Any part-time sales folks out there??

[Ron Scott]

I have a good friend who was a full-time salesman for about 20 years, in expediting.  If you ask he’d say he “retired” at 40.

What he means is he stopped working for a company as an employee but has a couple arrangements with others where he sells when he wants to. He seems to put in about 10 hours a week, rare overnight travel, and has known the people he’s selling to for years—so there’s no cold calls.

Some deals are one-offs, others are recurring.  So some commissions are like annuities, for as long as the business flows.

This has gone on for almost 25 years, during which his net worth has grown significantly.

I don’t know how hard it is to set up a gig like this but it’s the best part-time work I’ve ever seen.

[Metalcat]

This is the kind of part time gig that's incredibly easy to set up when you're already a respected professional in a field.

Without an established professional sales reputation though, it would be quite difficult to develop this type of role, as it's based on being a known commodity, and people willing to hire you on your own terms.

I had this before I completely retired. I whittled down my hours and responsibilities until I was only doing exactly what I wanted to do, and under very favourable terms. I could get away with it because my employer wanted to hold onto whatever work I was offering. However, if a new applicant tried to ask for a role like mine, they would have been laughed out of the building.

That's not to say that it can't be done, but you have to be able to prove your value if you want a company to allow you to work differently than their system is designed for.

[Ron Scott]

There are other gigs for professionals that I’ve seen work pretty well too. Another buddy is a “retired” accountant who works some corporate jobs around year-end into January, and personal filings in Q2. Another is a lawyer who works a couple hours doing legal research and such. Neither one goes to an office; have computer will send invoice.

But nothing beats the sales gig—with annuities.

I’m kind of jealous of people with skill sets that can be leveraged by the hour. My job was all or nothing…

[CNM]

Re. lawyers to who work here and there on a contract basis:
Yes, there are some who can do that -- only do some isolated projects for other attorneys with no long term commitments or client contacts.  Like Malcat said, those attorneys are usually ones who have an excellent reputation and who are already known to the attorney offering them the piecemeal work.  Also, the work product they produced is in perfectly polished and ready-for-filing condition, which is something that takes many, many years of high quality legal writing experience to accomplish.

[Metalcat]

Re. lawyers to who work here and there on a contract basis:
Yes, there are some who can do that -- only do some isolated projects for other attorneys with no long term commitments or client contacts.  Like Malcat said, those attorneys are usually ones who have an excellent reputation and who are already known to the attorney offering them the piecemeal work.  Also, the work product they produced is in perfectly polished and ready-for-filing condition, which is something that takes many, many years of high quality legal writing experience to accomplish.

Exactly, my point is that it's difficult to negotiate a sweet part time role unless you already have the reputation and skill to back up your value. Otherwise, why wouldn't a company just hire a normal, full time person for the job?

That said, there are also tons of companies who *can't* afford a full time person for a role and who struggle to find talented people to work part time. So if you have professional level skills, it is very possible to propose part time services to organizations that could use them.

This is similar to how almost all small businesses just use a part time book keeper. Many could also use part time marketing, part time tech support, part time financial services, etc.

You have to research your markers to understand what needs you might be able to fill with only part time services.