BigCos to Part-Time Consultant, Advisor, and Entrepreneur

👋 Hey all. It's the eighth edition of Part-Time Profiles in Tech.

Links ⛓

• How Part-Time can Drive Startup Growth - I did a webinar with the folks over at fraction about how companies can leverage all sorts of part-time employees effectively. You can check out the YouTube video here.

• Interested in leveraging flexible talent for your company? We'd be happy to help you out.

• A US Congressman introduced the Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act - In my reading of it, the act wouldn't affect tech employees much, if at all. It mainly applies to non-exempt employees and overtime, however, it shows that there is continued momentum at large for reduced working hours.

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Angie Moody is the founder and CEO of Ruby Money, a financial app that helps freelancers lower and pay self employment taxes. Since its founding in 2021, Ruby Money has helped over 2,000 solopreneurs eliminate self-employed tax stress with its flagship 4.9 rated iOS app. Angie was previously the Head of Product for the SMB/Creator team at Instagram and Consumer bank team at Capital One. In addition, she has been a part time product consultant and start-up advisor since 2015.

Angie was raised in New Orleans and currently lives in Charleston, SC with her family.

What’s your experience with part-time work?

My first part time job was in 2015 just after I had my first child. I had been laid off and was job hunting. A recruiter reached out to me about a potential executive role at a fintech start-up. I wasn't a good fit for the role, but I pitched the CEO on hiring me as a part-time consultant. To my surprise, he agreed. I spent the next 3 months leading a small team inside the company to conceptualize and prototype a new product line extension. I really enjoyed the experience getting to focus on the work without the usual leadership overhead of a full time role.

Fast forward to 2019 when I left my last role leading the SMB/Creator team at Instagram (still can’t bring myself to call it Meta). I was pretty burned out from the corporate grind and was home-schooling my kiddos during covid (fun times). I was super interested in the online learning space and reached out to a few companies to learn more. I ended up becoming a part-time product advisor for a Series A ed-tech start up that was scaling fast. That ten hours quickly turned into a thirty hours per week interim head of product role.

At the time, I was also incubating an idea for a new company inspired by my time as a freelance consultant. I knew, how-ever, that it would have to be on my terms, which for me meant part-time.

In Feb 2021 I took the leap, invested my own capital and started building Ruby Money. The last two years have been a whirlwind. I raised some angel investment and alongside a team of highly skilled freelancers from all over the world launched an app that now has a 4.9 rating in the app store. We now have real customers, real revenue and an amazing opportunity to enable millions of part time & self employed professionals to thrive financially.

Starting a company part-time is really really really hard especially when surrounded by the Silicon Valley hustle mentality. I’ve had to work really hard to create boundaries and set clear expectations with everyone around me (including my investors) about my priorities. While definitely still a work in progress, I am excited to chart this new path to integrate rewarding work into my broader strategy of pursuing a meaningful life. Along the way I’ve met dozens of other founders doing the same which inspires me to keep pushing myself.

Why is working part-time important to you?

Having schedule autonomy so I can be present for my two daughters is the main driver. It’s also given me the ability to spend more outdoors, travel and carve out time to play. We recently took an extended family trip to London, and I am on a wednesday morning tennis league!

What does your compensation look like?

My cash comp as interim head of product was 50% more than my previous FT roles working about 50% less (30 vs 60 hrs/week). There was no equity upside/RSU's though which is hard to value in this market.

My primary compensation today is founder equity. This arrangement works because I have savings from previous corporate jobs and my partner has a healthy business. We also recently sold our home in California and moved to South Carolina which has a much lower cost of living. Our quality of life and my connection with my family has grown tremendously. As Mastercard puts it "That’s priceless.."

What are the tradeoffs to working part-time vs one traditional full-time job for you?

The uncertainty can be hard. Not knowing what the project, your co-workers or income will look like month to month. It can also be lonely. You miss out on some of the social connections and collaboration that happens more organically in FT work environment.

What advice do you have for someone who wants to work part-time like you?

When you are part-time you have to be incredibly disciplined with your time and make sure every hour you spend is high value. This means getting really clear on your superpower skills (things you do better than 90% of the folks out there) and having a plan to minimize everything else through automation, tools, and outsourcing.

I have also had to make more of an effort to schedule my non-work time. After 20+ years of being programmed to work 9-5 (or 8-8) working part-time feels strange and it helps if you have other "hard commitments" to pull you out of work and into the rest of your life.

Any tools or services you'd recommend for people who want to go part-time?

Shameless plug here for Ruby Money :) Tracking client payments, figuring out when & how much to pay for taxes, understanding what I could do to lower my tax bill, and saving for retirement were things I really struggled with when I started working for myself. I’ve built Ruby Money to solve those pain points and save other solopreneurs time, hassle and money.

As a gift to this community, I am offering complimentary 2023 Tax reviews and 50% off Ruby Money’s year round tax service for 3 months. Get started here.