Around 23 % of the self-employed in Germany pursue their self-employment as a sideline. More than half of these are women, as can be seen from a Investigation of the IHK Nordschwarzwald ...that's what I'm talking about.
But what are the advantages of being self-employed and employed at the same time? And how can you profitably structure your double workday? The following article will give you a compact overview.
Yes, it is generally possible to be self-employed and employed at the same time. However, those who are employed as a sideline would like to become self-employed, requires the Consent of the employer.
It must be ensured that your sideline does not interfere with your main job. A competitive situation must also not arise. If one of these two scenarios is foreseeable, the employer can refuse to give their consent. In addition, sick days and vacation days in your main job must not be used in favor of the part-time self-employment be used.
But what could a part-time job like this look like? Let's assume, for example, that you work full-time in an office and want to supplement your income by working part-time as a copywriter on an online platform. You report your activity to the tax office, whereupon you receive a questionnaire for tax registration, and in the future you declare your profits in your tax return.
If you are self-employed and employed, you do not necessarily have to register a trade. This depends on whether your activity falls under the category of freelancers. If this is the case, a business registration is required. not necessary. In principle, all artistic and journalistic activities are considered freelance - see the example above.
Freelance activities include:
If your activity does not fall into any of these categories, you must register a trade for your sideline and thus pay trade tax.
The biggest challenge when you are self-employed and employed is the organizational aspect. One thing is clear: to prevent your double job from becoming an unbearable double burden in the long term, you have to structure your working day sensibly. However, this is sometimes easier said than done when it's vacation time in your main job or a customer has special requests.
The keyword is: time management. Let's take the example of an entrepreneur who works half days at the reception desk of a hotel and uses the other half of the working day for his sideline business - running a moving company. Of course, he can only schedule his appointments outside of his full-time working hours. He works until 1 p.m. and after an extensive lunch break he devotes himself to his business.
With a half-day job, time management may still be possible without major complications, but with a full-time job or shift work, planning is much more difficult. Here, it is easier for entrepreneurs who pursue a sideline without customer appointments and deadlines (e.g. in the artistic field). In order to nevertheless meet all requirements, keeping an appointment calendar is indispensable.
Those who are self-employed and employed undoubtedly find it more difficult to ensure a good work-life balance. Nevertheless, the latter is not impossible. At this point, we come back to the previously mentioned appointment calendar. This not only serves to organize professional appointments, but can also show time windows that can be consciously used for relaxation.
Furthermore, you should take to heart what is in any case a legal requirement for your sideline business: vacation and sick days in your main job are not used to pursue your self-employment.
Let's stay a little longer with our example entrepreneur above: In his main job he is a receptionist, in his sideline he runs a moving company. What might his exemplary daily routine look like with part-time or full-time work if he structures his time effectively? The work-life balance should also be included in our example.
Daily schedule for half-day employment (8.00 a.m. - 1.00 p.m.)
Daily schedule for full-time employment (8.00 a.m. - 5.00 p.m.)
Important to know: Especially if you have a full-time job, it is usually essential to use the weekend for part-time self-employment.
For many entrepreneurs, the main reason for being self-employed and employed is the financial aspect. The sideline generates another income, which provides additional financial security. A double mainstay is also advantageous if one of the two activities has to be abandoned unexpectedly. Of course, the realization of one's own business ideas also plays an essential role.
Did you also know that slightly more than half of all entrepreneurs are initially self-employed as a sideline before they become completely self-employed? In this way, you avoid the not to be underestimated risk that comes along with a start-up. If you are self-employed and employed at the same time, you can try out whether your business is profitable without any pressure.
Interesting to know: You can find the most common reasons why workers go into business for themselves in this recent Statistics. According to the start-up monitor, more than 50 % of all start-ups are initially self-employed on a part-time basis.
As can be seen from the exemplary daily routine, it is not at all easy to do equal justice to the main job and the side business. However, there are methods to reconcile the two. We will take a closer look at three of these techniques below:
Outsourcing
Outsourcing means that you, as an entrepreneur, pass on tasks to external parties in order to relieve yourself and to be able to focus on your core business. There are numerous possibilities for outsourcing.
Possible examples: You have advertising copy written for your company instead of taking care of it yourself. Or you outsource shipping instead of packing packages yourself.
Time blocking
Time blocking is a proven productivity technique from the field of time management. Here you divide a certain period of time into several time blocks, which you reserve for specific tasks. If you are self-employed and employed, this technique minimizes the risk of getting bogged down and increases your productivity at the same time.
Time-Boxing
Time-boxing is very similar to time-blocking. However, instead of blocking fixed times in your calendar, it's now about dividing a task into several sub-steps.
For example, if you want to write a blog post for your company's website, your timebox might look like this:
As a general rule, you must declare your income from self-employment in your tax return. This applies regardless of whether you are self-employed and employed or full-time self-employed. Furthermore, you have to check whether you have to register a trade. If this is the case, the advance payment of the trade tax is due quarterly, which is based on the amount of the expected income.
If you generate only very low profits with your part-time self-employment, you have the possibility of Small business regulation to claim so that you are exempt from sales tax liability.
The topic of social security also plays a decisive role in financial terms when you are self-employed and employed. In the case of part-time self-employment, it makes sense to ensure that your main job remains your main source of income for the time being. In this case, health and pension insurance can continue to run through your employer, which means immense cost savings.
