Get a second job.

The Times published a piece about the need for people in this economy to have more than one job. The lead reads:

When someone asks Roger Fierro “What do you do?” — which he knows is shorthand for “Where do you work?” — he laughs. Then he says, “I do everything.”

Eight months ago I wrote a post with a lead that read:

Whenever I play golf, I find myself meeting new people and having to answer the question, "What do you do for a living?"

This is tricky for me. I often think of myself as having at least three jobs.

Had I been writing my post in the third person, our leads might have been identical.

Even so, I was unimpressed with the Times piece only because the need and/or desire to possess more than one job is hardly new. I know many, many people who have had two or more jobs for years.

Last night, for example, the woman who waited on me and my wife was working two jobs in addition to her position as waitress in order to save money for a house.

Multiple jobs is actually quite common.

In fact, there has almost never been a time in my life when I had just one job.

As a result, I frequently counsel my friends to always have at least two jobs:

One primary gig and another dream career on the side.

Regardless of the seeming stability of your primary career, you never know when catastrophe can strike. Businesses fail. Paradigms shift. Industries crumble. Having a second career is the safety net that will save you in the event of an emergency.

Either that or you can move in with your parents.

But for those of us without the parental safety net, the second career can be a lifesaver.

Most important, developing that second career provides you with options and variety that a person with only one job does not have. As much as you love your job, there is no telling how you will feel in two, five or ten years.

Options are always good.

I’m not saying to work 80 hours a week. You can work 40 hours at your primary job and 5 hours at your secondary career. Just have another iron in the fire, and make damn sure it’s something that you love.

This is how I managed to start my own DJ company and become a novelist, life coach, public speaker, and minister.

These were dream jobs that I developed while teaching.

My current dream job is professional best man.

Still looking for clients.