"It's the Age of Permitted Side Jobs — But I Couldn't Find One That Paid"
I has been working as a freelance web designer for four years now. She has several main clients, and her income swings between ¥350,000 and ¥500,000 a month. "It's not bad money, but it's choppy. The slow months make me anxious."
She started looking for a side job two years ago. Extra orders through crowdsourcing platforms, selling handmade goods, reselling — she tried a few, and they all had the same problem: either "it gets in the way of the main job for what little it pays" or "it pays, but it eats too much time."
"I wanted a side job I could fully control myself. Can't go in the weeks I have deadlines, can go in the weeks I have breathing room — I needed that kind of flexibility."
She saw the listing for First Class Ruby six months into her search.
"Having a Main Career Is Exactly Why I Could Take the Leap"
— Did having your main career push you to start?
I: Honestly, that was the biggest source of reassurance. Having the safety net of "even if Ruby doesn't work out, I've got my design work" meant I wasn't scared. Being able to try something new in a situation where failing won't kill you — that's a huge mental relief.
— What was the process of deciding to start?
I: I read the listing and saw "once a week is fine" and "flexible shifts," and figured "this fits my conditions." Freelancing is genuinely unstable income-wise — it varies by ¥100,000–150,000 month to month. If I could fill that gap with a once-a-week side job, my peace of mind would be on a totally different level.
When I called and asked, "I have a main job, so is once a week a nuisance?" they told me, "We have once-a-week people too, it's totally fine," and that cleared the air for me.
How It Actually Works
— What kind of pace do you keep at one day a week?
I: Basically once a week, the six-hour course. I usually go in on a weekday afternoon during a week with no deadlines. Design work has pretty clear cycles of deadline-crunch weeks and slow weeks, so the image is I go in on a slow week.
— What's the monthly income at once a week?
I: On average ¥180,000–220,000 a month. The six-hour course runs about ¥70,000–80,000 a session, so it adds up if I go in three or four times a month. Add that to my main income and my total lands in the ¥550,000–700,000 range. My biggest worry as a freelancer — "the earnings won't stabilize" — has been largely solved.
— Isn't switching modes between the two jobs hard?
I: The first two months were a little tough. Design work is the kind of job where you're constantly turning ideas over in your head, so completely switching OFF didn't come naturally to me. But now I've developed a kind of "toggle switch." I built a habit of prepping on the train ride to Ruby — "from here, I'm entering a different work mode."
Put another way, my time doing the Ruby work is the time I'm completely away from "designer me." I feel that switch actually has a good effect on my creativity in the main job. It functions as time to reset my head.
The Upsides of "Ruby as a Side Gig"
— Tell me the upsides you've felt about a soapland as a side job.
I: Three of them.
1. The income comes in cash, same day. With design work, I invoice and it often takes over a month to get paid. At Ruby, what I earn lands in my hands that day. Cash-flow-wise, that's a blessing.
2. The evaluation is simple, so it's not draining. With design work, client evaluation is complicated — the cause-and-effect between "I did good work" and "I got praised" is hard to read. At Ruby, "did they come" and "did they come back" are simple yardsticks. That simplicity is a kind of relief.
3. I get to observe people. A designer needs to understand "what people like." The experience of talking with all sorts of clients at Ruby directly widens my understanding of people. It might sound strange, but it feels like the side job feeds back into the main one.
The Downsides and How She Handles Them
— Are there downsides?
I: My tax filing got complicated (laughs). I'd been doing the simple white-form return as a freelancer, but with the Ruby income added in I switched to the blue-form return. I decided to hire a tax accountant, so my costs went up, but the tax savings outweighed that.
There's also a bit of stress around it being "a side job you can't talk about." Freelancers have a community, and there's a lot of "how've you been lately?" chatter. When the talk turns to side jobs, I get a little evasive. But I only have to say "I've got a side gig" — they almost never ask for details.
— Have you ever thought about quitting?
I: No. At once a week the stress is low, and the income upside is clear. It's also big that the Ruby staff don't pile on unnecessary pressure. There's zero "you only come once a week" attitude. I can move at my own pace, on my own judgment. That's the number one reason I keep going.
— For anyone on the fence about a soapland side gig.
I: Please don't think "I have a main job, so it might be hard." Having a main job is exactly what lowers the stress of the side job. When you have the option of "if it doesn't fit, I can just go back to the main job," every decision gets easier.
Ruby has plenty of work even at once a week. There's no rule that it has to be "three days or more" from the start. Start small, confirm whether it suits you, then ramp up. One phone call clears up all your questions, so just hear them out first.
First Class Ruby — Job Information - Official site: https://www.tfr-ruby.com/ - Location: Urawa Ward, Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture - Hours: 06:00–24:00 (fully flexible scheduling) - Recruitment hotline: 070-1462-0622 (24 hours) - LINE ID: ruby2017s