Does Your Employer Know? How to Be Public About Your Side Hustle [SUMMER THROWBACK] (2024)

This past week was Black women’s equal pay day and to me, it’s a day that reminds us to know our worth. It’s a poignant reminder of the gender and racial disparities that persist in the workplace, particularly for Black women. While companies continue to underpay us and managers stay silent instead of advocating on our behalf, it’s up to us to take action.It’s up to us as a sisterhood to share opportunities, refer each other and be open about our salary so we can arm ourselves with the right information to demand our financial needs get met.

One of the best options to increase wealth is through entrepreneurship. It’s the smartest way to diversify your income and increase your earning potential. Many of us have side hustles (or thought about starting one) but you’re not sure what your employer will think. If you’ve been keeping your side venture hush hush, today’s throwback post is for you. Read on in today’s Dreaming + Doing Digest.

A whopping 45% of Americans are reported to have side hustles in 2023. And you know who is leading the pack? Yep, Black women. The growth rate for side hustle ventures among Black womenare triple that of all other businesses. Black women have been queens of the side hustles since forever. Not because it’s the trend but because for many of us, having a secondary and even third source of income was how we survived.

When I was in high school, my mother, in addition to her corporate full time job, sold Avon on the weekends. I remember helping her put together customer orders and fill the Avon bags with free samples. Mom did really well with it and that Avon money came in handy for the family, many times.

While holding down a side hustle while working a full time job is pretty common for us, it can also be tricky to navigate especially if your employer is not exactly a fan of its employees making money outside of work. I mean how dare we have another source of income that is not from our day job. It’s the audacity for me. All kidding aside, some employers can restrict you from doing outside work if it’s in their policy. Even when it’s not explicitly stated, oftentimes there can be this unspoken rule that as an employee, your only work obligation should be to the company.

Every full time job I’ve ever had, best believe I always a side hustle. But it wasn’t always clear how to best navigate things like whether I should bring up my extra curricular activities to my employer or how to handle when my coworkers see a post about my business venture online. In my work over the years, I’ve honed in on a few ways that we can create harmonious relationships between having a full time job and a side gig that I’ll share with you.

Check company policy

The most direct way to find out if your employer supports outside gigs is to have a conversation with your HR manager. Ask questions around what’s allowed and requirements. They might simply have you inform your manager of any side projects you’re taking on that are external to your role. Which leads me to my next point.

Transparency is key

Even if there isn’t an explicit policy about having a side gig, you’ll still want to let your manager know. Don’t try to get around telling your boss about it because it will only be awkward when they find out. Healthy organizations and professional relationships thrive on open communication, so if you can, be forthright that you run a business on the side. Not all companies are welcoming and supportive of their employees outside interests so you’ll have to personally assess your company’s culture on whether it’s safe to disclose.

At a previous company I worked at, before accepting the role, I told my employer that I had a side business and a book coming out. I wanted to lead with full transparency and honesty to avoid potential problems down the line. Having other creative projects outside of my full time job is incredibly important to me and something I’m not willing to give up. If my employer wasn’t ok with me having side projects, I knew it wasn’t going to work out. Fortunately they were incredibly supportive of their employees having work on the side as long as it didn't conflict with their job or did not pose a threat to the company. Speaking of threat.

Make sure your side hustle is not a direct competitor to your employer

Your side hustle should not pull potential customers/clients away from your main employer. Let’s say you’re a financial advisor for an insurance company, ideally your side hustle should not serve the same customer base. To get around this, try niching down so maybe you’re a financial advisor for retirees or first time moms, on the side. Occasionally you might need to submit the nature of your side gig to HR for review to ensure there’s no conflict of interest. As long as your business is not in direct competition, you should be fine.

Don’t use company equipment on your side hustle, boo

It might be tempting to complete a quick customer order from your work laptop or save your branding colors and website photos to your office computer, but don’t! Using company equipment is risky and can be grounds for termination. Sis, you don’t want to risk your job for something that could have been avoided. Always use a separate personal laptop for your business. It also gives you peace of mind knowing that your full time work and personal business Don’t intertwine.

Going public

If you’re like me, you’re probably more private about your side ventures with your co-workers. Or you might not feel like having to explain to Susan from HR about your hair butter for textured hair business. I get it. But part of having a side hustle often requires you to market yourself on social media which means if you’re connected to your co workers on LinkedIn or Instagram, you might end up having that conversation with Susan, sooner than later. Anything you post publicly on LinkedIn will be shown to all of your followers and connections. Short of disconnecting with your co workers, there’s nothing much you can do about that. Again, assess whether it’s safe for your employer to know about your side business. If so, I say go ahead and hit that ‘post’ button on LinkedIn.

The future of work I want to be in is one where Black women don’t need to hide our entrepreneurial pursuits from our employers. Where our ambitions outside of work and the autonomy over how we make money and create wealth are supported, not dampened.

How does your employer handle you having a side business? What approach do you take in telling your manager about your side gigs? Tell us in the comments!

PS: The career support group for Black women who know they need to quit their toxic jobs but need a little encouragement/accountability meets monthly. If you’d like to join the community and connect with other likeminded women, you’re invited to join us. Learn more here!Sliding scales available to my Substack subscribers!

>>Original post appeared in February 2023 issue of the Dreaming + Doing digest<<