things this way? and do you think there is any way of having a happy in-between? And wouldn't it seem like you would be working ALL THE TIME? I know from my own experience that working a full-time job and then just doing Ebay on the side gets tiring at times.

-- TomK(mich) (tjk@cac.net), November 01, 2001

Answers

I worked 3 jobs once. Crossing guard in the morning and afternoon, trail guide (horseback) during the day and deli work at night. I enjoyed the first two, but found the deli to be in the evenings and weekends so it cut into my time for my family. Finally took a full- time job in a hospital kitchen. Worked on holidays there. Moved and now working in retail now, crummy hours, evenings, weekends again and part-time to boot. Went back to school and received my BBA degree. Planning to relocate and find something I enjoy, tired of doing jobs I don't. I want to paint and spend time with my horses again!! Miss that trail guide job!!

-- PJC (zpjc5_@hotmail.com), November 01, 2001.

Hello Tom, Being self-employed, I personally do not want all my income coming from just one customer. Ideally, it should be distributed among several customers. Most business people will only depend of 10% to 20% of their cash income from each customer. As this does exaggerate percentage wise up and down, it still illustrates a kind of cushion in the event one customer quits. As for have several part- time jobs, I think that one would be "eaten up" in taxes, social security, and unemployment insurance with that approach. Probably, as I have experienced in the past would be to have one full-time job and a small "hobby" type of business on the side. If this does not cover expenses, then I would quite definitely learn to be more frugal at living "within" my means. Sincerely, Ernest

-- http://communities.msn.com/livingoffthelandintheozarks (espresso42@hotmail.com), November 01, 2001.

It is important to have different skills, so that you can take advantage of opportunities come along.

One could always look into real estate, and even if you don't have other property besides your own home, depending upon where you live, you could make a decent dent in your own mortgage just renting out a room to a college student or other single person. If you can get Living With Tenants: How to Happily Share Your House with Renters for Profit and Security by Doreen Bierbrier (out of print but may be at your library) it will give you a good idea about how to go about it.

Another option is if you have a good grasp of a subject, write a book and sell it, or teach seminars through community education.

The biggest problem is of course how do take care of health insurance, which is what you won't get with several part-time jobs, unless you are lucky enough to have one of those that do.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), November 01, 2001.

I teach at a small rural school, my hubby works in the oilfield when it's not falling on its patookis like right now. We have a few cattle, some small rental properties, some oil and gas revenue.

Right now, I am remodeling the latest purchase, a 900 square foot frame house. He won't have anything to do with it because he didn't want me to buy it. It's going to be a darling cottage. I'm having a grand time!

Yes, the big problem is insurance. That's why I can't quit my job and start a composting business like I want to.

-- Rose (open_rose@hotmail.com), November 01, 2001.

I read your post and saw myself. I am the poster girl for part-time work! I am currently employed in four part-time positions. (I am self-employed in three of them and am a wife and mother to boot!)

I did not pursue four part time jobs, rather, I kept taking on additonal work and can't work up the nerve to say "Enough Already!!" to the two jobs I don't need!

The upside to the situation is that I always have work, as the post suggests. The paychecks are regular, and being self employed I enjoy the flexibility in my schedule.

The downside of this is that all jobs are not created equal. My employment is split between two very different job fields. Two are in a field I find mentally stimulating and challenging. The other two aren't anything I get excited about. It can be difficult completing tasks involved in a job that doesn't bring the personal satisfaction that another does. It is also difficult at times for my family to accept my lack of routine. I live my life by my personal planner... even down to the free time I give myself! In addition, health insurance is almost never provided in these situations. For a family with young children I think it's a necessity. In my case, my husband's full time employer provides us with benefits.

Ultimately, it is becoming too much. Yes, it does seem like I am working ALL the time. For awhile it was fun having something different to look forward to every day, but that got old REAL fast! My goal is to focus on one area and bring some structure back into my life.

Of course, the grass is ALWAYS greener on the other side!

Just my 2 cents... Mary

-- Mary (zoots25@hotmail.com), November 01, 2001.

Tom,

When I was working only one job, one boss I worked for thought we were suppose to work six 12s manditory and voluntary on Sunday, so really no difference. Now that the company canned me along with many other "close to twenty year" old timers (guess they didn't want to spring for a lot of double diamond service pins :>), I am definately going to diversify my income sources. Even the companies that are doing the laying off diversify to reduce the recessive economic effects , why shouldn't we. The day of single employment loyalty is long gone, due in large part to the companies not being loyal to the employees either. I am thinking that what I would like is two 15 hr per week p/t jobs and flexibility to work a higher wage job shop temp or consulting job for an occasional short period to pay for private health insurance premiums. Thats the appeal I see to job shops. They generally pay 15 to 25% more than a position with benifits and you can always sign on for a specified time so it doesn't clash with your requirements.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), November 02, 2001.

Let's see...between Mr. S. and myself we have ?+ jobs (and he's not really working at a "real" job right now b/c he's a student, so maybe if you count "student" as a job, it would be at least five.)

I am working full-time off-farm as a med. transcriptionist these days, plus have my farm business (for whatever that might be worth! LOL) and my own transcription service business, which for now is dormant. Mr. S. has his own consulting service, plus some investment stuff that he manages.

I guess if you count odd jobs it would be even more than that. Mr. S. also has carpentry experience; I have design experience (and education) as well as teaching experience. I suppose we could go back to doing some of that if we needed to. Or if anyone (choke) wanted to actually hire us to!

I guess that's what happens when you are a bazillion years old...you have a lot of experience! Anyway, I think it's wise to have some flexibility in producing income, if you can. Or else it could be seen as just "spinning our wheels" as some have said! Oh well.

I can't see doing much more than a couple of things at one time. One to support yourself, if need be, and one to satisfy some of your love of doing something (but with pay.)

We live in a great country where we have the opportunity to do all these things! My $.02

-- sheepish (WA) (the_original_sheepish@Hotmail.com), November 02, 2001.