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GO IT ALONE!

He had already been building his go-it-alone business when he joined Sun, something that he discussed with Sun at the start of his employment. Nonetheless, he said, “When I asked around, [after joining Sun] I found that about seventy-five percent of the people had something going on the side.”

Sunny Bates, the president and founder of Sunny Bates Associates, Inc., is a leading executive recruiter and the author of How to Earn What You're Worth. Bates, who is widely respected for her views on the future of work, encounters the same phenomenon on a daily basis. “To a person, every executive we interview who is thinking about a career move, or contemplating an opportunity we may have available, is also considering whether to start their own business. I constantly hear about businesses that executives have started on their own time.” Her conversations with executives of all ages have also led her to the conclusion that “this is just the beginning. . . . You can’t imagine the energy that working executives are now putting into building weekend businesses. I think it reflects a combination of the desire for greater empowerment and concerns about job security.”

At one time, it was assumed that workers owed their employers absolute fidelity. In the professional world, if an executive had spare time for thinking about commerce, the expectation was that his or her employer would benefit from it. But we’ve entered a new era. If companies can lay people off with little warning, then employees at all levels are going to be developing lifeboats that give them greater control over their careers and financial destinies.

However, it is one thing for your office colleagues to know that you have a hobby or side business. It is another to wear it on your sleeve. In discussions at work, consider a side business a part of your private life, which you don’t necessarily talk about ceaselessly at the office. If your company has any disclosure policies with regard to outside business activities, you want to be certain to comply with them.

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Terms of Use GO IT ALONE! Copyright 2004 by Bruce Judson. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.