CAREERS:Two jobs? Most of us find it stressful enough holding down one. But a side-effect of the recession appears to be an increase in people supplementing their existing income with extra work. Because of the flexibility offered by teaching, these second incomes can often be found by giving lessons in anything from Tai Chi to sailing. If you've got a skill and know how to pass it on, people will be happy to pay for your expertise. Some double-jobbers tell ROISIN INGLEhow they make it work
ROLY SMYTH
Professional musician and piano teacher, Dublin
FOUR years ago, Roly Smyth was made redundant from his sales job in an IT company. “It was confusing,” he says. “It was the Celtic Tiger era and I was used to making a lot of money; I had bought an apartment and all that kind of stuff. But when I look back I know that for the last couple of years I wasn’t that happy. I was just doing it for the money.”
Unemployment meant taking a long, hard look at his options, which is when he turned to music as a possible career. Playing piano and guitar was a hobby he had enjoyed since he was a youngster but sharing the view of John Lennon’s Aunt Mimi, he never thought it could earn him a living.
A HDip course at Dublin's Griffith College gave him the skills to imagine he might be able to teach music as a career. He gave lessons to his mother and sister first – "a great way to get my confidence up". Now, he gives lessons to children, adults, and whole families in their own homes. His main job, though, is playing in a covers band called The Hitmen Trio ( thehitmentrio.com), which is proving a hit with couples planning their nuptials. With gigs at 80 weddings planned for the rest of the year, his weekend nights are pretty much spoken for. He says that while double-jobbing can sometimes be hectic, he is lucky to have a "very understanding" fiance.
JAMES STATHAM
Events administrator and sailing instructor, Co Dublin
WORKING IN THE Leigh Bureau, an agency representing the biggest names on the business- and academic-speaking circuit, James Statham says that, through his job – where he is in contact with top economists – he is exposed to a certain amount of “doom and gloom”. Such exposure hasn’t dimmed his own sunny disposition though. Last August, despite the bleak employment opportunities here, he returned to Ireland from a year working in Australia. “People will either call me an optimist or delusional but my view is: no matter how bad things are here, they will pick up eventually. I would rather be in Ireland with my friends and family rather than in a booming country where I don’t feel at home.”
With two jobs, he is financially better off here than he was in Australia. He teaches sailing at weekends, an out-of-office skill he has used to supplement his income since his teenage years growing up in Dunmore East, in Co Waterford.
“I’ve always got a better return on investment from my sailing qualifications than on my marketing degree,” he says.
But does holding down two jobs leave any time for play? “I suppose for me sailing is not work. I really enjoy it. I think it’s great to make money out of something you can enjoy. More people should try it.”
JOHN WALKER
Marketing consulting and online business mentor, Co Wexford
IN THE THREE years since leaving college, where he studied wood science and technology, John Walker was let go from two jobs in construction. “It was a difficult time; losing the jobs was a bit of a shock. I took some time out to think about what I wanted to do and made a decision to get out of the sector all together,” he says.
An interest in music production led him to a Fetac course in music technology, which he was able to do through the Back to Education scheme. During the course he became interested in web design and digital marketing. He spent two years honing his raw skills in the area, investing money in private mentoring online. He now has his own business – buildmysalesfunnel.com– which helps people capitalise on sales through their websites, and he offers online mentoring, advertising his services on mindhives.com.
“I think we’ve all grown up a bit,” he says, talking about how double-jobbing means making sacrifices – he doesn’t go out much any more; he socialises at networking events.
“We are the generation who had everything we wanted but we had to learn that it can all be taken away very quickly. You can moan and blame everyone, or you can make decisions that will help you move forward. You are always going to be faced with challenges, but it’s how you handle them that counts.”
TRICIA FLEMING
Horse trainer and Bikram yoga teacher, Athlone, Co Westmeath
TRICIA FLEMING HAS worked around horses for most of her life but it was an equine-related back injury that led to her becoming interested in yoga.
“A friend introduced me to yoga because she thought it might help my back. I’d been told I should expect to be visiting osteopaths and chiropractors for my back problem for the rest of my life,” she says.
Fleming began by watching a yoga video from the 1970s and practised in her bedroom. But more than 10 years ago, while living in London, she heard about Bikram yoga, which is practised in a heated studio.
“I got really into it and went abroad to train – to LA, with the founder of Bikram yoga. When I came back to Ireland I started teaching classes.”
The classes became so popular that last year she decided to take it further. “I had an opportunity to make a real go of it. I was turning people away, so I knew there was potential there,” she says.
Eight months ago she opened her own studio ( Bikramyogaathlone.com), and when not sweating in the classes, she still trains horses, grateful that it's possible to hold down two jobs that are also her passions.
“I’ve noticed that more and more clients who have lost their jobs are setting up their own businesses. That’s the upside of a recession: people become more creative and start looking at what they have to offer instead of waiting for opportunities to come to them.
“A career glitch can often be an opportunity to make a living doing something you love. There are some days I think, ‘I can’t believe I am getting paid for this.’”
GAVIN BOURKE
Founder of mindhives.comand tennis coach, Co Wicklow
LAST YEAR, Gavin Bourke was training as a commercial lawyer when he decided he wanted to learn how to play guitar. He did what people usually do: searched for instructors online and looked out for leaflets on the noticeboards in supermarket. He found the search deeply unsatisfying.
"It was frustrating," he says. "What I wanted to find was a list of guitar teachers and their CVs, make a shortlist from that and then make contact with the ones I liked. But that kind of set-up just wasn't available". Bourke realised he had hit on a unique concept he believed was worth developing. He gave up commercial law – the firm he might have been working with has since gone bust – to develop mindhives.com, a website that connects "lesson providers" with "lesson seekers".
With his co-founder, Tim O'Carroll, he discovered that the informal education area was fragmented and "totally all over the place". Whether they gave lessons in candle-making or website building, teachers – especially those in niche areas – seemed to have no central place to show their wares. With mindhives.comBourke and O'Carroll have developed an online platform that operates like a shop window for teachers and allows those seeking lessons to browse, choose and even book classes from a lesson-giver they like the sound of. Taster classes (some of which are free) are also offered as a way for punters to really decide whether that person is the one for them.
Bourke, who in addition to running the site also offers lessons as a tennis coach, says many of the 1,500 teachers on the site are double-jobbing. “Talking to the lesson providers we can see that, for many, it’s a great way to supplement their already existing incomes. Although we’ve only been live three weeks, it seems we’ve hit on something that was really needed in the sector and we’ve loads of exciting things plans.”
