If you've read some of my other content then you probably know that I am a big fan of side income. It has gotten me through some very lean times in life and has helped me to build a solid foundation for my family.
One of the most difficult things there is when it comes to side income is actually getting started. For a lot of people they just don't know where to begin. Cold calling local businesses can end up costing a lot of time in the end, and you may have to compromise on your rates in order to land jobs that way.
Nobody wants to do that. The good news is that there is a dead simple method you can use to kick-start your journey into side income.
Opportunity Right in Front of You
The average developer changes jobs every few years these days. I know a lot of older people (and even plenty of younger ones) who think this is risky, irresponsible and generally unwise. I couldn't disagree more.
Changes jobs every few years accomplishes a few things. First, the potential for income growth is much greater if you actually move around a bit, especially early on in your career.
A pretty typical pay increase is around 10% for somebody who takes a new job. An average raise for a salaried employee has traditionally been closer to 3%, if that. It isn't hard to see that the difference can really add up over time.
That seems like a pretty significant reason to move around. Let me give you one more — changing jobs more frequently helps you to grow your professional network exponentially faster than if you were to stay at your jobs for too long early on in your career.
This is important because, in my experience, your past employers are a perfect source of side income.
The Strategy
First off, it's vitally important to stay on good terms with your managers and co-workers during your tenure. Without this you will have virtually no chance of engaging them in a contract engagement once you've terminated your full time employment.
So here's what you do:
Toward the end of your employment period (likely toward the end of your final two weeks) you should talk to your boss about the opening that will be left with your departure.
You can ask if they have listed the job yet, if they've received any resumes or even talked to any candidates. The answers to these questions will often times be no, and this is a good thing for you.
Now is when you mention that you'd be willing to help out on a part-time contract basis to help fill in the gaps while they find your permanent replacement.
Discussing Rates
At this stage, if your employer is interested, you'll need to agree on a rate. This can be fairly straightforward since both parties have an anchor point with which to start.
What I have done in the past is to take your hourly rate that you were making while you were there and multiply it by 1.5x. This is a rate that should be fair for your employer (since they'll no longer be contributing to your insurance or retirement accounts) and should give you nice motivation to handle the extra work.
Hourly vs. Fixed-Bid Billing
Since you were previously making an hourly wage at your company I would recommend starting with hourly billing. The goal is to effectively function in a staff augmentation role. And keeping in mind that you may be viewed as a temporary stop-gap, hourly often makes sense.
If your first engagement goes well then you may consider moving on to fixed-bid projects. I have some experience doing this with one of my previous employers, and it seemed to work out well for everybody. They came back for a few more projects, and I got better at delivering more efficiently.
Fixed-bid will often times only be an option if you happen to have a more generic service to sell. When I have done it in the past I have basically been selling web design and development services, whereas my role at the company was more of a developer generalist.
Rinse and Repeat
If you've followed along so far then you should be working a full-time job and also spending whatever extra time you may have per week moonlighting for your previous employer. This should provide a nice extra cushion that you can use to help build your financial foundation for the future.
If you're still with me and all is going well, then you can repeat this tactic every time you leave a job. By building up a network over time, you'll be diversifying your options and could potentially even turn this into a full-time consulting lifestyle if you so choose.
Now, admittedly, you'll be more likely to have these engagements work out if you have been working for smaller companies. Larger companies often time have things like approved vendor lists and policies that prevent them from hiring individuals directly. In these cases you can look into the option of going through an approved agency but I personally think this takes away from the benefits that both sides get in the first place.
Regardless, you can't succeed with this method if you don't try and half the battle is making sure that people know that you're looking for opportunities and willing to work on a part-time contract basis.
Wrapping Up
So that's it! I really encourage you to try out this method the next time you leave a job. I've said it before and I'll say it again, side income can be life changing for you, and as a developer you are uniquely positioned to find opportunities that others are not so lucky to have.
So try it out and please let me know how it goes! I wish you the best of luck in your ventures.