Part Time Jobs: A Path to Entrepreneurship?


Some people have a negative perception of part time jobs. Low pay, no benefits, and lack of a prestigious title are connotations that leap to mind for many.

Life is a matter of perception, however, and being locked blindly into any perception can hinder your possible opportunities. What if you were to change your idea of the purpose of part time jobs? Perhaps they could be a valuable tool in reaching your goals and dreams.

With the recent clamor over McDonald’s employees petitioning and striking for double their current wages, it seems that more people are viewing fast-food jobs and other similar part time jobs as a permanent and viable position for the long haul. This might seem a ridiculous option to the ambitious class, but in the short term part time jobs could provide the time and flexibility to pursue other avenues with less stress.

Give Yourself Time

You’ve probably read stories about entrepreneurs who worked forty hours a week at their job and then stayed up late into the night working on their plans. There’s nothing wrong with this scenario, and if you’re providing for a family it might be your only option.

If you have the financial flexibility to do so, part time jobs can provide a steady income while also freeing up half of the time you would spend at a full time job. This extra time can help to relieve the stress of getting done what you plan, and it can also allow you to reach your goals quicker.

Have More Flexibility

Most part time jobs will have varying hours as opposed to a standard 9-5, Monday through Friday schedule. This means that you could work night or weekend hours for some shifts to free up weekday work hours for things like meetings with potential investors or partners.

It would also make it easier when you need to get involved with other processes in your journey, like banking, city zoning, or anything else which might be a necessity based on your goals.

Gain Knowledge

I’ve always said that if you don’t learn anything in a day, it wasn’t worth getting out of bed. Any situation that you put yourself in offers opportunities for learning if you are willing to look for them and find them. Part time jobs are often much different than full time positions in many ways, and they can offer unique perspectives on things.

Think about that TV series where the owner of a company works incognito in one of their stores alongside other workers. This gives them a completely different perspective on daily operations and customer interactions. Temporarily taking a part time position somewhere can give you insight in much the same way.

When you are trying to start your own business, having the ability to think about things from different angles can go a long way in preventing poor decisions.

Get Ideas

Necessity is the mother of invention, but observation is the driver of innovation (you can tweet me on that). Coming into an environment that you are not used to being in every day makes you much more observant of things at first.

Have you ever worked somewhere and had a new employee come on board who is always talking about how they used to do things at their old job? They are observing things from a new perspective and coming up with what they perceive to be improvements that could be made. Maybe trying to tell your new boss how everything can be done better isn’t the right plan, but having those ideas is a great way to brainstorm.

Part time jobs won’t be an answer for everyone who wants to pursue something new in life, but for some it could be the answer they haven’t yet considered.


Wally Peterson is a freelance writer and aspiring beach bum with a face made for blogging. He lives 60 seconds from the sand (walking time) on the southern Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Discussion

  1. April Maura on the 13th September

    This is an encouraging post. My husband is launching a business in China and will for the next few months be working part time for some money while it gets off the ground.

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