MOONLIGHTING can be immensely lucrative. So much so that one entrepreneurial plumber decided the topic deserved a book to itself, and then went ahead and wrote it.
Roger Woodson - plumber, landlord, photographer, direct marketer, business consultant and now author - has produced a handy compendium of ideas in Modern Moonlighting: How to Earn Thousands Extra Without Leaving Your Day Job (Contemporary Books, US$14.95).
'Moonlighting has changed,' he writes in the introduction. 'There was a time when working a second job made a person look or feel inadequate as a provider. This is no longer the case. Today's modern moonlighters are turning their time off into hefty bank accounts, new careers and new businesses.' Naturally, for wage slaves who return home with all energy beaten out of them, this might not be the most useful purchase. But for those who hold cushy, slow-moving jobs (or no jobs at all, given the much-discussed unfolding of the SAR economy), the book might set off potentially profitable brain waves.
Hong Kong probably is as good a place as any to moonlight - although the word's etymology might not exactly fit here, since there is rarely a moon to be seen in these foggy, polluted skies. Never mind. The opportunities are plenty, and if this book is to be believed, all it takes is the will, a modicum of organisation and a good idea. Anyone can do it, Mr Woodson writes in his cheery, friendly manner. You don't have to be a rocket scientist, or even a college graduate.
Figure out what you naturally like to do. Are you a doctor by day who likes to paint? Are you hysterically funny and someone who should consider becoming a stand-up comic? Are you good with computers? The point is, you can package and sell absolutely anything under the sun - a concept Interwood Marketing has embraced to the extreme.
Moonlighters are most likely to work from home, which has its advantages - such as stopping to watch TV, walk the dog, look after kids. It also has its disadvantages. These include stopping to watch TV, walk the dog or look after kids when you should be working.